So, yeah. No disrespect is intended to be directed at either Bray Wyatt or Dean Ambrose, but when WWE is experiencing a downturn in fan perception, even the most bust-ass of Ambulance Match brawls gets waylaid by fan apathy into being considered largely ineffectual, and to some, even unimportant. However, in an attempt to bridge where wrestling fan passions lie with where WWE's product is at the moment, this list focuses on seven different brawls from independent and global wrestling history, both past and present that feature the wild crowds, edge-of-your-seat intrigue and sheer excitement that was in many ways missing from Raw's tilt. We live in an era where Jim Ross now calls New Japan pay-per-views and ex-WWE talents like Drew Galloway are revitalising European wrestling. It's entirely arguable that North American pro wrestling's most engaging moment of 2015 will not happen in San Francisco, California at Wrestlemania 31, but 370 miles away in the small town of Reseda at a Pro Wrestling Guerilla event. Thus, here's seven international or indie brawls, the space from where pro wrestling gets its passion and positivism from these days, that likely eclipsed what Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt did on Monday night. Mixed in with a few notes for the (possibly) uninitiated, these encounters certainly up the ante on excitement. Enjoy!
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
