While WWE is the pinnacle of professional wrestling, its product is mainly focused on casual fans rather than die-hards. That's where independent wrestling comes in. Independent wrestling promotions aren't popular on a global scale but they do a lot of the things better than WWE. Because of the independent circuit, fans have seen wrestlers such Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and Becky Lynch pave their way to WWE.

RELATED: 5 Successful Wrestling Promotions Outside Of WWE (& 5 That Flopped)

While some fans that watch WWE also enjoy independent wrestling shows, a lot of them don't because of the difference between these two domains of wrestling.

10 Different: Indies Focus More On Providing Great Matches

best indy matches

One of the reasons why fans enjoy independent wrestling is because of the quality of matches. WWE does a lot of unnecessary things booking-wise that don't make sense most of the time but the independent wrestling circuit focuses more on the in-ring product than anything else.

The WWE style of wrestling is generally safe and more formulaic than the indies. But independent wrestlers tend to be more technical and athletic because otherwise fans wouldn't pay to watch them.

9 Same: A Loyal Fan Base

wwe-fans

Even though WWE hasn't been great in a long time, fans still care about the product. That's because they are loyal towards the company and really want it do to better.

The same can be said for any type of fandom in the world. Each cares about something and devotes most of their time to it. And just like WWE, many wrestling fans are particularly interested in independent promotions and wrestlers because that's what they care about the most.

8 Different: Full Creative Control To Wrestlers

indy wrestling matches

WWE doesn't really provide creative control to any wrestler except for a few major names. And in the past few months, a lot of the superstars have WWE willingly because of how the company mishandled their character.

RELATED: WWE: 10 Potential Top Stars They Mishandled

But in the indies, wrestlers are free to do whatever they want to do with their character. They can make changes to their gimmick at any time they want without waiting for getting approval from someone.

7 Same: Card Subject To Change

Keith Lee and Randy Orton Staring

WWE is quite notorious for using false advertising to hype up an event or a PPV. While it's understandable when the card changed due to an unexpected injury or some other critical issue, fans don't like when it's a planned change.

Independent wrestling promotions aren't too different than WWE in this regard. The promoters may not do false advertising, but injuries, pay issues and other factors can change the card at any point. For instance, if a wrestler doesn't like to work with or job to a wrestler, they might even no show the event, although at a potentially significant cost.

6 Different: Matches Don't End The Same Way

indpendent wrestling more kickouts

A typical WWE match would see a heel beatdown the face wrestler, almost win the match before a kick out happens. Then that wrestler would look at the crowd, generate powers magically, perform his signature moves and then win. That's the story of (almost) every WWE match right there.

Indie wrestling is better at this because again, their main audience is only a handful of people that attend the shows. Many wrestlers also get very creative in their matches and do impressive spots there.

5 Same: Hard To Manage Work-Life Balance

travel wwe

Although WWE wrestlers typically earn more in the company than they would while working in the indies, they also have a difficult work-life balance like many other free agents.

Independent promotions don't typically pay too much to wrestlers and to make ends meet, many wrestlers work almost every day of the week.

4 The Indies: Some Promotions Have An Unsafe Environment

unsafe wrestling

While a lot of the fans don't usually the style of wrestling they see on WWE programming, it's actually great for the wrestlers. There are reasons why certain moves are banned in WWE. They can't be used by wrestlers because they are more dangerous than other maneuvers and can do serious damages to wrestlers if done incorrectly.

But in the independent circuit, wrestlers give their all to impress the crowd. Sometimes, that involved taking huge risks that aren't really worth it.

3 Same: Demand For The Hottest Free Agent

Brock Lesnar

It's safe to say that WWE often relies on past superstars too much to promote their shows sometimes, but it's also true that they care about the future. WWE invests a ton of time and resources scouting the best talent in the world they could hire.

Independent promotions don't have a huge fanbase and they constantly need to look for the hottest free agent they can afford to sell their shows. The demand is quite high and sometimes multiple promotions compete for the same talent.

2 The Indies: Insane Amount Of Kick Outs/No Selling

piledriver

Independent wrestlers tend to kick out more than WWE superstars. The crazier part is that these wrestlers often completely no sell moves that are deemed dangerous in the WWE world. Even a piledriver on an apron can get kicked out on one, and that's very normal in some indy promotions.

RELATED: 10 Times WWE Superstars No-Sold Their Opponent's Moves, Ranked

But doing that in WWE would get a wrestler an insane amount of heat from the wrestling fans as well as from the higher-ups (if that's unscripted).

1 Same: Wrestlers Are Independent Contractors

ricochet wwe

WWE wrestlers aren't employees and thus, they don't get employee benefits. Quite a few have even spoken about this in the past and some have even filed lawsuits against the company for this very reason. But every time, WWE managed to escape the situation.

But independent promotions aren't too different in this case. Just like WWE, indie wrestlers often only work as freelancers and are considered independent contractors.

NEXT: 5 Ways WWE Has Changed For The Better Since The Attitude Era (& 5 Ways It's Worse)