uklaw

3 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

 

ECHO, Echo, echo....

Ah, hadn’t spotted that. Thanks for pointing it OUT, Out, out... 😊

Curious question, and an answer I’ve not seen referred to anywhere yet. Who is the Head Writer of the shows?

If there is such a thing as an ‘NXT formula’ these U.K. shows appear to stick to it, but I imagine whoever it is would be U.K-based?

I doubt Triple H isn’t the overseer and sets the pace/direction. 

Starting October 25th POP TV are moving IMPACT to 10pm. Away from it’s prime time slot. Not great news for the company if it is a result of the sharp drop in viewers over the summer.

There is another speculated reason, and that is IMPACT are set to announce a new network outlet and POP are making the move ahead of time.

From their Facebook (and probably Twitter): 

IPW are the latest UK group wishing to try their hand at weekly TV. 

Fight Network UK.

5 hours ago, Richard said:

Nah it's being shown an hour before NXT airs. Wednesday night/Thursday morning. 

205/NXT/MYC is your new Wednesday three hour block. It's a start. Now if they taped 205 in a smaller building I'd consider watching it. 

That’s what I get for passing on news early in the morning in another country, hungover and foggy 😩

Thanks for the correction.

Starting next week, 205 Live is being shown on the network at 7pm Eastern. Which I think is midnight our time- which means it’s now on BEFORE Smackdown. 

Likely what they should have done from the very beginning. 

‘Funny’ thing is that people will probably stay for the Mixed Match Challenge which starts soon (and I suspect is the main reason for the change, less to do with the embarrassing exodus of fans the last few weeks).

I think it’s their match at British Uprising 1 for the All-England Title. Both got entrances. I didn’t attend the show so don’t know if there was an angle that preceded the match where Hade Vansen was in the crowd. If there was it didn’t make the DVD (now YouTube upload).

Ah yes, that’s the man who’s a huge fan of Velveteen Dream... by that, I mean he fans himself whenever he appears. 

But in general he is becoming more prominent in camera shot on the shows.

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

The guy who was doing the Dexter gimmick in TNA?

That's the one.

I’ve watched every single one of the ‘Ten Pounds Of Gold’ episodes and huge credit to Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana in particular (but special mention to Sam Shaw, who has a hand in these videos and narrates many of them) and considering all they have is the name, logo, World Title and a cast of a few, very different characters spread over the place, the fact there seems to be a genuine buzz over the 70th Anniversary Show next month is a testament to the intruiging world that has been created over the past year or so. 

They haven’t hit you over the head with it but you’ve had:

-The building up of virtually unknown 53 year old world champion, school teacher, father and grandfather fighting off challengers and against Father Time. 

-His initial battles against delusional Josephus, who got in Tim Storm’s head and went after his family. But rather than just being a 2D ‘type’ Josephus went on his own journey and introduced the viewers to his mute but clearly influential Spirit Guide. His journey dovetailed into his ‘current’ alliance with Crimson on the fringes of the NWA world.

-The introduction of Nick Aldis, with his own story and motivation. That of being the man who barely decided against calling it a day and to go after the oldest and greatest title in Wrestling to make it and himself mean something.

-Josephus injuring of Tim Storm directly led to Nick Aldis winning the NWA Title in the most hostile of territories for both men. And in the process, Aldis gained the services of former champion Austin Idol. 

-Austin Idol showing himself to be almost too entertaining in his own right and in tandem with the champion (and it’s a shame he hasn’t featured in the last few months. Hopefully he resurfaces).

-Aldis going to various countries to defend the title against (20) challengers in 60 days with the aim of adding prestige to the title.

-Then enter the most recent and months long build to All In. And all the human, emotional and real ‘beats’ that were played. The least ‘indy’ Of matches in style at All In had quite the crowd investment both in the story leading up to the event and parts of the match. Both Cody Rhodes and Nick Aldis did well building the match and despite the latter’s limitations they still crafted an engaging match.

