10 Lessons Learned From Attending WWE NXT TakeOver London

5. There's Crossover Between ICW & NXT Fans

This makes sense. NXT is essentially an indy promotion trapped inside a mainstream company, so it stands to reason that the kind of fans that would sell out an arena for them are same kind of indy-hungry fans that frequent Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), the biggest independent wrestling promotion in the UK. The company, founded and based in Glasgow (which is in Scotland for the international fans who don't know), has been steadily rising in popularity since its inception in 2006, thanks to a stellar roster, it's alt-grungy/comedic tone and a number of documentaries made about British wrestling by the BBC and Vice Magazine. There were no overt mentions of ICW from the crowd, but there were a few nice references. Grado, the current ICW Heavyweight Champion and Madonna advocate, got a few chants dotted around the arena, but the most noticeable reference was the increasingly loud "ONE FALL" chant. Every time that Greg Hamilton (who was a great host throughout) would say "the following contest is scheduled for one fall" the crowd would scream back "ONE FALL", which is a crowd tradition for ICW. In a landscape where it seems like a rite of requirement for indy fans to hate the WWE product, it was heartening to see that ICW fans and NXT fans are more often one and the same. And hey, why not check out some ICW while you're at it. Look at Grado's entrance at a recent show called Fear and Loathing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yig8NsBRVA That's the kind of eccentric passion present in spades at NXT TakeOver London.