Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 6, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 6, 2013 No. 43: BT Gunn Score: 26 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=37th, 2011=29th, 2010=29th, 2009=30th, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: ??? Entrance theme: - HIM Photo credit - David J Wilson & PBWwrestling.com  One of Scottish wrestling's top established stars, BT Gunn is back for his fifth consecutive appearance in the UKFF UK50 rankings, though the pattern continues and he falls 6 places in the hierarchy this year. Tied on points with Sha Samuels, Gunn eventually gets the higher spot by virtue of having more individual 7th place votes (1 vs. 0).  As the PBW Heavyweight Champion since February 2011, the Coatbridge boy continued his dominance with successful defences against Joey Hayes & Kris Travis (on a WA1 show in Warrington) and TJ Rage, then overcame both Mikey Whiplash and Jack Jester in the three-way Ladder Match main event of 'Maximum Impact', PBW's biggest event of 2012. The relationship between Gunn and his belt couldn't quite make it to the 2-year mark, though, as 'Bad Boy' Liam Thomson finally brought the reign to a close in their headline bout of the November Dumbarton card. BT rounded off his Scottish 2012 with BCW's 'No Blood, No Sympathy X', facing Kid Fite, Noam Dar and Sean Maxer in a 4-way on Night One, then wrestling . 2013 started with Gunn forming the tag team of 'Just Uz' with Stevie Xavier and making a run for the doubles belts in both PBW and BCW. They defeated Red Lightning & Scott Maverick, Jack Jester & Switch and Project Ego on PBW shows to be recognised as top contenders; their shot at champions Blazin' Rampage coming at 'Breaking Limits 8' in May 2013. Though they were unsuccessful in that 3-way (also including Lightning & Maverick), they have kept the momentum going with wins over Maverick & Saqib Ali and Craig Damian & Dave Krycek. They didn't have to wait as long for their BCW challenge, facing champions Jester & Whiplash on both the February and March events but coming up short on each occasion. Then, in May, Just Uz beat Team GB (Zack Gibson & Sam Bailey) in Kilmarnock.  The most interesting situation occurred over in ICW. Gunn had lost his Heavyweight Title to the returning Red Lightning earlier in the year and then lost his rematch at 'Insane In The Membrane' when promoter Mark Dallas' attempt to go for chief adversary Lightning went awry and cost Gunn dear. From there, a disillusioned BT disappeared. His surprise return came when he hopped the barrier to seemingly come to the aid of long-time partner and friend Chris Renfrew, only to turn on Renfrew and attack him. A contract signing between the pair at 'Tramspotting' in Edinburgh ended with Gunn smashing Renfrew through a table and stabbing him in the head with a pair of scissors, an implement that would be Gunn's trademark from that point. Renfrew called Gunn out at 'Get To Da Choppa', but their resultant match that night ended before it started as every referee and official was taken out in the chaos of their hate-fuelled brawl. The pair were finally scheduled to settle their score once and for all in a 'Loser Leaves Town' match at 'Get Yer Rat Oot' in April, and when no ICW referee was willing to officiate the match after what happened the last time, Mark Dallas himself decided to take responsibility. Sure enough, Gunn and Renfrew engaged in brutal combat for over 20 minutes, with the scissors coming back into play. Finally, with a defenceless Gunn's hands cuffed behind his back and Renfrew poised ready with a kendo stick, Chris decided not to deliver the killer blow to his former best friend, having had his eyes opened by the war they had just gone through, and instead took out Mark Dallas. The match ended with no finish, other than the official reunion of the New Age Klique... In fact, the whole story from start to finish is quite excellently told in , which includes the climatic Loser Leaves Town bout. From there, the NAK terrorised Dallas, the female ring announcer and ICW wrestlers. The Gunn fell to NJPW's Prince Devitt at 'Reservoir Dogs' in May, but the NAK would enjoy the last laugh as they, joined by a new masked member, destroyed Devitt afterwards.  