All wrestling fans should be watching Beyond Wrestling’s Uncharted Territory

Beyond Wrestling’s Uncharted Territory delivers two live hours of wrestling every week. Here’s why fans of other promotions should give it a chance.

Even if the only professional wrestling you watch is WWE-owned product, you’re still quite aware that there is a whole world of pro wrestling to consume. From IMPACT, to New Japan, from Ring of Honor to various indie promotions (not to mention All Elite Wrestling, whose weekly television programming begins in the fall), pro wrestling is more varied and wide-ranging than ever.

Streaming, in particular, is allowing fans access to promotions from all around the world and wrestlers who would ply their trade in obscurity just a decade ago can now find a larger audience and fanbase.

One boon for fans has been Independent Wrestling TV, a streaming service with a monthly subscription that has partnered with over 130 different promotions and offers current shows, live shows and a massive archive. One of its partners is Beyond Wrestling, a 10-year-old promotion based out of Massachusetts.

Beyond does something no other promotion outside of WWE is doing right now: Run live, weekly, episodic wrestling shows. That show, Uncharted Territory, is now 10 episodes into a 20-episode first-season run and airs live on IWTV (as well as Fite.tv) on Wednesday nights. The two-hour show features some of the better-known names on the independent circuit and some newer faces getting a chance at appearing in front of a broader audience.

And it’s not just live wrestling — it’s good live wrestling. And that’s not the only reason why any fan of professional wrestling should be watching, though it’s a big one.

New, exciting talent

Thanks to social media, YouTube, the myriad shows that run alongside major WWE events like WrestleMania and also to an extent, AEW (and the pre-AEW All In event last September), there are many names on the independent wrestling scene that are becoming more familiar. Joey Janela, Joey Ryan, Jordynne Grace, Orange Cassidy, MJF and Kylie Rae are just a handful of the stars or stars-in-the-making because of the ability for more eyes to get on more pro wrestling.

But even if their names are familiar, maybe their work isn’t — perhaps it’s just limited to the occasional match watched on YouTube or highlights seen via gif. Uncharted Territory does a great job of mixing in their homegrown talent, the bigger names on the independent scene and lesser-known up-and-comers.

It’s a who’s who: Chris Dickinson, Solo Darling, Kris Statlander, the tag teams of Bear Country and Butcher and the Blade, Anthony Greene, Tom Lawlor, the six others mentioned above — they’ve all been on the show, often multiple times, and have created stories and not just had matches without reason or build. The notable names who have appeared in the last 10 episodes is impressive.

Perhaps the breakout star of Uncharted Territory thus far is Thomas Santell. Dubbed “The Ovaltine Dream,” this George McFly-adjacent character arrived on the fifth episode of the show as the next opponent for LD Mantis Montesanti in the Discovery Gauntlet (a weekly survivor gauntlet aimed at introducing newer or lesser-known talent). Santell, a ground-grappler with a throwback in-ring style that compliments his look, snagged the win and is on a six-match streak. But even more impressively is how he has won over the live crowd.

Beyond has done a great job establishing characters, their motivations and why fans should care about them and their matches. It’s the essence of running a pro wrestling promotion, especially one with weekly, episodic television, and Beyond knows this and accomplishes it. These aren’t just wrestling matches — it’s a wrestling show. And it’s one that has something for everyone, because Uncharted Territory introduces viewers to a variety of talents who display a variety of in-ring styles.

It’s a pioneer

Live wrestling has long been the domain of the WWE on television and for other small-but-large promotions when it comes to pay-per-view or streaming special events. But Beyond Wrestling is set apart by running a live, two-hour show every week. No other promotion has attempted this in a long time, and only WWE does it at present. While Uncharted Territory is not on television proper, it’s as easy to watch, and, with an IWTV subscription, as affordable as a monthly subscription to the WWE Network.

There is a lot to streaming live on a weekly basis. There are numerous logistical concerns, ranging from talent travel to actually getting started on time (not always easy, if you’ve ever attended an indie wrestling event) to having audio and lights working correctly to a fast internet connection working reliably. Beyond has managed to get their production off smoothly.

Additionally, while there are promos which help tie things together and explain wrestlers’ motivations, most of the storytelling happens in the ring. Most everything gets settled by way of wrestling match. While this is also a quirk of the production limitations — this isn’t a WWE-sized group of audio-visual professionals and so on — it also makes sure that wrestling is centered on the wrestling show, which differentiates it from WWE’s product as well as most of the other televised pro wrestling available.

It’s a fun setting

Uncharted Territory has a fixed venue, Electric Haze in Worcester, Massachusetts. It’s not large — it’s essentially a bar that has room to be a live event venue, in this case enough space for a wrestling ring and spectators — but the intimate setting benefits the show. The crowd is enthusiastic and clearly knowledgable about Beyond but also the independent wrestling scene. For a Wednesday night, Beyond attracts a good crowd — over 200 for Episode 10 and an average of 160 per week — and they are vocal.

It’s an NSFW kind of show, but not in an off-putting way. This isn’t the ECW Arena circa 1996. And it’s not the ongoing state of affairs through all two hours. The crowd knows how to respond appropriately to the talent in the ring — Santell and Janela, for example, get very different treatments.

For fans of pro wrestling, Beyond Wrestling’s Uncharted Territory is doing something new, fresh and frankly, fun, which makes it worth checking out. Expanding one’s pro wrestling horizons is never a bad idea, and with so many alternatives to the mainstream, WWE product available, why not take advantage of resources like IWTV and branch out?