Hoptimus

19 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Then they're not fit to be promoters of events like that. Absolutely fuck that approach.

Good. If they're taking the approach above then they're shitarses who shouldn't be promoting.

Totally agree with you. There will be some that promoter isn't a full time gig and that they work a desk job somewhere. The cost of the paramedic could actually have been their profit for the night that they get to walk home with. No profit no point in running. Money to pay for a holiday without touching the day job money goes away.

19 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

And they would be reprehensible morons.

If someone takes a bad move and ends up paralysed or worse, I’d love to see that promoter walk up to the injured’s family and explain, “Well, I’m sorry, but they just weren’t well-trained enough.”

Totally agree. There will be some out there.

17 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Going back to the previous discussion, if you don't employ paramedics for your show then you shouldn't be allowed to run one. Without exception.

Wholly agree yes. 

You will have promoters though that will feel like it is the talents responsibility to be well trained enough to not require to have to pay for a paramedic or to purchase a suitable insurance policy to cover it. 

If a town hall venue holds 400. It's a sell out of £12 per ticket is £4800. A paramedic for the night is £800 the promoter is then having to pay for the venue hire, talent, advertising costs. The promoter won't have an awful lot of profit from the ticket sales. Unless the promoter has good merchandise to sell to the fans or has other revenue streams such as online video on demand then some smaller promotions will end up seeing it's not worth it and will probably stop running. 

42 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I know a few people at NXT:UK and, of the wrestlers, don't know any who have a "real life job". Maybe there are some, because it's not huge money, but it's certainly not "you need a second job to supplement this" poverty pay. When the brand started, it was reported that people were on about £25,000 a year, plus royalties and benefits. I know one person at least who has had their university education bankrolled by WWE, and I know at least one who's on considerably more than that £25,000 anyway.

There have been other rules in place over the time the brand's existed, but they used to change them all the time. Initially you could work anywhere so long as it wasn't one of their blacklisted companies or on a streaming service or TV, but they started to get stricter when Pete Dunne got injured on an indie show. Last I heard, every booking had to be cleared through the office, and was dependent on it not falling within two weeks of an NXT UK booking, and WWE-contracted talent had to portray the same heel or face disposition as they did on TV, and you required special permission to book them to lose. But the specific rules changed all the time.

As I said before, I imagine now you can't book NXT:UK talent at all, and I very much doubt they'll go back to allowing it post-Covid either. 

It's an interesting read that about the pay. £25k a year you are kind of scratching your head. WWE superstars are projected as big time stars. Larger than life. You do expect them to be paid more. If you take Impact Wrestling. I know that a number of the Impact Wrestling roster have day jobs which I find mental. The perception they give off is Impact Wrestling is a global brand and they have their stars be projected the same way as WWE. I couldn't believe it that Josh Alexander the current Impact Wrestling X Division champion is currently getting up at 4am to make the gym so he can start work in the morning for 8am then do gym after work see family a couple of hours then bed at 10pm every night. I'd have expected him to be making enough to have it being a wrestler is a full time gig.

34 minutes ago, Your Fight Site said:

What a weird guy. Because someone’s going to see a picture of an ambulance and go, “Ambulance, must be mandated by WWE… oh my lord! It’s WWE’s doing and they’re making it difficult to book one-third of of a stable!” and not just go, “Oh, it’s a picture of an ambulance. At least someone’s here if something goes wrong”.

Goes to lock down DMs on Twitter account…

That was the exact mentality. It's a bad look a fans taken a photo of an expense required to book me but if I wasn't contracted the promoter wouldn't require said expense onset cringe. Completely mental behaviour.

12 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said:

From what I recall, they could with the ones that WWE had partnerships with, so those were Progress, ICW and wXw l, and as @Joe Blogsaid, so long as there was a paramedic present. That little stip took a lot of promotions out of the picture as the vast majority of those wouldn’t have the funds to make sure they have a paramedic present

Not gonna lie I actually had Joe Coffey go mad at me inside a DM for tweeting a picture of a paramedic vehicle outside a venue for an independent show he was booked on. Apparently I was highlighting it in public view that WWE were making it difficult for a promotion to book him so it was a bad look for him as he was well established within said promotion. He was like it's not his fault WWE are making the promoter do this. The way he came into my DM's was a bit over the top and a bit agressive.

5 hours ago, theringmaster said:

The ratings are so low for nxt uk they didn't even track, according to WON anyway,

 

I had mates who went not long before Pandemic and they bought cheapest tickets but practically had front row the attendance was so low, they just got pushed forward.

 

If they want it to be a long term success when crowds return surely they need to give it a draw? Like a Balor type figure? Guys and girls who have populated progress, Fight club and Kami for years are not going to make people spend premium price for tickets to see

Yeah I'm with you here. 

