The 2013 UKFF UK50

[Big Benny HG]

The nominations have been cast. The decisions have been made. The votes have been counted. Now it's time for all those lingering, troublesome questions to be answered. Will El Ligero hold onto his crown for the third consecutive year? How will the new arrivals fare? Who has fallen from grace? Who will surprisingly rise through the rankings? Will Dave Rayne finish higher than Rampage Brown??

 

Yes, folks, all necessary voting rounds have been completed and I am now in a position to being the countdown for the Ninth Annual UKFF UK50.

 

Before I get to that, just a reminder of how we got here:

 

- In STAGE ONE, UKFF members were asked to submit unranked nominations for up to 15 wrestlers they felt were deserving of a place somewhere in this year's UKFF UK50.

 

- In STAGE TWO, with 47 wrestlers earning enough nominations for a place directly in the UK50, 8 further performers with a tied number of nominations had to be whittled down for the final 3 places. UKFFers picked 3 from the 8 and made open nominations, together with their reasons, for why they felt their choices deserved those last spots.

 

- In STAGE THREE, with the final names now confirmed, The UKFF Universe selected up to 15 wrestlers from the list and submitted their votes, ranked in order of merit.

 

Throughout all of the above, UKFFers have been encouraged to share, discuss, debate and put forth reasoned arguments for or against particular performers.

 

The votes submitted in Stage Three have been collated by way of a simple mathematical process, whereby each UKFFers number one pick was given 15 points, second place 14 point, third place 13 points and so on. In the event of 2 wrestlers finishing with the same number of points, the higher place went to the wrestler with the greater number of individual 1st place votes. If that was also tied, I looked at the number of 2nd place votes, 3rd place votes, etc until the tie was broken.

 

Before I get to the actual countdown, it is always handy to set out the criteria by which this project is compiled, the nominations are made and the votes are cast:

 

Upon what criteria are the rankings based?

All the way through the process, nominations and votes should be made based on British wrestlers' in-ring performances you have seen on shows that took place between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013. The key points around which the rankings, nominations and votes are based include:

- whose in-ring performances are the most gripping, convincing and enthralling?

- who is consistently involved in great matches?

- who is able to tell the best "story" through their performance?

- whose performance is able to capture the crowd's interest and make them emotionally invested in the match?

- who actually makes pro wrestling enjoyable to watch with their performances?

 

Finally, my own personal thanks for everyone that has supported and taken part in the project in it's ninth year. People will always debate whether or not this project means anything or if the opinions of a message board's membership actually count, but with that said this is still the largest and longest-running attempt to do anything like this in relation to British wrestling. While the UKFF members that part in pulling together these rankings may only represent a small proportion of the wrestling audience in the UK, there is no other project in existence that attempts to take the collective views of British wrestling fans in this way and turn it into what we have. At the end of the day, this is just a bit of fun. Criticism of the UKFF UK50 usually comes from people who actually have no idea of what it actually is. No-one has ever stated that this is supposed to be the definitive rankings of the UK wrestling industry. It's called the UKFF UK50 because it is precisely that - the collected representation of the opinions of UKFF members only.

 

With that said, I take great pleasure in once again presenting to you the UKFF UK50.....

 

**********************************************

 

No. 50: Eddie Dennis

Score: 5 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL

Twitter: @eddiedennis1

Entrance theme: 'Party Hard' - Andrew WK

 

Photo credit: Tom Lancaster

 

Known as the 'Pride of Wales', Eddie Dennis earns sufficient votes to see him make his first ever UKFF UK50 appearance, but did not see much support in the final voting round.

 

Returning from

, Dennis has appeared for promotions across Wales, the Midlands and the South-West, including NSW, CSF,

and EVW. Aligned with the 'DEFEND INDY WRESTLING' movement, Dennis is also a regular for the fun-loving oddball ATTACK! Wrestling, which runs uniquely-themed events in Bristol and Cardiff. There, Dennis

in the semi-final of the 2012 'Elder Stein Invitational' tournament, but was defeated by Pete Dunne in the October final. From there, Dennis beat Ryan Smile at 'Santa's Still Real To Us, Damn It!', then teamed with Smile in defeat to the Hunter Brothers at 'Press Start' in February 2013. That same month, Dennis made his debut for Coventry's Triple-X Wrestling at 'ClusterFuck II', having previously featured for the cult group's family-friendly sister promotion AMP. He beat fellow Welshman 'Flash' Morgan Webster in an unremarkable match that night, but was then thrust into the main event of the follow-up show in April, challenging Majik for the TXW Championship. A supremely entertaining bout saw them brawl all over the SQ Club before the Damned Nation member retained.

