Looking For Wrestling Alternatives? I Got Ya Covered (Fall 2020 Edition)

The Great Khali hasn't graced a WWE ring in a few years now - not since Jinder Mahal was the WWE Champion, but after the revelation that All Elite Wrestling is working with IMPACT Wrestling in some capacity, I thought it would be a great idea to do an article highlighting some other promotions (at least stateside anyway) that have some easy to access content, especially when you're looking for wrestling alternatives outside of WWE and AEW. 

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Shockwave

This new show, taking place of their beloved NWA Powerrr series, premiered this week. It only clocked in at a little over 30 minutes, so it made for a nice short, sweet, digestible chuck of wrestling when there's so much out there to check out in any given week. I hope they bring back the "Into The Fire" intro whenever they are able to do Powerrr again regularly. For now, this is a nice substitute. I know things can't be easy right now with the laundry list of departures lately from that company.

Ring of Honor Wrestling

2020 Pure Championship Tournament

I'm not sure that many people are aware, but ROH TV episodes are available for FREE via the FITE TV app/website. The 2020 Pure Championship Tournament starts on Episode #469 and ends on Episode #476. I haven't kept up with their product as closely as I should have, but props should be given to ROH on how well this tournament was presented and the authentic feel to the action to make it feel like a serious, legitimate sport - something that seems to be a foreign concept more often than not in modern day wrestling. Even if you're new to ROH's product, there's something for everyone here as they take the time to introduce each entrant into the tournament individually, while providing time to have them talk about their motivations and why they are here. These sit-down interviews were really good stuff and I was disappointed that more wrestling outlets weren't covering this tournament. That being said, even though the tournament is over and a new champion has been crowned (who you don't have to look too far to find out with a simple Google search), this tournament is worth a look, especially with the talents involved.

All 16 entrants for the 2020 Pure Tournament

Current episodes of ROH can be found on both the Ring of Honor Wrestling website (mainly the past week/current week) and the FITE TV app/website as previously mentioned.

Major League Wrestling (MLW) #TheReStart

They have only started over since shutting down for the last few months due to COVID-19 concerns as of a week in and new episodes of their weekly MLW Fusion series premieres at 7PM EST on Wednesdays. You can watch the episodes on demand on their YouTube channel. I have linked the first two episodes as of this posting below. 

MLW's main draw with their "restart" of sorts is the 2020 Opera Cup Tournament. 

IMPACT Wrestling

If you don't have AXS TV via your satellite/cable provider, then look no further than IMPACT Wrestling's Twitch channel. They broadcast the show live via their channel at 8PM EST on Tuesdays with a repeat on Fridays weekly, free of charge. 

You can also fire up their IMPACT Plus app and watch their One Night Only iPPV events without even having to register for an account. 

I feel that a lot of people have been sleeping on IMPACT as of late, especially when they have one of (if not the best to me personally) the best women's divisions from top to bottom in wrestling here in the United States in terms of booking and diversity of talents involved. With AEW dropping the bombshell that they will be working with IMPACT in some capacity in the near-future, I hope more wrestling fans will be willing to give them a fair chance again. The Dixie Carter/Vince Russo regime has been dead and buried ages ago. 

Besides, if you want to know where to watch IMPACT Wrestling after that cliffhanger that AEW Dynamite left everyone with on Wednesday night, then look no farther than the link below if your cable/satellite provider doesn't carry AXS TV. 

Impact Wrestling Presents United We Stand (April 4, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

United We Stand was a professional wrestling internet pay-per-view (iPPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling that will take place on April 4, 2019 in Rahway, New Jersey. It was the second event in the 2019 Impact Wrestling pay-per-view schedule. Wrestlers from Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and Lucha Underground - with whom Impact has partnerships with - as well as stars from Major League Wrestling (MLW), Dragon Gate and Wrestle Pro also appeared on the card. The event was also streamed live on FITE TV.

I ordered the show for a mere $20 (a fair price IMO) off of the FITE TV app on my Amazon Fire Stick. The show aired without any streaming hiccups, but I did run into a few instances in the first half of the show where I either could barely hear anything or there wasn't any audio at all, especially in that backstage segment between Moose, Eddie Edwards, and Cage. I tweeted about it last night too, but I'm pretty sure that BotchaMania is going to have a field day in terms of citing the awkward camera cuts and production botches throughout the night. Don't get me wrong. This was a solid show from an in-ring talent perspective, but it came across as an extremely low budget indie show in terms of production and presentation. C'mon now, this is WrestleMania weekend. Everyone has to put their best foot forward and not settle for "just good enough" to be a part of the festivities to ride off WWE's coattails in terms of business for the weekend. Either go balls to the wall with the effort or don't do it at all, in my honest opinion.

