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ICW banned from MyChannel and now on iPPV


MarkDallas

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Just seen my first couple of episodes of "ICW on MyChannel", which were Episodes 3 and 4 (aired Sat 11 Feb at 1am and 2am respectively).

 

Have to echo what Gadgetman said. This is clearly a fantastic live product and the audience is well and truly into all the characters and all the matches, but as a TV product this is severely lacking.

 

The commentary itself is actually really good, which caught me by surprise as it is the norm for UK-based promotions for it to be awful. The audio quality itself, however, is just terrible. It's clear there is a great atmosphere there, but it is virtually muted on the TV show.

 

You get a good impression that this is a gritty, underground, "cool" cult deal, but all the darkness and stuff really doesn't make for good TV. The picture quality isn't the best either, rather grainy with poor colour balance. Quality of the wrestlers, matches and action itself can be as good as anything, which is awesome for a live experience, but when you are on TV the audience expects a certain standard. Unfortunately, as a first time viewer of ICW, the production makes this look cheap and amateur.

 

The camera work is appalling. The "hard" camera is completely useless due to placement, leaving the handhelds to capture most of what is going on. Problem is, the way they edit direct from one handheld to the other in close-ups is disorientating and pretty sloppy. Also, at least one of the handhelds is ridiculously shakey. All of this means it is really difficult to follow what is going on.

 

As for the in-ring wrestling itself, it seems a mixed bag. The 4-way elimination tag match of Rob Cage & Sean South vs. William Grange & Dickie Divers vs. Mark Andrews & Johnny Starr vs. Bucky Boys was abysmal. It did get a lot better when it was down to 2 teams, but for the most part this was a complete mess. Really bad stuff. I'd seen Grange (in 3CW), Andrews (TXW, IPW:UK) and Davey (CRW) before, but this was my first look at the other 5. Bucky Boys looked fantastic. They have a great gimmick and seem good talents too. Great potential with this clan. The others didn't leave a good impression though, I'm sorry to say. Cage and South looked atrocious and Johnny Starr, in particular, looked ridiculous, being this really, really skinny guy in these awful-looking pleather trousers. This was crap, and I'm actually surprised I continued watching.

 

I really enjoyed the Womens' Deathmatch between Kay Lee Ray and Carmel, however. Much better than I was expecting. I get the impression a straight-up wrestling match between the two wouldn't be up to much, but the streetfight scenario worked really well and they gave it their all. Most of this happened away from the ring which, ironically and rather bizarrely, made it easier to see what was going on and follow. Firery and intense, this wasn't too bad at all.

 

Onto the next episode, and I found Mikey Whiplash's new cross-dressing S&M gimmick fascinating against Jack Jester (who I was seeing for the first time, I believe). Great performance. The addition of that lass to his act should work well and I'm actually interested to see where this goes next. Dunno about this Jester dude, but this was hardly the setting to get an impression what he's all about.

 

Two videos where William Grange is attacked on stage during a gig and then some bloke talking about "Kevan" were dreadful. They looked like they'd been taken from a lowest quality YouTube vid and someone decided they were good enough to show on TV. Again, it was the picture and sound quality that really let them down here and if I wasn't willing to give this ICW thing a chance I'd have changed the channel immediately.

 

The audio problems really harmed the set-up to the Glasgow Streetfight, since I couldn't hear a word they were saying so had no clue what was going on. All you could hear was the commentators reacting to stuff. I think it was Chris Renfrew & Kid Fite & BT Gunn vs. Wolfgang & Red Lightning & James Scott, but I had to piece that together myself what I already recognised of these guys from shows I've been to and UKFF. Not ideal for a TV audience. Ignoring that, and the ongoing picture and audio quality issues, the match itself was actually brilliantly good fun. A massively entertaining scrap, particularly the stuff in the street.

 

So, the early verdict seems to be that this looks like something that I would enjoy massively if I was there, but would struggle to sit my way through on TV each week simply due to the issues outlined above. There is a massive difference between something being a great wrestling event and being a great TV show, and this definitely failed at the latter. I've got another 5 episodes of this stored up on my Sky+HD box, so I'll give them a go. In other words, I'm not willing to give up on it yet.

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Episode 5 - aired Sat 18 Feb 1am

 

This is from a different event to the last episode, which comes from a different venue. They open with a cool shot of a raucous crowd, who appear to be better mic'ed this time. They give a nice "I-C-Dub!" chant to kick things off. You see, it appears they don't chant "I-C-W!" here, they chant "I-C-Dub!". Someday, someone will explain to me what a "Dub" actually is. Just like ECW, they start with the commentators in the ring to welcome us and announce what is coming up. Apparently, this week we have a 6-person tag, a James Scott singles match and a 30-man rumble where 5 guys get weapons. Excellent, I've been looking forward to that, as everyone loves a rumble.

 

Sadly, the audio problems haven't actually been fixed at all. This is evidenced when the S.T.I. ("Superior Talent Initiative" - Williams Grange, Dickie Divers and Sara) come out for their match and both men cut virtually inaudible promos. Out next are the fantastic Bucky Boys, Davey (Blaze) Boy, Stevie (Xavier) Boy, Lambrini and Wee Man. The Buckies are well over in ICW, with the fans going mental chanting "Here we... Here we... Here we fucking go!". The stupid fucking sound system kills a lot of what Wee Man has to say, but I did pick up a few x-rated gags at Sara's expense, which goes down a storm with the locals. What a great act these guys are. Basically, they are chavs (or 'Neds,' I suppose would be more accurate) who come out to hardcore dance beats in baseball caps, drinking from bottle of buckfast. Tremendous.

