Mike Quackenbush as an All-Timer

Quack

Mike Quackenbush is Chikara's elder statesman. Along with Reckless Youth, he founded the Wrestle Factory and the fed itself back in 2002, and has both trained wrestlers for and competed in the American lucha libre fed since its inception. While he may not be a household name, he's definitely one of the most important figures in indie wrestling in the last decade. It's hard to think of anyone who's meant as much to a fed as Quack has meant to Chikara, and he definitely deserves mention as one of the most influential indie wrestling figures of that time period. However, what about overall, all-time? I know it sounds asinine, but give it consideration.

With the boom in the indies, a whole new generation of wrestlers have come up making waves in feds that don't have the initials WWE, TNA, WCW or ECW (the last of which was the king of indies) and a new generation of wrestling fans has been raised into thinking that what happens in these small arenas, bingo halls, VFWs and community centers isn't just a bunch of has-beens and never-will-bes spinning wheels and getting nowhere. Real, tangible influence comes from feds like ROH, PWG and yes, Chikara.

That's why when you look at guys who are influential in wrestling nowadays, you can't just stop at the WWE or TNA. The indies may not draw as much as the big-time feds, but they do create awareness for the stars of tomorrow as well as provide templates for future successes in bigger feds. So that's where Quack's argument comes in. He's been booking one of the most cutting-edge feds in the US for nine years now, and guys who've come through his promotion have moved on, bringing ideas with them. Not to mention, he's one of the best wrestlers on the scene right now and has been for awhile.

Then again, Chikara really hasn't started drawing on a serious level in the indies even until now, and of all the Chikara alums out there, it can be argued that only Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli have really moved onto bigger and better things in the indies. Plus, as I've said before, Quack isn't the main attraction when it comes to a Chikara card, it's a team effort. He's just the sensei.

Yeah, it's a flimsy argument, but at the same time, I don't think Quack deserves his day in the sun, some credit for surviving on a scene that can swallow feds up and spit them out. I don't think he's a guy you put in the top 50 all-time, but if you're talking about a guy who's an important figure on the wrestling scene today, he's definitely one of the heavy-hitters.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

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