There was a pre-show match live on Impact Wrestling's Twitch channel, but I didn't get back in from a food run in time to catch it, nor I was aware they were even doing a pre-show match period. That was some pretty bad advertising on Impact Wrestling's behalf there.

The result from that match saw Fallah Bahh and KM defeat the Heavenly Bodies and Team Espana to win the WrestlePro Tag Team Championships.

Ultimate X Match for a future X Division Championship Match
Impact World Champion Johnny Impact def. Jake Crist, Dante Fox, Pat Buck & Ace Austin

I was scratching my head at the start of this match to see that the Impact World Champion himself was competing in an Ultimate X Match. This was a welcome surprise, but wouldn't this have been something that Johnny had taken up prior to his World Championship aspirations? I guess they are going the route that Impact did with Lashley a few years prior where he had all of the Impact Wrestling Championships. It's either that or planning long-term where Johnny can get the X-Division Championship after losing it in the near-future and insert himself back into the main event picture by cashing in "Option C" to get another World title shot by vacating that title.

Out of all of the names from Lucha Underground that haven't been scooped up by WWE, I'm shocked that WWE (or any promotion really) hasn't snatched up Dante Fox (AR Fox) and Marty the Moth (Martin Casaus). Two talents that would add an exclamation point to any company's talent roster.

Speaking of talent, both Jack Evans and Kotto Brazil were absent from this match, even though they were advertised to be apart of this opener. I wonder what happened in that regard.

I don't want to say that this match was bad, but it wasn't nothing spectacular nor out of the ordinary in terms of these Ultimate X matches. Given the talent on hand here, I was a little disappointed in what we got here.

Team Lucha Underground (Aerostar, Drago, Marty The Moth Martínez and Daga) def. Team Impact (Brian Cage, Eddie Edwards, Moose, and Tommy Dreamer)

No offense in the least to Tommy Dreamer, but I was massively disappointed to see him show up as the last man for Team Impact. I get it - they are in the New York area so they wanted to cater to the old ECW fanbase for the nostalgia pop and they definitely got it for sure. I felt this match was a little too slow in terms of pacing, especially for all of the talent involved. The finish fell flat to me where Moose turned on his own teammates, allowing Marty the Moth to pick up the win over Team Impact.

That was just fucking gross...

I didn't have a damn problem with Team Impact picking up the win here as they deserve something with the question of whether or not their show/promotion is getting is another season is completely up in the air. Even the producers are saying that they are under the impression that the show is dead at this stage. It wasn't looking good that Lucha Underground/AAA and El Rey Network granted those talents who were suing them for refusing to release them from their contracts, notably Joey Ryan, King Cuerno, and Ivelisse. I'm anxious to see where those individuals are going to end up by the end of the year.

4-Way match for the Impact Knockouts Championship
Taya Valkyrie (c) def. Jordynne Grace, Katie Forbes, and Rosemary

Katie Forbes' fineness was a welcome surprise for this match. Every time I see that woman I'm taken back by her beauty, whether it's from catching up on WOW on the DVR on Axis or seeing her on the independent scene from time to time. RVD definitely reeled himself in one hell of a prize. There were a few stumbles in this match all around, but I thought it was decent for what we were given here. Rosemary was lured away by the arrival of Su Yung, which caused them to brawl into the back. I'm guessing they are playing up her role that she played in Allie's "death" on Impact Wrestling last week (done to write her character off their programming as she's signed with All Elite Wrestling). Rosemary's departure signified the finishing sequence that saw Jordynne Grace connect with a Michinoku Driver to Forbes, only for Taya to steal the win to retain her title.

That was a welcome surprise last night...

I'm not mad at these "screw job" finishes for Jordynne as it's the same thing that they are doing with Cage against Johnny Impact. In due time, both powerhouses will be holding Impact gold and I think it will be well worth the wait. If I had to complain/critique about anything involving Jordynne Grace is that she (along with Cage at times) sell their opponents' offense a bit too much for my taste. In Jordynne's case, I think it has to do with her still being fairly new to being on "mainstream" wrestling and showing respect to her opponents. Call me old fashioned, but I like to see the powerhouse archetypes in wrestling sell as few moves as possible.