And I’m genuinely interested to see how the stories of the 2 men play out and headed to Nashville. And also to see how many of the other cast of characters start to reappear.

9 hours ago, westlondonmist said:

I am wondering how they will go with their 1 hour series. Just a series of matches with no real meaning, matches with letting people know certain characters or have some storyline. From what I can tell only their Cruiserweight Champion is on the tapings and 1 half of the tag champions with the women's champion and Men's champion not on the shows. I'll give it a watch but if their is no real storyline I am not sure I will bother watching past the first couple.

I’ve been following this as much as you can with someone who isn’t an amateur like the previous custodians of this particular deal, and knows how to hold enough back.

From what I can gather from social media posts and a podcast interview I heard with Andy Quildan:

-It’s not being filmed live, and will be broadcast later this month.

-It looks like it will be weekly (length of episodes have not be mentioned). 

-It is designed to be ‘episodic’ hence why only a few matches from each night are being released ahead of the shows. I.e, matches being made during the shows being filmed or set-up angles being done for the matches announced so far for Night 2. It seems there will be storylines of some description, but that’s guesswork on my part.

-From the completion of the deal to the shows tonight and tomorrow seems to have been fairly short in time so and I assume the majority of wrestlers had already been booked for this series of shows. I imagine the future set of tapings will feature more of the champions if the British Champion isn’t being treated as a ‘special attraction’.

20 minutes ago, kidzero said:

What channel are they on? 

They will be on Fight Network UK (hosted on Showcase TV) on Sky and other platforms on Saturday nights.

3 minutes ago, kidzero said:

NXT UK, wos, rev pro that's a lot of UK wrestling on the telly can't say I'll watch it I guess it depends on what night its on. 

Preston City Wrestling say ‘Hi’ as well 😂

1 hour ago, Bukamania said:

Izzy (Bayley Superfan) has won a pro wrestling title. WTF...

 

She’s got a wrestler NXT contract waiting for when she’s older, doesn’t she? 🤦🏿‍♂️

14 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

Loved everything on the card really, 

Apart from EC3 though, he can fuck off back to Impact.

Something didn’t seem to work or click with EC3 last night. He particularly seemed... ‘out of place’ (if that’s the right phrase to use) and I doubt many people will look at Velveteen Dream if they came away from their match feeling underwhelmed.

34 minutes ago, CTXRussomark said:

They should just keep doing what they're doing and not panic over a few low ratings.  If they do they'll just sabotage all the good they've managed to achieve over the past 6 months.  This is the first time in years their product has had any sort of buzz around it.  I never for a second believed they could rehab the company even to this level, so they shouldn't start second guessing themselves now.  I don't want to say ratings aren't important but they're making fuck all from this TV deal anyway so a few dips in the road are worth it to play the long game.

Absolutely agree 😊 Was playing advocate and posing those questions.

Impact are in a bit of a tricky situation, ratings and philosophy-wise. After years of being perceived as a cheap imitation and not having anything akin to an identity, the product, for the first time in a while, appears to have forged something resembling their own identity for 2018. 

At least an alternative to WWE. Punctuated by what seemed to be a pivotal Slammiversary...

And they are now haemorrhaging viewers and fans. About 168,000 viewers in the U.S this week. And the panic and despondency among the Impact faithful even takes into account the NFL preseason games. 

The next set of tapings in Toronto this weekend are selling poorly and I am fairly confident they are not going to shift Bound For Glory tickets for the Melrose Ballroom quicker than MLW did for Battle Riot.

This brings up a question about what they do going forward to grow (or even just keep) their viewership/fanbase. Is another philosophical change in order? Will they need to go, begging bowl in hand, to known risks who have been shown to raise viewership, such as Alberto El Patron?

There is even a suggestion that “rather than people recognising the character type that Scarlett Bordeaux represents in the time of women’s evolution and the inevitable comeuppance due to her, people are protesting the character in itself as a regression to a time of objectification and have boycott the show”.