 

Goes to an ad break, during which MyChannel show an ad for ICW at 1am. Thanks for that, MyChannel.

 

Coming back from the break, the 6-person tag gets underway. These two teams were the best thing about the 4-way tag last week, so this might be decent. For an adult nightclub event opener, this was pretty much all you could want: crowd brawling, crazy dives and cool moves. It was a bit rough, weak and sloppy when the girls tried wrestling, but even then they fulfilled the purpose of being there as fit athletic lasses. Buckies win with 3D on Divers, with Lambrini getting the pin. A good, fun offering which I guess would have ticked all the boxes from a live show perspective and was a decent TV effort too. STI attack the victors after the bell, meaning this feud must continue. In my limited viewing, I get the feeling there isn't much of an actual tag division in ICW...

 

We cut backstage, where the commentators appear to be stood in a fire escape to talk up the next segment. Hmmm. Another ad break, where MyChannel again tell us "Don't miss ICW". Okey-dokey....

 

We return to a segment with Lionheart and Red Lightning. The story here is that these guys are both members of the heel 'Gold Label' faction, but don't get on. Welcome to TNA. After what seems like endless back and forths on the mic, they come to blows only to be broken up by stablemates James Scott and Wolfgang. There's more talk, then Scott and Wolfgang leave. Even more talk, and then they start a match. What what I could make out, the talking on this was decent, but went on far too long to the point I'd lost interest in their situation. It didn't help that it was really, really difficult to make out what they were saying. The eventual match was short but perfectly acceptable TV fare. Lionheart pinned Lightning with a Rock Bottom.

 

Afterwards, Scott and Wolfgang return for even more talking as they try to quell the unrest within their faction. Lionheart looks reluctant, but eventually shakes hands with them, including Lightning. Looks like they are going for the slow-burn face turn which, if done right, will have fans eventually itching for him to turn against his comrades.

 

That's the end of the show, so we didn't get that rumble they promised at the start. I guess that's because that was the open to the live show, and the rumble will feature on a future episode. They really seem to be forgetting that they are also supposedly producing this for the TV audience now.

 

Overall, while there was definitely too much talking for a 1 hour wrestling show, this was much better than the previous 2 episodes I've seen. Where it fell down, and I get a feeling I'll be noting this a lot when it comes to ICW, is that it suffers from shocking production. Editing is better than last week, and lighting is slightly improved, but it still features awful camera work, awful audio and awful picture quality. If they are to be taken seriously as a TV product (well, as seriously as they can be on a channel whose top shows get 6,000 viewers per week), then this is something they need to sort fast.

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Cheers for the feedback.

 

Audio issues are being worked on, the change from recorded commentary to live commentary was to help the audio and we are buying better mics and sorting out another few bits and bobs. We have also got some better cameras sorted for our next taping and we will be sending the episodes in higher quality to MyChannel in the future.

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Next week on ICW TV on Sky 219 (Friday night 1am):

 

425662_10150837169800620_206968150619_12552695_1315457349_n.jpg

Zero-G No.1 Contenders Match

Andy Wild Vs. Christopher W/James R. Kennedy Vs. Scott Maverick Vs. Liam Thomson Vs. Johnny Starr Vs. T.J Rage W/Charles Boddington

 

429775_10150837187330620_206968150619_12552746_189143261_n.jpg

Carmel & Kaylee Ray Vs. Mikey Whiplash W/Lolita

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  • 1 month later...

This week on Insane Championship Wrestling - 9.30pm on SKy channel 219:

 

306538_10150974853749126_549224125_13157084_1637048857_n.jpg

 

The debut of the Offical Community as Jamie Feerick takes on a returning Rob Cage.

 

Johnny Moss takes on T.J Rage in a hard hitting bout.

 

and in the main event we have a Three Way Dance tag match as The Bucky Boys (alongside The Wee Man & Lambrinii) take On The S.T.I's(with Sara) and Mark and Joe, The Coffeys!

 

My TV is available in:

United Kingdom and Ireland

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The lack of crowd noise bugged me. Infact, that'd be an understatement. Felt like they were in the Impact Zone.

 

The action was good though. The three way tag was a bit mental. It looks better as well now which makes a huge difference, and Scott Maverick comes across brilliantly on the microphone, which is a good sign for those pricks from OfCom going forward.

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The lack of crowd noise bugged me. Infact, that'd be an understatement. Felt like they were in the Impact Zone.

 

The action was good though. The three way tag was a bit mental. It looks better as well now which makes a huge difference, and Scott Maverick comes across brilliantly on the microphone, which is a good sign for those pricks from OfCom going forward.

I agree with that. Wrestling wise Maverick has still got a long way to come but he's got some potential especially with his verbal skills! I hope he's the vocal leader of the new group.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Due to some legal issues that are being delt with as we speak by the good folks at MyChannel regarding ICWs TV show the new episode will be delayed for a little while. We are working to get these sorted so we will bring you the new episodes as soon as possible.Nothing big just we need to bleep afew words stuff like that, we are still on 1am Saturday, 3am Sunday and 1am Wednesday showing repeats. It's afew wee tweaks need to be made for the 9.30 slot and the channel would rather wait to air the episodes at 9.30 as opposed to putting them on just at 1am. Should be sorted soon guys.

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