Elsewhere, Gunn made excursions to England for PCW, Target Wrestling and RAD:PRO, and featured in showcase bouts against top English talent for Pro Wrestling Elite in Ayr.  What did the UKFF think? "revitalised as a maniac Heel that has added a new edge to him"  "Heel turn in ICW has led to a fresh character and has moved down the card in PBW to form Just Uz with Stevei Xavier, which has allowed him to stay fresh after looking for a while like becoming stale because he was on almost every Scottish show"  "Fizzled out slightly after the interest WWE had in him but still feel he is one of the best talents in the UK today and one of few wrestlers who does not need to even open his mouth to have an in-ring aura about him. His skills alone garner the desired reaction from crowds, whether it's 18+ at ICW or kids at PBW" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 6, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 6, 2013 No. 42: Wild Boar Score: 27 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=33rd, 2011=30th, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @WILDBOARhitch Entrance theme: 'Wild Boar' - Duran Duran. Not really.  Photo credit - Tom Lancaster's WrestlingPhotos.co.uk  A busy year for Welshman Wild Boar, who has been in gainful employment across the West Midlands and the south west for promotions like ATTACK!, , Triple-X, AMP, CSF, Fight Club PRO, NLW and , but also seeing the odd trip to Scotland, Liverpool, the south-east and, erm, Spain. This is now his third time in the UKFF UK50, but he does slip down 9 places this year. Boar has squared off with old rival Mark Andrews, Pete Dunne, Mike Bird, Jeff Cornell and Tyler Bate for ATTACK!, and teamed with The Hunter Brothers in November to fight Andrews, Dunne and Damian Dunne for AMP. On the next show, he came out the winner of a four-way over Pete Dunne, Morgan Webster and well-travelled star Zack Sabre Jr. The next night, the former 'Flash The Gash' Fred Babestation then returned to AMP's sister promotion Triple-X Wrestling, entered as one of 10-men in the 'ClusterFuck II' rumble to crown a new TXW Champion. The ending saw Damned Nation member Majik take home the gold, but the night ended with Wild Boar becoming the newest member of the Nation. His new allegiance has since taken him into battle with Eddie Dennis and, most recently, hardcore legend Sabu.  Wild Boar was also part of the SWA/ZERO-1 link-up event in Glasgow last November, where he faced and was defeated by Liam Thomson. He would return to SWA ZERO-1 the following April, entered into the 2-night, 8-man tournament to crown a new Scottish Junior Heavyweight Champion. He beat Christopher Saynt in his opening round match, then won out over both Mark Andrews (him again!) and then Lewis Girvan in the semis and final respectively to make for a successful trip and take home the title.  Boar has also faced Andrews and Dunne in various combinations of 3-ways, 4-ways and tag team matches for Wiltshire's 4FW, engaged Trent Seven in a couple of contests for Wolverhampton's Fight Club PRO, clashed with Bubblegum in Liverpool's Infinite Promotions, tussled with Lord Jonathan Windsor in London's THIS IS PROGRESS and squared off with Will Ospreay for Kent's Revolution Pro Wrestling.  What did the UKFF think? "Great series on going withmastiff for fcp"  "if nothing else, I love his name!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_dezeeuw06 Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I think the person who said about Boars series in FCP must have meant Trent Seven rather than Dave Mastiff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 I now want to see Boar vs Mastiff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Up Chuck Posted September 7, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted September 7, 2013 BAD WALES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king_dezeeuw06 Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 There's some really good workers already mentioned and some good ones left off the list altogether. Just goes to show how strong the UK scene is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 7, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 7, 2013 No. 41: Jack Jester Score: 27 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=47th, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @GlasgowJester Entrance theme: - Psyko Dalek Photo Credit - David J Wilson & PBWwrestling.com  Another of the top names currently plying his trade all across Scotland, Glasgow's Jack Jester returns for his second ever UKFF UK50 ranking, managing to improve 6 places compared to last year. Jester was tied with Wild Boar on score and the total number of individual 1st, 2nd and 3rd place votes, but Jester gets the nod due to gaining more individual 4th place votes (2 vs. 0). As with many of the top Scottish stars, Jester can be seen in ICW, PBW, BCW and SWA.  