 

Elsewhere, Eddie has become a regular part of the roster for Great Bear Promotions, based out of Sandbach, Cheshire, where he has tussled with Soner Durson, Joey Vega, Morgan Webster and Track n' Field amongst others. He made his debut for THIS IS PROGRESS Wrestling in March, teaming with fellow TEAM DEFEND star Mark Andrews in a losing effort to The Bhangra Knights (RJ Singh & Darrell Allen). Having made a good impression, he was invited back to compete in a 4-way elimination contest as part of the Islington, London-based group's Natural Progression Series, PROGRESS' tournament for up-and-coming emerging talent. Dennis outlasted Joey Lakeside, Xander Cooper and Darrell Allen in an exciting, all-action encounter to advance. Quickly having become a firm favourite with the rabid PROGRESS faithful, Dennis clashed with Allen for the third consecutive event in the organisation, this time a triple-threat that also included well-travelled Doug Williams. That one came shortly after the end of the 2013 UKFF UK50 period, Williams going over in another impressive PROGRESS showing for the 'Pride of Wales'.

 

What did the UKFF say?

Nothing, actually.

[cleslie92]

Good start, Eddie has had a great year. He's also now helping train at the Progress training school, and headlined their first academy show.

[Big Benny HG]

No. 49: Mark Coffey

Score: 14 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL

Twitter: @m_coffey90

 

Photo credit - David J Wilson & PBW

 

Our next UKFF UK50 debutant is Glasgow's Mark Coffey, regular performer for virtually all of the main Scottish wrestling promotions, but also this year taking in appearances in England, Ireland and Japan. A product of the SWA's Source Wrestling system, Mark is known for teaming with brother Joe as The Coffey Brothers, as well as his singles efforts across his native land. He previously performed under the ring name 'Mark Anthony'.

 

In his home town's Insane Championship Wrestling, The Coffey Brothers were defeated by the Superior Talent Initiative (Dickie Divers & William Grange) in

, then lost to the same team again in a 4-way for the belts at 'Fear & Loathing' 4 months later. At the December show, the Coffeys turned up unannounced, expressed their dissatisfaction with the treatment they were receiving from ICW owner Mark Dallas and aligned themselves with the equally-outspoken Red Lightning, turning heel in the process. The new trio, christening themselves 'Save Pro Wrestling', beat the Bucky Boys and Jimmy Havoc that night. In amongst all that, Mark also managed to squeeze in ICW singles contests with Mikey Whiplash and El Ligero, as well as high-profile SWA bouts with Divers, Prince Devitt, BT Gunn,

and more.

 

Whilst all of this was happening, Coffey's home SWA promotion became associated with Japanese indie ZERO-1, leading to a show held under the banner of 'ZERO-1 European Challenge' in Govan last November. On that night, The Coffey Brothers

for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Titles. The 'European Challenge' tour moved on to Bray, Ireland the next night, the teams rematched again for the straps. On both occasions, the Coffeys left empty handed.

 

Over in PBW, The Coffeys faced the teams of Chris Rampage & Jamie Feerick and JD Bravo & Grado, before coming up short against champions Blazin' Rampage (Davey Blaze & Chris Rampage) in their November title challenge. 2013 has seen Mark enter the singles ranks in both PBW and BCW, losing to Wolfgang in Airdrie, Andy Wild in East Kilbride and Noam Dar in Barrhead.

 

In July 2012, Mark made a rare appearances south of the border, working a double-shot that included a 3CW spot show in the wonderful Teesside coastal resort of Redcar, followed by a match with fellow SWA regular Damian O'Connor the next day in Suffolk as a special one-off for the usually all-female Pro Wrestling EVE outfit. Thanks to SWA's continued links to ZERO-1, Coffey packed his bags in May 2013 to embark on a tour in the Land of the Rising Sun. Whilst there, he formed part of the New Age Wrestling Future stable and spent ring time opposing such noted names as Shinjiro Otani, Masato Tanaka, Ryouji Sai and Ikuto Hidaka.

