Brit Wrestling are we on the up

[cobystag]

As someone who only got into the UK scene due to 1PW being my local promotion (and them having Bret Hart) in 2006, I personally feel that 2013 was the strongest I've ever seen the English scene in regards to promotions, talents and show/match quality.

 

But then I am very aware I'm part of a very niche amount of fans. I hope promotions like Southside and Preston continue to thrive, that RevPro keeps the York Hall events special and fantastic events and that Sloan does a international promotion tour a year to help put the UK guys on that level.

[gadge]

Ten years ago, I was attending FWA in Broxbourne every couple of months for my main UK wrestling fix. Occasionally I'd go to All Star or Premier when they were local.

 

In the first three months of 2014 I already have IPW in Tonbridge, Progress in London twice (once with a trip to Triple X and the Royal Rumble the same night), FPW in Wallington, Rev Pro at York Hall, Southside in Nottingham and more planned.

 

The hype on here isn't the same, but the live show experience is almost always better now. The in-ring talent is much more rounded. The scene doesn't have a megastar, sure. But with a little nous, being a British wrestling fan is much more satisfying for me now than then.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Do you not feel Cobystag that RevPro would be a million times better if they didn't run York Hall, but put the same shows on somewhere nicer? York Hall, and Bethnal Green are such shitholes that I feel that it genuinely detracts from the show. It is not cheap to run either, and for the same amount of money there are much better venues.

[Froggivizal_Version1.0]

As someone who only got into the UK scene due to 1PW being my local promotion (and them having Bret Hart) in 2006, I personally feel that 2013 was the strongest I've ever seen the English scene in regards to promotions, talents and show/match quality.

 

But then I am very aware I'm part of a very niche amount of fans. I hope promotions like Southside and Preston continue to thrive, that RevPro keeps the York Hall events special and fantastic events and that Sloan does a international promotion tour a year to help put the UK guys on that level.

 

As someone who became a fan in the same way, I definitely agree with that.

 

I remember in the summer of 2006, 1PW tried to make "Darkside" appear to be on the same level as Austin Aries and The Briscoes (who looked like MEGASTARS due to ROH) and it just wasn't sticking - he didn't have the same star quality. Fast forward 7 years and James Scott can comfortably not look out of place against Rhino. I mean this as no disrespect to "Darkside", as he was then known, but in general everyone on the scene has matured and are developing looks that wouldn't look out of place in the larger Indys and to some extent, TNA and possibly even WWE.

 

The crowds in general are more into it than years past, and I'm positive if 1PW launched now, they would be able to make the british guys look just as good as their american counterparts. They'd still fuck everything up like, but whatever. So for me, regardless of whether talent has actually improved, fan reaction has MASSIVELY and it makes guys look like stars. Just look at Grado, admittedly he might not look the best but the crowd pops and sings along as soon as his theme hits in Scotland, and he looks like a god.

[aaron]

Just speaking from a Kent point-of-view:

 

10 years ago down here we had All Star and Hammerlock.

We all know the deal with All Star, it's not changed, and no offence to Hammerlock but I went to one show and it was awful (in terms of show quality, not in terms of talent).

 

Now we have IPW:UK, RevPro, Pitbull Pro, and still get All Star and Hammerlock in this county.

This is definitely an improvement in shows and show quality.

 

I've already got tickets for four shows planned for the first three months of 2014. IPW:UK, Progress, All Star, and Pitbull.

Im also looking at another IPW:UK, couple of RevPro's, and another Progress withint the first four months.

Not once will I be travelling on trains for more than an hour!

 

At another time I had once a month for IPW:UK, getting to Enfield or Broxbourne for a few FWA shows and All Star.

There was a lot of travelling and those FWA shows in Enfield don't compare well to what we're getting now.

 

The wrestlers, in terms of quality, may or may not have got better or worse but the quality of shows has certainly increased in my own experience.

I expect every show I attend to have a great live atmosphere and a general level of talent equivalent to any Indy in the US.

 

Maybe the fact that the quality in America is so much lower that it shines a light more on our own scene?

I know that a number of promotions are making at least a few casual sales to American customers.

 

I remember the days of getting to Coventry for a special show. Nowadays that wouldn't fly as there's great shows all over the place.

I'd love to get to Insance Championship Wrestling, Attack, and PCW... but they seem like too far when I have so much so close.

 

I'd like to get to Southside and 4FW too. They are closer and more dooable but here's the thing: they guys I would see on these shows, I'd also get to see without that travelling.... so maybe the talent pool is the same standard as ever.

 

Show quality is definitely up in my experience.

