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Im looking over the internet and flicking about here and there and come across Southside wrestling Nottingham...The show from top to bottom looks great and will deffo be heading down there.

 

What UK Shows do you go to regular go to?

 

Just asking as i would like to go and see a lot more UK Wrestling this year.

 

Looking at the UK Section on this & there seems to be a hell of a lot more stuff going on in the UK Than i thought.

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I haven't had the money to go to shows regularly for a while, but I've both travelled and helped out at IPW:UK, who almost always put on excellent shows and always always use some of the best talent in the country, along with the occasional well-chosen import.

 

Used to be a regular at Triple X Wrestling when they were going regularly (missed the last one, though :(). Aimed at a very specific audience, but a lot of fun once you get into the "great wrestling interspersed with things that are kind of slightly a parody of wrestling" gimmick they had going (which I and many others did instantly).

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Fight Club Pro (next show in Wolves May 18th) and IPW ( London on 28th April) are the 2 best from my experience.

 

PCW (Preston 21st April) and Southside (Nottingham 22nd April) are good and worth checking out. Futureshock can also be good and they have a big show in August in Manchester with Jack Gallagher vs Davey Richards, that will be a cracker.

 

Also any A Merch shows (NOAH, DGUK, etc) are excellent. And Fight Club are bringing over CZW later in the year for a weekend of shows, which will be awesome.

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I honestly think that right now UK wrestling is at a real height with not only excellent wrestlers honing their craft full time in England, but there's a lot of promotions right now that are really strong.

 

IPW:UK are to me right now the best promotion in England with absolutely fantastic shows every time I've travelled down to Kent.

 

You've got new promotions like Southside Wrestling Entertainment in Nottingham/Cambridge and Preston City Wrestling in.... Well, Preston obviously that have really stood out for excellent shows featuring some of the best English talent in choice matches as well as American Indy talent.

 

Long standing promotions like 4FW (Swindon), NGW (Hull), GPW (Wigan), FSW (Stockport), etc are really hitting their groove and producing fantastic talent as well as shows.

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Used to be a regular at Triple X Wrestling when they were going regularly (missed the last one, though :(). Aimed at a very specific audience, but a lot of fun once you get into the "great wrestling interspersed with things that are kind of slightly a parody of wrestling" gimmick they had going (which I and many others did instantly).

 

Is there any chance of that coming back at all any time?

I enjoyed what I went to see and it was a nice excuse to have a few around Coventry.

 

IPW:UK are to me right now the best promotion in England with absolutely fantastic shows every time I've travelled down to Kent.

 

I keep hearing and reading this but I'm always put off going because I expect it to be 3 hours or so each way and it's just that bit too far to commit to.

I've decided this year is going to be different and I will watch something from IPW:UK at some point come hell or high water.

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IPW:UK are to me right now the best promotion in England with absolutely fantastic shows every time I've travelled down to Kent.

 

I keep hearing and reading this but I'm always put off going because I expect it to be 3 hours or so each way and it's just that bit too far to commit to.

I've decided this year is going to be different and I will watch something from IPW:UK at some point come hell or high water.

 

It's three plus hours for me travelling from South Yorkshire and I drive back home each night.

 

Trust me, I have *never* been disappointed or felt like the travel and expense in getting there wasn't worth it.

 

I've got friends who travel from Liverpool/Manchester and make every Sittingbourne show.

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Obviously varies from show to show but what are the numbers like for wrestling shows in the UK At the moment? Depending on whos on each show and what not.

 

I believe this info is fairly accurate...

 

we (NEWS) regularly draw approx 200-250, Southside about the same, ICW have been doing about 500 I think, PCW 400-500, I think PWE in Scotland did approx 300 at their last show, PBW drew 1000 last month at a new venue, other shows in the country did 400-500 in Feb and March, NGW sell out their shows of just over 200 which ends up standing room only, there are other companies doing as well or better that I dont know accurately enough to say

 

there are still companies drawing small numbers, we managed only about 50-60 at a new venue in November ourselves but a lot of the generally regarded better companies are doing good business right now, All Star are still touring all the time but I dont know enough about their attendances to comment

 

everyone feel free to correct any mistakes or highlight any companies doing well that I missed

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The one thing I've always wanted to ask UK promoters is how much effort do you put into running storylines and angles on your shows? Is it something that doesn't work well without TV coverage and whats not, as you'd be expecting a mixture of regulars that know the product, internet fans and then casuals?

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it depends we almost only run one venue, NGW are the same and judging by both crowd reactions it works well

 

I always try to do stories that can be accessed easily by first timers but ongoing so the regulars see things build to a payoff, I cant speak the them but I think NGW do a similar thing and do it better than we do, 3CW were also good at this when running their venue regularly as Stevie Aaron (MC) used to briefly recap things that filled in an blanks without boring regulars about what they had seen last time round

 

I think its more difficult if youre all over the place with venues but if the story telling is simple and effective enough and MCs or promos get the back story over its easily achieved when done right, not every company has this approach

 

we always try to have a couple of engaging angles going on like last year we had Ligero / Kirby for the title a feud for the tag titles and the build up of Lowthian initially as a squashing monster, then as a scalper knocking off big names and eventually bringing Iceman out of retirement to give him credibility at the top level, other matches on each show were basically exhibitions with no angles but were aimed to entertain the casual fan with exciting action without the need of a storyline

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I live mid-way between York and Middlesbrough, and have travelled all over the country to see UK wrestling promotions.

