FSM Thread

[Brian Elliott]

What would you personally like to see us cover?

Crush died 6 years ago yesterday. You should do an article on the big mans passing. Power Slam patronized him in death, which I thought was a disgrace. "Shit worker, know for being shit died. He was shit". Of course I'm paraphrasing. You should do a 4 page article profiling his career and what he meant to us.

 

I'd like to see more articles aimed at the British fan. Like articles regarding milestones from the boom period of the early 90s. Battle Royal at the Albert Hall, Davey Boys popularity, the Slam Jam single and the hype surrounding it. Wrestling was massive in this country at the time. I'd like to see you do some stuff on that.

John Lister wrote a six-page retrospective on the first WWF UK boom period last year, in line with it being 20 years since SummerSlam 1992. He also wrote a history of the Albert Hall a few months back. We printed a six-page article on Davey Boy, using private family photographs, on the 10-year anniversary of his death.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Brian Elliott

[Kaz Hayashi]

I'd like to see an obscure where are they now. Not just obvious people who can be found on wiki in 5 seconds. I was watching some Memphis the other day, was reminded of Shawn Baxter and then realised I haven't heard of him since, not much about him on the net.

 

I want you to think of obscure wrestlers, that have wandered off, and do a piece about who they are, what they did, what they are up to etc.

 

Maybe just me, but that kind of stuff tickles me

Edited August 14, 2013 by Kaz Hayashi

[Mr Lawrence]

What would you personally like to see us cover?

Crush died 6 years ago yesterday. You should do an article on the big mans passing. Power Slam patronized him in death, which I thought was a disgrace. "Shit worker, know for being shit died. He was shit". Of course I'm paraphrasing. You should do a 4 page article profiling his career and what he meant to us.

 

I'd like to see more articles aimed at the British fan. Like articles regarding milestones from the boom period of the early 90s. Battle Royal at the Albert Hall, Davey Boys popularity, the Slam Jam single and the hype surrounding it. Wrestling was massive in this country at the time. I'd like to see you do some stuff on that.

John Lister wrote a six-page retrospective on the first WWF UK boom period last year, in line with it being 20 years since SummerSlam 1992. He also wrote a history of the Albert Hall a few months back. We printed a six-page article on Davey Boy, using private family photographs, on the 10-year anniversary of his death.

Dont think he buys the mag tbh.

Would love to see more articles on 80s tag teams, much like the british wrestling articles like the kendo one, but one each month on demiolition, the hart foundation, arn and tully, the midnights, rnr express, etc...

[Jacob Israel]

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

What would you personally like to see us cover? We've looked at cardiovascular and strength conditioning for pro wrestling before, but it may be long enough ago that it would be interesting again.

 

Well I would love to see you cover a diverse range of topics to be fair. How about Orig Williams overseas tours to Pakistan as a historical article? How about a week on the road with an All Star camp team (All Star don't get nearly enough coverage in your magazine considering they are the zenith of wrestling in this country)? Both of them could provide good fun.

 

In terms of the conditioning article. "Train like Ligero/T-Bone/Magnus/Alpha Female" or something similar, highlighting his/her diet, what stretching he/she does, little tricks picked up and advice on what kind of cardio prepares you best for life in the ring. Like a muscle and fitness spread with pictures of the stretches etc. I think it will appeal to a broad range of people. As I mentioned regarding the football magazine, I looked at some of the exercises and thought "bugger that". But I picked up a great steamed salmon recipe... I think it will give a great insight into the life of a independent wrester in the UK and people can then copy the exercises at home etc...For a pro wrestling and MMA mag, it would be nice for you to have that consistently for the fat arse 14yr old fan who buys the magazine, they may start copying what they see, get in shape and boost their self esteem, and it starts with copying one of their favourite wrestlers.

[WWFChilli]

Obviously a shill for a vlog like

 

Beyond that I'd love to see an article about house show rarities, and the once mighty importance that house shows once had.

[AshC]

How about a week on the road with an All Star camp team (All Star don't get nearly enough coverage in your magazine considering they are the zenith of wrestling in this country)?

This. Covering British wrestling and barely touching on All Star is like covering British football and ignoring the Premiership.

[cleslie92]

As a reasonably happy subscriber, I would like to see more MMA coverage, particularly online. Such great scope for coverage of both UK MMA and the UFC.

[Brian Elliott]

I'll keep some coverage of All Star in mind. However, I do think it's a very different product from other companies; the action is great but it's hardly episodic, and is therefore not really the type of product where we can consistently write stories about, at least not when compared to ICW, PCW, or Southside.

[Brian Elliott]

I think what all of the above opinions proves is that FSM needs to be 168 pages every month.

[Jacob Israel]

I think what all of the above opinions proves is that FSM needs to be 168 pages every month.

