Brian Elliott

I haven't bought an issue of FSM since summer 2008 - a combination of diminishing interest in wrestling, and boredom with its endless and nonsensical 'What If' articles that inevitably ended with an ROH wrestler beating Triple H at WrestleMania, and irritation with Alex Shane's persistence in trying to convince me I'm being mind-controlled by the McDonalds logo - but I'm going to pop out to WH Smith now and pick up a copy. Second chances and all that.

Did you enjoy the issue?

 

I did, a definite improvement over the last few times I've bought it. It felt a lot more like the very early issues (which I enjoyed very much despite all the typos). Things like the proportion of wrestling-BritWres-MMA coverage were well-balanced - just enough MMA for a casual fan like me to want to read.

 

I had some initial reservations when I spotted Luke Dormehl's name on a couple of articles. This goes back to a feature he wrote several years ago, which contained a couple of paragraphs of savage Undertaker-bashing along the lines of "he buries everyone, he can't work, he is the worst thing ever to happen to anything", which seemed a little incongruous considering the article had nothing to do with Undertaker ... I wrote an email in, feeling compelled to defend the poor Dead Man, which received a fantastically snarky response in the letters page from Mr. Dormehl essentially saying "you're an idiot, he's awful, he wouldn't let Mike Awesome beat him". I assumed that was the end of it, until he wrote an article on (I think) HHH a few issues later, which was also along the lines of "he buries everyone, he can't work, he is the worst thing ever to happen to anything", and felt the need to have a go at me in the opening paragraph! I hope I'm not wrong in thinking that's a pretty unprofessional thing to do, and it put me off reading anything more of his. It's possibly the old editor that's more to blame for not cutting it out of the final article, but still...

 

Anyway, the point of all that was that the Dormehl articles in this issue were much more objective and better written than previously, and he didn't have a go at any readers in them, so that's an improvement as well.

 

Content wise, everything was fine - the NJPW article was very good, and the Jarrett interview was interesting - but a couple of bits (the pieces on CM Punk and John Morrison) didn't seem to really go anywhere. Both pieces basically consisted of "he did this, then he did that, which wasn't great, but now he's doing this and that's better". They didn't really reach any conclusion or have much point to them.

 

I'd also have a look at a columnist reshuffle. Lance Storm's was very good, but I can't think there are many people that are bothered about RD Reynolds anymore. I can remember what Storm's and Apter's columns were about this month, but I've got no recollection of what Reynolds was talking about.

 

So, yeah. A definite improvement from the last time I read it, and naturally there's still work to be done (like that 'KAVAL LEAVES WWE' news piece that I don't think actually mentioned Kaval outside of its title?), but I'd be quite happy to start picking it up regularly again.

 

Feedback~!

I'm glad to read that you enjoyed the issue.

I haven't read the Luke Dormehl article where he felt compelled to bash The Undertaker, nor the reply that you were given to your letter, but to be snarky in that manner would be out of character for Luke, who is a very talented writer indeed. Perhaps the difference is just that I have made my standards for FSM very clear, and that kind of writing would not find that criteria.

I'll take on board your thoughts on the columnists. I'm continuing to seek out the best journalists for FSM - hopefully, a new face or two will appear in Issue 65 - in order to showcase my belief that we offer the best overall wrestling magazine product on the shelves.

I haven't bought an issue of FSM since summer 2008 - a combination of diminishing interest in wrestling, and boredom with its endless and nonsensical 'What If' articles that inevitably ended with an ROH wrestler beating Triple H at WrestleMania, and irritation with Alex Shane's persistence in trying to convince me I'm being mind-controlled by the McDonalds logo - but I'm going to pop out to WH Smith now and pick up a copy. Second chances and all that.

Did you enjoy the issue?

Brian, given your forthright pledges on here over the last few weeks, I excitedly picked up the new issue at lunchtime today, alas to find on the second page I read....A TYPO!! From the Stop Press snippets: 'Taryn "Tiffany" Terrell was pulled a scheduled match for Pro Wrestling Revolution'.

