Adam South

For someone who wasnt aware till pretty much just after this show of the British Wrestling Scene, I struggle with the concept of Wrestling on Radio and probably would of at the time. For people who listened what kind of experience was it to just have audio?

You'll have to forgive the conjecture, being that I didn't actually hear the broadcast (for obvious reasons), but I don't think it'd be that much different from football on the radio. One would imagine that anyone tuning in would be a fan already, therefore they'd have a grasp of the basics regarding moves.

As I imagine it, you'd get the intros to describe the wrestlers attire/demeanour, etc. There's usually quite a few moments of downtime (ie: rest holds, time on the mat, etc) when you can instill a bit of emotion/colour. And, like I say, when it comes to moves you would have thought the listener would have basic awareness of what's what, so you could just say 'slam/suplex' or whatever as appropriate.

In some regards it actually makes more sense for wrestling to be on the radio than other sports. Without the visual reference with football, for example, you miss a lot of stuff- off the ball runs, player positioning, etc. Wrestling's actually quite straight forward in comparison.

Or at least that's my impression. Like I say, much conjecture involved. Unfortunately I don't think anyone would have a copy of Revival to listen to.

Love threads like this, because it actually gives me an opportunity to post with authority. Or, in other words, it's a great opportunity for me to show off! This may be an interesting read for some of you, as it's a slightly different take on proceedings from the point of view of someone you don't usually hear from- the timekeeper!

Revival was good and bad for me in several ways. Good because it was great to be part of such an important show. Bad because it was pretty much the end of my involvement in wrestling in terms of being at shows.

To start off, and to give some background info, some of you may be aware that I was the FWA's ring announcer (See the quotes in my sig- all gaffs from my time in the role!) and wrote a few things here and there for them, including a couple of show reports for WOW magazine (Two of which were actually written by me, one which was credited to me, although I had nothing to do with it!). As I was living in, firstly Yorkshire, then latterly Blackpool, I wasn't really deeply involved in the planning or execution of any of the shows, but I always made the long trips down South to take part in every show I could and when I heard about Revival I couldn't wait to be part of it. Partly because I thought it was going to essentially be an FWA show and partly due to the fact that my ego had been well and truly inflated by some very positive comments about my emceeing, I assumed that I'd take my usual role of ring announcer for Revival. You can imagine how gutted I was when I found out I wasn't.

Can't remember quite when I was told this, but I do remember the reasons I was given- one was that they wanted someone with television experience (Which was strange because I honestly don't recall seeing the woman who got the gig before or since and because the FWA had been filming its TV series in the six or so months leading up to Revival, so I essentially did have some experience). The other was that Tommy Boyd wanted the show to disassociate itself from the FWA in terms of on screen presentation (Again, kind of weird, because virtually the entire roster was from the FWA, the commentators were from the FWA...). As consolation, I was told that they'd like me to be timekeeper for the show. Which, again, I thought was rather strange as I had absolutely no experience of this. I do recall getting a dry run at one of the FWA shows before Revival, and timekeeping itself isn't that difficult, truth be told. However for a show that was to be broadcast live on radio, and would therefore have a strict time schedule, one would have thought they'd wanted someone who'd done the job before. Anyway, I wasn't going to complain. Disappointed though I was (And in my mind at the time I did feel them giving me the timekeeper job was a token gesture), I was still going to be able to see the show and say I was a part of it.

I only have vague memories of events pre-show. I remember having to swap the FWA tee I was wearing when I arrived for one that said 'SWAT' (Which I still have!) due to the aforementioned disassociation thing. I remember it being around the time that the original 'Legends of Wrestling' game was released and there being a guy dressed as Hulk Hogan at the show to promote it. I remember Brian Christopher (Who I didn't actually meet) being a total mark for himself. You could see that from the way he carried himself. Allegedly he also refused to work with Mark Sloan (possibly Jonny Storm also) because he wasn't big enough, or some other similar BS reason (Gutted for Mark when I heard that, whether true or not. He had more reason to be peeved than me in reality if this was the case, having done so much to get the FWA on the map).

I also remember some of the Q & A. How Alex Shane came across strongly and as the star he really was at the time. I know people slate him for self promotion, but without him I imagine Revival being a total dud in terms of success. Yes, there were the ex WWF stars there and no doubt the in ring action would still have been as good. But I genuinely think Alex had as much to do with the success of the show as Tommy Boyd.