 

Correct, If you want my money. Make it worth my while You don't need sleep Brian.

[Brian Elliott]

I think what all of the above opinions proves is that FSM needs to be 168 pages every month.

 

Correct, If you want my money. Make it worth my while You don't need sleep Brian.

Anyone who follows FSM on Facebook and Twitter, or gets emails from me, knows this is already the case!

Edited August 15, 2013 by Brian Elliott

[Jacob Israel]

I think what all of the above opinions proves is that FSM needs to be 168 pages every month.

 

Correct, If you want my money. Make it worth my while You don't need sleep Brian.

Anyone who follows FSM on Facebook and Twitter, or gets emails from me, knows this is already the case!

 

I would really be interested in finding out your geographic demo for your readership. I think it would be an interesting to see in terms of whether your coverage of events matches up with where your stronger readership is. I doubt it would be possible to check or even whether you would be willing to post it publically. But say for instance, you have 10,000 people who buy or subscribe in the North West, and 20,000 in Wales. Then maybe subscribers and customers in Wales would prefer more coverage of Welsh firms like Ravenhill or Britannia or All Star.

 

I understand FSM has to cover the Americans because that's what gets people to buy the mag, but then you have a responsibility to try and drive people to British firms to stimulate gates. I don't really see the value in reviewing live shows or DVD's for PWG or ROH (How many people who read the magazine are going to travel to Reseda or Dayton), when that space can be better spent providing a show report from Rhyl Town Hall which could encourage locals to go and see the next Sheamus or Wade Barrett on an All Star show in their local area.

[Bix]

I like the magazine but it does seem to have dipped in quality a bit from last year when you had the fantastic 6 page AJPW article among others.

 

I don't see the point in reviewing WWE and UFC PPV events on DVD when they have already been reviewed as live events only months earlier. I'd rather see more reviews of things like PWG and shoot interview releases, maybe the Kayfabe Commentaries ones.

 

I agree about the "university essay" style of some of the articles. Will Cooling seemed to go months writing articles with only a tangential connection to pro-wrestling or MMA, seemingly trying to build up a portfolio of "real sports" articles. Luke Dormehl's articles come across very dry, as does Michael Campbell. Alan Counihan's articles are usually very good, as are David Ditch's.

 

The magazine is still way, way better than Powerslam though.

Thanks for the feedback. I hope you'll be pleased with an article in the September issue that takes on a territory in much the same way as the All Japan article. Alan Counihan will also be back.

 

We haven't reviewed a WWE PPV DVD (apart from WrestleMania, which we had lots of emails asking for) in quite some time, although we have done a couple of UFC DVDs recently. We've reviewed every PWG DVD for probably about a year now. Still, I see what I can do to change it up a bit.

 

Thanks again.

 

I reckon you should pay me to watch DVDs and review them and I can comment on the ring attire and hairdos. You thought of asking Bix or someone to write for FSM? His articles for Bleacher Report are quality.

Rovert just tweeted me a link to this post, so...uh...thanks!

 

Actually, I have a good idea to pitch to him...

[sava]

I was in two minds about this anyway, but this months issue, and Magnus's article especially, has made me make the decision not to renew my subscription this year. The content Is just getting to the point where I can finish all I am interested in in about 25 minutes each month.

I'm sorry to hear that our content isn't interesting you as much as I would've hoped. For you, personally, what kind of things could we cover to make FSM a better experience? Thanks!

 

To be honest, I don't know what you could do to be honest Brian. I just think that with my subscription to the Wrestling Observer I don't need a wrestling magazine in my life anymore. I am also not going to continue with Power Slam.

 

As far as feedback, I would say that there is no point in the news section; with the internet it's just too far out of date. I would give John Lister more assignments as he is a fabulous writer. I'd personally like a lot more on NJPW, but that is just my preference. I don't know if many others would want this. More on classic British wrestling, other than the WOS specials would be nice.

 

To be fair, ten years ago I would probably have loved FSM, but with all the content over at the Observer I just don't need anymore info. Maybe just a sign of the times. And it is 1000% better than Power Slam. That magazine is a joke and I am counting down the issues I have left in my subs (5) so that I can get rid of it.

[PowerButchi]

Yeah. I think with The observer being available online every thursday and being topical to the day, and all the important and interesting news being pilfered out of it by all the Newz sites within 24 hours that there's probably no real place for much news in a mag. Now it'd probably benefit from lots more historical and opinion based stuff. Maybe a large and fleshy history of US Professional Wrestling on British TV? Covering from Sky Channel showing WWF Championship Wrestling to 7 disinterested viewers in Swindon in amongst Family Ties repeats and Aussie soaps in 1984, to today showing hours upon hours of content a week, via Screensport, Lifestyle, and that time they tried to put an NWA PPV on cable at the arse end of the 80s. I'd find that extremely interesting.