IANS INDY WANK V.3 feat WrestleXpress

[IANdrewDiceClay]

WrestleXpress:
*Quoted material taken from WrestleXpress.com archives.

WrestleXpress is definitely my favourite story in wrestling when it comes to failed promotions. Actually, I think I'd rather read about this cock up than the story of WrestleMania and WWF's cartoon boom. I'm that into it. Its a big long story played out over months. If you can't be arsed to read all of this, in simple terms its pretty much the story of a lad who tried to swindle Stevie Ray into commentating on Toryumon matches.

THE BOYS BEHIND IT:

-Ryan Aaron Hewson:

Ryan Hewson started out as an 18 year old columnist on Coolry.com (because Ry is cool) around 2000 and ran a Juventud Guerrera fan site, which turned into a Bring Back Juvi fansite once The Juice got sacked for getting his knob out in a hotel lobby. Here's a snippet from his old website.

 

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Welcome to the official "Bring Back Juvi" website completely devoted in persuading one of the big two to finally come to their senses and take Juventud Guerrera on the roster. Juventud Guerrera aged 26 hailing from Mexico City in Mexico was released from World Championship Wrestling in October earlier this year as a result of an embarrassing incident that the young man has undoubtedly paid for. He's been punished, the point has been proven that his behaviour was unnacceptable and he's confessed that the incident was a mistake and is well and truly behind him now. Recently, on his official website, Juventud Guerrera, real name Anibal Gonzalez apologized to his friends, family and fans. Now is the time to give this young talented man a second chance and that's what this site is all about. The campaign begun in mid November 2000 and it will continue until Juvi is in one of the big two, either the WWF or WCW. This cannot be done without YOUR help. The wrestling fans are the people with the voice that counts in this industry and it is the fans who are the only answer to bringing this charismatic young athlete, Juvi back to the squared circle in the mainstream where he fully belongs. Juvi needs YOUR help - HELP JUVI.

 

Coolry.com was the most horrendous website on the internet from what I remember. He'd do Q&A's with a bloke called "Brad" (who was actually Hewson himself), talking about how life was.

 

 

 

 

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Brad: I know the feeling. So, let's not waste anytime and begin by asking what's going on with CoolRy and his "flame". You mentioned in your running weekly commentary that there's a flame in CoolRy's life. Everybody at the office is speculating as to who it could be and there's been quite a few emails from a few female fans of yours asking about it. Will you let us in on who it is.
CoolRy: It's no longer a case of who it is, but a case of who it was. The mystery flame as you so put it is no longer affiliated with me socially or intimately and that was primarily a decision on my behalf. You remember in the last Q&A I talked about how I like my own space and the ability to do what I want as I want? Well, I don't believe it'll take a genius to work out why we're no longer an item.

Brad: So you ended it with her, but who was she. Tell us about her.
CoolRy: Ohhh, you're fishing now Brad, but seeing as though that's you're job, I'll let you off. No seriously, it was nothing serious, just a brief fling with a young gal, which never worked out and probably never had any chance of survival from day one. The reason being is because it's a bad time right now for me to have a relationship due to the fact that I have too many goals to overcome. I guess it would be wrong of me to attempt to have a relationship because I'm at a relatively egocentric period in my life right now on a personal level in terms of aspirations. I think a change of subject wouldn't go a miss now.

The fuck is this? And why was it on a wrestling website? He'd established long before WrestleXpress got off the ground that he thought he was way more interesting than he was. He later "re-branded" his news site into something called WrestleXpress.com, where he'd write Raw reports and talk about the latest happenings in WCW. Following the sale of WCW and the bankruptcy of ECW, Hewson decided to throw himself in there. Two footed. He said his philosophy was "If you start at grass roots, then you�re likely to stay at grass roots", so he piled his promotions with name after name and hired a decent sized venue. If this were to happen in 2013, we'd already know the far end of a fart about who the person running it was, where his backing was coming from and would be super skeptical on the whole thing. In 2001, it was like "Jimmy Hart's on board? Fair enough". Everyone seemed to talk big in the post-WCW world.

