Let's talk FWA

[TheShowOff]

Ah I see, I misinterpreted your post.

[Daniel Edler]

Future British wrestling heavyweights like Daniel Edler, Greg Lambert, Sanjay Bagga and Dann Read may not have been promoters had they not attended that TalkSport supershow.

I didn't go to that event actually - knew of it, but never attended. A real shame in hindsight.

[Herne's Son]

Here's a question for everyone, who was the most underrated wrestler in the FWA? Someone who should of gone further but is now not even working in the business?My pick - Guy Thunder, he had the look and for a big man could move, he lacked charisma but in the right role could of done really well. I also think Jorge Castano and Scotty Rock were under used, they tore the house down with the likes of Jodie and Jonny. I also think the New Breed were a hell of a team who frequently tore the house down.It sucks but politics kept a lot of these guys out of the FWA.

[Tommy!]

I missed the FWA until its brief comeback, so for me the FWA is summed up by this;

 

 

That and a never ending feud between Ligero and RJ. I'm still waiting for that Ryan Vs Moss match you built up too, you fuckers.

Looking back at them some of those older shows would be go to for me if they were on now, some good to great UK names and good imports, shows which look good on paper and I'd imagine would be a good night out. It's all got a limited life though, and a limit to what it really is. Something which has struck me with a few things in British wrestling over time is people involved forgetting that it is what it is and getting OTT with everything, therefore making it seem even smaller time than it is through needless hyperbole.

 

From what I've seen of him though I've never been a big fan of Shane, mind it doesn't help that he never shuts the fuck up.

[The Dart]

Regular imports ruled! And FWA did it long before everyone else started to do so.

That's not true.FWA live shows were nearly always great. Looking back, from a fan's point of view, that's the main thing. They did wonders for the standard of shows being put on in this country. A lot of the quality you get these days on shows over here that you didn't get 10-12 years ago is partly because of things being more affordable these days, things being more available, things being more expected, but a lot of is down to the fact that the FWA did it when no one else did, it worked, and the promoters these days who were fans then, did it too and as such the quality of shows these days is so much higher. That could have happened anyway, who knows, but no doubt the things FWA did had a massive massive influence on the future of wrestling in this country.

[Statto]

My pick - Guy Thunder, he had the look and for a big man could move, he lacked charisma but in the right role could of done really well.

IIRC, he wore absolutely hideous ring gear, though.I was a massive FWA fan for a time, used to travel down for the shows each month/six weeks. And I was really a fan of the 'FWA' guys too, not so much the imports, although they were OK. I remember getting into an argument on the old FWA subforum over how I felt there were too many imports on the BU3 card, when it should have been all about the regulars.I think BU3 was actually the last time I really enjoyed the FWA. It wasn't the greatest show, but pretty good. I think the last show I went to was the following month's Broxbourne show, which was the first one they tried to run as a "TV taping" for the TWC show (IE taping 4 weeks' worth of specific TV for broadcast a over the coming few weeks, rather than chopping the regular shows up into chunks for TV, if you follow what I mean). It was massively long, had no real flow, featured a whole fuckload of debuts, had several lengthy non-wrestling bits (Dr. Dirk Feelgood's 'Clinic' interview segment, which would have been OK if it were the only thing of it's type on a shorter show, and the awful "FWA Idol" segment) and a whole load of BS finishes, IIRC, and kinda killed it for me. It did feature some amusing points though, like the debut (or at least, Southern/'main show' debut) of the Manchester Massive, who were good fun. And that Irish ring announcer who really let you know that the following contest was FOR ONE FALL! I believe it was also the show where Stevie Lynn Lesnared a SSP right onto Mark Sloan's inner thigh.Actually, I don't think that's true - I gave Broxbourne one last try, probably a year or so later. It was the show where Nikita turned heel on Alex Shane (who was a heel anyway?) to gift the FWA title to Hade Vansen, in a four-corner title match also featuring Joe Legend & Jonny Storm, which was worked more like a standard tag - Jonny played face-in-peril to Shane & Vansen, while Legend begged for (and eventually got) the hot tag.Three things really stick out for me on that one:- the fact the show happened just after the fall-out with Rusty Music (I recall reading somewhere it happened that very afternoon?) so no-one had their "proper" music - the fact that the FWA used tailored entrance themes was one of the things I liked about it most, so without them it just didn't feel right.- it was the first time I'd seen the FWA use that black/red ring which everyone in the UK was using at the time (probably still do?). It was much less of a piece of shit than the old blue/red FWA ring with the turnbuckle pads that slipped down about 30 seconds after the show started, but again, hurt the "feel" for me.- they'd stopped putting seats on the stage & were instead using it as the entrance, with the cinema screen down, and doing live video editing onto the screen. All very well & good when you're in even a 5k seater building, but in Broxbourne Civic Hall, where the figures on the screen dwarfed the actual wrestlers about 10 feet in front of it, it just looked silly. Particularly when you factor in that half-second delay you always get with it - it was a distraction more than anything. They also didn't use the entrance videos either (probably linked to the music issue), and I didn't care much for that either.

[Victor Is God]

Can't possibly miss this opportunity to plug the book for those who haven't read it yet.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Grail-British...il+greg+lambert

 

It's also on Kindle.

[mikey]

I was an FWA hardcore for a while, once a referee and timekeeper too. I liked it at the time, if only because it was "our" product. With hindsight, there was never a business plan or cost controls so it could go on and be a success. The management often listened to the wrong people because of the influence those people could have rather than listen to those who had the best interests of the product at heart. I always liked Mark Sloan and I was glad when he concentrated on his academy shows because what was the FWA by that point was not the FWA he started. All in all, it was all a wasted opportunity. I walked away before Lambert turned up but he wasn't there when I was there so I imagine his book has a different angle than I would have taken on the subject.