In ICW, Jester fell to the cross-dressing Mikey Whiplash in a brutally hardcore Last Man Standing match to seemingly put an end their bloody near-year-long feud.... for a while. Jack moved on to battle The Official Community ('OfCom', a cheeky nod to the situation that got ICW's TV show removed from broadcast), including a 10-man tag at 'Super Smokin' Thunder Bowl' and was supposed to head over to Germany to compete in WXW's 'Gorefest' deathmatch tournament, but flight problems meant he turned up at 'Fear and Loathing V' instead to go . From there, it all kicked of with Whiplash again, as Jester stepped up to assist Grado in his own problems with Whiplash and sidekick Jam O'Malley. Jester & Grado won their tag match at 'Santa Gravy', but the feud continued and Jester & Kay Lee Ray next beat Whiplash & Carmel in an Inter-Gender Deathmatch in February. In March, Jester challenged Red Lightning for the ICW Heavyweight Title at 'Get To Da Choppa!'. Jester turned the bout into his trademark brawl, but was attacked once again by Whiplash, granting Lightning an easy win. Whiplash made it clear that his own intentions were for Lightning's title, and Jester moved onto a feud with the New Age Klique.  Contrary to ICW, elsewhere in Scotland a villainous Jester and Whiplash have actually made for a formidable team. They defeated T2K for the BCW Tag Team Championship on the first night of the 'No Blood, No Sympathy X' weekend (though it was a 2-on-1, Wolfgang going it alone in the absence of partner James Scott), then successfully defended their newly won gold the next night against the dream team of Grado & Eugene. The pairing have gone on to defend against Just Uz (BT Gunn & Stevie Xavier) twice, Chris Rampage & Kenny Williams and Joe Coffey & Wolfgang. They also moved over to SWA for a crack at becoming double tag champions, but fell to that promotion's champions The Masked Avengers (The Tornado & Robbie Solar) in March.  Over in PBW, Jester has teamed with Switch, Communist Kennedy and TJ Rage against various opponents, but also faced both BT Gunn and ICW rival Whiplash in the 3-way Ladder Match main event of the annual 'Maximum Impact' supershow. He also made a rare trip to England for the upstart HXC promotion, facing Jimmy Havoc in an 'Extreme Boards' match in Manchester.  What did the UKFF think? "I'm a big fan of character driven wrestlers and I'd take a Jack Jester over a Lance Storm any day of the week. Incredible heat in the family friendly companies like PBW and BCW but with a very strong face run in ICW"  "Has a slight edge over Jimmy Havoc in the hardcore stakes as he has a full persona to go along with it and doesn't solely rely on deathmatch wrestling"  "Has created an aura about himself as being a hardcore based wrestler bu can also go in the ring in terms of wrestling. Has a unique look which makes him stand out on any show and can play both face and heel to a tee" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobystag Posted September 7, 2013 Share Posted September 7, 2013 Still haven't seen Eddie Dennis, the Coffey brothers, Jester and Grado live so I'm going to have to make a point to see all 5 within this years voting period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 8, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 8, 2013 No. 40: Lionheart Score: 28 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=11th, 2011=17th, 2010=11th, 2009=15th, 2008=17th, 2007=21st, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @LionheartUK Entrance theme: - Scary Kids Scaring Kids Photo Credit - Preston City Wrestling  A 29-place fall in the rankings for the man recognised as Scotland's top wrestling star for the last few years. The latter half of 2012 saw him count down towards his retirement, stating he had gone as far as he could at this level after being passed over by WWE and TNA, but before that, he was a regular for PBW, BCW and ICW in Scotland, as well as PCW and SWE in England. he started the 2013 UKFF UK50 eligibility period as the BCW Heavyweight Champion and one half of the PBW Tag Team Champions with Wolfgang.  