 

I'd been to London, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham to watch WWF/E and WWA shows before, but the first UK event I made an effort into travelling a significant distance for was.... WrestleXpress in Coventry (2001).... which was cancelled about a week before. Though I (eventually) managed to get my ticket money back, I still lost a fair bit on hotels and trains so it kinda put me off committing to travelling to a UK event again, until the 'Revival' show in London in 2002. There was absolutely no local wrestling scene near me, but I had started taking an interest in the UK industry through the FWA tapes I was picking up. After the success that was 'Revival' and my continued following of FWA on videotape/online, I was hooked on the live experience and by the end of 2002 I'd travelled to see GWF (Preston, with Trent Acid, Jake Roberts & Michael Kovac), NEW (Ipswich, with Low-Ki), FWA British Uprising I (London, with AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn & Balls Mahoney) and FWA Seasons Beatings (Hoddesdon, with Styles & Lynn). From there, I travelled from the north-east to virtually every single FWA show all over the country for the next 4 years.

 

In my time, I think I've seen WWE, ROH, PWG, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragon Gate, WWA, All-Star Wrestling, Midland Promotions, FWA, GWF, NEW, WZW, 3CW, GPW, FSW, XWA, 1PW, UFO, IPW:UK, GBW, TXW, AMP, HEW, LDN, XSW, Chickfight, SAS, RQW, Lucha Libre London, WrestleFest, Dropkixx and more. It's taken me to virtually every major city in the UK, like London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Coventry, Wolverhampton, York, Middlesbrough, Doncaster and Preston, as well the numerous less celebrated likes of Stockport, Morecambe, Wigan, Irlam, Leigh, Colchester, Billingham, Takeley, Bromley, Ware, Harlow, Sittingbourne, Chatham and more.

 

Out of everything I saw, I would say my favourites over the years were:

 

- The original 2003-2004 prime run of the FWA. A somewhat revolutionary product the likes of which I'd never seen in the UK before.

 

- The older days of IPW:UK, which had an 18-month run from 2006-2007 when it was the most perfect wrestling promotion I've ever experienced, then a red-hot run of shows in Bromley in 2008. I mean, these days they are all about the super in-ring product and the spectacular matches, but back then they were all about the characters, the stories and the feuds and it was so much better than it is now.

 

- Triple-X Wrestling in Coventry, which was at times utterly bizarre and just about the best fun you could have with a wrestling show, yet still did the basic fundamentals of great pro wrestling (characters, logical development, story arcs, etc) better than most

 

- FutureShock Wrestling in Stockport, which from 2004 onwards was my favourite wrestling promotion in the UK. Again, and you'll get a theme here, it was brilliant for characters, feuds, stories and just down-right fun.

 

- The FWA/XWA events in Morecambe, which were always 'different' to the normal FWA events in that they pushed themselves as a family show, but one that didn't insult your intelligence. In fact, the Morecambe events soon became better than the 'proper' FWA shows...

 

- 3CW from 2005-2007, when I discovered a local promotion running regular shows with their own roster and tops stars from around the country. During that period, they were excellent, and could rival any of the 'more recognised' groups in the UK

 

- GPW in Wigan was something I started attending when it was running the same weekend as my beloved FSW as something to tag onto a boozed-up wrestling weekend, and used to catch a couple of their shows a year, but from 2008 onwards they really captured my imagination in my own right as they developed into one of the best all-round shows going, which presents a pro-wrestling product that really connects with me in terms of what I look for in a show and enjoy. I saw nearly all of their shows in 2009, shockingly missed most of 2010, but then have attended every single one of their shows since October 2010.

 

These days, I'm only really going to the monthly GPW shows, the Sittingbourne IPW:UK events about 4 times a year, the big one-off 'supershow' weekenders and have recently started going back to XWA. FWA, TXW and 3CW all stopped running. I'd love to get back to FSW, but the fact they run on Sundays now (it always used to be Saturday nights) makes it difficult for me to get to.

 

This year, while I'm really not watching all that much wrestling, I'm planning to check out Preston City Wrestling, Fight Club:Pro and possibly This Is Progress at least once, as well as getting back to FSW as soon as I can. Their August supershow in Manchester city centre is a must, especially as it's the day after GPW. North-West Wrestling weekenders rule.

 

It must be said that a lot of the wrestling shows I would make the effort to travel a significant distance to see these days is down to the social aspect with friends. Some awesome, awesome weekends over the years with some great people that I have met through wrestling.

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