 

What did the UKFF think?

"Followed in his brother's footsteps by going to Japan. One half of a great tag team and have seen him have a few cracking singles matches as well"

[Up Chuck]

No. 50: Eddie Dennis

 

What did the UKFF say?

Nothing, actually.

 

Allow me to fill in: GOOD WALES!

[Big Benny HG]

No. 48: Darrell Allen

Score: 20 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL

Twitter: @dazzler450

Entrance theme:

- Ini Kamoze

 

Photo credit - ProgressWrestling.com

 

Hailing from Catford, London, 'Dazzling' Darrell Allen is our third UKFF UK50 debutant. Originally a product of the IPW:UK training school, Allen has honed his craft across the south-east and has become a firm favourite with fans of PROGRESS WRESTLING. Whilst catching the eye in singles efforts, Allen is also known for being half of the Bhangra Knights tag team with his mentor RJ Singh.

 

In his home IPW:UK promotion, Darrell beat Big Bear Barrington, Ashley Reed and James Davis in the same July 2012 night to win the 'Swanley Sprint Series'. This earned him a crack at IPW:UK British Heavyweight Champion Sha Samuels in September, but also kicked off the feud between Allen, together with Singh and various other partners, against the 'New Firm', IPW:UK's lead heel faction consisting of Samuels, Paul Ryker and The London Riots (Rob Lynch and the aforementioned James Davis). The Bhangra Knights fell to the Riots in tag action, then the next night Allen failed in his main event attempt to dethrone Samuels. Allen & Singh evened the score by beating Lynch & Davis at the '8th Anniversary Show' in November, but the Riots took the upper hand by besting the Knights in a Weapons Match at 'Unfinished Business' in February. Allen himself has also clashed with various New Firm members in singles, tag, six-man and eight-man tag team matches since then, and the Knights vs. Riots feud extended beyond the IPW:UK boundaries when they collided in Oxfordshire's NBWA in February.

 

'The Dazzler' had been cast as an impressive young up-and-comer for London's THIS IS PROGRESS Wrestling since the promotion's inception, initially shown as Singh's sidekick but then impressing in his own right to the point where he has been accepted as a popular and key part of their shows. Increasing tension was shown between Singh and Allen, to the point where Singh (running an open challenge gimmick) named Allen as his own opponent at 'Chapter Five' in January. A solid bout saw the student overcome the master and earn his respect, announcing Allen's arrival as a legitimate star in his own right. The Knight's reformed to see off TEAM DEFEND of Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis in March, which also acted as the start of a competitive series between Allen and Dennis. Dennis last eliminated Allen in a break-neck 4-way 'Natural Progression Series' encounter in May (also featuring Joey Lakeside & Xander Cooper, then opposed each other again in July when they were joined by eventual winner Doug Williams in an exciting 3-way. Since the UK50 deadline, Allen and Dennis have finally faced each other one-on-one, this time in the main event of PROGRESS' debut 'ENDVR' trainee card.

 

Elsewhere, Darrell has continued to be a regular for the traditional-British-styled Premier Promotions, where he has locked up with Jonathan Windsor,

, Rishi Ghosh, Bill Duffy, Wolf Alexander and more, as well as contesting high-profile one-on-one bouts with established stars Andy Simmonz, Zack Sabre Jr and CZW's Jonathan Gresham. He made his debut for East Midlands-based Southside Wrestling in March as part of the Bhangra Knights, but returned to stand on his own in singles efforts with Robbie X and Marty Scurll across the April weekender. Other appearances have included bouts for Future Pro Wrestling,

, NWA Hammerlock,

and SLAM!

 

What did the UKFF say?

"one of the crispest workers in the UK"

 

"Darrell Allen moves around the ring smoother than a sponge on Martin Kirby’s head. Sometimes I feel seamless wrestling can be a detriment to the match as everything feels rehearsed however I don’t get this sense when watching Darrell Allen matches. Allen has truly taken a step in the right direction this year and has darted himself to the top of many UK cards wrestling the top UK talent. For me his true coming out party came after his singles match with fellow Bhangra Knight RJ Singh, the two had an action packed match filled with great spots and comedy moments including a tribute to the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair match from Wrestlemania 24. Once Darrell establishes more of a character the sky will be the limit."