-The Backers:
The two main names who come up in this story are WrestleXpress' Financial Director (lol) David Whitby and partner Martin Brown. David Whitby was a friend of Hewson's mother, and who believed the show would be quite the venture. According to what came out in the court case, Whitby was "the son of a millionaire oil magnet who lived in Saudi Arabia" and could finance the venture. In a scene reminiscent of that episode of Only Fools and Horses where Del Boy wants to buy the gold chains, Hewson also said he had a few quid knocking about (he didn't) and if they both put their wealth together, they could double their money with such a gap being created in the market post WCW. So Hewson went into full on fantasy booking mode and decided to run a wrestling promotion, usually without telling the bloke who was backing it he was using his credit card at the time.

-Jimmy Hart and Sonny Onoo:

Hewson brought over Jimmy Hart and Sonny Onoo to help him hire the talent. They were actually getting paid as well. They were office, so Whitby had knowledge of money leaving his account for this pair. Sonny's official title was Head of International Talent Relations, so he was responsible for bringing in ex-WCW wrestlers. Jimmy Hart was their "Creative Director". So basically the booker. If you are going to start up a wrestling promotion, there's probably no better bloke to hire than Jimmy Hart. He's known for his tireless enthusiasm and worth ethic. He'll be out promoting WrestleMania for days on end one minute, at an autograph signing the next, cutting the ribbon on a supermarket the same afternoon and popping into the hospital to see if Hulk's back is alright afterwards. If there's an American you could trust to fly back and forth and still get the job done, its the Mouth of the South. Sonny Onoo is said to be fucking useless at everything, though. So I wasn't feeling his appointment. Is there really anyone he could bring in that Jimmy Hart's contacts wouldn't have came in handy with?

Assembling The Talent:
This should take a while to get through, since 90% of the 'promotions' history was essentially assembling the talent. This was 1PW level over the top. At least 1PW had the Union Jack in the logo. WrestleXpress came out and said they wanted to be the new WCW. Looking at the line up, it was kind of a beefed up episode of Thunder. And looking at the roster they wanted to bring in, it almost makes you wonder if Bischoff was pointing his best mate Onoo in the direction of who to sign. Rob Van Dam and the Toryumon guys were supposed to be a big part of the new WCW under Eric, after all. And if TNA has taught us anything, if Bischoff is in the ear of a money mark, he's not scared to voice his opinion who should come in. And Bischoff usually isn't a bloke to fuck about with his hands in his pockets. If he thought the money was there, someones coughing up.

-THE FWA:

 

 

 

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The FWA (Frontier Wrestling Alliance) are the first company who have signed to sponsor WrestleXpress 2001 at the SkyDome Arena in Coventry, UK. The FWA is one of the largest independent wrestling promotion's competing in the United Kingdom and regularly stage wrestling events all across England. The company has a wealth of experience in producing televised documentaries, corporate events, television commercials and have recently secured a 13 week TV deal for the Summer on the Portsmouth based terrestrial network, "My TV". The FWA has the very best wrestling ring in the entire United Kingdom, which was specially fit and custom built for the company. We're pleased to announce that it will be the very same wrestling ring used for WresteXpress in October and we are proud to have the FWA as an official sponsor of the event. WrestleXpress is brought to you in association with the FWA.

Alex Shane would constantly plug WrestleXpress on his radio show on talkSPORT. He was a good person to be on board with at the time, because one thing about Alex is that he can make something sound like its a massive deal. I actually credit Shane for giving this a lot of initial press, because he was bombing out the rumours with Tommy Boyd. He had RVD on his radio show, he was dropping hints that Hall and Nash were coming over. Along with the countless names, the initial idea was to incorporate Lucha stars, Japanese light heavyweights and the best British names from the FWA, including the regular star attractions of the period like Alex Shane, Doug Williams, Jody Fleisch, Stevie Knight and the like, as well as The UKFF's own Mark Sloan.

 

 

 

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Get Ready UK, Victoria Demontfort is coming to the SkyDome at WrestleXpress on Saturday, October 20 in Coventry. Victoria is the current Commissioner of the FWA and isn't shy in expressing her authority. Little is known about what Victoria has in store for the FWA at WrestleXpress at this stage, but WrestleXpress.COM has learned that she will be there! The stunning sexy DIVA may also have a few choice words for the "Xpress Girls" who she may feel, are treading on her territory. Victoria believes that she is the dominant female in UK wrestling and she'll enforce her belief if necessary. Will somebody stand up to Victoria and prove her wrong and will there be a major surprise for her at WrestleXpress? Rumour has it that there will.