I'm certain that there was an interview with HHH that said that fans are paying to see WWE and the talent are now WWE superstars. 

If that was the case and the talent are being equally compared to fellow superstars on the US NXT or Raw and Smackdown then the ticket price isn't worth it. 

Im not up for paying £45 notes when I can see the majority of the talent when shows open back up at reputable independent promotion for £15. The fancy Tron and WWE ring isn't worth the extra £30

Josh Alexander Vs TJP in the Iron Man Match was incredible. Worth a watch. The bulk of the match is on Before The Impact on YouTube then the final moments roll over onto the main Impact Wrestling broadcast.

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

I think for me the additional issue with the Norm MacDonald video (and, like Chris B, my intention isn't to have a go at SaitoRyo, but just as to comment on the video itself and the narrative therein) is that it perpetuates the notion that being gay is all about sex, and it intersects with the long-standing conditioning of society to not just see sex as dirty and disgusting, but specifically gay sex as being that even more, and so he's using the graphic description of it as a means of eliciting humour via subconscious disgust.

It's particularly damaging because it continues to negate the simple perception that being gay or bi is a legitimate emotional orientation, of which sex is only a part (and, indeed, doesn't have to be at all, if an LGBTQ+ person is also asexual). We've seen this with all the bullshit recently from homophobic parents who don't want their kids learning about gay people because "kids should just be allowed to be kids", and just won't listen when they're told that nobody's proposing teaching them about sex.

A large part of why I've struggled all my adult life to deal with any notions that I might be anything other than 100% hetero is because I, like so many, have grown up surrounded by an ideoscape and mediascape of messages and signs designed to cultivate in us the above notions regarding homosexuality. Despite having parents who are progressive AF, who were assiduous in inculcating progressive values in myself and my sisters as we grew up, it proved to be impossible to avoid these messages, and as such I ended up with a perception that became monolithic and insurmountable in my subconscious: that to be gay/homosexual was "defective" and "less than" as a human being. It's dirty, it's immoral, you get AIDS. My rational mind has always told me otherwise, but because of this conditioning, it meant that, when I finally got to a stage when I started questioning my sexuality at around 13, 14 years old, my internal conflict was hideous and detrimental. It lessened over the years with my experimentation, but it never fully went away.

In essence, it felt like there was a switch in my brain that had been flipped to one setting in early life, had rusted over, and had become impossible to flip to the position my rational mind knew to be true. A big part of that was (and I'm sorry to bore people by mentioning this yet again) the bullying I experienced during my formative years; it means that I now have an overwhelming fear of being mocked, belittled, and ostracised again, and because I'd seen what happened to other boys I knew who came out, not to mention the general societal culture of how LGBTQ+ people are treated (anyone remember all the tabloid headlines of the 80s and 90s about Freddie Mercury, Boy George, Elton John, etc.?), I was really reluctant to take the measures necessary to deal with it. Even just straight male friends using it as "banter" intended to be friendly ribbing was hurtful, because I couldn't shake the feeling they were trying to make me the "cut-up" and "sub" me again. The other thing was that I've had former, straight-identifying friends who, on finding out I wasn't hetero, drunkenly/druggedly (is that a word?) proposition me sexually, and then, when I inevitably turned them down, just stop speaking to me, probably out of embarrassment when they sobered up.

Over recent years, I've started actively working on the conditioning, via meditation and thought exercises designed to erode that monolith in my head. It's gradually working, thankfully.

The crazy thing is that my sexuality, as it is now, isn't even all that "extreme" in terms of how society portrays the sexual "spectrum", so to speak. Like SuperBacon, I'm not really part of the community. So, having had by comparison only a mere glimpse of it myself, it disturbs me imagine how much worse it must be or have been for people who really do fall 100% under the LGBTQ+ banner, and who have to struggle just to fucking be.

You kind of hit a nail on the head of those who cannot differentiate between, gender identity, gender expression and sexuality. A lot of people cannot separate them and see a lot of it being the one and the same which it isn't. 

In my counselling and in my support group a lot of things seem to centre around toxic masculinity behaviours. I'm still exploring this aspect of my father just now in counseling. I always have felt his toxic masculinity and also things from managers in my old job damaged me so I was afriad and also harboured some negative narrow viewpoint myself. I said to myself. This year I build up myself to be a better human and to accept that it's ok to be queer and to be able to accept I am who I am. All the professional help is greatly helping in the process.

Ok so we may have got something wrong here. We didn't realise that 1st of November is a Monday. We move to the next weekend. 

We have all the posters up in the kebab shops just yesterday. Lucky only one day. 

We need a volunteer to go around with a bottle of tipex and felt tip pen to change the date. It should take a whole evening. 