Or maybe it’s further proof that Wrestling on TV (bar WWE) isn’t making a commercial dent. Or any other dent. To casuals, WWE is wrestling and nothing else compares.

Or perhaps to some, when Bruce Pritchard declared on air “TNA is dead...” their screens went off before he got to “... long live Impact Wrestling”.?

Whatever the reason(s) there has been a fall in viewership that could be addressed by a further changing of what is on screen.

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

Outstanding. Some of the best "acting" you will ever see in pro-wrestling. Just great, great range.

 

Paul Heyman really is in a league of his own. And ideally, a role would absolutely need to be found for him, both on screen and behind the camera. Consultant or in creative. 

But in my opinion the various set ups within WWE may not allow him the ‘freedom’ he could want. On screen, could it be argued he’s ‘too big’ a presence for commentary? Especially with the 3-man tables all the shows have now?

History has shown that placing him with almost any other wrestler than Brock Lesnar doesn’t tend to work (though many found his run with CM Punk to be very entertaining) and for now the company seems to want to carry on with Kurt Angle as RAW General Manager and Paige in the same role on Smackdown.

Creatively, out of the shows, RAW probably needs a new pair of hands guiding it most, but again, I think the current creative set-up places limits on the Head Writers in that their final scripts go through 1-2 more layers before Vince then signs off or alters further. Also, there’s no guarantee that Heyman would even want the job if it became available to him, given his other interests.

Part of what makes his on-screen character so fascinating is that it is so unlike anything else in the product (in design and presentation) and you get the feeling he has ownership over his performances in a way most others do not. I don't know how true this is but I have seen it suggested here that he has a certain amount of creative control over himself and Brock Lesnar’s storylines. 

So of all the things I have mentioned, consultancy/production of segments may be the only thing that could work in the current environment? Possibly? Maybe? The current roster gets the benefit of his experience and interpretation to get the best out of what they are asked to do.

That aside, anything else?

40 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

So you bumped an old thread but have absolutely nothing to say? Yes. Yes I do mind. You weirdo.

🙈 It is pretty much a wordier version of *bump* so...

...If the shoe fits 😊

I hope people don’t mind me digging this thread up but I always found it a great help to me and hopefully to others who shared their experiences. 

I have no particular updates of my own (outside of my ongoing relationship) but was hoping others who contributed have made positive progress/developments. 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.fightful.com/wrestling/all-will-be-pay-view-fite-app-and-wgn-first-hour-will-be-free%3Famp

So ALL IN will be broadcasting the first hour of the show free on WGN America. 

It’s been said before, but not bad at all for a show that was conceptualised off the back of a ‘hold my coat’ tweet from Cody Rhodes.

Edit: This might be a pre-show rather than any part of the actual pay per view.

12 minutes ago, PowerButchi said:

 One from Facebook

 

 

 

I stand duly corrected and thank you 😊

Perhaps it’s too soon after the news breaking, I’m noticing a distinct lack of obvious posts from wrestlers and former colleagues on this or Brian Christopher as a person. They are probably out there but the usual sites have not posted links to them.

Which makes me think out of respect to The King, perhaps people are not saying anything if they can’t say anything nice. (though I hear that Sabu went in pretty hard on him, but then deleted his comments). 

Conjecture on my part so I’m happy to be corrected on any of the points I’ve made.

Regarding Brian Christopher, PWInsider’s current position (and that of a few sites now) is that he’s currently in hospital but is not expected to recover, and as such, family are gathering to say their goodbyes.

And he’s 46.

Watched some of the show during the night and the rest this morning.

If you get the opportunity, watch it. And you won't want to skip anything. It surpassed all of my expectations (which were loftier than normal).

On a side note, after the Windsor tapings, and especially after Slammiversary, IMPACT absolutely should never ever again return to the Impact Zone in Orlando.