 

You can't mention the FWA of 2000/2001 without mentioning Victoria Demontfort. She was a Stephanie McMahon type character if I recall. Bit of a tart, but wore fine clothes. She was quite nice from what I remember. She was plastered all over the WrestleXpress website building a feud with some dance troupe. Where were they going to fit all this in? Everyone seemed to have some sort of role on this supercard. You'd hear they were bringing over Bill Apter and it was like "Bill will have a huge part in WrestleXpress, he'll be defending the office championship" and shit like that. I imagine it was only meant to be a 3 hour show. But they had about 60 angles planned a loads of matches.

Anyway, I liked Victoria Demontfort. I wonder where she is now?

ROB VAN DAM AND STEVE CORINO:

 

 

 

 

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Rob Van Dam's participation to compete against Steve Corino in the Main Event at WrestleXpress 2001 at the Coventry SkyDome on October 20 has created a buzz among UK wrestling fans. WrestleXpress.COM has been inundated with wrestling fans from all over Europe asking if Rob Van Dam will really be there on Saturday October 20. Rob said to Fin Martin that he has limited information on the show right now other than the fact that he is booked. Rob added "I hear it's going to be a massive card. It will feature the return to England of everyone's favourite wrestler - Rob Van Dam".

Rob Van Dam coming over caused a lot of excitement. Especially when they'd announced he was working Steve Corino in the main event in a hardcore match. As I've kept stressing over these threads, back in 2001, things weren't half as overexposed as they were to become. The idea of an ECW-style war between two of the hottest acts of the dying days of the promotion was quite a big thing. It all seemed to good to be true. It was.

-FRUIT BOOTY:

 

 

 

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Former WCW superstar, Stevie Ray has been assigned the task of colour commentator at WrestleXpress 2001 on Saturday, October 20 at the Coventry SkyDome. Stevie Ray ruled the Tag Team ranks in WCW with his real life brother "Booker T" as Harlem Heat under the Time Warner banner. Stevie Ray was also a co-host on the weekly WCW Thunder broadcast on TBN and will return to commentary at the UK's biggest and most excisiting wrestling event of the year in the UK. Rumour has it that Stevie will be joined by an old friend at WrestleXpress 2001

The price for the VHS, PPV or where ever they were planning on showing this, would have been for Stevie Ray's commentary on the Toryumon matches. I'm not sure why Stevie Ray was their first choice as announcer anyway. He didn't fit the "the lads on the forums will love this" mentality of the promotion. And Stevie Ray wasn't coming cheap (well, he wasn't coming at all but, we didn't know that yet). Mike Tenay was announced as being Big Stevie's play-by-play announcer. So it pretty much was going to be Thunder. Mike was bringing Dave Penzer with him as well. Why not?

-THE BISCH:

 

 

 

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CUMBRIA UK, 8 May 2001: WrestleXpress Entertainment announces today that Eric Bischoff, the former Vice President of WCW (World Championship Wrestling) Inc. will be appearing at "WrestleXpress 2001" on Saturday, October 20 at the SkyDome Arena in Coventry - UK. An announcement was made last week confirming that Eric Bischoff was in serious negotiations with WrestleXpress Entertainment to have him appear at their debut wrestling event in October. After successful negotiations, Eric Bischoff is confirmed for the huge WrestleXpress event and will be joining the likes of former WWF, WCW and ECW superstars such as Rob Van Dam, Steve Corino, Juventud Guerrera, Psicosis and Sonny Onoo who are already confirmed for the event. In addition, the biggest names from British wrestling will be at the event appearing on one giant super-card that will comprise the UK's biggest independent wrestling event of all time.

Eric Bischoff at the time was in his post WCW-buy out haze, and was jumping on all sorts of money mark promotions to see if they had a few quid. His ears were probably burning when Sonny Onoo told him there was a lad handing out notes like it was going out of fashion. Bischoff was doing something with MatRats in Canada at the time, and from what I remember made no statement regarding ever being booked by WrestleXpress. It sort of makes sense with Sonny Onoo's involvement he would have turned up if he got his money (which he didn't). He was supposedly going to be heavily involved in the show. Especially after Rob Van Dam pulled out, you needed it. Check out this priceless picture.

