Part of my job as the author of the Best And Worst Of WWE Raw column is finding things to love about pro wrestling, and I’ve started namedropping Anarchy Championship Wrestling so much I had to give them their own tag.
They’re my local promotion, running shows ranging from blood-soaked mayhem to full-scale wrestling proms regularly in an open-air bar on Red River in downtown Austin, Texas, but I can’t personally taking every Best and Worst reader by the hand, drag them into a mid-Texas bar and show them how great it is. Wrestling DVDs aren’t always cheap, and ACW doesn’t put a lot of content — at least not a lot of their best content — on the tubes. Even the tubes wouldn’t suffice. I own a handful of ACW shows, but nothing has ever come close to being there live.
Well, thanks to some amazing work by The Daily Texan I’ve got a much better approximation. The above video is a beautifully shot three-or-so minutes filmed at their most recent show and gets across a few things I can’t convince you of enough with words … the unparalleled athleticism of ACH (the next big thing in independent wrestling, and probably wrestling in general), the insanity of never being able to sit for very long because someone’s being thrown face-first at your chair, and the very understated humanity and fellowship of it all. Plus, Portia Perez shows up. And so do I at the 1:38 mark. I’m the only person nerdy enough to show up to a wrestling show in a Minor League Baseball hat.
So yeah, check it out. Fall in love with it, then come to Austin and watch a show with me. Maybe pick up a DVD. It helps knowing that no matter how bad the dumb niche thing we like gets, there’s always someone out there reinventing it, making it better, and it helps to know that when I’m namedropping this sh*t I’m doing it for a reason.
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Nice! Destiny looks so tiny….
*marks out for cameo appearances* Spotted you immediately, had to watch a second time to see Destiny.
After hearing Portia Perez speak, I couldn’t help but notice how much charisma she has. And it sunk in that she’s fighting with men and is the ACW champion. I’m going to assume she’s really good and not some kind of novelty. What matches would you recommend of hers?
@Thatsamare – Well, I’m obviously a fan of her ACW stuff, so you could check out this year’s Queen of Queens tournament. She has a great match with Rachel Summerlyn on that. Basically any SHIMMER show she’s on is guaranteed to have a good match. Plus there’s tons of great older stuff from Cleveland.
Thank you for this. I live in Alaska, and have zero chances to see indie stuff, this is awesome.
I understand these people can’t be Mason Ryan or whatever, but is it too much to ask for more than 5% of them to look moderately athletic? I mean why must indie wrestling always contain two guys that look like they’ve been to a gym, 8 140 lb dudes, 3 husky guys who wear shirts during matches and one really fat guy who spends half the time pulling his pants up a la 90s Mideon?
Big Bear, did you miss the recent few paragraphs on how Mason Ryan is the opposite of athletic?
This was rad.
this was my first ACW show ever and i was lucky enough to sit next to brandon when it happened. he filled me in on all the good wrestlers, and helped turn me into a die-hard portia perez fan. i will definitely make sure i go to every show they put on here in austin.