In the summer of 2012, Lionheart beat James Scott in a couple of matches for ICW, then headed to England for PCW's first anniversary event. There, he was part of the 4-way main event involving Dave Mastiff, former PW101 opponent Davey Richards and PCW Heavyweight Champion T-Bone. Lionheart came off the top rope with his frog splash finisher to win the contest and become the PCW champion for the first time. The glory only lasted a matter of minutes, however, as PCW's Money In The Bank-holder Kris Travis emerged for his shot, as he had actually promised to do on the previous show. The Lionheart vs. Travis wars are legendary in PCW, but this was a much quicker affair, over in seconds as Travis kicked him, pinned him and lifted the title. Lionheart teamed with BT Gunn to face both Travis & T-Bone in the tag headliner of the next show, picking up the victory after T-Bone turned heel on his partner.  Back up in Scotland, Lionheart & Falcon (standing in for Wolfgang) lost their PBW tag straps to Davey Blaze & Chris Rampage, but kept a firm hold on his BCW singles title in seeing off Mikey Whiplash. He beat Southport's CJ Banks on PBW's 'Maximum Impact' supercard, and made an unsuccessful attempt for the ICW Heavyweight Title at 'Fear & Loathing V'. That one was supposed to bring back the 4 former members of the heel Gold Label faction (Lionheart, Wolfgang, James Scott and ICW champ Red Lightning) to the ring , though Scott was replaced by Noam Dar due to injury. By now, it had become common knowledge that Lionheart intended to step away from the ring at the end of the year. He fell to T-Bone at PCW 'Invasion!' in November, an event featuring England vs. Scotland bouts, but returned at the end of the night to save Kris Travis, his biggest rival to date in the promotion, from an attack at the hands of fellow Scots Fight Club (Kid Fite & Liam Thomson). He , but also to confirm he would be facing Kris Travis one last time as part of his final appearances. From there, the countdown to retirement was on, as he had his emotional farewell appearance in each of his regular promotions. He was defeated by Noam Dar in PBW, and Wolfgang at ICW 'Santa Gravy', but managed to leave BCW still recognised as the Heavyweight Champion, besting Chris Masters and Andy Wild in separate defences over the 'No Blood, No Sympathy X' weekend in December. The very next day, it was down to Preston for his last matches. He was beaten by Kris Travis on the afternoon show, then lost to hand-picked opponent Joey Hayes as part of the 'Festive Fury Supershow'. , then walked away from the business... ...for a while, anyway. He made an unannounced appearance at the end of PCW's 'Road to Glory 2' weekend in February to endorse tournament winner Noam Dar, but also to mysteriously reveal Steven Fludder had made him an offer too good to turn down. That offer was revealed in April, when Lionheart made his return to the ring as the surprise 26th entrant in the 30-man 'Spring Slam' rumble. The contest came down to Lionheart and Joey Hayes, the man he had faced in his retirement match, with Lionheart throwing Hayes over to seemingly win the whole thing (making it official when he eliminated returning participant Dave Rayne, who had technically not been ousted earlier). With that, he disappeared again, seemingly content with this one-off last hurrah.  Lionheart returned to action in Scotland in June for the big 'Kelvin Brawl' supershow, beating Noam Dar in the process. Then, after the close of our 2013 eligibility period, he has since made yet another surprise unannounced return in PCW, emerging at the end of the Doug Williams vs. El Ligero 60-minute Iron Man Match, revealing that his rumble win had granted him a title shot that he was taking right there. Echoing what happened to him one year prior, he superkicked winner Doug Williams and pinned him in a mater of seconds to become the new PCW Heavyweight Champion. At the time of writing, he is due to appear on the October event to explain his actions...  