 

 

 

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The script for WrestleXpress 2001 was created at Sonny Onoo's house in his basement. Jimmy Hart, Ryan Hewson and Sonny Onoo developed the script in Mason City Iowa in mid-August 2001 and finalized the script in London at the end of the month. The central role would have featured a play for power by all 4 members on the splash photo pictured below. The last man standing as a knight in shining armor for British wrestling fans would have been Eric Bischoff. The former WCW supremo was set to steal the show by the end of the night and pave way for a possible return at WrestleXpress Revenge in London on Saturday, March 2 in 2002.

Sonny Onoo and Coolry dueling on the microphone would have been worth the price of the ticket alone. It begs the question why Hewson thought anyone wanted to see him on TV anyway? A popular story at the time was that he'd always fancied himself as a Vince McMahon and Jimmy Hart (playing the game as ever) convinced him his facial expressions were on par with Vince. So if you have that kind of talent sitting there, why wouldn't you use it? People used to be gutted we never got a proper Vince vs Eric feud, but looking at this card, we also missed out on Bisch vs Coolry. I know which I'm more gutted about.

-HULK HOGAN:

Like Hulk's going to let the money train roll by without him sticking his head in it. Especially with Bischoff and Hart involved. This is my favourite story of the whole thing. Hewson said he spoke to Hulk Hogan via telephone on his birthday and their "investor" told him to set the wheels in motion to get Hulk on board.

 

 

 

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On July 27, 2001 Ryan Aaron Hewson and David Allan Whitby were at the Hewson family residence discussing whether or not to take a business trip to the United States. Ryan Aaron Hewson's mother, Jacqueline Hewson was also present and was privy to the conversation that was taking place. David Allan Whitby wanted Ryan Aaron Hewson to seek the services of Hulk Hogan to appear at one of the company's events and he offered Hewson �30, 000 to have Hulk Hogan appear at a WrestleXpress event. Jimmy Hart, the former personal manager of Hulk Hogan was due to meet with WrestleXpress Entertainment Limited executives days later in London. David Allan Whitby confessed under oath that he "wheeled his invalid granny into the bank" in order to get his hands on her money to invest into the business. He further added that he took money from his Aunt "who is not with it". David Allan Whitby admitted that not only did he have a grudge against his former business partner, Ryan Aaron Hewson, but that he also had reasons to tell lies about him. Mr Whitby further revealed under oath that he had borrowed large amounts of money from various friends of his and that Ryan Aaron Hewson was not involved in any of these dealings.

 

As soon as you hear names like Hulk Hogan and Hall and Nash being battered around, you begin seeing the writing on the wall from a distance. I dont know whether it was being a over excited mark or some illness which made him pick the phone up and try and bring in more wrestlers, but some of the negotiations you heard about got really out there. They were playing phone tag with Midnight, the girl who was Booker T's valet for about 3 weeks in the Winter of 1999. Who wants to see her? I dont think she's done anything since chatting to messers Hewson and Hart. Even more tedious was the hiring of Ross Forman (below) as a talent.



Forman was the former editor of WCW Magazine, when it used to publish letters about how Goldberg couldn't wrestle and why the WWF was better than them. Forman "signed" (and again, when I write signed, I actually mean agreed or assumed) to wrestle Dave Penzer in a tuxedo match. Why would anyone want to see that? At least people knew who Harvey Wippleman and Howard Finkle were. But this pair? Legend has it Ross Forman phoned Ryan Hewson up to ask about WrestleXpress for 1Wrestling.com and Hewson marked the fuck out that he was talking to WCW's ex-magazine editor and gave him a spot on the card. Fucking madness. To their credit, they did tell Mo Chatra to go whistle when he e-mailed them and said he was offered a job by the WWF's London Office but would happily jack it to work for WrestleXpress as "your Jim Ross". Hewson later posted the e-mail on his website.

MUSIC:
Since Jimmy Hart can't keep to himself, he raised his hands when the subject of entrance themes came up. Just look at some of the song titles. Generic as you can get. "British Storm", "Evil Eyes", "Road Rage". Its like some custom music you'd get on WWF Attitude for the PSOne. I'm almost 99% certain Stevie Knights theme was a Donna Summer rip off of "Hot Stuff".