 

I know it may be pedantic, but seriously, how difficult is it to weed these simple errors out? I read Powerslam and PWI each month and they don't have them. Nor does Four Four Two magazine, World Soccer or any of the other magazines I may pick up over the course of a month. It makes FSM come across as second rate and unprofessional, when in actuality you are most probably a talented and hard-working bunch.

 

I hope you take this comment constructively and as intended (i.e. positively), and look forward to the continued improvements.

I'm sad to see that this got through. I won't, however, comment on errors I see in other magazines.

This month's FSM has over 41,000 words of text in its features, news, and columns alone, which is much, much more than either of the other wrestling magazines you mentioned. That, however, should not act as an excuse, and I hope that the small error will not spoil your enjoyment of this issue.

For those who have had kind words about the new beginnings for FSM, issue 63 is out tomorrow (Thurs, Jan 27). Subscribers will have already received their issue.

If you are a lapsed buyer of wrestling magazines, I hope that you'll consider taking a look at a publication that treats the sport with the professionalism that it deserves.

the thing tht I hated most about FSM (besides James Denton) was the overty smart-arsey way that anything that one of the big leagues (WWE in particular) was instantly put down in favour of some indie show. you'd get shit in the end of year polls were the readers would have their say and then some greasy-haired nerd would say some shit along the lines of 'the July supershow show from Solihull Leisure Centre was SOOOO~! much better than anything WWE put on Wrestlemania'.

 

Then they had thier 'What If...' articles. An articles which when asking 'What If...Eric Bischoff had bought WCW?' would somehow end with CM Punk beating Triple H for the WWE cleanly at Wrestlemania

 

And FSM seemed to be the only people on the planet who thought that Wrestling Society X was worth 30 seconds of your time.

 

It was just so low rent. One thing that sticks in my mind was it was either a review of Wrestlemania, an article on Batista or an article on nudertaker. Either way, it had a shot of the Wrestlemania 23 match were Batista is putting th fists to 'taker. The picture used (in a national sold magazine) was a screenshot from a downloaded version of the show (I think it was the Bell Expressvu in the top right corner). The whole thing just screened cheap fanzine

Looking forward to reading your honest opinion of the new incarnation of the mag.

First off, I gotta agree that this month's issue is a vast improvement all round. From the grammar, to the writing, to the thought behind the articles. Much better, and well worth the money.

 

However, there's still the odd thing that tends to grate on me.

 

For instance, on page 8 there's an article entitled "TNA's UK Home Closes". In the sub-title bit it says "Impact currently without a home". Then in the first sentence of the article it starts with "TNA Impact found itself without a home in the UK this month".

 

So that's 3 uses of the word "home" in the first 3 sentences. I think we got the idea by then, you know! I'm possibly nitpicking a little, but that kind of thing tends to grate on me.

 

Also there's still a fair few spelling-mistakes and clunky, poorly-written sentences. For instance, in the Bret Hart interview (which was very good) the writer uses the word "quiet" instead of "quite". Not once either, but 2 or 3 times. Sorry, but that's just poor.

 

Anyway, besides those things, I'd recommend this month's issue. A definite improvement over the joke that was the past editor's "effort". I swear that bloke didn't even bother reading the thing before he sent it out. The absolute nadir probably being the Sheamus interview, which had more glaring mistakes than I've ever seen in a national publication.

Thank you for pointing out the errors. For various reasons, I am expecting Issue 63 to be an improved effort (actually, effort has nothing to do with it, but I digress).

I'm very pleased to hear that you think the magazine is a major improvement on its previous incarnations. For 2011, I can promise more quality articles about a broader variety of subjects.

* Saying FB'07 was instantly forgettable (or words to that effect) is simply rubbish. Any serious ROH fan who watched that show saw the Briscoes record-setting tag team title reign terminated by the Age of the Fall in a great match with a cracking finish, which the NYC crowd responded to with some of the loudest boos I've ever heard. I will NEVER forget that, never mind "instantly."

