Let's talk FWA

[Briefcase]

Agree about FWA being ahead of its time. You could also make a case that it was almost too early before social media/you tube got going. Had it arrived during that time it could have potentially been much more successful. That said it would have taken away the fanbase that made it so much fun as it was pretty much the same faces and characters at the shows.

It's one of them where you had to be there to really enjoy and take something from the shows, not sure how it would look watching back today.

[Snitsky's back acne]

22 hours ago, ThumpSquids said:

I only saw a few FWA shows, including one of the York Hall affairs, but I did sneak over to a few training sessions, in Portsmouth. I say sneak, as I was a Hammerlock regular at the time, and training/working elsewhere was strictly taboo. I enjoyed a well planned, tight and effective spot of training. A small part of me regrets not moving over at an earlier point, when quite a few migrated from Hammerlock. 

I never got that about Hammerlock.  Yeah they would run a fairly decent amount of shows but the business over here at the time was pretty much dead on its arse. Expecting 'exclusivity' in an environment where people are fighting over scraps anyway just seemed odd to me...

[elisarcabrera]

3 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I never got that about Hammerlock.  Yeah they would run a fairly decent amount of shows but the business over here at the time was pretty much dead on its arse. Expecting 'exclusivity' in an environment where people are fighting over scraps anyway just seemed odd to me...

And it meant people had to leave and cut off ties with Hammerlock because of this 'exclusivity'. And FWA was the primary benefit as those who knew they were good wanted to wrestle on our shows or continue their training at either Portsmouth or London FWA schools.  But I would have happily worked with them, it's not as if there weren't enough ex-Hammerlock people in the FWA to make something happen that could have worked nicely for both sides.

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 minute ago, elisarcabrera said:

And it meant people had to leave and cut off ties with Hammerlock because of this 'exclusivity'. And FWA was the primary benefit as those who knew they were good wanted to wrestle on our shows or continue their training at either Portsmouth or London FWA schools.  But I would have happily worked with them, it's not as if there weren't enough ex-Hammerlock people in the FWA to make something happen that could have worked nicely for both sides.

Yeah, never understood it. Surely you'd rather your wrestlers get experience in front of different crowds working different wrestlers?

 

[elisarcabrera]

2 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Yeah, never understood it. Surely you'd rather your wrestlers get experience in front of different crowds working different wrestlers?

 

Would have meant I could have done the Hammerlock storyline I wanted to do which started at Urban Legends but unfortunately went nowhere and therefore ended at Urban Legends. It would eventually be re-written as the Old School invasion.

[Snitsky's back acne]

2 minutes ago, elisarcabrera said:

Would have meant I could have done the Hammerlock storyline I wanted to do which started at Urban Legends but unfortunately went nowhere and therefore ended at Urban Legends. It would eventually be re-written as the Old School invasion.

Hammerlock had some good talent at that time too - obviously most would go on to do other things - but Gary Steele, Jon Ryan, Johnny Moss, Paul Vault and Danny Garnell were the stand outs for me. I know Nikita started there briefly too as I saw her on a Hammerlock show vs Majik. 

Shame, as it deprived fans of some potentially great matches. 

[uklaw]

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t Jimmy Havoc and Zack Sabre Jr from the ‘last/latter’ class of Hammerlock?

In any event, my introduction to British Wrestling as a thing was Hammerlock in the summer of 1998 (complete with Dean Ayass on the hotline). I can’t recall how I found out but I became aware of Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch leaving Hammerlock and after all the raves they got in the summer, I was keen to find out what they were going to do. 

In the February of 1999 I found out about the ‘Fratton Wrestling Association’ putting a show on with the both of them competing. And the rest, as they say, is history...

Sometime between FWA ONE and No Surprises that year, the Association became Frontier Wrestling Alliance and people started to join, such as Alex Shane and ‘Leon Murphy/Guy Thunder’. If memory serves me, wasn’t No Surprises run and filmed as a ‘TV taping’? I’d be curious to know what happened to that footage?

[elisarcabrera]

Just now, uklaw said:

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t Jimmy Havoc and Zack Sabre Jr from the ‘last/latter’ class of Hammerlock?

In any event, my introduction to British Wrestling as a thing was Hammerlock in the summer of 1998 (complete with Dean Ayass on the hotline). I can’t recall how I found out but I became aware of Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch leaving Hammerlock and after all the raves they got in the summer, I was keen to find out what they were going to do. 

In the February of 1999 I found out about the ‘Fratton Wrestling Association’ putting a show on with the both of them competing. And the rest, as they say, is history...

