BYW vs. Indy

News I read over facebook has got me thinking about how indies and byw tend not to mix at all. First off the news, so a lot of guys in CCW (Collision Championship Wrestling) wrestle for an indy fed. Well apparently the indy fed found out about it and someone is threatening to get rid of all of the BYW guys on their roster if they don't quit it. In short this means CCW is out of a couple wrestlers because the guys want to keep their indy careers.

The state of affairs in the indies is that on an official level BYW is not tolerated. There are some exceptions (I know of one in the Las Vegas region) where they don't mind BYW, but that is pretty much a rarity. One of the interesting things I find though, its not always the managers who frown upon BYW, but often the wrestlers themselves. I have talked to a few indy guys that did frown upon BYW, but I got them to admit they have done BYW. So it seems like an interesting duality in the indies that mimics "don't ask, don't tell."

I know in BYW communities a lot of wrestlers won't promote their videos because they don't want indies finding out about it in the future. I am of the opposite, where I try to promote my videos to anyone regardless of where they are at in pro wrestling. I think this is best seen in the Kayfabe Commentaries' YouShoot series, where I frequently send in videos of my BYW gimmicks to ask questions that pros (Missy Hyatt, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Holly, Honky Tonk Man, and Dixie Carter) have to answer. But I am in a different position than most people in BYW. Right now, I am working towards a good career, and I don't have any intention on going into the indies. As I got older the pro wrestling industry got more sour for me because of the bad storylines, and that your career is basically determined by the ability of WWE's hollywood b-list writers to put you in a wrestling storyline. There isn't much financial stability of that, your career is not determined by how good you are, and you might be lucky to make it out without minor brain damage and a dime to your name. All of that doesn't stop the dream of putting smiles on people's faces and the rush of competing in action. For me BYW provides that dream for me because I already have a career and money to keep myself going while I wrestle. Plus their is nothing better than putting shows on with your best friends. But for all of the kids growing up wrestling in BYW and wanting to make a career out of it (as we need money somehow to make it in this economy), will eventually have to face a point where they will have to hide a part of their lives and not put on shows with their friends anymore.

thats sucks man

Although in one case a BYW fed was able to keep wrestling with their friends, wrestle in the indies, and write the storylines they wanted, as the entire fed became an indy fed on their own. I don't know how they were able to get the money to do it, but they used their experience in producing videos and writing storylines to refine what they do on the indies, and I would say they are in the top tier of the indies right now. They had Raven and Scotty Too Hotty doing shows with them at one point. But they did have to sacrifice all of their BYW videos in the process.

Yo, talk about CCW when you know whats going on. The only thing happening via the indy thing is that Xcal and Happy Psycho aren't wrestling with us anymore. Happy didn't really anyway.
And to be honest, those two are the only ones who wrestle indy outside of UBW, which is basically an indoor BYW fed who is fine with people yarding.

So don't say in short, CCW is out of business, because it isn't.

Oh and by the way, the solution is that Xcal and Happy aren't booked in CCW anymore. That's it.

and Switchblade.

It may not be out of business, although it looked to be by all of the people who wanted their stuff removed, but my commentary remains the same regardless of what will happen with CCW.

And I highly agree with you commentary.
My opinion is based on an example. For years, legit years. Since before CCW when they were EXWF, Jake(Xcal) Happy, and Brickles (Switchblade) wanted to go pro. They knew backyarding would damper that. They make a quasi-break in the indys, and they yell and scream until their backyard stuff is gone.
My problem with that? If you don't want your name "tarnished" by yarding, you shouldn't yard.
I personally only want to yard. The closest I'd step up would be doing indoor yarding like UWA Wisconsin.

Also, Indy feds that do get all up in arms about yarders need to get over themselves. People are going to do and try what they like to do. If that's wrestling, they're not going to wait until someone randomly asks them to come wrestle in their Indy fed, and a lot of people can't afford training. So they yard. And the Indy feds should just deal

My computer crashed twice trying to write this lol (I think its fixed now though). But anyway! I think you hit on a point, where people should be proud and admit to what they do, otherwise they should not do it. Some people may feel in the indies that they should prop themselves up as the WWE is always burying them, so the only people they have to prop up by burying is either other indies or BYW. Which could go to explain somewhat why the WWE has shown their wrestler's BYW footage in the past, but the indies pretty much keep it buried.

Sucks to hear CCW lost Happy and Xcal.

But in Cali, yarding is literally taboo. If I go pro and stick with the name Robb HaiZe, which i prolly will...its a badass name, my yarding legacy will all be gone. And it irritates me that people who are pro are suck in the 90s when it comes to BYW, tbh most yarders are better then alotta guys in the indies.

Robb Haize wrote:

Sucks to hear CCW lost Happy and Xcal.

