Photo courtesy of Powerbomb.TV.

By Nicholas Jason Lopez

May 15, 1999 was a historical day for independent wrestling as the former ECW Arena hosted an event called “Break The Barrier.”

BTB I was put together by Al Isaacs, Remy Arteaga and Barbi Bistrowitz of “Scoopswrestling.com,” as a way to showcase the best independent wrestlers as the card represented 12 different promotions.

Talent like “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush, Lou Marconi, Joey Matthews, Christian York and Nick Gage appeared and made names for themselves.

History repeated itself this year on Jun. 11 in Old Forge, PA., as Powerbomb.TV – a streaming service that provides 267 hours of content from 41 promotions as of press time – hosted “Break The Barrier 2017” in a similar supercard that included the likes of Colt Cabana, John Silver, Dasher Hatfield, Ophidian and Desean Pratt.

With Bryce Remsburg back and forth between commentary, pre-show duties and officiating, the broadcast had a CHIKARA-esque feel with a logical edginess.

Without much further ado, we’ll assess just how “Broken” this “Barrier” was nowadays.

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