Phil Jones

The Whole Shebang are good for AEW figures.

Seconded. Love your posts Air_Raid

The Shitarse 50. Say no more.

23 hours ago, TomJones233 said:

I forgot that people get bodyslammed on Emmerdale, my bad.

https://youtu.be/q22vEQPVT04

2 hours ago, The Reverend said:

Stu Allen aka The Dominator from the UK's highly successful EWW promotion has a book out now. Interesting stories of going to Florida to train under Adrian Street in the early 90's, the late 90's / early 2000 UK industry, WWE Tough Enough trials etc. 

Cheers ... sounds right up my street 
 

Here’s a link if to it on Amazon  Stu Allen book Amazon UK

1 hour ago, lars85 said:

Is that Ban Margera's mum between Bret and Briscoe?

I believe that’s Bret’s first wife, Julie. 

India.

Dara Singh competed in his native India in at least the ‘50s and ‘60s and possibly the ‘40s. His Wikipedia page mentioned that he trained to wrestle in 1947 in Singapore so you can probably add Singapore to the list as well. 

John Lister’s book is essential reading before your trip Purodyssey - A Tokyo Wrestling Diary

On 8/8/2019 at 11:30 AM, andrew "the ref" coyne said:

Yeah. If you could play a fake spoiler on the screen of Thanos winning again that would be magic.

Ryan Smile, at ATTACK show, told everyone that Han Solo died in The Force Awakens less than 24 hours after the film came out. 

The Minehead show is part of a Butlins weekender. You can’t actually buy individual tickets - you get one ticket per guest - as you pay for a three night break at Butlins with the WWE show being the Saturday evening entertainment. 

8 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Let’s not forget people paid good money to pose in a bed with Sunny only a few years back. Wrestling don’t half attract some absolute weirdos

Pretty sure it’s the same fella....

https://images.app.goo.gl/e5TKfrmi21RmLZax9

Greg Valentine (UK) was Steve Crabtree - nephew of Big Daddy. 

https://toysandmasks.com/wrestling/wwe-basic-series/basic-series-90/kane

Yeah Sasuke had made waves nationally in Japan by this point with his performance in the Super J Cup and wanted MPW to be seen as a global promotion in the magazines by makign an impact abroad (bear in mind that they were known in Japan as a promotion who were stuck out on the most northerly island of Japan. There was very little online reach in those days and Sasuke decided to fly a small crew over England, as the country was known for welcoming Japanese stars (eg original Tiger Mask Sayama, Liger, Kojima, Maeda etc). As Dixon was the man who had brought over the more recent Japanese stars in Liger (as Flying Fuji Yamada) and Kojima, it was All Star who they approached.

 

I think they did a show the night before in either Portsmouth or Southampton - a venue called the Guild Hall rings a bell. I remember Danny Collins being involved in a match and later on, he flew out for a few tours with MPW. Hanzo Nakajima stayed on and wrestled all over the UK for a few months. As John said, I believe that Hiroshi Arai brokered the deal.

A bit extra on Hiroshi Arai. He went to uni in London and used to attend All Star events at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. When he returned to Japan he began freelancing for Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine and also served as foreign talent booker for Michinoku Pro. In 1995 he returned to the UK to meet with Dynamite Kid for an interview and a match proposal (this eventually led to Dynamite's last match at Sumo Hall for Michinoku on 10/10/1996).

Edit: Hiroshi also wrote a book, in Japanese, called Around The World With Michinoku that covered the Michinoku tour to Croydon and Portsmouth plus TAKA Michinoku and Hanzo Nakajima wrestling each other on an All Star show in Dubai (that also featured Johnny South, Drew McDonald, Little Prince and a Power Ranger).

When I went to see WWF at Whitley Bay Ice Rink in (I think) 93, there were people stood outside handing out a3 black and white photo copies featuring a report of Sid scissoring scandal.

To this day I don't know if it was a hard copy dirt sheet, a WWF ploy to make you not watch WCW due to their brutal ways, or an anti wrestling group.

Either way, my dad had a copier/fax machine. So I made about 50 copies, not knowing what it was and handed them out at junior school. A teacher saw one of the copies and banned me from swimming.

I wish to god I had a copy to read now.