But in Cali, yarding is literally taboo. If I go pro and stick with the name Robb HaiZe, which i prolly will...its a badass name, my yarding legacy will all be gone. And it irritates me that people who are pro are suck in the 90s when it comes to BYW, tbh most yarders are better then alotta guys in the indies.

And overall yarding emulates pro wrestling, and especially indies. So if pro wrestling is doing a lot of "garbage" matches as they used to be called, then yarding would do the same, which was the 90's. Over all it ends up being no worse than the standard set by the industry.

I agree with indie feds not wanting their wrestlers to yard. What I don't like is that half of the pros who think that don't know good reasons for it. The one good reason I've heard isn't that yarding is shameful or dumb, it's because a promoter doesn't want to book a match only for one of the wrestlers to get injured yarding. Here in Colorado, our biggest fed, FPW, which shut down recently, made it a rule that you could only travel with them, not on your own. Maybe that's a little much, but still, I can understand a promoter not wanting to risk his card getting ruined by a yarder getting fucked up in a match outside of the promotion. People who act like it's a personal fault for someone to yard, however, should fuck off.

Adrian Blaqueheart wrote:

I agree with indie feds not wanting their wrestlers to yard. What I don't like is that half of the pros who think that don't know good reasons for it. The one good reason I've heard isn't that yarding is shameful or dumb, it's because a promoter doesn't want to book a match only for one of the wrestlers to get injured yarding. Here in Colorado, our biggest fed, FPW, which shut down recently, made it a rule that you could only travel with them, not on your own. Maybe that's a little much, but still, I can understand a promoter not wanting to risk his card getting ruined by a yarder getting fucked up in a match outside of the promotion. People who act like it's a personal fault for someone to yard, however, should fuck off.

Now this is a good reason. Promoters who are investing in wrestlers don't want to see their investments go down the drain due to injury. I completely understand that.

Nice read, Jake.

BYW all the way...

i wrestle pro in tn and they know i yard i told them one night i couldnt wrestle because i had a back injury from yarding

Injuries from BYW are no fun, but if you get it on camera its worth it! I know a guy who wrestles for many indies, and im surprised that many dont video record their events, so matches happen but then they get forgotten, which is a bit of a shame. He ends up getting one of his friends to record the matches for him.

I will write this to better explain the Truth about Pro-Wrestling. As a former legit Promoter in Ohio, when I did BYW from 1998-2008 I had a dream to step in that ring and wrestle. The problem with that it becomes a nightmare. I did go through basic training which I loved very much, I also gained an interest to become the promoter. Often a promoter will book or market the events.


After about two years of brainwashing and watching that industry scam people I had enough. In my backyard days we all were friends, took late night walks to reflect on life and played video games and ate pizza LOL. But in Pro Wrestling it’s cut throat and every wrestler is either on drugs or have felony’s; I was a private officer, so that struck many people knowing I wanted to push for background checks and making sure our children who come and watch was not watching either a criminal or a pedophile. In the wrestling world if you want to do things the legal route you are committing a crime. So to go Professional as a career is the next step to failure.

Most workers get paid 20 bucks and often just work for free when the company takes all the money. There are many scams one of them was Training School, charge people $1800 to learn the “proper” way, when you can buy that Ultimate Pro Wrestling Training 4-video DVD, which is the same exact thing you learn and read that Steve Cornio story about Psychology.


How to work a match outline:

Introduction: Stepping into a ring show who you are Heel or Face. Typically the Heel comes out first, so that the Face gets a bigger pop.

Chain Wrestling: Do I need to explain?

Shinning: After Chain one wrestler must take the advantage, typically it’s the Face.

Heat: It’s time for the Heel to perform his favorite moves, same as shinning.

Hope Spot: This is where the Face gets a second comeback chance to perform 1 or 2 moves, but the third gets cut off by the Heel.

Double Down: The Hope Spot ties into this where both wrestlers are on the ground. Both will stand up by the 6-7 count.

Finish: Depend on what is written, but not all matches end with a finisher.





There is a secret handshake that will identify if you were trained or not, I think it was stupid honestly. Also I notice that when you tell a pro wrestler (if you are in the business) you did BYW they will admit to their stint in it as well. I was very forward with everyone, because I knew I could. As a promoter you decide the workers fate of hiring again. All wrestlers are independent contractors and there are NO regulations except for State License and some require a bond. However, anyone can obtain a License and a Bond. So I recommend a lot of feds to have a backing and get a promoters license. In case some Indy calls the Athletic commission, believe it or not they can have a backyard fed shut down.


