Vito Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 A friend of mine recently invited me to an upcoming show for a promotion called Grade 1 Wrestling, having never heard of this promotion before I decided to do some sleuthing and made some rather surprising discoveries.  From what I can tell Grade 1 are a legit promotion running shows in Southampton , they claim to have had UK Kid as their champion and according to one of their posters has booked Billy Gunn at least once (although there's no photographic evidence of him ever appearing on their Facebook photos), they have a ring and according to the pictures on their Facebook page they draw a small crowd. According to the companies Facebook page Johnny Allen is their promoter and is also responsible for taking a lot of the pictures that appear in their photos section. I found video on YouTube, which was uploaded about a month ago, which shows two guys competently wrestling, in proper wrestling attire, in the same room and in front of the same sort of audience I saw in the photos. I then ventured over to the Facebook page of Johnny Allen himself and was surprised to find pictures of Johnny Allen in wrestling attire seemingly having matches with everyone's favourite YardTards, the JWF, who not only have Allen on their roster page but also a couple of the wrestlers I saw in Grade 1's photos. Some of you may remember the JWF from last years "worst wrestling company in the UK" thread (page seventeen onwards), but if you can't be bothered to read through that check out this and consider for a moment that one of the "wrestlers" in this video claims to have been wrestling for "about twelve years". Now consider that Grade 1 promoter Johnny Allen can be seen working a match with this doofus.  So, that leaves us with two possible explanations:  1. Johnny Allen of Grade 1 Wrestling is a legitimate promoter who not only knowingly books backyarders on his shows, but also wrestles with backyarders in his spare time.  2. Johnny Allen and the other Grade 1 wrestlers who appear on JWF shows are knowingly accepting bookings and performing with untrained backyard wrestlers, for free.  I've never been to a Grade 1 show so it would be unfair to comment on their product or pass judgement on the legitimate trained performers who may work there, but for a promoter of a seemingly respectable and professional company to have such blatant public ties with a backyard wrestling outfit is frankly astonishing to me.  Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEWM Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Â RUBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Â But yeah, shitarses are bad and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tattooedgooner Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 A friend of mine recently invited me to an upcoming show for a promotion called Grade 1 Wrestling, having never heard of this promotion before I decided to do some sleuthing and made some rather surprising discoveries.  From what I can tell Grade 1 are a legit promotion running shows in Southampton , they claim to have had UK Kid as their champion and according to one of their posters has booked Billy Gunn at least once (although there's no photographic evidence of him ever appearing on their Facebook photos), they have a ring and according to the pictures on their Facebook page they draw a small crowd. According to the companies Facebook page Johnny Allen is their promoter and is also responsible for taking a lot of the pictures that appear in their photos section. I found video on YouTube, which was uploaded about a month ago, which shows two guys competently wrestling, in proper wrestling attire, in the same room and in front of the same sort of audience I saw in the photos. I then ventured over to the Facebook page of Johnny Allen himself and was surprised to find pictures of Johnny Allen in wrestling attire seemingly having matches with everyone's favourite YardTards, the JWF, who not only have Allen on their roster page but also a couple of the wrestlers I saw in Grade 1's photos. Some of you may remember the JWF from last years "worst wrestling company in the UK" thread (page seventeen onwards), but if you can't be bothered to read through that check out this and consider for a moment that one of the "wrestlers" in this video claims to have been wrestling for "about twelve years". Now consider that Grade 1 promoter Johnny Allen can be seen working a match with this doofus.  So, that leaves us with two possible explanations:  1. Johnny Allen of Grade 1 Wrestling is a legitimate promoter who not only knowingly books backyarders on his shows, but also wrestles with backyarders in his spare time.  2. Johnny Allen and the other Grade 1 wrestlers who appear on JWF shows are knowingly accepting bookings and performing with untrained backyard wrestlers, for free.  I've never been to a Grade 1 show so it would be unfair to comment on their product or pass judgement on the legitimate trained performers who may work there, but for a promoter of a seemingly respectable and professional company to have such blatant public ties with a backyard wrestling outfit is frankly astonishing to me.  Thoughts?   I presume you have some beef with JWF ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vito Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 I presume you have some beef with JWF ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 From living in Southampton for the past 10 years now either Grade 1 are doing a shit job of advertising, I'v gone blind or they are generally making up bollocks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tattooedgooner Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 From living in Southampton for the past 10 years now either Grade 1 are doing a shit job of advertising, I'v gone blind or they are generally making up bollocks? Â So they don't believe in posters lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 So they don't believe in posters lol  LOL My bad. Should have realised placing a flyer of some sort in the city centre advertising there shows so they can gain more than 10 people is a stupid idea. I take that back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLNave Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Conversely, does anyone know of any respectable promotions in the Southampton area? I am moving there shortly, but a quick google search provides little help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vito Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 From living in Southampton for the past 10 years now either Grade 1 are doing a shit job of advertising, I'v gone blind or they are generally making up bollocks? From the Grade 1 Wrestling Facebook page: Professional Wrestling company currently promoting shows at Chamberlayne Leisure Centre, Southampton. They have an official website, but in typical BritWres fashion it doesn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanz25 Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 To be honest mate we get very little other than All Stars & the occasional show @ Fleming Park put on by LDN I think. Certainly would be nice to see more shows nearer. Portsmouth has quite a few shows though & it's just a 20minute drive from here depending on where you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Rob Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Quite the lookalike! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Sir Steve Redgrave Posted August 7, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted August 7, 2011 He also advertised Orlando Jordan last year. Pretty sure it turned out he never actually booked Orlando Jordan and he'd just taken the word of someone who said they could get Orlando on a show for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vito Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 I'm not convinced they got Billy Gunn either, if I were running a promotion and I managed to book a well-known superstar like Gunn I'd have plenty of pictures of him to go on my website, yet there aren't any. Â In other shitarse related news the JWF have inexplicably been nominated for an award in the Worthing Herald. Link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fye Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I'm not convinced they got Billy Gunn either, if I were running a promotion and I managed to book a well-known superstar like Gunn I'd have plenty of pictures of him to go on my website, yet there aren't any. In other shitarse related news the JWF have inexplicably been nominated for an award in the Worthing Herald. Link.  Is that your post below the article? It is an excellent post from someone who clearly knows what they are talking about when it comes to backyard bullshit and trained professionals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vito Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 It is, I never usually respond to articles but I was so enraged by what they'd writtien that I couldn't not say anything. Unfortunately though when I hit submit it fucked up all of my neat formatting so it now resembles the intimidating wall of text that you can now see on there, I can't delete or edit it either. I attempted to explain the difference between backyarders and professionals for outsiders who wouldn't know any better and get across why I felt that it was wrong for the newspaper to promote the JWF's activities in this way. It's not going to change anyones minds, but I really wanted to get the real facts out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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