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In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indy circuit refers to the many independent promotions which are much smaller than major televised promotions, particularly WWE and TNA. Specific promotions on the independent circuit are referred to as indy promotions or indies. A wrestler is said to be in the indies or working the indies if he or she is wrestling in one of the independent promotions, or working the indy circuit if he or she is performing in different independent promotions. (For most wrestlers who have previously worked in a major nationally televised promotion, this is considered a step backward in their careers.)

Although the following paragraphs describe the system used in North America, the basic concepts can be applied to independent promotions elsewhere.

Independent promotions are usually regional in focus and, lacking national TV contracts, are dependent on revenue from house show attendance. Due to their lower budgets, most independent promotions offer low salaries (it is not unusual for a wrestler to be paid only $5 to $20 per match). Most cannot afford to regularly rent large venues, and would not be able to attract a large enough crowd to fill such a venue, so they have to make use of any open space (such as fields, ballrooms, or gymnasiums) to put on their performances. Some independent promotions are attached to professional wrestling schools, serving as a venue for students to gain experience in front of an audience.

As independent matches are usually not televised, indy wrestlers who have not already gained recognition in other promotions tend to remain in obscurity. However, scouts from major promotions attend indy shows, and an indy wrestler who makes a good impression may be offered a developmental contract. The advent of the Internet has allowed independent wrestlers and promotions to reach a wider audience, and it is possible for wrestlers regularly working the indy circuit to gain some small measure of fame among wrestling fans online. Additionally, some of the more successful indies have video distribution deals, giving them an additional source of income and allowing them to reach a larger audience outside of their local areas.

A few independent promotions have become major forces in the wrestling business. WWE, originally the World Wide Wrestling Federation, was an independent after breaking off from the National Wrestling Alliance; it eventually became the dominant pro wrestling organization in the USA. More recently, TNA, originally labelled NWA:TNA, has (like many other major promotions through the years) distanced itself from the National Wrestling Alliance; with a national TV deal, a video game deal with Midway Games, DVD distribution and so forth, it has grown beyond independent status. Some of the more well known indy promotions today in the USA include Ring of Honor, Memphis Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, Deep South Wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

Although most promotions try and adhere to a high standard of wrestling integrity, independent promotions are also the most likely places to find outrageous matches involving hardcore wrestling with sharp or dangerous implements. Since the indy wrestlers are not on TV, there are usually no restrictions on what they can say and do during matches.

In Mexico and Japan, which have recognized major circuits, the concept of independent circuits also exists. The reliance on major promotions to acquire talent from them, however, varies widely from each other and from the North American system.

Lucha Libre has many more independent promotions in proportion than North America, because of the weight classes prevalent in the Mexican league system; just about anyone with ability can emerge from an independent promotion into either Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and be a champion there. Independent Mexican wrestlers may use a lot of gimmicks, including some that may be based on copyrighted characters from American television shows, such as Thundercats and X-Men. (These gimmicks are often changed if the wrestler playing them makes it into AAA or CMLL; the most prominent example of non-compliance with this method is midget wrestler Chucky from AAA, whose gimmick is based on the Child's Play movie.)

Until 1984, no independent puroresu promotion per se existed in Japan; potential talent went directly into the training dojos of either New Japan Pro Wrestling or All Japan Pro Wrestling. (International Pro Wrestling also was a third-party promotion until 1981.) The advent of the Japanese UWF offered a long-sought third alternative. From 1986 to 1988 the Japanese system went back to the two-promotion system, but then the UWF was reformed and another promotion Pioneer Senshi, was started.

Because of Japanese societal mores which implied that a wrestler was a lifelong employee of a company and thus identified with it wherever he went, neither AJPW nor NJPW made an effort to acquire wrestlers trained in other promotions; wrestlers from the major promotions who left, such as Genichiro Tenryu, Gran Hamada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Atsushi Onita, and Nobuhiko Takada had to start their own independent promotions in order to keep themselves in the limelight.

As the 1990s ended, though, things began to change. Independent promotions began gaining more prominence as they were featured in major specialized media such as Shukan Puroresu and Shukan Gong magazines. With the death of Giant Baba and retirement of Antonio Inoki, which effectively broke their control over the promotions they founded, the major promotions began looking to the smaller promotions for talent. In 2000, the first major signing from an independent, Minoru Tanaka by NJPW from BattlARTS, took place; pretty soon NJPW stocked the junior heavyweight division with independent talent such as Masayuki Naruse, Tiger Mask IV, Gedo, and Jado. On the same year, following the Pro Wrestling NOAH split, AJPW was forced to fill its ranks with independent talent; Nobutaka Araya, Shigeo Okumura and Mitsuya Nagai signed up (Araya is the only one who remains, but other signings since then have been Kaz Hayashi, Tomoaki Honma, Hideki Hosaka, and Ryuji Hijikata.) NOAH admitted one wrestler from the independents, Daisuke Ikeda, to its ranks as well (Ikeda has since left, but other wrestlers from the independents to be signed include Akitoshi Saito, Takahiro Suwa, and Taiji Ishimori). Although AJPW, NJPW, and NOAH remain committed to their dojos, the reliance on independents is growing as obscure talent is recognized for its ability.

• List of professional wrestling slang
• List of independent circuit, unaffiliated or retired wrestlers

• List of independent promotions
• AllIndyWrestling.com, a site dedicated to Indy Wrestling