Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted July 29, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 29, 2018 What was the story with Andre Baker's death, there was a lot of "shut up, don't mention it" around when it happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wigmonkey Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Great thread bringing back lots of memories. I was one of many teens following every FWA event. Used to travel up for the "London" shows from Dover, which often meant dashing across London to catch the last train, and on several occasions missing the last train. The Revival event came at a time where although the WWE was booming through the attitude era, they only visited us a couple of times a year, and you couldn't even find so much as a wrestling figure in the shop. The rest of the UK scene was stale and seemed to focus on targeting families. Although I did enjoy going to lots of Hammerlock shows seeing the likes of the Anvil and Dan Seven. I also enjoyed going to some shows in Margate which were put on by Scott Conway - got to see the likes of Fatu, Yokozuna, Marty Janetty, Skinner to name just a few. I also remember seeing a show in Folkestone which featured the Bushwhackers....in front of an audience of just 19! The difference was FWA was exciting, they made you feel like you couldn't miss the next show - it had attitude, promoted British talent that you actually cared about. Similar to how NXT connected with fans a few years ago. Really made you feel part of something. I think this forum was a major marketing platform for it too. Someone has a photo somewhere of the UKFF meet up we had at one of the event - this features several people that are now part of today's scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisarcabrera Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 17 years ago #FWAforever Quote FWA No Surprises 3 Results: Little Guido in the UK Posted by Jane Childs on 7/30/2001 FRONTIER WRESTLING NO SURPRISES 3 Pyramids Centre Portsmouth Attendance: 546 1. FWA-South Academy Rookie Match: Andy Simmonz, Rajah Ghosh & Ricky Webb beat Dave Crispin, Neil Pyle, Chris “Justice” Parke 2. Ring Announcer Adam South then brought out special guest Jasmin St Claire. Jasmin informed the audience that The Blue Meanie had had flight problems and hadn’t made it to Portsmouth. Showstealer Alex Shane came out and threatened Jasmin saying it was because Meanie was too scared to face him…. but Jasmin said she had a replacement…. ECW’s Little Guido Maritano! Guido made the challenge and the co-main event was now back on! 3. British Tag Team Titles: The Castanos vs Paul Travell & Jac Xavier went to a No Contest after interference from The New Breed. A three-way was signed later in the night to take place in the second half of the show. 3. FWA Commissioner Victoria then introduced British Champion Doug Williams to an opponent she had brought in to face him… Kerry Cabrero. Williams claimed that since Kerry was ‘not FWA’ he didn’t deserve a shot at the title and made a challenge that if Kerry could defeat an opponet of his choosing only then would he face him tonight. 4. Alex Shane then came out and introduced his latest addition to his entourage, Anna from last year’s Big Brother. He called out Guy Thunder who had twice interfered in Alex Shane business. Alex Shane defeated Guy Thunder. 5. All-England Championship: Wonderkid Jonny Storm pinned Scottie Rock to win the belt from the champ 6. After Scott Parker saved a boy from the hands of Mark Sloan a challenge was made for Scott Parker to face Mark Sloan and James Tighe in a handicap match 7. Kerry Cabrero beat Mr Blonde (Flash Barker) who is Alex Shane’s Head of Security 8. Pippa L’Vinn pinned Shelby Beach (with Jon Farrer) 9. Gary Hawyard, Jaguar ViJay Singh and Ian Da Silva beat Robin Knightwing (with Kat), Kevin O’Neil and Brandon Thomas 10. Mark Sloan and James Tighe beat Solid Gold Scott Parker (with Angel) in a handicap match. At the conclusion Angel walked off leaving Parker in the ring. 11. British Tag Team Titles: The Castanos beat Paul Travell & Jack Xavier and The New Breed in a three way dance with the Castanos pinned Paul Travell 12. In the co-main event The Showstealer Alex Shane pinned Little Guido Maritano (wth Jasmin St Claire) in a match which saw Head of Shane’s security Mr Blonde interfere consistently and Camille of Shane’s women catfight with Jasmin St Claire 13. In the second co-main event British Champion Doug Williams beat challenger Kerry Cabrero in a super stiff contest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisarcabrera Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 By the way in a sort of where are they now about me, here are some films released that I produced if anyone is interested to take a watch: Ibiza Undead https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ibiza-Undead-DVD-Cara-Theobold/dp/B01M9B43I8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532951378&sr=8-1&keywords=Ibiza+Undead also avail On Sky Movies Deadly Virtues https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadly-Virtues-DVD-Edward-Akrout/dp/B00W9WBDOY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532951398&sr=8-1&keywords=deadly+virtues Who's Changing: An Adventure In Time With Fans: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whos-Changing-Adventure-Time-Fans/dp/B00HGV6FHI/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1532951586&sr=1-1&keywords=Who's+changing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 Saw Ibiza Undead a while ago. Enjoyed it. Very interested in the Boardgame doc your doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fwa2 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 3 hours ago, elisarcabrera said: 17 years ago #FWAforever I remember as kid getting fwa tv tapes from Mark at SST and must have watched the No Suprises episodes countless times. I remember being really shocked seeing Guido walk out. Awesome memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisarcabrera Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Just seen ITV3 on right now has Hidden Treasure the John Thaw drama which has us doing the wrestling show he goes to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotAlexShane Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 (edited) I don't recall a single mention of Elisar in the book which leads me to ask Why did your involvement with the FWA end Elisar ? I have read Greg's book and I think this review on Amazon about it is fair Quote There are 2 fings you can do about this review ...... 