Editing Independent circuit (section)

===United Kingdom===
{{see also|Professional wrestling promotions in the United Kingdom}}
For most of the years of [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]'s coverage of British Wrestling, the dominant promoter in the United Kingdom was the [[Joint Promotions]] cartel, which was originally modelled on the NWA and later amalgamated into a single company. Nonetheless, throughout this period, untelevised alternative promotions flourished with at least one significant competitor to Joint for live shows.

Initially the main rival was the former dominant promotion in the territory, [[Atholl Oakley]]'s BWA. By the time of its demise, wrestler/promoter Paul Lincoln had established himself as a major promoter with shows featuring himself as headline heel. In 1958, when [[Bert Assirati]] was stripped of the [[British Heavyweight Championship]], Lincoln formed the BWF alliance of promoters to support Assirati's claim, later recognising [[Shirley Crabtree]] as champion. Lincoln's BWF was eventually bought out into Joint in 1970.

Welsh promoter [[Orig Williams]] also used the BWF name, promoting from the late 1960s up until the early 2000s and then sporadically until his death in 2009. From 1982 to 1995, Williams had a Welsh language TV wrestling show "Reslo" on S4C. Brian Dixon, a referee for Williams, set up his own company Wrestling Enterprises of [[Birkenhead]] later renamed [[All Star Wrestling]] {{circa|1984}}. An alliance with promoter and former top star [[Jackie Pallo]] failed to prevent Joint gaining a five-year extension on its TV wrestling monopoly from January 1982 to December 1986.

However, by the mid-1980s Dixon had won over many wrestlers and fans from Joint who were tired of the [[Shirley Crabtree|Big Daddy]]-orientated direction of Joint. Eventually this culminated in All Star gaining a TV show on satellite channel [[Screensport]] and later, a slice of ITV's coverage from 1987 until the end of ITV wrestling in 1988. By the end of this period, All Star had effectively replaced Joint (by now owned by [[Max Crabtree]], brother of Shirley) as the dominant promotion in the UK.

