10 Things WWE Doesn't Want You To Know About Independent Wrestling

10. It's Not Just Flippy Sh*t

There is a perception surrounding the independent scene that various WWE-affiliated personnel are keen to massage.

Last year, Randy Orton dove into the "...dive" debate, a furore that stormed Twitter after guardian of the old school, Rip Rogers, posted an indictment of indy wrestling as a formulaic succession of strike exchanges, no sell spots and dives. "Flippy sh*t" is the branded term Will Ospreay printed on a t-shirt to print money. It was an ironic gesture, for Ospreay's fans know that indy wrestling is not merely a succession of spots with little connective narrative tissue.

Independent wrestling, across its vast and rich global stage, incorporates bruising European big lads chopping the f*ck out of each other; technical work on the British Isles that puts over the genuine struggle of hold-for-hold grappling; gory death match genre wrestling not beholden to either a PG rating nor rational-thinking minds; affectionate and funny comedy, as opposed to Trick Or Treat Street Fights; and, yes, untethered high-flying action that 205 Live, even under the more celebratory stewardship of Triple H, literally cannot reach. Across the board, the drama and body language indy wrestling boasts is on another level.

Psychology in wrestling isn't the definition of "logical" narrative as prescribed by WWE between 1984 and 2018.

It is a constantly evolving ideology, the emotional beats of physical storytelling that drive the crowd reaction in order to maximise it - and, since the noises coming from the independent scene are deafening in 2018, independent wrestling boasts more of it than the biggest game in town.