 

 

 

 

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Track 1 - Main WrestleXpress Theme Tune
Track 2 - "WrestleXpress Britannia" - Mr William
Track 3 - "British Storm" - Jodie Fleisch & Jonny Storm
Track 4 - "Hail's Bells" - Emory Hail
Track 5 - "King of the Mountain" - Steve Corino
Track 6 - "Are You Ready Boys?" - Madusa
Track 7 - "Overdrive" - Joey Matthews & Christian York
Track 8 - "Vapor" - The Mighty Rasta Terry Tate
Track 9 - "Evil Eyes" - The Dominator
Track 10 - "Get A Grip" Psychosis
Track 11 - "House of Onoo" - Sonny Onoo
Track 12 - "Bad Attitude" - Pleasure
Track 13 - "Hot Burrito #13" - Konnan
Track 14 - "Roadrage" - Curt Hennig
Track 15 - "The Beginning" - Ryan Aaron Hewson
Track 16 - "Lock & Load" - Hot Stuff Stevie Knight
Track 17 - "Crash & Burn" - Kid Crash
Track 18 - "Blaster" - Juventud Guerrera
Track 19 - "I'm the Man" - Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart
Track 20 - "Metalhead" - Eric Bischoff
Track 21 - "Tidal Wave" - Tsunami (Tokyo Magnum & Cima)

 

They were recorded in Morrisound Recording Studios in Tampa Florida, by Jimmy Hart and his team. These songs didn't go fully to waste. Most of them popped up on the Legends of Wrestling game and for the XWF. I still maintain "Hot Burrito" is the most offensive song title I've ever heard.

The Venue:

WrestleXpress was due to be held at the Coventry SkyDome. A/K/A The BritWres Wankathon Theatre. Everyone who gets to big for their boots wants to run this thing. Its the home for supershows. UCW created quite the buzz a year earlier but didn't fill it. Tickets were flying out the booth, so with the line up this was sure to. They had promised pyro, dancing girls that Victoria Demonfort was going to cat fight with and all sorts. They had initially asked Elisar Cabrera about using the FWA ring, but decided against it (presumably when that relationship went tits up) and actually bought a 20x20 WWF ring. When WX died on its arse, I believe the FWA took ownership of it and its in some wrestling school knocking about.

THE CARD:
The card itself was initially supposed to be this Rob Van Dam vs Steve Corino, Juventud Guerrera vs Psicosis, Alex Shane vs Doug Williams vs Scott Parker vs Guy Thunder for the FWA Fatal Four Way British Title. Vampiro vs Konnan with appearances from Eric Bischoff, Sonny Onoo, Jodie Fleisch, Justin Richards, The Dominator,Hazardous Specimen (Mark Sloan and Paul Travel), Jonny Storm and Victoria Demontfort

But stuff got changed. Doug Williams vs Stevie Knight vs The Dominator vs Kerry Cabrero replaced the FWA match. Curt Hennig vs Steve Corino in a straight wrestling match was going to be the headliner. The aforementioned tuxedo match was added. Madusa was signed. There was going to be a six man match between the Toryumon boys. Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm were going to wrestle Christian York and Joey Matthews. It was a pretty mind blowing card in its many forms. There wasn't a match on it where there wasn't a star name. It was to stacked even. Most of them would find alternative bookings before the official cancellation of course. That was a bit of a worry.

TV TV TV:
Without the knowledge we have now of Hewson being a con man, it was pretty mad to hear about a British promotion knocking out all these deals. They'd arranged with Jimmy Hart to go on the Big Breakfast to promote the event. There was also a signing booked at Virgin Megastore on October 19th in Coventry. But the thing that they'd promised (which every one used to back then) was that it was going to be on TV. That's what set you apart. They announced that they had signed with U>Direct to air their PPVs, but that died a death after U>Direct went into administration. Then they were trying to get WrestleXpress on ITV Digital. The funniest thing about their negotiations I always felt, was that they were taking verbal advice over the phone from Jay Hassman, the bloke who diddled NWA TNA when they first started and almost put them under. You couldnt make it up. Well, Jay Hassman did.

