The best route into Wrestling

"In today's wrestling world there are two major routes to the top. Either you bust your gut through the indies or catch a lucky break and get signed to a WWE developmental contract."

I know right, bold statement. But thats basically what Colt Cabana implied this week on his quite brilliant interview "show" on youtube. For those of you who missed it Colt's guest this week was none other than the Current Best in the World (IMO) Dolph Ziggler. After a very interesting and insightful interview Colt signed off by calling Dolph the greatest worker to ever have come through WWE development.

Again another bold statement.

But lets have a little look at this by analysing the four best workers in the WWE today. (Note: This column is going to focus on WWE because TNA isn't a major company)

The Indie Darlings

Let me start by looking at the Indie route. As of today the 4th March 2011 the two men currently on top of the wrestling world are CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. Who would have thought it a mere 6 months ago that going into the biggest event in the wrestling calender two men who bust their asses off in the indies would be our WWE and World Heavyweight champions? These two men honed their skills through years on the indie circuits, where lets be honest the pay isn't great. Both Punk and Bryan obviously have a great love of the business and this is something that is almost always found in any wrestlers who make their way to the big leagues from the indies. Where Punk and Bryan have managed to succeed where other indie darlings such as Colt Cabana failed is an interesting point. For my money it is because neither Punk nor Bryan are prepared to be second best. There characters in real life show this as well with both holding strong beliefs and neither backing down over something they believe in (Hey Chris Brown how you doing?).

Every wrestler who comes through the indies gets a different array of styles. Normally this is due to the particular federation they end up in. ROH focusses on technical wrestling, CZW on hardcore and AAA on high flying. Due to this the style that a wrestler coming through the indies develops is largely caused by the federations that they are signed to/perform for. For example a wrestler who appears in CZW more than AAA will develop a hardcore "stiff" style rather than a high-flying "luchadore" style. This can directly affect the impact that they are able to make in larger federations/companies. Obviously Punk and Bryan are exceptional examples of how far the indie route can take a wrestler but if nothing else they have proved that it is possible to rise through the indies to the top of the WWE.

The WWE Developmental Stars

So how to combat Punk and Bryan? Well with Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler of course. Arguably the greatest two wrestlers to have come out of WWE developmental. Both Orton and Ziggler were signed to WWE developmental contracts early on in their careers, obviously with Orton his name value had something to do with it but Dolph was a complete unknown. Any wrestler who is lucky enough to be signed to a WWEDev contract gets a very different education to that found in the indies. Learning to work the WWE style is one example as is the opportunity to be trained by some legends of the business.

Ziggler is a very interesting example as his love for the business is just as high as Punks so the two are quite easy to compare. Not only do both love the business they are also probably the two best workers around atm and infact I would argue that Ziggler is the better "seller" of the two. Dolph was trained by the team at FCW and OVW and inparticular Lance Storm. This is something that many indie stars can only dream of.

---

So lets compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two

Indie

Advantages:

Workers almost always have a love for the business
Allows for multiple styles to be incorporated by a wrestler (Including Japan/Mexico/British/European)
Creates many unique wrestlers

Disadvantages:

Lots of indie "darlings" turn out the same and bore the heck out of many fans - Eddie Edwards and Davie Richards I'm looking at you!
Wrestlers can get pigeon-holed into a style by a company - CZW inparticular do this


WWE Dev

Advantages:

Gives wrestlers to opportunity to learn from legends
Learn the WWE style giving them the best opportunity to succeed on a global level
Whilst in FCW Wrestlers can carve out their own niche in a stable environment


Disadvantages:

The signing of models/actors/bodybuilders who have little love for the business - For every Dolph Ziggler there is an Alicia Fox....
Working the WWE style means that uniqueness can be driven out

----

So which is better? Indie or WWE Dev? Well for my money WWE Dev has a lot going for it, wrestlers such as Ziggler, Orton, Cena and Miz all clearly have a love for the business and WWE Dev gave them their big shot and they ran with it. But for every one of these there are the likes of Ezekial Jackson, Eve Torres, Alicia Fox and The Great Khali who have the business being in the industry. The indie route on the other hand has given us Punk, Bryan and the future stars such as Chris Hero. But for each of these there are a ton of bland uninspiring wrestlers such as Eddie Edwards.

Which is best... putting my neck out I'd say WWE Dev but only just. However the best wrestlers in the future will surely have an indie background (or amateur background such as Dolph, Swagger and Angle) giving them the love of the business before they are signed to WWE Dev to hone their skills.




-----

So over to you, which do you believe is the best route into wrestling and which creates the better workers/superstars.

I'd say that probably the Indie route, although can make some wrestlings fans bored with styles of certain guys, can really help give guys an independent personality. Whereas the WWE have been successful with gimmicks that they have with guys like Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler, it has to be remembered that it has taken them at least two shots to get it right with both. You can then look at indie guys who often have good gimmicks to bring in, even if the WWE decides not to use them on occasions (Scotty Goldman ).

Overall, it shouldn't matter where you have come from as long as a love for the business is there.

Good article dude

Really enjoyable article. This is where the current systems, as you say, compare with the old 'territories' that produced Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, The Rockers... Any of the 'old' big names. By the time they reached the WWE/WCW, they already had developed characters and in ring skills.

The name that pops into my head for being the first of the 'new' routes is Chris Jericho, who worked a number of different styles all over the world and then came through the other 'big' companies before reaching WWF/E.

To answer your query, I agree with Cactus above that people from WWE Developmental usually take a few tries to find their gimmick, Ziggler being the prime example. This is a problem Mason Ryan currently has, and Brodus Clay.

With the success of Punk and Bryan, and people who have wrestled overseas such as Barrett and Sheamus, I think we'll see WWE starting to look to bring in more wrestlers in the next few years. The big names that have come through developmental are Cena, Orton, Lesnar, Batista... (and Goldberg in WCW). However they all broke through in the early/mid 2000s. So perhaps now WWE has some competition again from TNA, they are again looking beyond for new talent from existing companies. The new 'big' names lately have been, namely Punk, Bryan and Sheamus.