Michael has stepped in here already to respond to your comments (likewise, I thank you for your constructive criticism), but for the sake of accuracy, I just wanted to mention that the quote from the article regarding Final Battle 2007 was actually: "(Final Battle 2007) was a quality effort from top to bottom, but largely forgettable".

Thanks for reading!

I just had a read through one! Didn't know it was such a big magazine.

 

Will you be getting any more british wrestlers to write columns?

The magazine is huge compared to other wrestling publications, even more so when you compare the price.

Can I assume that you'd like to see more British wrestling/wrestlers featured? If so, please let me know your opinion, which will be taken into consideration.

How long has Karl Stern been writing for FSM? His article in the current issue is one of the better ones I have read in a British wrestling mag in recent years.

Thank you for the kinds words, Happ.

We brought Karl in specifically to write that "When We Were Kings" article - he had never previously written for FSM.

Here's a bit of advice that would seperate you from PowerSlam, Brian. Find writers with varying opinions. If you have 2 guys who hate TNA, sack one of them and find someone who loves it and vice-versa. And don't let one guy slap his opinion all over the magazine.

We would never employ a writer who "hates" WWE, TNA, or whichever promotion you care to name - to do so would be to go against any professional journalism standards. But that doesn't mean that we won't call out (insert name of company) when they make serious errors of judgement. It simply means that the writer doing so will have logical reasons, rather than any sort of wild bias.

We have four pages of British wrestling, which is not a huge amount considering that the magazine is 84 full-colour, glossy pages. However, it's still much, much more than you can find anywhere else.

I've always enjoyed reading FSM and think it's quite a good read. My only little problem with this month's issue was the cover advertising a review of TNA's 50 Greatest Moments DVD but inside I couldn't find it in the reviews section, I may not have looked well enough though.

Unfortunately, the TNA 50 Greatest Moments review was bumped at the last minute. I will try to find some time to put the review on our website, so that you can read it for free.

 

That's fair enough, thanks Brian! Also any hints on trying to get into wrestling journalism? I've finished a degree in Journalism and English Literature and would like to try getting into wrestling journalism but don't really know where to start.

Start a blog (Wordpress etc) and write as many different types of articles (news, features, live event reports, DVD reviews etc) as you can, and send a link to each new article to every pro wrestling news/information site that you can find. Once you've found a style of writing which suits you, start contacting those same websites asking if you can contribute to them. Once you've created a good resume of online work, then it's time to start pestering newspapers and magazines...

I've always enjoyed reading FSM and think it's quite a good read. My only little problem with this month's issue was the cover advertising a review of TNA's 50 Greatest Moments DVD but inside I couldn't find it in the reviews section, I may not have looked well enough though.

Unfortunately, the TNA 50 Greatest Moments review was bumped at the last minute. I will try to find some time to put the review on our website, so that you can read it for free.

Been hearing that they are starting to turn a corner under their new editor but I have not managed to get a copy to see for myself.

 

So has the quality of the mag improved recently or is it still pretty much the same?

In the last two issues, we've turned FSM on its head in terms of the style of writing, and overall voice of the magazine. We've overhauled our staff to meet professional print journalism standards, and we've expanded the scope of our wrestling coverage tremendously. Furthermore, FSM is now unquestionably a pro wrestling magazine - which, from my understanding, was a bone of contention at some points in its history.

I'm coming from a biased position, obviously, but if you have not checked out a recent edition of the magazine (issue 62 came out on Dec 30; issue 63 is out on January 27), then I would recommend you do so if you have been previously put off by the tone of FSM or other publications.

In all honesty, the feedback to the new regime, so to speak, has been very positive indeed, but I'd value any opinion from the UKFF that was made constructively and thoughtfully. I'll do my best to answer questions that I can.

Brian Elliott

Editor, Fighting Spirit Magazine