Un-Assembling The Talent:
The wheels began falling off when they announced that Rob Van Dam, the hottest free agent in wrestling, (which might have been true since everyone was snapped up to a WWF or Time Warner deal) wasn't coming to WrestleXpress. Losing RVD was a massive kick in the bollocks for the ticket buyers. RVD in 2001 was like Daniel Bryan or a CM Punk now in a way. Everyone used to wank their willies to the Van Terminator and the idea of seeing that live was setting people a bit daft. It didn't matter that he'd been over a few years previous for the Dirt Bike Kid. He was much better and a bigger star in 2001 than he ever was in 98. His reactions upon his debut in the WWF reflected that. It came out as soon as he was pulled from the card that he'd only agreed verbally to come over. And when you have announced the likes of Bischoff, Corino, Jimmy Hart, Konnan, Psicosis, Coolry's favourite Juvie and other name talents, verbal contracts are a bit of a worry. Especially when they could all just fuck off if a better gig comes along (like RVD did). Curt Hennig was the replacement for Van Dam. Curt Hennig is romanticized post death because he looked good in his WWF comeback, but in 2001, nobody wanted to pay to see the former Mr Perfect. He'd been shit for years on end and you could guarantee he was phoning it in once he got to Coventry. Fin Martin (who was plugging WX every chance he got) let him know it as well. Slagging Hennig off and calling out Hewson for not signing RVD to a deal when everyone and his dog knew he'd been meeting with Jim Ross since May. Vampiro was next, after suffering a Grade 1 tear in his knee.

The FWA may have been the first to click on this wasn't going well. Details are sketchy, but Dino Scarlo and Alex Shane had a falling out with Hewson. Maybe because of the obvious, but rumours at the time went about how he wanted to own the FWA and stuff like that. On his website, Coolry did express interest in dumping the FWA belt in the bin for some reason (well, Madusa was there). Logic didn't seem to matter much during wrestlings boom period. People think a lot more now. Back in 2001 you wouldn't believe how much you could justify by saying "Shane Douglas did it". A few British wrestlers met up with Hewson and his merry men at a hotel in London for the filming of a WrestleXpress TV commercial. Jody Fleisch, Stevie Knight, Jonny Storm and others have mentioned how the 19 year old Hewson got off his face on very little wine and couldn't string a sentence together. Ever the opportunist, Jonny Storm asked for his 50 quid expenses to go to a show he was booked on, even though he had a travel card with him.

The end:
The last big piece of news came when WrestleXpress booked the Wembley Arena for March 2, for their second show WRESTLEXPRESS ... REVENGE, that never happened. Sure they never even sold out the SkyDome yet, but the second show was going to have Hulk Hogan! Scott Hall! Kevin Nash! It would have been hilarious to see what they'd have done there, since WWF snapped them all up in January. But we didn't get to see that. We didnt get to see the first one either. WrestleXpress just went away one afternoon after weeks of rumblings, when all of their website had disappeared, save for one message which gave you a number for refunds and directed you to the TWA website.

Scott Conway's The Wrestling Alliance took the show over, moving it to a much smaller venue. Out was Mr Perfect and in came Horace Hogan. Goodbye stars Toryumon and hello John Tenta. It was bitterly disappointing to those who got their hopes up. Hewson was taken to court by Whitby, claiming Ry had used his credit card with out him knowing including reimbursement for flight tickets for Sonny Onoo. When it went to court the jury found in favour of Whitby, where it came out Hewson was forging his signature to and signing for all kinds of shit using Whitby's name, such as flying to the US to chill with the Mouth of the South and bought personal items for himself. Whitby told the court he admits to giving Hewson money to back the wrestling supershow, but buying Limp Bizbit tickets and a PS2 wasn't what he had in mind when it came to "financial backing".

Hewson decided to appeal the decision, started posting all sorts of stuff about miscarriages of justice on the WrestleXpress. Then he disappeared. I've never heard from him since.

COOLRY

OTHER ENTRIES:
Xtreme Pro Wrestling
H2 Wrestling

 

[Statto]

Magic read, Ian. So many memories.

 

As a little bit of additional info, I talked briefly with Corino at the gimmick table of the Conway replacement show (which was pretty good, FWIW), and he said that when he spoke to York & Matthews about the cancellation of Hewson's show, they'd never even heard of the bloke, let alone been booked for his show in England.