Sometime between FWA ONE and No Surprises that year, the Association became Frontier Wrestling Alliance and people started to join, such as Alex Shane and ‘Leon Murphy/Guy Thunder’. If memory serves me, wasn’t No Surprises run and filmed as a ‘TV taping’? I’d be curious to know what happened to that footage?

Yes it was.

I brought a TV crew to both ONE and NS1. One was a trial run with 2 cameras - we edited a promo video from the footage. NS1 was filmed properly with 3 and edited a one hour pilot.  I did have the pilot and promo on VHS but sadly both were lost in a storage fire along with all my FWA tapes.

[uklaw]

1 hour ago, elisarcabrera said:

Yes it was.

I brought a TV crew to both ONE and NS1. One was a trial run with 2 cameras - we edited a promo video from the footage. NS1 was filmed properly with 3 and edited a one hour pilot.  I did have the pilot and promo on VHS but sadly both were lost in a storage fire along with all my FWA tapes.

That’s a shame. Not even from the perspective of any fans wanting to see it but from your perspective as it was such a part of your career, and as it turned out, so pivotal. 

As for the promo, I saw that. I purchased Wrasslin’ TV 2 on VHS yonks ago from John Feltham and (the late) Dwayne (sp?) Faulkner and the promo opened it up. 

It was a heck of a promo.

Edited July 15, 2018 by uklaw

[Snitsky's back acne]

On 7/14/2018 at 12:27 PM, IANdrewDiceClay said:

TalkSport's radio show for better or worse basically turned into an FWA plug session by the end of it.

I remember listening to the Crystal Palace show on the radio. I had some crappy big headphones and one of those portable cassette player/radio thingies.

God, this is making it sound like the 1980's and not 2002!

[Guest]

3 hours ago, uklaw said:

No Surprises

[ThumpSquids]

On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 5:44 PM, Snitsky's back acne said:

Hammerlock had some good talent at that time too - obviously most would go on to do other things - but Gary Steele, Jon Ryan, Johnny Moss, Paul Vault and Danny Garnell were the stand outs for me. I know Nikita started there briefly too as I saw her on a Hammerlock show vs Majik. 

Shame, as it deprived fans of some potentially great matches. 

I think having the opportunity to be a part of a well-devised storyline, would have benefitted many of the Hammerlock'ers at the time, and broadened our horizons somewhat. I loved working Hammerlock shows, as they would often be low-stress, basic and fun. Many of us would've grown/developed further, had there been some element of pressure and the desire to showcase our talents on a wider stage. I know I would have.   

[Majik]

I never officially got told of exclusivity, and to this day I'll never know why I didn't drop someone a line at FWA to see if we could do something. I spread out from Hammerlock (I think the first show I did outside was some horror show run by a group called HCW in Devon maybe?) with full support from Andre. I suppose it was probably a confidence thing. FWA and Hammerlock wrestlers worked the same shows (Jake/Honky/Brutus tour) with no trouble at all (around 2000 I think?).

 

TS is right - it was a missed opportunity for us as individuals and as a scene. FWA were ahead of their time as were Hammerlock previously, but the business grows, develops and generations push the scene one after another, which is a great thing - the status quo means it stagnates (see 2005-2010...).

[elisarcabrera]

4 hours ago, Majik said:

I never officially got told of exclusivity, and to this day I'll never know why I didn't drop someone a line at FWA to see if we could do something. I spread out from Hammerlock (I think the first show I did outside was some horror show run by a group called HCW in Devon maybe?) with full support from Andre. I suppose it was probably a confidence thing. FWA and Hammerlock wrestlers worked the same shows (Jake/Honky/Brutus tour) with no trouble at all (around 2000 I think?).

 

TS is right - it was a missed opportunity for us as individuals and as a scene. FWA were ahead of their time as were Hammerlock previously, but the business grows, develops and generations push the scene one after another, which is a great thing - the status quo means it stagnates (see 2005-2010...).

For FWA Trick or Treat it worked creatively for our storyline for Corino to turn up unannounced. And fortunately ticket wise it also worked out as we didn't need to announce him. But one of the main reasons we didn't want to announce Corino in advance of that show is we had a fear (whether correctly or not) that Hammerlock would scupper his appearance. I have no idea if that would have been the case but we just didn't want to risk it.

[Majik]

6 hours ago, elisarcabrera said:

For FWA Trick or Treat it worked creatively for our storyline for Corino to turn up unannounced. And fortunately ticket wise it also worked out as we didn't need to announce him. But one of the main reasons we didn't want to announce Corino in advance of that show is we had a fear (whether correctly or not) that Hammerlock would scupper his appearance. I have no idea if that would have been the case but we just didn't want to risk it.

It’s quite tickling me that in retrospect, everyone was dancing around something which no one was sure was a real thing. Carny AF. 😂