What did the UKFF think? "A great all round talent who can talk and wrestle"  "Perhaps he should have been higher, but he gets points deducted from me for the whole "retirement" thing that went on at the end of last year. Taking a few months away from wrestling isn't retirement, it's taking a break. Never the less, he's a damn good wrestler"  "Still one of the best in the UK in my opinion. Has only worked a handful of times in the eligibility period but have all been stallar matches, especially his match with Wolfgang at ICW in December" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 12, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 12, 2013 No. 39: Will Ospreay Score: 30 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @WillOspreay  Photo credit - 'Big' Rob Brazier (visit robbrazierphoto.com)  Hailing from Rainham in Kent, Will Ospreay launches himself up to 39h position in our chart in his debut appearance in the UKFF UK50. A regular around the wrestling scene of south-east England, Ospreay has run the ropes for Lucha Britannia, Future Pro Wrestling, THIS IS PROGRESS, Revolution Pro Wrestling, IPW:UK, NWA-UK Hammerlock and RCWA. Will is also one half of the 'Swords of Essex' with Paul Robinson.  Will had made his debut for Islington's PROGRESS in June 2012 , but stepped into singles action when his partner was sidelined through injury. He faced 'White Lightning' Mark Andrews in an excellent match at 'Chapter Four: The Ballad of El Ligero' that November, but was beaten in their Natural Progression Series opening round contest. On the strength of that match, Ospreay challenged Andrews again at 'Chapter Seven' in May, with Andrews' NPS tournament spot on the line against Ospreay's career in PROGRESS. Another exciting, high-flying bout saw Andrews come out on top again and Will saying an unfortunate goodbye to the PROGRESS faithful. In IPW:UK, Ospreay fought Robinson, Ashley Reed and Mark Haskins . With IPW:UK officially splitting into two separate entities the following month, Will made his debut for the Revolution Pro Wrestling branch in February 2013 at 'No Holds Barred'. He defeated Welshman Wild Boar and was back for more in March, where he fell to Mark Haskins. As The Swords of Essex, Ospreay & Paul Robinson beat Terry Striker & The Warden for FPW in May, then beat The London Riots in RevPro a couple of weeks later to become top contenders to the British Tag Team Titles. Their shot at those belts came against Project Ego (Kris Travis & Martin Kirby) the following month at the big York Hall event headlined by Jushin Liger. In somewhat of an upset, Ospreay & Robinson beat ProEgo in a fun, fast-paced bout to claim the titles. Since the end of the 2013 eligibility period, Will has also been in contention for tag gold in other promotions. The Swords beat the Lords of the Ring (Sir Thomas Chamberlain & Master Joel Masters) in July to advance in the FPW Tag Team Title tournament, then Ospreay teamed with former WWE, ECW and AAA star Super Crazy as part of IPW:UK's 2013 'Extreme Measures' tournament, though on this occasion he . The pairing beat The Thrillers (Mark Haskins & Iestyn Rees) in the first round, but were eliminated from the 4-way second round match won by the Bhangra Knights (RJ Singh & Darrell Allen).  In Lucha Britannia, Ospreay plays and part of Santeria's Army of Darkness. In June 2013, Dark Britannico defeated Metallico to become the Lucha Britannia World Champion. As 'Will Ospreay', however, he has represented the London School of Lucha Libre in their new series of fun-filled afternoon events billed as 'IPW:UK vs. LSLL'. What did the UKFF think? "Great Highflyer who always puts in 110% effort. As previously stated his matches with Mark Andrew tore the roof off the Islington Garage truly a fantastic effort. His tag team with Paul Robinson is one to watch for the future currently the RevPro Tag Team Champions this team will only continue to do great things. What impressed me most about Osprey was the effort he put forward at IPW:UK vs LSLL despite the fact there couldn’t have been 30 people there Osprey wrestled like there was 30,000 displaying the exciting offence we have come to expect from him"  "Great matches with Mark Andrews at Progress and a some brilliant stuff with the Swords of Essex in FPW and RPW. Especially in the tag scene I think Ospreay will blossom even further next year" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Entrance theme: 'Wild Boar' - Duran Duran. Not really.