One thing that really stands out in my mind was the fact I actually got to meet Eddie Guerrero. I say 'meet'- our meeting was probably about 30 seconds. Those wrestlers who remember me from the FWA days will tell you I was pretty quiet, as I'm quite reserved and certainly I got starstruck. Because of this, I'd spend most of my time talking to the FWA Academy students or the FWA workers who I'd got to know quite well, so I was never going to have any sort of conversation with Eddie. Especially since he was really the centre of attention backstage that day. Anyway, I was asked to go to Eddie's dressing room and inform him that he was needed to film a promo. Fine, no problem. I think I spent the entire couple of minutes walk to the dressing room thinking 'What do I call him? Am I OK to say 'Eddie'? Would 'Mr Guerrero' be more appropriate?' Of course, I said the first thing that came into my head upon arrival; 'Er, excuse me Eddie, but you're needed to do some filming.' 'OK, cool,' he replied. And that was that. I quickly left the dressing room and went back to whatever I was doing. Mostly aimless meandering around Crystal Palace, if memory serves. But yeah, brief though it was, I met EDDIE GUERRERO. And nothing can take that away from me!

Once bell time came (The bell that I rang, no less!), I recall that once all the pre-match intros and scene setting had happened, the female ring announcer came to sit next to me. I wasn't going to complain. She was quite fit. She had a very brief conversation with me, about what I cant remember, sat next to me for the whole of the first dark match and never sat next to me again for the rest of the show. I don't know if I smelt bad, she didn't enjoy our conversation (Not that I could say much anyway, legitimately this time, given that I had to concentrate on the match and the running time) or something else. In my head I thought she maybe sensed my resentment towards her for nicking MY job! Even though I don't know if she even knew she had- whether I slipped into the conversation that I was the FWA ring announcer or not. I do definitely remember that there were quite a few people after the show had aired on TV who asked why I hadn't done the announcing, as I'd have been better. I don't know if that's true or not. What I will say is this- any mug can do emceeing for a wrestling show. It's not that hard. But I think you have to be a real fan to do it well, and I got the feeling she wasn't, so perhaps her 'performance' suffered or didn't come across that well as a result.

About timekeeping being easy. Well... yes, it is, to a degree. You have your show notes, giving you rough match times so you know when to signal that a match is entering its final stages. Which is all well and good and everything went pretty swimmingly for me in that regard, with exception to the match that Mark Sloan reffed (I'm not convinced he saw my signals, to be honest, though there was also the added complication of Gladiator Ace being involved and I don't know how clued up he was with his cues), and the Jody Fleisch/Drew McDonald match. The latter was understandable though- there was a ref bump booked, which meant him (the UKFF's own Andy Coyne!) being out of the action for most of the match. There was no way he was going to see my signals and I know the match went well over the time I had written down in my notes. I think the refs had earpieces that night, but I don't know what was being relayed to them if that was the case. What made it worse was that Andy was meant to be pretty much out cold, so even if he was aware of things, he couldn't really signal effectively to the wrestlers. I can honestly say I was shitting bricks. This was live, at least as far as radio goes, and everything had to run to time. As far as I was concerned, there wouldn't be any 'overruns' on the radio show. I was also worried that I wouldn't get used again if anything came of Revival.

See those links for the Revival matches on Youtube? Check out the one for the Ulf Hermann/Brian Christopher match. I'm in it. Get name checked too, around the 7.30 mark- don't like to watch mind, as it reminds me I used to have a decent head of hair! Although all of the commentary relating to this is complete twaddle. Actually, one bit of it is almost brilliant, if only by accident. See the part where Brian rams Ulf's head into the bell? Truth be told, he rammed his head into the table, no where near the bell. It just so happened that at the time of said ramming (Ooo-er!), the implement I'd been using to ring the bell, which was on the table, rolled into the bell and sounded it, making it sound like Ulf's head had actually been forced onto the bell. The camera angle also doesn't give the game away. I don't know if Mark Priest knew any of this when he was recording his TV commentary. Brilliant improvisation if he did, though. Line about me trying to get out of the way is blatant bollocks though. I'm standing still. There's barely an expression on my face, even!

And that's where my memories go even more hazy. In reality, other than the majority of the matches being great, it was quite an uneventful show for me. As I said, my role meant I had to have 100% concentration for the whole of the show and I obviously don't have loads of fantastic backstage stories to tell because I was front of house while the show was on.

As I said, on reflection Revival was bitter sweet for me. Yes I was part of a ground breaking show, involving one of my passions. But I wasn't where I wanted to be, even if I could understand the reasons for this that were given to me at the time. And as I said, barring I think one or possibly two shows, certainly this was my last proper involvement with anything to do with the FWA, or even wrestling. Not long after Revival I got a job at Blackpool Pleasure Beach (Where I worked for 7 years), which meant I couldn't commit to any weekend shows, and so had to quietly drop off the grid. Disappointed is an understatement, as part of the reason I moved to Blackpool was to be more involved in wrestling. Alas, 'was not meant to be. The same could be said for the concept of Revival and SWAT. Despite everyone being pleased with how it turned out on the TV and live, and much talk of hoping there would be some sort of pick up for a British wrestling show on Bravo or some similar station, I don't think the ratings justified it. Whether the expense and logistics of putting on such a show regularly came into it as well, I'm not sure.