The Latin American Xchange (Santana and Ortiz) (with Konnan) def. Promociones Dorado (Low-Ki and Ricky Martinez)

I was saddened at the lack of Salina de la Renta to escort her clients to the ring, but that was minor setback from what we got here in terms of action. This match wasn't as good as some of LAX's high profile feuds and matches over past two years, but it was a solid match nonetheless. Low-Ki returned to Impact here, rocking his Hitman 47 look while Ricky Martinez was thugged out as usual in terms of his ring gear. I hope MLW works with Impact Wrestling more often as those two promotions could really help each other out if they can manage to lend out talent sparingly to enhance their cards and/or storylines.

Intergender Match
Tessa Blanchard def. Joey Ryan

This was actually a really good match. I shouldn't have been surprised, given that Tessa Blanchard was involved, but I have to give props for where it's due. There were lots of back and forth between Ryan and Tessa, with Ryan targeting Tessa's arm in hopes to impair her for the long haul of this match's duration. Unfortunately, Joey Ryan had to squeeze in his stupid "dick throwing" spot into this match and that's where I mentally checked out in terms of buying into this match. They went into a sequence of multiple near-falls shortly after this, only for Tessa to crank out the win after connecting the Magnum (Diving Codebreaker) from the top rope.

I could have done completely without seeing Ryan's stupid dick throw spot here, but otherwise this was a solid bout. I'm sure Jim Cornette is somewhere losing his mind about his favorite female wrestler actually selling the infamous "dick spot"...

Singles match for the Impact X Division Championship
Rich Swann (c) defeated Flamita

I thought this match was the sleeper hit of the entire evening. Lots of back and forth action from both competitors, even though I was still a little saddened that Swann's original opponent (DragonGate's Yamato) was unable to make this event. Flamita was a solid replacement, even managing to make me buy into the possibility that the X-Division Championship could have changed hands here tonight. In the end, Swann got the win, but I wouldn't be opposed to see these two guys face one another again.

I enjoyed Rich Swann's new look here. About time that he distanced himself from the look that a friend of mine described best as "Swann trying out to be an extra on Roots" and more importantly from his ill-fated WWE career. 

Monster's Ball Match - Sami Callihan defeated Jimmy Havoc

For me, this match felt like deja vu from what these two guys did EXACTLY in MLW towards the tail end over on MLW Fusion in the same type of match. What I couldn't get over was that they did some of the exact same spots too. Nothing out of the norm here if you're used to these crazy hardcore matches that Callihan has been putting his body through over the last few years since signing with Impact.

I swear wrestlers in general need to stop abusing that piledriver spot while standing on a bunch of chairs. It looks stupid and whoever is willing to take it has to be even stupider.

Extreme Rules Tag Team Match - The Lucha Bros (Fénix and Pentagón Jr.) def. Rob Van Dam and Sabu

This was the dream match-up that everyone was staying up for on a work night to see. This match started at roughly 1:21AM and it seemed like they were rushing through spots just to get to the finish. I believe there was an issue with the venue because the finish came out of nowhere and the competitors were left in the dark as the iPPV came to a close. As much I did like what they did with the time that they were given, I wish they were given more time.

On second though, more time could have been to Sabu's detriment (he even had his indie valet, Melissa Coates, here as his "genie" for his ring entrance surprisingly) as he was half-confused or out of place/sync with RVD on some of their spots together. To him and RVD's credit, they both looked great here as I had no idea that Sabu grew his hair back out while RVD is in amazing shape for his age. This is like day and night in comparison to Kurt Angle currently in WWE.

Once again, I just wish they gave these guys more time to work with.

My Wrestling Wishlist for 2019

I haven't done one of these wishlists for professional wrestling for a few years now, so today on New Year's Eve, I've decided to take a shot at it with a few things I want to see in 2019.

General

I want to see wrestling Twitter/social media as a whole stop being so butt-hurt about everything. That's one of many reasons why I stopped covering everything under the sun for my own sanity. All of this hate from podcasters and writers who get mad at fans who say "stop watching" if the only thing they do is rant on how bad WWE is when their rebuttal is that "It's our jobs and we make a living off this" is just getting asinine hearing on a constant basis. There's a TON of wrestling to cover out there other than WWE. I stopped watching RAW and SD during the early part of this year and I'm forever grateful for that extra peace of mind and free time on Mondays and Tuesdays. I would like to see wrestling fans on social media come together in a positive manner instead of focusing on the negatives 24/7.

