Ant Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I've been reading Power Slam for about 16 years. Â When I started reading it was my first exposure to non-kayfabe material, and it resuscitated my dying interest in wrestling, which I'd been a die-hard fan of for about 7 years at that point. Â I was now exposed to what was "really" going on, and introduced to ECW and the various Japanese promotions. Obtaining my copy of the magazine was something I looked forward too and counted down the days, and I even racked up the odd expensive call to the hotline on my parents phone! Â The dream years ended for me when John Lister and Rob Butcher stopped writing for the magazine. I still purchase the magazine out of habit - obviously the internet supplies all the info I need. However, there's no denying that Fin Martin's outright attacks on certain folk are crazy. His relentless digs at Drew McIntyre, for example, astound me. Â As I've read the mag for so long I feel attached to it (and through it Martin) in a way that you'd normally associate with a colleague, friend, or family member. Martin's recent comments on some things make me worry the guys about to crack up or having some kind of difficulty. Â I mean the guy was really kind to me as I wanted a couple of back issues and sent a postal order - one issue was no longer available, but he sent me lots of other issues (including SoW) of his own back. The harsher way he comes across I doubt he'd be so generous now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CiderBag Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 He (ol' glorified fanzine Fin, I liked that one) has a Beef with Jericho. Jericho obviously knows nothing about it as he used Fin for advertisement on a Fozzy tour. Fin proved to be a hypocrite there. Â What do you mean by "used Fin for advertisement." Do you mean Jericho/Fozzy paid for an ad in the magazine? If so, then continuing to criticise Jericho after taking his money for an advert is surely the absolute opposite of hypocrisy. Â No. It was a five minute promo interview on the phone to promote the then upcoming gigs. It had a massive intro on his history stating Martin made the press call (Punting the bill for the wrestler he 'totally legit and not bitter for unknown reqsons' thinks is garbage). The iv plugged all upcoming dates etc etc, and in return the mag got a couple of wrestling related quotes. This was around 2009 or thereabouts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
619 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Exactly. Like a celebrity who takes drugs, then takes money to do anti-drug adverts, then keeps taking drugs. The concept of advertising in Power Slam is mad anyway. On one page, there'll be a full-page ad for the latest WWE pay-per-view on DVD, then overleaf, Fin doing four pages on how shit that pay-per-view is. Silver Vision must think that, even to PS readers, a picture of a DVD carries more weight than the editor's opinion of a show.  Buying an ad should never mean you're immune from criticism.  I edit the UK's official PlayStation mag, in which publishers take out ads for their upcoming releases very month. Doesn't affect the scores because our responsibility is to our readership, not them. (And they understand and accept that.)  Sure it's the same where Fin and Power Slam are concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Buying an ad should never mean you're immune from criticism. Buying an ad in a publication that does nothing but attack your product kind of proves you're dismissive of and impervious to criticism, if not immune. If someone publishes a shit game and advertises it in your magazine, then they are doing so with confidence that their ad will mean more to your readership than your negative review of the game will. I don't know if your attitude in such scenarios is more "lol stupid publisher doesn't realise my readers will never buy this game when they see the score we give it, keep lining my pockets, fools" or "fuck, our reviews are ultimately meaningless, I'm depressed" or whether you're not involved with the ad sales and don't think about it. But I know PowerSlam's pretty much a one-man shop, so Fin'll be whacking the Royal Rumble DVD advert into his Microsoft Publisher* file for the next issue at the same time as he's writing about how it was terrible and Daniel Bryan should've done the clean double. It's got to be a bit soul-destroying for him to know that Silver Vision reckon his readership might be entertained by his opinions, but definitely won't be swayed by them. Â Â *I can't imagine PowerSlam is put together with anything else. Edited February 14, 2012 by King Pitcos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamTheGreat Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 that's the main problem with power slam now. It's all Fin now and no doubt he must be feeling the strain at carrying so much of the work load. A couple of years ago, you had several writers ans Stately was allowed to make jokes. The "three-ring circus" if you will. Now, I almost expect the next issue with the headline "oh, what's the bloody point?!" before finding out Martin did himself in with a overdose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hopefully with a smiling Cena on the cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members gmoney Posted February 14, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 14, 2012 you had several writers ans Stately was allowed to make jokes. Â That was never a plus point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted February 14, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 14, 2012 The dream years ended for me when John Lister and Rob Butcher stopped writing for the magazine. Â [on-topic shill] Just in case you don't know, I write for FSM these days. Though I do some modern stuff, I also get the chance to cover more historical stuff as well, such as the current issue where I've got a piece about the ECW Arena and a history of the battle royale.