[Big Benny HG]

No. 47: Red Lightning

Score: 24 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=28th, 2011=NL, 2010=48th, 2009=46th, 2008=NL, 2007=40th, 2006=42nd, 2005=NL

Twitter: @RedLightningUK

Entrance theme: 'Superhero' - Jane's Addiction

 

Photo credit - David J Wilson & PBWwrestling.com

 

 

He's flitted in and out of the UKFF UK50 over the years, but Glasgow's Red Lightning retains his spot in 2013 to make his sixth appearance in our rankings.

 

Cast as the chief antagonist to ICW promoter Mark Dallas, Red Lightning began the 2013 UKFF UK50 period as the reigning Heavyweight Champion of that outfit, having made a shock unannounced return in June to win the belt from BT Gunn. Dallas' attempted interference backfired in July at 'Insane In The Membrane', allowing Lighting to

. At the next show, for a little while it seemed as though the impossible had happened and unlikely dreams had come true as massively popular underdog

, only for the match to be

at the end of the night after Lightning's protests were upheld. Sure enough, Lightning officially retained the title after a belt shot.

 

Lightning saw off the title challenge of Chris Renfrew in September, then outlasted Lionheart, Wolfgang and Noam Dar in a 4-way elimination bout at 'Fear & Loathing 5', ICW's headline event of 2012. December saw him joined in his crusade against ICW management by Joe & Mark Coffey to form 'Save Pro Wrestling', then continued to knock back crowd favourites like Bucky Boy Stevie, Jack Jester and Grado again one-by-one in championship matches over the first quarter of 2013. After surviving for so long, it all came to an end in May at 'Reservoir Dogs', when Lightning was finally unseated in the main event by 2013 'Square Go' rumble winner Mikey Whiplash.

 

Red Lightning's year in PBW has mainly consisted of tag team action alongside partners Scott Maverick, TJ Rage and Saqib Ali, including three separate unsuccessful shots at the Tag Team Titles held by Davey Blaze & Chris Rampage. Over in BCW, squared off with Liam Thomson, Andy Wild, BT Gunn and guest star Eugene (yes, that Eugene), while Pro Wrestling Elite opponents included English stars Joey Hayes and Rockstar Spud. Both BCW and PWE have also, however, replicated the massively successful pro wrestling formula that is Red Lightning vs. Grado, with Lightning going over Grado for the former in February then the opposite result for the latter in May. Better yet, the pair's rivalry also took centre stage for the big 'Kelvin Brawl' supershow in June, as comedian's Greg Hemphill and Rab Florence joined them for a celeb-tastic tag team main event; Lightning & Hemphill beating Grado & Florence.

 

What did the UKFF think?

"One of the best in ring storytellers I have had the pleasure of seeing live. Recent interviews with him dictate that he has really tried his best to work on this aspect of wrestling before he moves onto the physical side and I would say he is ready to now take that next step. Seems to carefully choose where he works aswell so it's always meaningful to even see him on a card"

 

"Out and out storyteller. Every match during his ICW title regin was gripping and dramatic and this is what I enjoy most as a fan. Everything he does has a reason. If he upped his game on the physical aspects of wrestling then I would expect him to move onto bigger things as he delivers sound, crisp promos and understands the pschology of wrestling to a fine point"

[Up Chuck]

Always interesting when one entrant gets a particular quality picked out by multiple people like that. No coincidence that ICW would have an acclaimed storyteller on top either, given how well they seem to do a character-based product.

[aaron]

Having seen Darrell Allen for the first time recently at Pitbull Pro (the match linked in Ben's post, sweet!), am a bit of a fan. Good seller, can see him getting placed next year even higher.

[Southside crew]

No. 48: Darrell Allen

G

 

 

Darrell has worked for me 7 times now and has been great the whole time , he is certainly a big part of our plans going forward !