Given the title of the show- Revival, on my part at least there's a certain irony there, as it proved to be almost the exact opposite for me (And I guess Brit Wres to a certain extent- although it led to something of a boom period, it didn't quite achieve what it set out to do)! But, honestly, to have been involved in that show was a great privilege and one I am eternally grateful for. Wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Personally loved the episode, though wasn't exactly wowed by the cliffhanger. Although, given the amount of time between transmission of last night's and the next episode, probably right to not go full kilter- there'd be a lot of frustrated folks out there who'd be giving Moffatt all sorts of grief.

 

Ref. the River Song reveal (I sussed this and tweeted so as far back as episode one of this current run (@Adam_Southward if you care to check!)) and her non-reaction to meeting Amy and Rory before Amy was preggers- well, if you think about it, it can easily be explained in the same way that they haven't been able to tell the Doctor they saw him killed. It's part of Amy and Rory's future, so they mustn't be told. And River is extremely skilled at holding back future secrets ('Spoilers, sweetie!'), to the extent where she can restrain any reaction (especially if she is part Time Lord) so bit of a non-issue for me.

 

Yeah, but Amy and Rory knowing about the Doctor's death is a shit example because we saw them react. Several times in fact.

Not to his face though.

Also, not that shit an exmaple if you consider I said 'River is extremely skilled at holding back future secrets'- she has more experience of time travel and the pitfalls involved than either Rory or Amy, so I'm assuming that's why she's able to restrain herself. The fact that Rory and Amy are almost constantly in The Doctor's company means it's going to be hard to avoid some sort of reaction.

Plus, watched the repeat last night and there was something of a reaction from River with Rory, when he came to see her in prison- just enough to register. It was her birthday, there was a little bit of joy in her that her father was visiting her.

Personally loved the episode, though wasn't exactly wowed by the cliffhanger. Although, given the amount of time between transmission of last night's and the next episode, probably right to not go full kilter- there'd be a lot of frustrated folks out there who'd be giving Moffatt all sorts of grief.

Ref. the River Song reveal (I sussed this and tweeted so as far back as episode one of this current run (@Adam_Southward if you care to check!)) and her non-reaction to meeting Amy and Rory before Amy was preggers- well, if you think about it, it can easily be explained in the same way that they haven't been able to tell the Doctor they saw him killed. It's part of Amy and Rory's future, so they mustn't be told. And River is extremely skilled at holding back future secrets ('Spoilers, sweetie!'), to the extent where she can restrain any reaction (especially if she is part Time Lord) so bit of a non-issue for me.

Going back to all the comments about ring announcers, that clip of Exodus against Omar has a really SHITARSE MC. And I should know, I used to be one. An MC, that is, not a SHITARSE MC. Although I did introduce a few SHITARSES in my time... Actually, one of the things that's quite striking is how much longevitiy some of the SHITARSEs featured so far have had. I've not been around the Brit scene for decades, but some of these guys were wrestling back when I was on the scene in 2001/2. That's just wrong...

Like virtually everyone who's posted so far, I'm stunned, shocked, upset...you name it. Just let me say, I'm not going to speculate as to the cause or nature of his death. That to me is inappropriate, and much as we are all probably fascinated as to the reasons why, that will come out in time. For now I think it better to pay tribute to the man and wait for whatever information comes.There have been a number of deaths in recent years, and the toll keeps rising. Unfortunately, most of those deaths have been a side effect of the business. More unfortunately, because of this, most of those deaths have had little or no impact on me personally, other than the 'curiosity value'... Oh, Curt Hennig's dead, Ray Traylor's dead. It just becomes numbers and often not in the least bit unexpected. I remember reading about the death of Brian Pillman in Power Slam and being choked, as at the time the circumstances seemed so tragic and out of the blue. Now, they've become so frequent that even the death of Eddie Guerrero didn't have the same emotional effect on me that it might have.This one's different though. Firstly, Chris Benoit was one of my all time, absolute favourites, bar none. He, along with Kurt Angle, was one of those wrestlers I could watch any time, against any opponent, and know that I could expect a good match. He may have lacked the personality or mic skills of a Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin or Ric Flair, but he made everything matter. He 'kept it real'. That I can no longer see him in action in the future is a real blow. Secondly, his death (at least from what we can gather so far) is not due to industry fallout mentioned earlier so, much like Owen Hart (whose death was probably the only other one to upset and have a lasting effect on me), I think the tragedy seems more unexpected and numbing.Add into all of that that his wife and son were also lost to the world and it becomes even more shocking. I really can't express my feelings strongly enough right now.I never met Chris Benoit in person (although I was fortunate enough to meet Eddie G), as I'm sure was the same for the majority of forumites on here. By rights, it's probable that no-one can imagine or feel what his and Nancy's remaining family must be going through. That so many have posted or paid tribute to the man is testament to his legacy and the lasting impression he has made on so many people's lives.RIP Chris Benoit- 1967-2007. Gone, but not forgotten.