Is It Time to Start Taking the New York Wrestling Connection More Seriously?

Two NYWC Alumni
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Mikey Whipwreck will be best known in history as the ultimate underdog, the guy who among the "misfits" of ECW looked least like he should have been a professional wrestler and yet won every title the company had to offer to the rousing approval of ECW fans like me and everyone else who marked for the fed. That's a good way to be remembered, but I don't think he wants to be a one-trick pony. After his time in the spotlight was over, he turned to sharing his knowledge about pro wrestling with the next generation of workers, becoming the primary trainer for the New York Wrestling Connection. What is that, you say? Well, it's an indie fed based in New York. This is fed that I've only heard of in the last year or so, mainly because Whipwreck was gracious enough to accept my friend request on Facebook, but my eyes were opened to what this fed was all about not through anything I've seen from their shows, but what I've seen in the WWE. Just look at this preliminary list of guys that Whipwreck's fed has produced:

Mike Mondo
Trent Barretta
Curt Hawkins
Zack Ryder (WWWYKI)
Matt Striker...

...okay, four out of five ain't bad. Either way, while they haven't achieved all that much in terms of star power or titles in the WWE, it's hard to deny the talent and potential in those NYWC alumni, especially that of Ryder, whom I think has a main event ceiling at best and a career midcard stalwart at the very least if they stop pussyfooting around with him. That amount of talent from a fed that really isn't on the radar as much as other indies are is not trivial. It proves to me two things.

1 - Whipwreck is one of the best under-the-radar trainers in the business

and

2 - There's more out there than ROH, PWG, Chikara and the other more visible indie feds.

Well, it proves three things, the third being that I should probably watch more NYWC, especially since they also get name special guest talent like Bryan Danielson, who didn't work for ROH when he was on forced sabbatical. But he worked for NYWC. Maybe he's onto something.

Of course, that isn't to say that NYWC is all great workers and cool personalities. Then again, not even ROH or Chikara has primo workers going for them all the time. The point is that Whipwreck runs a tight ship and it's something worth checking out, especially if you want to check out guys who have WWE futures. It's also that you don't need to have the name indie talents in your fed for it to be worth checking out. We've seen this with CLASH in Michigan and now NYWC in New York. Wrestling is wrestling, and odds are, what you find at your local VFW or fairground, regardless of what name talent is going to be there, will be at least better than your average episode of Impact.

Still, not all indie feds are created equal, and maybe the NYWC is one of those feds that's a bit more equal than the others. As long as Whipwreck, who's having health issues and for whom I wish a speedy and complete recovery, keeps producing them, NYWC will be a place to watch.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!