[Big Benny HG]

No. 46: Pete Dunne

Score: 25 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=40th, 2011=NL, 2010=NL, 2009=NL, 2008=NL, 2007=NL, 2006=NL, 2005=NL

Twitter: @DynamiteDunne

Entrance theme:

 

Photo credit - Facebook

 

'Dynamite' Pete Dunne returns for his second consecutive UKFF UK50 appearance, though this year he falls 6 places in the rankings. The 'Birmingham City Machine Dunne' is one of the DEFEND INDY WRESTLING crew, and can be found plying his trade for ATTACK! Wrestling, 4FW, AMP, Triple-X and others, and is one of the most active performers across the entire West Midlands and the south-west wrestling scene. A stand-out singles star, Pete also often forms a tag tandem with brother Damien. In March 2013, Pete embarked on a 2-month tour of Michinoku Pro Wrestling in Japan.

 

In July 2012, Dunne reached the semi-finals of Phoenix Pro Wrestling's one-night championship contenders tournament, besting Barricade in the opening round but eliminated by Lucas Black later on. He would see tournament success in ATTACK!, however, as he

and Eddie Dennis in August and October respectively to win the 2012 'Elder Stein Invitational'. 'Perfect Pete'

on ATTACK!'s Christmas-themed event in Bristol, but rebounded to down Morgan Webster in a 'Donkey Kong Ladder Match' at the video game-inspired 'Press Start!' show in Cardiff. After his spell in Japan, he returned to the promotion for the 2013 version of the 'Elder Stein Invitational', but would lose out to brother Damian at the semi-final stage.

 

Over in 4FW, Dunne was on the losing side of an 8-man junior heavyweight tag team contest at 'WrestleWar II', but came back at 'New Year's Wrestlution' in January to defeat Mark Andrews, Wild Boar and Jason Larusso in a 4-way Ladder Match to become the top contender to the promotion's Junior Heavyweight Championship. At the 'Battle Britannia' weekender in March, Dunne went down to Michinoku Pro and general Japanese independent star Fujita Hayato on Night One, but then overcame Andrews and Boar again in a 3-way to kick off Night Two to cement his place as top contender to the Junior Heavyweight gold. He received his crack at Behnam Ali's belt immediately that same night, and managed to overcome the 'Persian Prince' for a popular title win. He therefore departed on his M-Pro tour as the reigning champion, often fighting alongside fellow 4FW wrestler Jason Larusso in tag matches but also facing the likes of Kenbai, Ayumi Gunji and Larusso in singles affairs, many of which took place during the prosperous 'Golden Week' Japanese festival. Upon return from the east, Dunne retained his 4FW belt by beating Ali in a rematch at 'Kingdom Rising 2013'.

 

Elsewhere, Pete and Damian Dunne have feuded with fellow Midlands brother combo The Hunters, including in twin Coventry-based promotions Triple-X Wrestling and AMP. The Hunters got the better end of it on September's AMP show, but the Dunnes gained revenge in a 6-man (also featuring Mark Andrews and Wild Boar, which sounds awesome) in November. The series moved over to TXW in February, the Dunnes besting the Hunters in a really good contest. The Hunters used switch-a-roo tactics to beat Damian in a singles bout while Pete was on his Japan tour in April, before Pete & Damian beat Lee & Jim in another tag in July.

 

Other appearances for Dunne included WrestleMidlands (

), Infinite Promotions, PBW, Great Bear, CSF and LDN Wrestling, and since the end of this year's eligibility period he has gone on to feature for Southside Wrestling, Kamikaze Pro and more.

 

What did the UKFF think?

"coming back from his tour of japan his skill has gone way up"

 

"It was a breakout year for him. He went from being part of a good UK Tag Team to being a great UK singles guy. The tour of Japan was more than warranted. Fights a lot different to a lot of guys his size, but that's what makes him stand out"

[Big Benny HG]

No. 45: Johnny Moss

Score: 25 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=25th, 2011=10th, 2010=7th, 2009=7th, 2008=12th, 2007=32nd, 2006=25th, 2005=NL

Twitter: @Johnny_Moss

Entrance theme:

 

Photo Credit - David J Wilson & PBWwrestling.com

 

Coming to us from Egremont in Cumbria, 'Vigilante' Johnny Moss makes it in for his eighth UKFF UK50 appearance in the nine years the list has been running. 2013, however, comes with a 20-place fall in the rankings for his lowest ever finish, after a year in which his bookings have been more selective. This year, Moss was tied with Pete Dunne on points, total number of individual 1st place votes and total number of individual 2nd place votes. Moss therefore gets the higher place over Dunne due to having more individual 3rd place votes (1 vs. 0).