On the other half of that spectrum, I wish to see wrestling personalities use Twitter to their advantage rather to their detriment. I've lost count on how many times that I've seen great characters/gimmicks killed the second that said wrestler goes on Twitter and opens their mouth to tweet a reply to a fan and instantly shoot themselves in the foot. The smartest wrestler on Twitter in terms of using it to their advantage is Becky Lynch. She's destroying anyone and everyone who manages to even mention her by name. All I ask to use to enhance your on-screen characters instead of destroying them.

WWE

Ugh, where to begin?

How about making RAW and SmackDown! being must-see TV week-in, week-out. I don't mean this crap where they do one "above average" show then shit goes back into the toilet for weeks and months on end until WrestleMania season starts. The tag team divisions on the main roster are on life support. I don't know what the hell they are doing with the midcarders and the main event scene is hit or miss at best. It honestly makes me sick as a fan and outright disgusts me that WWE goes out of their way to sign so many remarkable men and women in this sport, only to have them to amount to cannon fodder and strip them of everything that made them great to begin with before stepping into one of their rings. You can't even say that it's the fault of the damn talent when Vince McMahon is so out of touch when it comes to wrestling in 2018 going into 2019.

NXT is currently packed to full to capacity at this point. While their events have been great, I feel that their weekly product has stagnated. It feels too much like Ring of Honor from a few years ago when I first jumped back into their product and it's coming off as too much deja vu in terms of "been-there, done that". I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing but there's a lot of cases, especially in their homegrown talent where I feel like NXT is setting them up for failure on the main roster. Case in point goes to the bulk of the call-ups over the past year and on the horizon.

I hope they don't rush this whole thing about pushing Shayna Baszler's friends in Jessamyn Duke and Marina Safir because they both seem like they aren't going to take to this wrestling thing like a fish to water like how Ronda Rousey has. There's no reason to rush them learning their craft slowly instead of fast-tracking them to the main roster to join up with Ronda. On the other side of that, I hope Io Shirai and Kairi Sane stay in NXT for a long time after seeing what the main roster has done to Asuka after calling her up.

I recently spent a few hours rewatching the HHH/CM Punk in-ring promos on YouTube and I want Becky Lynch to get to that point of her popularity. She's the biggest star they have right now and they would be MORONIC not to keep tossing fuel to this fire. I just fear that WWE will swoop in and clip her wings the very same way that they did CM Punk along with AJ Lee when they got to that point, but for some reason this is the same company that allows Brock Lesnar to do whatever pleases... Rumors are pointing to that the WrestleMania main event was "promised" to Charlotte Flair next year, but she can settle for second place for once. The world will NOT end without her being champion or not going for a title at WrestleMania. My dream scenario for WrestleMania would see Becky vs Ronda in the match that we didn't get due to her injury. Becky would get here after dumping both Charlotte and Nia out of the Women's Rumble. To be honest, I rather see Charlotte vs Asuka II anyway, with Asuka picking up the win in their rematch.


Speaking of Lesnar, my wish for the Universal Championship is anyone but Lesnar at this point, especially if he's going to hold both UFC and WWE by the balls.

I know I'm going to get heat for saying it, but if WWE wants to do another all-women's PPV, how about lay off on shoving so many "firsts" down our throats for the women? It's not our fault that they are the last ones to the party when realizing that women's wrestling is actually marketable and there's a demand for it currently... WWE were patting themselves so hard on the back about that this past year that I could've sworn that Stephanie McMahon burped during one of the press events for it.

Impact Wrestling

I hope their move to the Pursuit Channel is temporary and wind up on a network that puts more eyes on their product. PopTV definitely didn't do them any favors, much like their move to Destination America. In the words of Jim Cornette, they are better off playing slides on the side of a barn at this rate.

The roster on Impact Wrestling are busting their ass (as always) with the in-ring product and TBH the storylines aren't bad at all, definitely better than some of the crap they've done in the last 2-4 years. I've honestly enjoyed their product this year. They just need more eyeballs on their product. Their free Twitch streams are a step in the right direction, but not by highlighting every other garbage indie federation that would work with them.