[/size] Ravenhill wanted him to use that I think, haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 12, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 12, 2013 No. 38: Joe Coffey Score: 31 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @Joe_Coffey  Photo credit: David J Wilson & Insane Championship Wrestling  Finishing 11 places higher than brother Mark, Joe Coffey makes his first ever appearance in the UKFF UK50 at a respectable 38th. Like most of the stars of Scottish wrestling, Coffey can be seen across ICW, PBW, BCW, SWA, W3L. He held the SWA Laird of the Ring title for the entire 2013 UKFF UK50 eligibility period and in July 2012 headed to Japan for a tour with Pro Wrestling ZERO-1. Coffey also competed in Spain in April 2013 and is part of the riotous Save Pro Wrestling faction with Red Lightning and Mark in ICW.  The tag team exploits of The Coffey Brothers were covered in the write-up for Mark Coffey at #49, so I won't repeat myself here.  Joe made the trip to ZERO-1 in July 2012, and spent the next few months competing mainly in tag team and non-tournament matches as part of the annual 'Fire Festival' tour. Notable names you might recognise amongst those he competed against include Masato Tanaka, Shinjiro Otani, Kohei Sato, Ryoji Sai, Daichi Hashimoto and . He returned to British rings in November, falling to Dave Mastiff in an unremarkable match at Preston City Wrestling's 'Invasion!' and failing to unseat in Edinburgh. At 'Battlezone 2012', SWA's signature event of the year, Coffey retained his Laird of the Ring title over BT Gunn, Dickie Divers and Liam Thomson in a 4-way, then headed into BCW's big year-end 'No Blood, No Sympathy X' weekend for . Unfortunately, during the course of that match, Coffey suffered an injury to his Achilles tendon and was out of the ring until March 2013. Upon his return, Joe beat Jackie Polo, Robbie Solar, Mark Haskins and Christopher Saynt in bouts for SWA and Nathan Reynolds in W3L, but failed in his May attempts to overcome Wolfgang for the ICW Zero-G title (in a 3-way with Andy Wild) and Kid Fite for the BCW Heavyweight strap. Joe also failed in his June attempts to win the PBW Tag Team Titles from Blazin' Rampage (with Switch) and the BCW Tag Team Titles from Jack Jester & Mikey Whiplash (with Wolfgang).  What did the UKFF think? "Stint in Japan has matured him as a worker. Very believable charcter and again capabale of having a great match in either the family or 18+ environment" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 12, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 12, 2013 No. 37: Liam Thomson Score: 32 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=39th, 2011=32nd, 2010=19th, 2009=33rd, 2008=21st, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @BadBoyLiamT Entrance theme: 'Bad Boy'For Life' - Puff Daddy  Photo credit: David J Wilson & PBWwrestling.com  A slight 2-place rise in the rankings for the 'Bad Boy' Liam Thomson in this, the 6th time he has featured in the UKFF UK50. As well as a top-level championship singles star in Scotland, Thomson has also continued as part of the now-long-established Fight Club tag team with Kid Fite on both sides of the border.  Thomson was beaten by The Lion Kid at Pro Wrestling Elite's first anniversary event in July 2012, and was then knocked out of that promotion's Heavyweight Title tournament two months later in the first round by El Ligero. Out of the tourney, the next night . Thomson then beat Mark Andrews for PBW in Alloa, before he and Carmel Jacob bested Ligero & Key Lee Ray in an inter-gender tag offering at PBW's annual 'Maximum Impact' in November. That same month saw Thomson face Australian wrestler El Technico and champion Mike Musso for W3L, fail to beat Joe Coffey for the SWA Laird of the Ring title at 'Battlezone' and get the better of WIld Boar at SWA/ZERO-1 'European Challenge' the very next day. Topping it all off, however, Liam faced and defeated BT Gunn in the main event of PBW's Dumbarton