I remember that! Believe it was a flyer for a wrestling hotline. Remember getting a few different ones at WWF shows in Cardiff around that time.

Did we ever get the Toy Makers WCW figures? I remember Galoob and then the later ones with jointed body parts bit not the figures inbetween.

I don't remember seeing them on the high street but there was a shop in Bristol that used to import them. Had Curt Hennig myself IIRC.

Apparently legendary wrestling venue, the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, are closing.

Looks like the Halls are closing for two years due to a major refurbishment

http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/Croydon-Council-confirms-Fairfield-Halls-close/story-28814916-detail/story.html

Details on Bram's arrest inc the changing documents:

http://www.gulfportpolice.com/uploads/4/4/8/2/44826255/august_31_2015.pdf

The logical next step would be The Roundhouse, which would seat around 1400, but they're quite happy at the Electric Ballroom, it seems. It's an intruiging problem to have, because there will be dissatisfaction amongst previously regular customers when they can't get tickets (running more shows won't do anything to alleviate the issue) but it's obviously something they're well aware of and happy to encounter in the short term.

No idea how much the Ballroom is to hire but the Roundhouse will set you back £24,500 + VAT for 24hrs.

Link: http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/venue-hire/

 

Surely with Koko five minutes down the road though it'd make sense to move there? They'd probably sell the place out quite comfortably and it would surely have the same atmosphere as the Electric Ballroom.

It appears that for a wrestling show the capacity would actually be smaller than the Ballroom. I believe it's because the venue is designed for people watching a show on the stage. With the ring on the floor, a lot of the balcony seats wouldn't have a clear view.

Also, ICW runs Koko. Went to the last ICW show there. Amazing looking venue with loads of balconies - standing only on the floor.

Mark Andrews is set to appear on Sunday August 2 at Heroes & Legends 2015 at Margam Park, nr Port Talbot, Wales.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/462211113926234/

I grew up in north Wales, which was obviously Orig Williams territory.

The first show I remember was at Holyhead Leisure Centre, which would have been around 1992 or so. My memory is quite sketchy but I remember a fake Ultimate Warrior on the card as well as the "third" British Bulldog, who used to team with Dynamite Kid in Japan but his name escapes me. At school the next day though, we were all convinced that Sean South was actually Road Warrior Hawk, and "not a fake like the rest."

The "third" Bulldog was probably Johnny Smith who went out to have a decent run in All Japan (as well as a small run in ECW). Believe I saw a version of that show in Cardiff.

Aside from a few camp shows in the 1980's a Kiln Park, Tenby, my first live show was a Reslo TV taping at the Star Centre in Splott, Cardiff.

This was just when WWF was exploding at my high school so a bunch of us went.

Results -

CARDIFF – 30/3/90. Filmed for Welsh TV…Dave Finlay (W) v Kid McCoy

Cage: Danny Collins (W) v Richie Brooks

El Bandito (Orig Williams) (W) v Blondie Barratt

Colonel Brody (W) v Steve Regal

Giant Haystacks/Klaus Kauroff (W) v Boston Blackie/Jamaica George

European Heavyweight champion Pat Roach (W) v Ray Steele

Jimmy Ocean/Ricky Knight v Tony Stewart/Gary Welsh

Source: http://www.johnlisterwriting.com/itvwrestling/other.html#Anchor-Resl-7498

It's always a weird thought that shows of this significance happened in Walthamstow, seems such an unlikely venue for wrestling now. Am I right in thinking there's some historical significance attached to Walthamstow within British wrestling? I remember going to an FWA show or two there in the early-ish 00s, but it wasn't something I ever gave too much thought to at the time.

I recall someone posting the link to this a few years back and it often makes me smile that that's the same hall that I now visit to give blood a couple of times a year.

I might be wrong regarding historical significance but I just believe it was 'just' a regular venue during the heyday of British wrestling.

In Walthamstow Assembley Halls trivia, parts of the movie 'Ashes And The Quest For The Gamechild' was filmed there.

20 years.... this show was the catalyst for me meeting a lot of great people, going to a lot of great places and doing a lot of great things. Thank you Sabu and thank you Jason Harrison.

Edit: I caught up with Jason Harrison following the ICW Show at Koko in London a few months back. He's currently a train driver.