For an entire decade, spanning since the Final Nitro, the indies were the place to find the majority of future stars in the monopolized American scene.
In short, nobody benefited more from this than ROH. Nobody.
It was a decade that allowed the indies to have a stable supply of long-term access to world-class talent that was ignored and at best, under-utilized by Titan and the land of Dixie and Double J. With this access came not just great matches on the underground, but epic title reigns that have stood the test of time, personalities that left unforgettable memories with audiences, and cohesive, long-form storylines that creatively measure up to any other era’s most beloved.
This was truly the end of the Feinstein and Silkin era, the final night of ROH being operated as the super indy that through the ups and downs, had been its core identity since February 2002. After this event would begin the era now known as Smoky Mountain of Honor.
(In another note: today marks 10 years since Jay Lethal’s return, a tenure that has yet to end or be disrupted.)
The recognition from WWE that the indies could be a supply chain of major PPV headliners had been an uphill battle since the end of the Monday Night War. It would take a very special individual to be the spearhead of substantially cracking (if not shattering) that insipid glass ceiling and get the talent relations department to stop being useless.
Paul London couldn’t do it. Brian Kendrick couldn’t do it. Not even Bryan Danielson could be the first one to crack that glass. It needed someone with the promo skill set and the arrogance to be willing to rub his equally arrogant WWE colleagues the wrong way, to refuse to eat their shit. It would take a Paul Heyman guy.
The indy talent pool has never been the same since CM Punk dropped that pipe bomb in Vegas. To be blunt, it’s the way it should’ve always been - the federations with the stable mainstream cable network deals obsessively hunting for the undiscovered potential gems.
It can be said that there was a price to be paid for Punk’s successful rise to the top, and not just for the stability of the underground talent pool. Perhaps the mental toll of that uphill battle, constantly confronting and navigating the land mines of yes men and other bullshit, is why since his abrupt retirement at the age of 35, he’s yet to show any legitimate interest in a return match or epic moment over 7 years later.
Today, we live in an industry that has evolved into focusing so blatantly on media rights deals, quantity over quality of content, and a stubborn clinging to keep locker rooms peaceful.
We live in a culture that has so heavily normalized theater-quality streaming on devices as small as cell phones, and underground wrestling content becoming almost as rapidly available for consumption as WWE.
But back then? It was a time when you waited anywhere from 1 to 4 months for the ROH footage on DVD, and as a result, you fucking appreciated that content more than having the instant gratification of today.
It was a magical decade that saw the stars line up almost perfectly for ROH and the rest of the underground - and those days will never be replicated.
#Lapsed #ItUsedToBeBetter
