You guys should really give DPW a chance

Seriously, man. I'm not affiliated with the boys, I'm a writer that is completely uninvolved in the wrestling industry though I did train and wrestle locally for a little while when I was younger. But unfiltered rant incoming:

DPW is fucking awesome. I used to be indied out crazy, but not since the early-mid 2010s too much besides some british wrestling stuff. But when it came to DPW, up until recently the only stuff I'd watched was some of their initial Fire episodes when they first dropped them and although it was really cool to see the boys realize their dream, those first handful of shows were (lovingly) a bit of a mess. On a whim the other night, however, I decided to slap on Super Battle since I saw Jake Something was on it and I just think that boy's a goddamn monster

Night and fucking day from their first shows. I know it's a common comparison, but the production quality, the stylization of everything, the commentary, the pacing of the matches, the video packages, even the lighting makes the whole thing feel like an evolution of early ROH and a lot of principles taken from ECW to boot (I'd also say it feels reminiscent of early PROGRESS? but if I recall, the boys don't care much for britwres, so I'm not sure if that's an influence or not. Damn shame if so, I highly recommend early PROGRESS overall even if it does have a lot of talent that, er, didn't age well let's say; that's wrestling for you unfortunately)

They've got the vibe of being your favorite indie wrestler's favorite indie. Not every match or card of the few I've watched so far hits the same, but the highs are fuckin high, and it's clear how much of a vision they've got. Southern pro wrasslin-style booking mixed with the golden age of indies circa mid 2000s; and they're getting closer and closer to actualizing that style as time goes on from what I've seen of their catalogue I'm in the process of going back through

For new-ish fans like me, I'd recommend going out of your way to watch these matches from some of their recent-ish shows I've seen:

  • Violence is Forever vs Jake Something and Mike Bailey
  • Mike Bailey vs Titus Alexander
  • Roderick Strong vs Fuminori Abe
  • Jake Something vs Bryan Keith

TL;DR - just watch the fucking show, man