 

As with previous years, many of Moss' appearances have come north of the wall for Scottish promotions. He stood in for Kid Fite's regular partner Liam Thomson for ICW's Tag Team Title Tournament semi-finals, but the pair were eliminated by The Bucky Boys. Next up was PWE's 'One Year Anniversary Show' in Ayr, where Moss outlasted fellow Englishmen Dave Mastiff, Stixx and Mikey Whiplash to win a highly anticipated 4-way elimination bout. After a few months away from the ring, 'The Vigilante' returned in December to

then

on BCW's biggest weekender of the year, 'No Blood No Sympathy IX'. Heading into 2013, after months of being called out while everyone knew he was away injured Moss beat 'Teen Sensation' Christopher on ICW's January bill, then faced Jackie Polo in a losing effort at 'Flava In Yer Ear'.

 

In England, Johnny beat Darkside on Teesside-based 3 Count Wrestling's last ever show in April 2013, then returned to Preston City Wrestling a couple of weeks later for the first time in some 14 months, entered as one of 30 competitors in the annual 'Spring Slam' rumble. Though he didn't win, he was back the next month for 'No Retreat, No Surrender', where he collided with Rampage Brown, Dave Mastiff and former WWE star Chris Masters in a terrifically intense, hard-hitting, all-heavyweight 4-way elimination bout. Johnny also faced Rampage for Tyneside promotion RAD:PRO in April, and was due to team with Mastiff to challenge Brown & T-Bone for the PCW tag straps in August, but had to miss that one due to injury. In addition to all this, Johnny has continued to feature for

.

 

As ever, Moss has continued to make frequent trips to the continent, appearing for DCW and PWS in The Netherlands, and facing Jimmy Havoc, Zack Sabre Jr and 'Bad Bones' John Klinger for Germany's WXW.

 

What did the UKFF think?

"Looks like a monster, acts like a monster, wrestles like a monster. Would love to see Mossy in Japan as I feel this is where would suit his style most"

 

"Excelled at PCW and ICW and the only thing stopping him being higher is he is so selective about his bookings. Great big man who has a intense aura and can back it up with his wrestling. His feud with Jon Ryan in WXW was great and it was sad it didn't come to it's proper conclusion"

[Big Benny HG]

No. 44: Sha Samuels

Score: 26 points

Total 1st place rankings in 2013 votes: 0

Previous UK50 Rankings: 2012=NL, 2011=24th, 2010=30th, 2009=35th, 2008=37th, 2007=42nd, 2006=20th, 2005=NL

Twitter: @ShaSamuels

Entrance theme: ???? - Castiel (RPW & IPW:UK) /

- Oasis (4FW)

 

Photo credit - Oli Sandler & IPW:UK

 

After a one-year absence from the rankings, Sha Samuels returns to the UKFF UK50 for his seventh appearance. The East End boy has been pushed as the top heel star in multiple UK promotions, including a period where he was recognised as a quadruple singles champion, and has headed-up stables of villainous wrestlers.

 

Sha began our UKFF UK50 eligibility period as IPW:UK's Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion, having beaten Dave Mastiff for the belt the year prior. Assisted by stablemates T-Bone and Rockstar Spud, Samuels retained his belt at 'Summer Sizzler 2012' in Sittingbourne, beating 'Party' Marty Scurll by knock-out in an Iron Fist Match (30-minute Iron Man Match, with sudden death KO gimmick). The following month, he notched up further defences against former partner Terry Frazier and Darrell Allen on back-to-back Swanley events. It was after this that IPW:UK officially split into two completely separate organisations: the character-based Swanley events would continue under the IPW:UK banner, while the workrate-based Sittingbourne shows continued to exist as Revolution Pro Wrestling. As title holder at the time of the split, Sha was recognised by each of the promotions as their own British Heavyweight Champion. What's more, prior to the split, Sha had already announced following his defence over Frazier that he was de-unifying the Undisputed IPW:UK title, bringing the All-England Championship (the former FWA belt which was unified with the IPW:UK British Title in 2009) back into active recognition. With that, he was suddenly holding three separate singles championships.