We cannot pay as no tickets sold yet. If you do it you can get an opportunity to be able to help out on the day of the show with the ring. 

Text the number on the poster to apply.

I'm currently in counseling at the moment for a lot of issues I have and also I am at a support group as well as having one to one with the support group co-ordinator. 

Im possibly in the closet as bisexual. A lot of my in the closet feelings is down to being afraid to have come out about it years ago whilst my dad was still alive. 

He died four years ago of a heart attack. I never got along with my dad and he was always such a bad homophobic bigot. We actually had a massive fight the day before the heart attack and I went away to Manchester the next day. My dad took the heart attack whilst I was in Manchester. Was forced to come home early from four days planned staying down there. 

The counseling has been a massive help as well as the support group. 

I know I'm definitely bisexual. Just never had the courage to come out of the closet yet.

NXT UK doesn't attract me in at all to watch. 

I think the feel of it is such a low level version of a WWE TV production that I just cannot get into it at all. You have some good talents there. 

You also have a good few alleged wrong uns on the roster there that makes me not want to support that product.

16 minutes ago, Louch said:

Personally I don’t see myself going to much when things return

I'm in a similar boat. I can see myself attending Discovery Wrestling as I believe Alan the promoter to be as open and as transparent as possible. 

I may attend FCW in Perth but apart from that I am not really sure when and if I will return.

3 minutes ago, TimmyB said:

Will there be a mobile phone number and gmail address on the poster where we can make enquiries?

Awaiting pay as you go sim card and top up card from one of the trainees. 

Gmail? Is that like Hotmail?

**Press Release**

On November 1st the dawn of a new era in professional wrestling occurs as a new force in the UK wrestling scene takes centre.

Kebab Shop Championship Wrestling has arrived.

This is the only wrestling promotion where there is no internet advertising, there is no social media and definitely no forums will have this posted. 

You only find out about it by seeing a poster of it in the local kebab shop. 

Wheres the event? How much are the tickets? The date? Who's on the card? It's all on the poster. Which kebab shop do I need to go in to find out more or to know if it's near me? Well you need to go visit your local kebab shop and purchase a large donner with chips. Sauce no salad. Look on the wall. If a poster is there you know we are coming to your local working men's social club.

This guarantees that no mark types turn up to ruin it for the kids. It also helps to let us book who we want without any outside interference from buzzy bodies sticking noses into our private lives. If some of the talents are wrong uns we don't know nuffin about it. It's their business. 

With events expected to return in some format within the next few months in England and later on this year in Scotland I am concerned that a good number of accused talents are found resurfacing on events around the country. 

My main concern is that the internet forum and social media fans of wrestling won't hold enough influence or clout with voting on where they spend their ticket money from. Largely the parents who see wrestling advertised on a poster inside the local kebab shop window and take the kids aren't going to know anything about the social media movement of speaking out or follow the promotion or talents themselves to know the backstory and the ins and outs.

What a mad week in wrestling. 

You can see from already released talents and just released talents hurting so much from this. 

It always shows so much class that even when released a majority of the talent thank WWE on social media. 

Some would feel bitter and hurt and attack the company they get let go from. 

Where do we go from here? With all the other active promotions running just now is there reasonable amount of space to include these people without it being at the expense of an existing talent at these active promotions losing a spot?

Its going to be a very interesting next six months in the industry to see the landscape of the world of professional wrestling.

Baggas pals with Farrage isn't he?

It sounds from reading this that I would want to check out the show. I've not really had the time to invest in the AEW product at all this year so I would not feel invested in the storylines. I hope that the action in the ring good and that's an irrelevant point.

Is it just me or is wrestling the only entertainment medium in the world where the fan base create social media accounts pretending that they are the actual talents themselves? This is not to be confused with fan accounts of a talent or tribute accounts for talent. This I straight up I'm making a Twitter account and I'm pretending to be Sasha Banks. I'm talking to other fans being her and also interacting with the actual talent that they are currently with a program with on TV as if they are part of the story by saying stuff that relates to ongoing storyline on TV? 

I genuinely find it worrying why wrestling fans don't get the whole separation between them being the fan and not the participant. 

What goes through the mind to think these things are ok and acceptable. I always am worried about the fantasist nature of wrestling fans and the ones that create these accounts. It always leads me to wonder what other underlying mental health conditions these people display or not have diagnosed either by being with their local community mental health team and or professional counseling. I find some wrestling fans to be really dangerous mentally unstable people.

Probably the BBC will go into jingostic overdrive like North Korea state TV propaganda that the UK is the best and most loved nation on the planet. Shield all the outside world acknowledgement of the UK being hated. Scotland would win Eurovision once independent.

Moose is a megastar. Carries himself so well. Such an improved talent in the last year.