[Carbs]

The positives for me were seeing talented British cruiserweights like Zebra Kid, Doug Williams, Jodie Fleisch, and Jonny Storm have epic matches with guys like AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and American Dragon.I also thought that the pushes of Burchill and Hampton Court were excellent. Nikita also had better matches than she did in WWE or TNA imo.I never really got into the Family or Jack Xavier pushes and always thought it was a shame that Mark Sloan and Stevie Knight were used so sparingly.But, did an FWA show ever start on time?And where did James Tighe disappear to?

[SpursRiot2012]

Alex Shane was the funniest thing about the FWA.I remember hearing the story one time about how Shane used to be called Mavis when he was training at Hammerlock (I think) so I brought an "Alex Shane = Mavis" sign to an FWA show. Robbie Brookside seemed to find it funny, but I heard Shane did not.Plus, one time Alex Shane actually phoned me because I was talking some shit about the FWA when they had a dedicated forum on here. I mean, seriously?

[TheShowOff]

Can't possibly miss this opportunity to plug the book for those who haven't read it yet.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Grail-British...il+greg+lambertIt's also on Kindle.

This would be the mentality of why Alex Shane and his ilk will amount to nothing despite how many ventures they try their hat at: Internet forum awareness is the holy grail to them. When Greg saw this topic, instead of contributing, his dick got hard for three Kindle sales...

[TheShowOff]

And where did James Tighe disappear to?

He hit an iceberg.

[Southside crew]

Can't possibly miss this opportunity to plug the book for those who haven't read it yet.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holy-Grail-British...il+greg+lambertIt's also on Kindle.

Didn't know you had written a book ;)actually I really do want to read it , really enjoyesd the 1PW book

[The Whole Show]

FWA was a huge part of my teenage years, met many good freinds through going to shows, saw some awesome shows and mathces and met a great array of international talent.I got hooked on FWA through the talksport radio show, I was tempted by the Harrow shows but did not make my first show until 'Lights, Camera, Acton. Decent show but remember being pissed of because Chris Nowinski would not sign my programe.I went to Portsmouth's no suprises 4 when Fleisch won the gold, Was outside the venue and saw Kendo Kashin ushered in with a towell over his head.From here on I ventured to pretty much every Walthamstow, Bethnal Green, Broxbourne, Brent and Acton show possible.Best show without doubt was Uprising, The atmosphere was probably as close to going to a ECW show as possible.It was red hot, the crowd were into everything. The imports were great but for me the best moments on the show were Fleisch's balcony dive, Burchills run in and the opening 3 way. After the show Balls Mahoney nearly knocked me out for trying to get him to sign my CZW shirt, I still hold a grudge to him this day for this ha ha.Seasons Beatings was also awesome. Best ever broxbourne show of all time IMO and that includes recent Dragongate shows.After Lynn won the roundrobin me and my mate were drooling at the prospect of Lynn/Daniels at the Feb Show. Williams later won the gold and instead we got a awesome Lynn/Williams match. Broxbourne was such a awesome Sunday night out, few beers in the pub beforehand while watch football, watching a normally fun live show and then hitting the Pizza shop on the way home.Loads of found Broxbourne memories..My mate buying Colt Cabana several cans of coke after the insanely fun Storm/Cabana match.Getting several pieces of table(which i still have) during the Family/Showswearers feud.Corino/Shane- This was awesome and one of the only times ive been to a british show were I was marking out during the pinfall. Corino was such a nice guy too.The Simmons doubleturn.Juvi doing a ddt against the wall right in front of me.Some british exhibition match chanting chip shop guy at some wrestler, who was that?Getting kayfabed by security as we tried to follow Hade Vansen out the buildiing during one of his run ins.Broxbourne definately the most fun ive had following a wrestling company.I brought some real crappy shirts following the promotion such as Ulf is Gut and Shanes one night stand list of women names.Hated going to Walthamstow, no bar and in general it was bloody boiling in that place.Biggest regret was going to the Brent show with Punk/Raven and missing the show by sitting in the bar all night and I had some vomitting bug. I did see the Corino run in which was a mark out moment.Froniters of honor was pretty damn good too, Went to the fanfest the next day in a dark club in angel and got poloroids with all the cards, brought a shitload of ROH shirts. British Uprising 2 didnt really live up to the hype for me and was a let down.I ventured to a few JOB Squad nights too, although I missed the Vansen incident, these were pretty fun, Will never forget Samoa Joe trying to choke out former UKFF member Steveweiser out.Last FWA show I went to I think was the Burchill send off show, felt pretty lacklustre and nothing really tempted me again after this show. For me when they moved British Uprising 3 to Coventry it was a kick in the teeth for fans like myself who followed a mainly southern promotion promote there biggest show of the year 2 hours away. I can see the reasons but for selfish reasons I wanted the show in London.FWA was the main promotion I followed and gave me the best memories of following wrestling in the UK, i never really went to many other promotions after the FWA Ran its course, which I really regret as I missed ROH Tours, 1PW, the supershpws and guys like Great Muta appearing in the UK. I have rekindled more interest over the last few years and along with the usual WWE shows and along with Mania weekend trips ive been too, ive seen Dragongate, IPW UK and will be venturing to 4FW and Rev Pro in the near future, But for me FWA will always have a place in my heart.

[Big Rob]

Some british exhibition match chanting chip shop guy at some wrestler, who was that?

It was a Premier Promotions guest match I believe, the Chip Shop guy was Lee Darren, wrestling Jace The Ace. Shame neither got used again, they were both great.