Because the wording in Athletic laws: “Any ‘wrestling’ events, private or public.” Even though you are not charging admission and not professional, it’s “wrestling.” I even as a backyarder fought with zoning committees because some indy workers called on us for having a pro ring inside a yard, I won the dispute because it was a non permanent structure. But it has come to a time where Indy workers want everything and will do things legally.
How to fight back.



Check with your State’s Secretary to see if they are licensed as a business. Remember charging admission you have to pay taxes and file contractors with a 1099 form if they make over 600 annually.
Secondly, call the Athletic Commission to verify their license to do wrestling in the state and make sure they have a permit too.


Call the IRS to find out if they have a EIN number, this is another tactic that will help you. That EIN is a number that will allow you to hire people, its part of taxes.
Thirdly, Check with your local BBB and see if they are even listed. See what their ratings are.


Last but least, if you know their real names use a public background check and see what dirt you get. If some have felonies and you know when they are booked at next contact local authorities and Attorney general.
I learned all this in pro wrestling, promoters call on each other to shut each other down.


But to get back to what you some of you are saying about age and money, I am 28, considered in pro wrestling to young as a promoter. After all the time I wrestled backyard I thought I was getting old. But honestly, age is just a number. Life is too short not to have fun or enjoy a hobby like wrestling. I look at BYW as Backyard Football, a group of friends having some fun. Indy workers will cause you to lose motivation and make you think you’re doing stuff wrong (perhaps you are) but the internet is a great learning tool.



Youtube has videos on there from professionals explaining how to correctly pull off a move, even though most of us know how to land and flip. So, never give up on your wrestling, so what if 5 of you are 30 and 3 are 20. You won’t make any money in pro, let alone in backyard. Promoters like to hire 10 guys for the price of one very good worker. If you need money, cut grass or get a part time job. Give parents some rent money complete school and I promise you won’t hear too much except for the uasal “You might get hurt.” But be prepared and look for a future place to wrestle incase family is tired of it.


I hope I educated some people, I have returned to the BYW World and we will open in March. Look us up on here: Butler County Wrestling. - Rex Ransome.

Thank You Rex.
What most yarders don't understand is that they think pro is some amazing world. While in fact its not you have to be serious, you can't really have comedy matches or anything and the feds i wrestle for limit your shit. But in my very first match i got over with the crowd because i was suppose to be a jobber for their "High-Risk" champ, that had no high risk at all. I did a spot where i jumped off the top of their music booth and hit straight ground.

Yeah, I agree. I do both INDY and BYW.

Injuries in BYW dosen't happen as often as people think..

Flame,

The injuries perhaps I am speaking about is the reputation of BYW; not just for our parents but for the future generation. With all the crazy stuff that people were doing have hurt the foundation of BYW; we need to focus on providing a safe and fun environment and not showboating to impress friends and that neighbor chick you want to screw. Its fact that we have hurt BYW; but we can restore it by teaching the new generation that it can be safe and fun, foucs on working solid matches and cutting promos by being original. Remember BYW was our way to be Pro; because its the dream in which we strive for. - Rex Ransome

The BYW vs Indie thing is something that interests me greatly since I have regularly participated in both for years.

Its fact that Pro wrestling is ignorant and doesnt understand backyard wrestling, and its human nature to fear what you dont understand. However if you want to do both the easy solution is just do BYW in a mask. Thats what I do and been fine for years. I have 8+ pro bookings and month and manage to fit in a few BYW bouts too.

Secondly I have found experienced BYW wrestlers safer generally than alot of indie wrestlers. For the simple reasons that because we are constantly drilling big moves ,big spots, bumping on harder surfaces. we know how to take alot more high risk stuff than the average pro.

In pro wrestling I have had two friends break there necks in the past year, one is permanently paralysed from the neck down. In BYW I have not seen any major injuries.

The opinion of the average promoter/pro wrestler is backyarder= untrained idiot messing about in the garden, however there is a much more sophisticated culture taking place.

WrestlingAGW;


You know you hit the nail on the head here. However, Its sad when you see a lot of backyarders hyped up to go pro and realize at its core its a scam.

As a Promoter; I know first hand after I left BYW how it works and how people are treated. Its a wake up call and often why backyards stay at home and not go pro. In pro you are trained to not acknowledge backyard wrestling, that they are called "Yard-Tards" and do whatever it took to ban and hurt them in a ring. Yeah; I heard from other promoters they would get backyarders in there and hurt them.

Training Schools are a joke. Pay your trainers apartment rent for six months and 25 pizzas to order for the year. If you complete you get a handshake and that's it. Nothing to hang up on a wall; no accreditation; just simply a thank you.


And about that mask, you should never be ashamed of where you got your start. Remember, BYW is a home away from home.

RexRansome wrote:

And about that mask, you should never be ashamed of where you got your start. Remember, BYW is a home away from home.

amen 2 that