29 September 2016 Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase No so much the true story of British Wrestling attempt to get back on the telly it's more a one mans unrequited love affair with wasting all his family's financial future to be bosom buddies with Alexander Spilling. If you wish to read a distorted semi kayfabe story of the mess that was FWA then its a good read for comic relief but as a book of the truth it is far far off the mark. Just like professional wrestling enjoy it but don't take it all seriously I don't recall a single mention of Elisar in the book which leads me to ask Why did your involvement with the FWA end Elisar ? Edited July 30, 2018 by NotAlexShane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotAlexShane Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 5 hours ago, elisarcabrera said: 17 years ago #FWAforever This is a very good example of why the FWA failed Far too many matches on 1 card and far too many wrestlers on the card 584 in attendance which I am guessing paid on average £10 a ticket and then using 3 imports and 30 odd other wrestlers add in the costs of the venue etc etc there is no way on earth a single penny could ever possibly have been made from this. Ok its great from a fans perspective and people saying how great the card etc is years later but from a cold hearted business point of view its pure stupidity. As has been proven time and time again in wrestling , and most recently with 5 star, that anyone can promote their self into the ground with stupid business decisions on booking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 If you're not Alex Shane, who are you? Elisar: how was the online fan base (basically this place) viewed by those running the company? It's a long time ago so much memories aren't super clear but while I do remember lots of excitement around for example which import would be coming in for whatever show, I also remember many threads that were based in criticism of the promotion for one reason or another and am curious as to what if any reaction those involved had to that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Thunderplex Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 1 hour ago, SpursRiot2012 said: If you're not Alex Shane, who are you? LX Blade? Ming the Mercyless? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 2 hours ago, NotAlexShane said: This is a very good example of why the FWA failed Far too many matches on 1 card and far too many wrestlers on the card 584 in attendance which I am guessing paid on average £10 a ticket and then using 3 imports and 30 odd other wrestlers add in the costs of the venue etc etc there is no way on earth a single penny could ever possibly have been made from this. Ok its great from a fans perspective and people saying how great the card etc is years later but from a cold hearted business point of view its pure stupidity. As has been proven time and time again in wrestling , and most recently with 5 star, that anyone can promote their self into the ground with stupid business decisions on booking The FWA went on for about four years after that show, and they changed up their ticketing and booking models significantly; I don't think that specifically is why they failed. I first went to an FWA show in 2004, and got a regular ticket for a tenner. However, they'd introduced Gold and Silver packages for the ringside and second rows at that point, which cost a bit more - IIRC, it was £20 for Gold and £15 for Silver. Additionally, the show didn't go on too long, and the card wasn't overburdened. I don't know what the main reason for the FWA failing was, but I'm pretty sure it's not the above. If pushed I'd hazard a guess that they over-reached themselves by putting on a huge stadium show (BUIII) before they'd developed a big enough fanbase, relied too much on a smark-friendly style, and didn't get their show DVDs out quickly enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members DEF Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 It's always thought it was nuts they didn't do DVDs. At that point I was deep into DVD and ROH was making a killing on them. I seem to remember Alex Shane stating that he wanted FWA to be available to your average Joe and didn't think the market was there. The thing is FWA was primarily for smarks and thats the market they should have been targeting. Not only that but DVDs were exploding nation wide at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 They did do DVDs - I still have some - and the production quality wasn't bad for an independent wrestling company at the time, but the turnaround from recording the show to having the DVD on sale at the next show just wasn't fast enough, and also they didn't start doing them until about a year before they closed the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted July 30, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 30, 2018 One of my memories of FWA was going to British Uprising III at the Cov Dome. A week or so later it was going to be broadcast on TWC so I was really excited to rewatch the Styles/Tighe main event. So I was then was immensely disappointed when it was cut from the broadcast. Best match of the show! Cut from the broadcast! Madness! To this day I still haven't seen it. Also, I still got mocked to this day by my brother due to the way I acted when a camera man interviewed me in the queue outside. The guy comes up to me and asks "So what are you most looking forward to tonight?". Me, indy wanker that I am, wearing a fucking CZW tshirt, I proudly say "AJ Styles!". Only for some reason I put on an American twang. The camera guy tries to save it a bit, "Oh, you mean the 30-minute Iron Man match pitting AJ Styles against James Tighe? Who do you think will win?". Again, in the same fucking Mid-Western accent as before, I reply "Yep! AJ aaallll the way!". The camera guy quickly fucked off to interview the much more exciting lads behind us who were loudly stating that they were there to see Spud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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