[LaGoosh]

Such a mental situation. Great reading Ian.

 

The thing that really sets this apart for me from the other indie wank is that CoolRy was only 19 at the time. When I was 19 all I did was play computer games, get drunk, try (and usually fail) to pull girls and spend all my cash on ECW videos. Jetting off to America to hang out with Jimmy Hart and try to book Hulk Hogan is not something that ever crossed my mind. Bloody mental.

[Arch Stanton]

LISTEN TO WRESTLEXPRESS: THE MUSIC

 

Hot Burrito #13 would make an incredible forum username.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

See if I have this right:1. XWF theme2. Ian Harrisons XWF theme3. Ultimate Warriors WCW theme4. Hail's XWF theme6. Random Legends of Wrestling game play theme8. Macho Man's WCW theme9. Tank Abbott's WCW theme10. The Revolution's WCW theme11. Generic WCW Japanese theme13. Konnan's XWF theme14. Some WCW song that I've heard before15. Legends of Wrestling menu theme/rip off of Last Resort by Papa Roach17. Kid Kash XWF theme18. Legends of Wrestling generic theme19. Jimmy Hart's Legends of Wrestling/old website themeRecycled Jimmy Hart riffs galore there. He did this for Wrestleicious as well. Just filled it with old tracks from WCW and LOW.

[Onyx2]

That seems like a lifetime ago. What a great recap, thanks.

 

Was this the card with the insanely controversial "fans bring the weapons" gimmick? Or have I mixed that up with some other failed UK show?

[Statto]

That would be the infamous Farrar "no ring circus".

[Onyx2]

That would be the infamous Farrar "no ring circus".

 

Ah yes, thanks. I seem to recall pictures of a frisbee with a row thumbtacks painstakingly driven around the entire rim.

[JNLister]

That seems like a lifetime ago. What a great recap, thanks.

 

Was this the card with the insanely controversial "fans bring the weapons" gimmick? Or have I mixed that up with some other failed UK show?

 

That was the GWF. Check back in the archives as we had a 10th anniversary thread this year.

 

Postscript to WrestleXpress was that I was so pissed off with the Skydome Arena not telling anyone about the changes/cancellations and being a bit shady with refunds that I started a website (skydomearena.com) with all the latest news on the non-event, details for how to complain, a collection of e-mails from upset fans, and a long treaty pointing out how the Unfair Contract Terms Regulations means that "card subject to change" has virtually no legal force.

 

The text is still available at http://web.archive.org/web/20011016022928/...ydomearena.com/

[eugenespeed]

Great write up.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I don't think I ever got my ticket money back for this bad boy, and I certainly wasn't going to Dagenham to see Horace Hogan. All I got for my money was this photo

 

 

That is not a fair swap but it does make me smile every time.

[bAzTNM#1]

Awesome stuff Ian. Here is another thread you did with more event talk, if anybody wants to read...

 

Hair Like an Afghan Hound

[Devon Malcolm]

Brilliant read, Ian, and really well written. You really do have to do a podcast or something. I'd listen to it anyway, and I know you like me so you'll definitely do it now.

 

I love that bit about Jonny Storm getting

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

The write up is fantastic and makes the whole thing sound utterly mental, to the point where people not familiar with the whole situation may think that Ian is playing the whole thing up slightly for comedic effect. If you fall into that category read the link that Baz posted. If anything Ian is playing it down and Cool Ry is at Defcon 1 as far as mentalness is concerned.

[Midnight Zeus]

Before the whole WrestleXpress debacle I used to write a wrestling column that appeared on the same website as one Ryan's did, possibly PWBTS? We exchanged a few emails and through him I got tickets for the Nitro and Thunder UK TV tapings in 2000, 4th row and front row respectively.

 

I was contacted by Ryan during the planning stages of WrestleXpress as he wanted me to become involved, in what capacity never became clear, but as he soon found out that I worked for Silver Vision that involvement changed from behind the scenes to a VIP invite to the show. Needless to say that the invite never materialised, though I did enjoy reading the emails he used to send me all about what was going on and who he had been speaking too. Unfortunately they were all to an email address I've long since stopped using.