 

At RevPro's 'Uprising' weekender in October, Samuels & T-Bone were beaten by Dave Mastiff & Terry Frazier on Night One, setting up Mastiff's title challenge on Night Two. While all the world expected Big Bad Dave to finally end the tyranical reign, Sha came through and retained. Sha also saw successful RevPro defences against El Ligero, T-Bone (with whom he had fallen out) and Josh Bodom, while he managed to keep his IPW:UK gold in a triple-threat Tables, Ladder & Chairs Match over Paul Robinson and Ashley Reed at the '8th Anniversary Show'. While all of this was going on, over in Swindon Sha had been feuding with 4FW Heavyweight Champion Eddie Ryan. The 'English Lion' had beaten Samuels at 'Battle Britannia 2012' and 'WrestleWar II', though Sha had gained a measure of revenge by winning a tag match at 'New Year's Wrestlution'. This all led to 'Battle Britannia 2013' in March, where Sha finally bested Ryan and took the title. Yep - that made him a reigning quadruple singles champion.

 

The quartet of belts didn't last long, as Sha was unseated for his RPW title by former WWE and ROH wrestler Colt Cabana at 'High Stakes' in Sittingbourne at the end of March. The pair were rematched for 'When Thunder Strikes' at York Hall in June, where Colt retained after a dodgy restart. The very next day, Sha retained his IPW:UK Championship

strewn with antics and shenanigans on a special afternoon IPW:UK vs. London School of Lucha (the Lucha Britannia training system) event, involving an over-amorous old bird who loved her some Sha, and Sha's obsession with bullying the music guy.

 

Staying in IPW:UK, Sha resurrected his old faction The Firm, this time comprising The London Riots (James Davis & Rob Lynch) and Paul Ryker. The foursome have run amok across Swanley cards ever since, fighting off babyface teams in four-man,

and eight-man tag action. Finally caught in a one-on-one situation, Samuels was defeated in a championship match by Zack Sabre Jr at 'Royale Rewards 2013', though it was revealed that only Sha's All-England Title was on the line, meaning he kept the primary gold. He has also managed to hold onto his 4FW title, beating Ryan and Jason Larusso, though he did taste defeat in a non-title tilt with ex-WWE tag team champion Shelton X Benjamin in May.

 

What did the UKFF think?

"Didn’t have too many opportunities to check out the work of Sha Samuels this year but what I did see I certainly have enjoyed. The unique thing about Sha Samuels is of the four times shows I’ve seen Sha wrestle on he has been in the World Heavyweight Championship match, something must be said for the fact that three separate companies have thought high enough of Samuels to have him wrestle so far up the card. Whilst Sha doesn’t have fantastic matches from a Indy wet dream point of view what can’t be denied is his character work. Sha truly understands how to play the big mouth cowardly heel who will do anything to retain or win the World Heavyweight Championship belt and that’s the kind of story that draws a crowd in. The tactics he used for 4FW to weasel out of defending his belt against Shelton Benjamin were inspired as was his desperation to regain the RevPro Championship from Colt Cabana. As quality as these were his match against Gregg Burridge for IPW:UK vs LSLL where he defended his IPW:UK championship was his best performance I have never seen a match where I laughed as hard as I did during this bout. Sha truly suffered for his art in this match and was not afraid to make a fool of himself to make the match the most entertaining it could possibly be. If you think you have seen a heel scoop to low levels to retain his championship you have seen nothing unless you’ve seen Sha Samuels allow a grandmother to kiss him on the testicles to get a match restarted."

 

"The start of his IPW/RPW title reign but after the Mastiff match he really found his grove in terms of mixing good wrestling and good storytelling. One of the best heels in the UK"

[patiirc]

No. 45: Johnny Moss

 

Great wrestler, shame that he is 'seemingly' unreliable The 4 way as mentioned in the description was a very good match as 4 big guys battered snot out of each other. I've lost count of the amount of advertised shows I've seen him down for and then he has pulled out of at the last minute. It's probably in reality only a small amount, but it was no shock that he pulled out of the last PCW show to be replaced by Cyanide, who was fantastic anyway huzzah.

 

Needs to work on that as would have pretty much everything otherwise and likely much higher in the list

[Sexy Dad]

Moss has been absent half the time I have been to a show that he was meant to be on - I have enjoyed his performances when I have seen him though but he didn't make my list for that reason.

[cleslie92]

Yeah I didn't get to see Mossy this year apart from an appearance in the PCW Rumble, and attempting to keep up with him in the pub...