show, ending Gunn's near-2-year reign to become that organisation's Heavyweight Champion. Thomson still reigns on top of PBW to this day, having notched up successful title defences against James Scott, Andy Wild, El Ligero, Wolfgang, Mark Haskins and Shawn Maxer. Over in BCW, the 'Bad Boy' was unsuccessful in his crack at Openweight Champion Andy Wild on the first night of 'No Blood, No Sympathy X', but bounced back the following evening as he and Carmel beat Red Lightning & Sara. His 2013 has seen BCW losses to Kid Fite and Davey Blaze and a PWE defeat to Joey Hayes, with a victory coming over England's CJ Banks at BCW's Kilmarnock event in May.  Alongside Kid Fite, Thomson won the first PCW Tag Team Championship in August 2012 as Fight Club beat Disco Madness (Mad Man Manson & Sam Bailey) and The MOB (Keith Myatt & Ruffneck) in a 3-way. They got themselves intentionally disqualified to save their belts against El Ligero & Martin Kirby at 'Invasion!' in November, then called out and beat ROH, PWG and DGUSA team The Young Bucks using dubious tactics in February. In May, however, guest General Manager Nigel McGuinness wasn't standing for any of these antics from Thomson & Fite, restarting their main event defence, leading to the reign coming to an end at the hands of THE STEINER BROTHERS. Fight Club claimed their rematch the next night, adding themselves to the Steiners' defence against T-Bone & Rampage Brown to make a 3-way, but it was "Team Single" that left that one as champions.  Back up in ICW, Fight Club have faced the Superior Talent Initiative (Dickie Divers & William Grange), Visage (Falcon & Kevan), The Bucky Boys (Davey Blaze & Stevie Xavier) and The Big Hangovers (Shawn Maxer & Jordan Devlin) in a 3-way, Project Ego (Martin Kirby & Kris Travis), Christopher & Kenneth, The Bucky Boys in a straight 2 vs. 2 and The Coffey Brothers (Joe & Mark), hovering around the tag team title scene but not able to clinch the belts.  What did the UKFF think? "Another guy on this list who never has a bad match. Solid in ring hand and plays the smug heel pretty well"  "was delighted to see this guy take singles gold finally in PBW and a technically sound worker who reminds me a lot of Dean Malenko" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Big Benny HG Posted September 12, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted September 12, 2013 No. 36: Danny Hope Score: 33 points Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0 Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=NL, 2010=39th, 2009=39th, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL Twitter: @DannyTheHope Entrance theme: (PCW, The Models) / ' (GPW) Photo credit - Gordon Harris & Preston City Wrestling  A return to the UKFF UK50 after a 2-year absence for Danny Hope, long-established regular across the wrestling scene of north-west England, achievintg his highest ever UKFF UK50 finish in the process. Performing as either the tassletastic 'Delicious Danny' (both in singles or as half of The Models with Joey Hayes) or as a more serious wrestler in GPW, Hope has appeared in most promotions across the region, including GPW, FutureShock, PCW, Infinite Promotions and HXC.  In Grand Pro Wrestling, heel Danny held the Wigan-based promotion's version of the Money In The Bank briefcase, having won it in February 2012. Hope had thought about cashing in at various times during the year, but was either foiled or thought twice. In October at 'Friday Night Thriller VI', Hope & Jack Gallagher were set to face Joey & GPW British Champion Ste 'Bin' Mann, though Binman had to go it alone against 2 men after Joey withdrew through injury. Binman got a DQ victory after a low-blow, but the toll of the match (and Gallagher's attack in particular) left him a sitting duck for Hope's MITB cash-in. Binman battled bravely, but Hope quickly put him away to become the new British Champion. That same night, Zack 'Diamond' Gibson (whom Hope had had jealousy and anger towards for over a year, and was paritally the reason for his heel turn) had won a 15-man rumble to be declared the top contender to Danny's new belt. Hope added his FutureShock manager Melanie Price to his GPW package in November and laid out Gibson with his old MITB briefcase. In their title match at the season-closing 