In terms of storylines/gimmicks, I want them to drop the "Crazy" Eddie Edwards vs. Coming to America Moose feud. Moose's heel turn was one of the stupidest choices/decisions for Impact in 2018 in terms of storylines. It made absolutely NO sense. I can understand that they had cold feet in terms of having him dethrone Aries at the time and relying on him in the position to promote Bound for Glory around, but after the massive support behind him, only to turn him heel as part of Aries' faction made no sense at all. I still can't get how great that video package leading up to Moose's title shot against Aries was, yet they decided to turn him heel. (Shakes my head) Turn the guy back babyface and give him a shot at the gold unless they plan on getting Lashley back by this time next year because his WWE return ain't doing anyone any favors outside of Lio Rush...

In terms of the Knockouts, I've loved the whole storyline between Allie, Keira Hogan, Rosemary, and Su Yung. More of that, please. Same goes with the rise of Tessa Blanchard. Even though I'm positive that they are setting Taya Valkyrie to dethrone her at the next PPV, they should be building up a confrontation between Tessa and newcomer powerhouse Jordynne Grace by this time next year.

While I've enjoyed Scarlett Bordeaux's antics since her debut, I want her and Killer Kross to bring their pairing from the indies to Impact Wrestling. For 2019, they need to scrap the rocket to that dude's back as he just seems to scream money. Lucha Underground had the right idea in mind and who knows when they'll be back on air to capitalize on his growing popularity. Plus, it's only a matter of time before WWE gives him an offer he can't refuse...

I would love to see Impact Wrestling continue building around Johnny Impact/Mundo/Morrison (or whatever he's going to call himself...), Fenix, Pentagon, oVe (along with Jeremiah Crane/Sami Callihan), LAX (Impact better renew their contracts before WWE snatches them up...), and especially Brian Cage in the new year as those are definitely their biggest players.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

While I haven't kept up with NJPW's product as I should have over the past year or two, I hope they continue to set and raise the bar on the standard of quality in-ring wrestling with Wrestle Kingdom 13 at the start of the year.

Following that event, I hope they lock down their talents who are up in the air in terms of whether or not that they are renewing their deals with the promotion or not. At this point, it's obvious that The Elite (Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, the Young Bucks, etc.) are out of the door following that event, but don't allow the rest of their guys to walk out of the door without a fight. Hell, I hope Shinsuke Nakamura along with Gallows and Anderson return to the promotion when their WWE deals expire.

Lucha Underground

I hope they get renewed for a fifth season and fans don't have to wait as long as the gaps between the last few seasons. They have a lot of stories to wrap up, especially with the revelations at the end of Season 4 (boy do I need write about that at some point in the New Year...), while simultaneously bouncing back from a bulk of their talent being raided by WWE and other rival promotions, i.e. MLW and Impact Wrestling.

Ring of Honor

My main wish for them in the new year is the same as previous years - a sensible time slot for their weekly TV tapings. For the Sinclair Broadcasting networks in my area, it's like playing the lottery on figuring out when their show comes on the weekends. On Saturdays/Sunday mornings it's either anywhere from midnight to 3AM following news/sports coverage or reruns of Hell's Kitchen. Then there's a chance to catch it Sunday evenings occasionally 10:30PM, but I tend to forget that time slot with everything else going on Sunday evening in terms of getting ready for bed to start for the work week.

Outside of that, I hope they are able to snag some noteworthy talent for their Madison Square Garden show for WrestleMania weekend. If they were smart, they would just bite the bullet and just do a collaboration with Impact Wrestling and pool resources and talent to make it the biggest show possible. We already know that they won't have the Elite to peak interest there and they've pretty much ran the well dry in terms of relying on the NJPW partnership to garner interest on their product.

Independents

MLW (Major League Wrestling) was my personal favorite non-WWE product in terms of a new fresh take on wrestling. There's something for everyone here but at the same time, I wish they were on a more accessible network. Sure, I've stumbled onto their product from episodes being uploaded in full on YouTube but not everyone is going to go that far to check them out. I hope they get a better television deal to put more eyes onto their product. That being said, Court Bauer needs to make sure WWE doesn't swoop in and snatch up more of his talent because that was something that was plaguing his promotion (along with their recent widespread amount of injuries to marquee talent) this past year.

Outside of that, I hope the indies continue to thrive on their own with more great talent coming to surface, along with more events to highlight that fact. We saw ALL IN last year, spearheaded by the Elite, but the chances of that happening again is unlikely as they are rumored to be a part of the rumored All Elite Wrestling promotion set to debut in 2019 and I wish them nothing but the best for starting that from the ground up.