Joint, renamed Ring Wrestling Stars in 1991, dwindled down before closing with Crabtree's retirement in 1995, All Star has continued to be the dominant non-import live promotion in the UK up to the present day. Its principal competitors since that time have been Scott Conway's TWA, John Freemantle's Premier Promotions, RBW and LDN Wrestling. Since the 1990s there have also been numerous American-style "New School" promotions.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:85%;"
|+Top 10 most-attended shows
! No.
! Promoter
! Event
! Location
! Venue
! Attendance
! class=unsortable|Main Event(s)
! class=unsortable|
|-
| 1.
| {{center|[[Insane Championship Wrestling|ICW]]}}
| [[ICW Fear & Loathing IX|Fear & Loathing IX]] <br> {{dts|2016-11-20}}
| [[Glasgow, Scotland]]
| [[The SSE Hydro]]
| 6,193
| | Joe Coffey vs. Kurt Angle
| <ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=November 28, 2016 |title=WWE Survivor Series review, Goldbergagrees to more matches, more |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=Insane Championship Wrestling of Glasgow, Scotland ran the biggest show in its history, a card they had promoted for one year on 11/20 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. They drew 6,193 fans paid, a number probably hurt because WWE ran two television tapings in the same building, a Raw that sold out with 11,000 and a Smackdown that did 10,800, just two weeks earlier. It was the largest crowd for a U.K. based promotion since the Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks match at Wembley Arena in 1981. It was larger than any TNA crowd in the U.K. since 2012 (when they drew 7,000 at Wembley) and TNA has had weekly television in the market since 2007 while ICW has no television in the U.K. Last year they ran at the smaller SECC Arena and sold it out with just under 4,000.}}</ref>
|-
| 2.
| {{center|[[Progress Wrestling|PROGRESS]]}}
| [[PROGRESS Chapter 76: Hello Wembley!]] <br> {{dts|2018-09-30}}
| [[London, England]]
| [[Wembley Arena|SSE Wembley Arena]]
| 4,750
| | WALTER (c) vs. Tyler Bate for the PROGRESS World Championship
| <ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=October 8, 2018 |title=Massive UFC 229 expectations, plus tons of news |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=Progress Wrestling ran its biggest show in its history, “Hello Wembley,” on 9/30 at Wembley Arena, drawing 4,750 fans, the largest crowd for a U.K.-based promotion in England since the 1981 Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks match that drew 7,000 fans.}}</ref>
|-
| 3.
| {{center|[[Insane Championship Wrestling|ICW]]}}
| [[Fear & Loathing X]] <br> {{dts|2017-11-19}}
| [[Glasgow, Scotland]]
| [[The SSE Hydro]]
| 4,500
| | Joe Coffey (c-WHC) vs. BT Gunn (c-ZGC) in a Champion vs. Champion match for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship and ICW Zero G Championship
| 
|-
| 4.
| {{center|[[Revolution Pro Wrestling|RevPro]]}}
| [[RevPro 11th Anniversary Show]] <br> {{dts|2023-08-26}}
| [[London, England]]
| [[Copper Box Arena]]
| 4,072
| | [[Will Ospreay]] vs. [[Shingo Takagi]]
| 
|-
|rowspan=2|5.
|bgcolor=lightgrey|{{center|[[Preston City Wrestling|PCW]]}}
|bgcolor=lightgrey|[[PCW Tribute to the Troops|Tribute to the Troops]] <br> {{dts|2014-06-28}}
|bgcolor=lightgrey|[[Preston, Lancashire|Preston, England]]
|bgcolor=lightgrey|Harris Flights
|rowspan=2|4,000 
|bgcolor=lightgrey|Joey Hayes (c) vs. Carlito for the PCW Heavyweight Championship
|bgcolor=lightgrey|<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=July 6, 2014 |title=SummerSlam card, fall WWE direction, Jericho's return notes, What will take for Rock to return next year, PEDs in MMA, wrestling, reality of drug testing, TNA in New York and explaining TNA/Japan deal |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=Preston City Wrestling in England ran an outdoor show on 6/28 as part of Armed Forces day as a Tribute to the Troops show. It was a free show that drew just under 4,000 fans. Both the Mayor of Preston and his wife attended and were in the front row. Carlito and Chris Masters were the Americans brought in as guest stars.}}</ref>
|-
| {{center|[[Insane Championship Wrestling|ICW]]}}
| [[Fear & Loathing VIII]] <br> {{dts|2015-11-15}}
| [[Glasgow, Scotland]]
| [[Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre]]
| | Drew Galloway (c) vs. Grado for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship
| <ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=November 23, 2015 |title=Holm defeats Rousey, Nick Bockwinkel passes away, more |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=The Insane Championship Wrestling show on 11/15 at the SECC in Glasgow, Scotland, drew a sellout of 4,000 fans, which as noted, was the biggest crowd for a U.K. based promotion since 1982. ICW has been packing 1,500 seat buildings regularly, particularly after a BBC piece made a cult hero out of Grado.}}</ref>
|-
| 6.
| {{center|[[The Wrestling Channel|TWC]] / [[Frontier Wrestling Alliance|FWA]]}}
| [[International Showdown]] <br> {{dts|2005-03-19}}
| [[Coventry, England]]
| [[Coventry Skydome]]
| 3,400
| | Christopher Daniels (c) vs. AJ Styles for the TNA X-Division Championship
| 
|-
| 7.
| {{center|[[Revolution Pro Wrestling|RevPro]] / [[New Japan Pro Wrestling|NJPW]]}}
| [[Strong Style Evolved UK]] (Day 2) <br> {{dts|2008-07-01}}
| [[Manchester, England]]
| [[Silver Blades Altrincham]]
| 3,000
| | Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki for the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship
| 
|-
| 8.
| {{center|[[Revolution Pro Wrestling|RevPro]] / [[New Japan Pro Wrestling|NJPW]]}}
| [[Strong Style Evolved UK]] (Day 1) <br> {{dts|2018-06-30}}
| [[Milton Keynes, England]]
| [[Planet Ice Milton Keynes]]
| 2,546
| | Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr.) (c) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii) for the RevPro Undisputed British Tag Team Championship
| <ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=July 9, 2018 |title=Death of Matt Cappotelli |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=The first show of the U.K. bouts with Revolution Pro was 6/30 in Milton Keynes, before a sellout of 2,546 fans. [...] Main event saw Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii to retain the British tag team titles.}}</ref>
|-
| 9.
| {{center|[[WhatCulture Pro Wrestling|WCPW]]}}
| [[True Legacy]] <br> {{dts|2016-10-08}}
| [[Manchester, England]]
| [[Silver Blades Altrincham]]
| 2,500+<ref group=Note name=Disputed-2500to2600>There are different reports on the attendance of True Legacy with numbers ranging from 2,500 to 2,600.</ref>
| | Kurt Angle vs. Cody Rhodes
| <ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=October 17, 2016 |title=Goldberg returning to face Brock Lesnar, tons more |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=The WCPW show on 10/8 in Manchester, on the same night as the UFC show (although this ended long before UFC started) drew 2,500 for a show headlined by Kurt Angle vs. Cody Rhodes. The crowd was very hot for the short main event that ended with Angle winning via ankle lock.}}</ref>
|-
| 10.
| {{center|[[Progress Wrestling|PROGRESS]]}}
| [[PROGRESS Chapter 36: We're Gonna Need A Bigger Room... Again]] <br> {{dts|2016-09-25}}
| [[London, England]]
| [[O2 Academy Brixton]]
| 2,400
| | Marty Scurll (c) vs. Mark Haskins vs. Tommy End in a Three-Way Dance for the PROGRESS World Championship
| <ref>{{cite magazine |last=Meltzer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Meltzer |date=October 3, 2016 |title=TNA at a crossroads, WWE Clash of Champions review, more |magazine=[[Wrestling Observer Newsletter]] |location=Campbell, California |publisher= |access-date= |quote=Progress Wrestling ran its biggest event to date on 9/25, drawing 2,400 fans to the Brixton Academy in London. We’re told this was the biggest crowd for a U.K. promotion in England since 1981.}}</ref>
|}