'Heroes & Villains II' in December, Hope found himself unable to beat Gibson, so got himself intentionally disqualified with a belt shot to save his title. Hope tried the same escape in their rematch in January, but the referee stopped him using the belt and the ring bell, so he instead ran away to be intentionally counted out. This set up their third and final encounter, this time a Lumberjack contest at 'Romance is Dead' in February. During the match, Dave Rayne's new stable The Cause (consisting of FutureShock wrestlers disgruntled with their fortune in GPW) took out all the lumberjacks and then laid out Danny, as an attempt to recruit Gibson to their number. Gibson, oblivious to The Cause's interference, pinned Hope and relieved him of the British Title.  On the next show, a suitably annoyed Hope rejoined with former MilAnfield Connection partner Jiggy Walker and confronted both The Cause and Zack Gibson about what had happened in the Lumberjack match. They watched on as Gibson accepted the invitation to The Cause and joined in a 6-on-1 beatdown of Damon Leigh. Hope and Walker thought about it for a while, then rushed to Leigh's assistance and ran The Cause off, marking Danny's return to the babyface ranks. From there, Hope has been firmly involved in GPW's battle against The Cause, battling Cause members in April's 30-man rumble, in tag action in June and as part of the 6 vs. 6 Torneo Cibernetico elimination match in July. At the time of writing, Hope is currently scheduled to battle Zack Gibson one-on-one for the title in a Strap Match on the September show.  Elsewhere, Delicious Danny and Hotstuff (Joey) Hayes, as The Models, began the UK50 eligibility period as the FutureShock Wrestling Tag Team Champions and retained against Notorious BAD (Sam Bailey & Sean Daniels) at FutureShock's 'International Supershow' at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music in August 2012. The Models & The Blackpool Blondes (Axl Rage & James Drake) were beaten by The Wristlock Rovers (Raynaldo & Damon Leigh) & BAD in an 8-man at FutureShock '62' in October, before all 4 teams battled for the belts in a 4-way at '63'. There, The Blondes outlasted all others, meaning The Models reign was over. 2013 has seen Hope & Hayes best BAD and 2Dimension in tag bouts, then head into a several month-long feud with Project Ego. The Models beat Ego in April at '66', then Hope fell to Martin Kirby as part of singles matches between the two teams at '67'. After the end of the UKFF UK50 eligibility period, Hope, Hayes & Justin Price beat Kirby, Travis & Soner Durson in a suprememly entertaining 6-man tag, before Project Ego finally beat The Models in reportedly-excellent decisive bout at '69' to end the feud and become top contenders to the tag straps.  The Models have also been part of Infinite Promotions in Liverpool (where they have faced Project Ego, The Dunne Brothers, Andy Wild & Davey Blaze and The Big Hangovers), HXC in Manchester (versus Project Ego and The Blackpool Blondes), NGW in Hull (versus The Proven) and All-Star Wrestling (where they faced various combinations of and Nathan Cruz on the summer tour of Wales).  It was as a solo version of his 'Models' persona that Hope returned to Preston City Wrestling in April, where he has quickly become a fixture. A short-lived appearance in the 30-man 'Spring Slam' rumble in April was followed by him being selected to replace unavailable Lucha Libre USA star RJ Brewer on the Supershow weekend the following month. Hope went down to defeat in impressive bouts against Noam Dar in singles and Dean Allmark in a 4-way (with El Ligero & Sam Bailey) across the two days. This was followed by a hilariously daft match with Mad Man Manson on the August show, which was so well received the pair will do battle in a Catwalk Challenge in October.  What did the UKFF think? "Tweaked his gimmick to connect with the fans at PCW and has been a revelation"  "Great tassels, nice to see him in singles at PCW, fantastic with the models"  "I fucking love tassels, me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted September 12, 2013 Awards Moderator Share Posted September 12, 2013 The Wristlock Rovers sound fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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