[/on-topic shill.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted February 14, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 14, 2012 I dont know. John Lister jumping to FSM is like Bret Hart turning up in WCW. Just sounds odd to me. I hear Power Slam is bringing out a midget version of Lister in the next issue as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 The dream years ended for me when John Lister and Rob Butcher stopped writing for the magazine. Â [on-topic shill] Just in case you don't know, I write for FSM these days. Though I do some modern stuff, I also get the chance to cover more historical stuff as well, such as the current issue where I've got a piece about the ECW Arena and a history of the battle royale.[/on-topic shill.] Â Thanks for the info John; shall pick up a copy of FSM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
619 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Buying an ad should never mean you're immune from criticism. Buying an ad in a publication that does nothing but attack your product kind of proves you're dismissive of and impervious to criticism, if not immune. If someone publishes a shit game and advertises it in your magazine, then they are doing so with confidence that their ad will mean more to your readership than your negative review of the game will. I don't know if your attitude in such scenarios is more "lol stupid publisher doesn't realise my readers will never buy this game when they see the score we give it, keep lining my pockets, fools" or "fuck, our reviews are ultimately meaningless, I'm depressed" or whether you're not involved with the ad sales and don't think about it. But I know PowerSlam's pretty much a one-man shop, so Fin'll be whacking the Royal Rumble DVD advert into his Microsoft Publisher* file for the next issue at the same time as he's writing about how it was terrible and Daniel Bryan should've done the clean double. It's got to be a bit soul-destroying for him to know that Silver Vision reckon his readership might be entertained by his opinions, but definitely won't be swayed by them. Â Â *I can't imagine PowerSlam is put together with anything else. Â Actually a former colleague and good friend of mine, Oliver Hurley, writes the DVD reviews. And he's given plenty of four- and five-star reviews to SilverVision/WWE products. Â I agree Fin can be overly negative for no apparent reason at times, but it's not quite as black and white as you suggest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I think it's on his Twitter account that Fin said he's just watched the video of "such an episode" of Smackdown from a few weeks earlier. Â The poor sod must now be at the stage of watching a month's worth of Raw and SD's on the same day or two - suppose it may help him comment on how a storyline has developed over the time period, but it must be a dire experience. Â Does anyone have any idea about the magazine's circulation? Whatever it is I'm sure Fin must make a decent living off it, compared to now trying to obtain "real work". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Ronnie Posted February 14, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 14, 2012 Does anyone have any idea about the magazine's circulation? Whatever it is I'm sure Fin must make a decent living off it, compared to now trying to obtain "real work". I have no clue about numbers but I'm sure Fin has written before that every single issue has been profitable. That'd suggest to me that he's doing alright, since there would be no need to impose excessive restraint on the editor's pay unless costs hadn't been covered for a period. I don't think anybody knowingly underpays the editor of a money-generating enterprise, at any rate. Â And even if he weren't particularly well paid, I can't imagine the workload's as demanding as it would be for something else. It comes out every four weeks and he's not writing that much when you consider the size of the magazine and how long he has to fill it. I attended a meeting on Saturday and wrote a 4,000-word, ten-page summary the next morning. That's all Fin has to do for the opening few pages, recapping the month's TV etc. Rinse and repeat for the PPV recaps and "X years ago in PS". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FPW Darren Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 "The dream years ended for me when John Lister and Rob Butcher stopped writing for the magazine." Â Much respect to John and my former editor, Rob Butcher! Â :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
619 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Does anyone have any idea about the magazine's circulation? Whatever it is I'm sure Fin must make a decent living off it, compared to now trying to obtain "real work". I have no clue about numbers but I'm sure Fin has written before that every single issue has been profitable. That'd suggest to me that he's doing alright, since there would be no need to impose excessive restraint on the editor's pay unless costs hadn't been covered for a period. I don't think anybody knowingly underpays the editor of a money-generating enterprise, at any rate. Â The last line made me smile ironically. Â To say any more would be unprofessional... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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