Ever since XPW has arrived on the hot so-cal indy wrestling scene it has been met with much criticism from the die-hard so-cal fans of other indy feds. XPW has been called a wannabe garbage wrestling fed filled with “has beens” and “never wases”. On the message boards across the net, XPW has been basically turned into a taboo word. Any XPW fan that dares try to stick up and support the fed that has given him (and her) almost a year of entertainment is immediately hounded on by loyal supports of the other indy feds. Well I don’t know why people keep criticizing XPW like this; maybe it’s out of jealousy considering I believe XPW is probably the one fed in so-cal with the ability to make it to the playing field of the WWF. Now I know if you hate XPW and are reading this you’ll have a million and two reasons why I’m wrong and your right, but hear me out and then proceed to try and argue my logic.
First of all XPW is a better federation talent wise than most fans would like to believe. Go pick up a copy of XPW’s video “We wrestle”, as the title implies the video has some of the best WRESTLING matches you can see in any indy fed here in so-cal. Whether it’s lucha action or old school wrestling XPW has talent that can wrestle. Dynamite D is one of the best old school wrestlers in so-cal and he can carry any body through a great match. Pogo the clown is one of the most talented big men in so-cal who can move and wrestle like a lightweight. The Messiah is another guy who is as talented as you can get. I swear the comments that people have saying that no XPW star could ever make it big are totally false when you look at the Messiah. His matches with Sabu, his tremendous feud with Supreme and his early run with Johnny Webb have all been five star caliber. This man has a look, can cut a great promo and is just awesome in the ring. Of course we also have resident Lucha stars like Mexico’s Most Wanted (Damien 666 and Halloween) as well as Gurentai (Kikuzawa and Nosawa). Of course XPW is definitely not THE best indy fed on technical wrestling but it has a great all around roster and has show cased it on numerous cards.
Next XPW has the means to make a big impact on the wrestling scene because it has THE one thing that many indy feds are trying hard to hold onto and that is MONEY. The lack of money is what caused ECW to fall, regardless of its talented roster and die-hard fans. The lack of money is what also caused WCW to fold as well, besides really bad management. Without money a federation can NOT last and with money a fed can jump from being an indy to an established fed. Love him or hate him, Rob Black has money thanks to his dealings with the porno industry, and with this money Black has made many smart moves to establish XPW as a major force in the so-cal scene. First Rob Black used the same tactics that Eric Bischoff did to make WCW a force in the wrestling buisness, and that is sign talent away from other feds. Sabu, Shane Douglas and Chris Candido are just a few megastars that were taken away to give XPW star power. Next Rob Black made a huge TV deal giving XPW the ONLY indy-fed in so-cal with a weekly based TV show that can be seen all over so-cal. And finally with the money, Rob Black has been able to bring in huge talent that has helped elevate every show and more importantly put fans in the seats to watch them. The legendary Abdullah the Butcher, the King of Hardcore Terry Funk and New Jack are just a few stars that have graced the XPW scene…and I believe that more will follow.
In closing I love it how people say that XPW is just a garbage-wrestling league that won’t amount to anything. People scoff and say that XPW loves to push the envelope to far and have no decency with what they do. The Pogo gimmick, the Angel-Kraq gimmick, and the Cypher gimmick are just tasteless and don’t deserve to be in wrestling. Well why don’t we look back some nine odd years to when another fed was being criticized of the same thing. This fed was also accused of being just a garbage-wrestling league that could never hope to compete with the caliber of WCW or WWF. This fed was criticed for being too extreme and could never hope to get a TV deal with anyone. Well a few years later this small fed from Philly became the biggest thing in wrestling and a few more years later made itself the number three wrestling fed with it’s first PPV, Barely Legal. And it’s funny how this fed that everyone use to criticized has become the fed that most smart fans love the most, and yet those same smart fans make the same criticism toward XPW. There is an old saying, “History has a habit of repeating itself” and definitely XPW can do what ECW did. XPW has both the talent and the product to become the next big wrestling league out there and I wish people will just stop the criticizing and open up their eyes to realize it. Just maybe then they could enjoy what XPW offers and understand just how dominant XPW can be.