[The Dart]

I've been a fan of British Wrestling for almost 13 years. I have cut down significantly in recent years on live show attendance, and I don't keep as up to date as I used to, but from what I do see, and what I watch online, I would say it's definitely as good as it's been in terms of quality since I began watching regularly. A lot of it is down to increase in production quality, but that's more to do with the availability/decrease in cost/invention of a lot of the stuff that makes the live or view at home experience better. If it had been an option 10/15 years ago I'm sure lots of promotions would have had all the great stuff. There's always (in my time) been promotions that put the effort in, but I think more do it these days. However, in terms of in the ring, it's better now because it's better. People have mentioned crowd sizes increasing - I don't think there's much in that. I attended shows with 1000 people in the crowd 10 years ago, and I attended shows with 10 people in the crowd 10 years ago. I'm sure if I went to enough shows I could do it again this year. Funny that in the year where I am fully aware the product is as good as it's been since I started going to shows I have basically stopped going to shows (attended just 1 non WWE/TNA or "while is the USA" show in 2013 compared to 67 in 2007), but that is more due to financial reasons, than not wanting to go.

[patiirc]

I've been a fan of British Wrestling for almost 13 years. I have cut down significantly in recent years on live show attendance, and I don't keep as up to date as I used to, but from what I do see, and what I watch online, I would say it's definitely as good as it's been in terms of quality since I began watching regularly. A lot of it is down to increase in production quality, but that's more to do with the availability/decrease in cost/invention of a lot of the stuff that makes the live or view at home experience better. If it had been an option 10/15 years ago I'm sure lots of promotions would have had all the great stuff. There's always (in my time) been promotions that put the effort in, but I think more do it these days. However, in terms of in the ring, it's better now because it's better. People have mentioned crowd sizes increasing - I don't think there's much in that. I attended shows with 1000 people in the crowd 10 years ago, and I attended shows with 10 people in the crowd 10 years ago. I'm sure if I went to enough shows I could do it again this year. Funny that in the year where I am fully aware the product is as good as it's been since I started going to shows I have basically stopped going to shows (attended just 1 non WWE/TNA or "while is the USA" show in 2013 compared to 67 in 2007), but that is more due to financial reasons, than not wanting to go.

 

Ive been to several 'upstart' promotions and they've gone from sparsely populated to rammed within a relative short space of time, over the last two years, and crucially sustained it. Infinite Pro went from half empty to rammed over the space of 3 shows, and kept it on the strength of the shows, despite cage and other snafu's. HXC has been solid, despite grumblings. PCW has gone from around 80 odd to 700 hundred sell outs etc in the same time frame.

 

Many of these fans aren't followers of wrestling per se, they are on the look out for a good night out a bit of banter, some entertainment and so on, and through word of mouth and the product on offer they generally stay and invite their friends based on what a good time they've had and come back for more.

 

Sure there is the ocassional misfire, but even WWE has them. The status is looking good right now, it may burn out and implode, but it's about enjoying the ride in the interim

[5pints]

Will it ever get to the point where a wrestler will sign an exclusive contract with one UK promotion?

[wrestlingmad]

Will it ever get to the point where a wrestler will sign an exclusive contract with one UK promotion?

Why though?

 

Dean Allmark and El Ligero do all the All-Star shows and the all year around Butlins camps. They also wrestle for the top non-touring promotions. Why would they limit themselves.

[5pints]

Will it ever get to the point where a wrestler will sign an exclusive contract with one UK promotion?

Why though?

 

Dean Allmark and El Ligero do all the All-Star shows and the all year around Butlins camps. They also wrestle for the top non-touring promotions. Why would they limit themselves.

 

To get British wrestling back on Tv for example, there needs to be stability and a certain amount of exclusivity amongst the talent. If there are any promoters out there that want to think big and start the push for a national promotion, then they would have to think about tying up talent.

[Froggivizal_Version1.0]

If it gets so big that one guy can Vince McMahon the entire country then maybe. But given the economy, I don't think it'll be viable at all. Even All-Star don't run frequently enough to have exclusive guys. Even people like Dean Allmark is taking outside bookings. I doubt it'll happen, and nor should it. The variety of being able to see Mikey Whiplash - technical wrestler in PROGRESS and then Mikey Whiplash - transvestite in ICW is great, I don't want to see it end.

[cobystag]

Do you not feel Cobystag that RevPro would be a million times better if they didn't run York Hall, but put the same shows on somewhere nicer? York Hall, and Bethnal Green are such shitholes that I feel that it genuinely detracts from the show. It is not cheap to run either, and for the same amount of money there are much better venues.

 

The very first time I went to York Hall was June, so I have no memories or nostalgia of the York Hall being *the* place for BritWres. But I don't mind the York Hall and thought the acoustics were great so the October RPW show really felt that the crowd was hot, alive and up for it. Security and venue staff not having a clue annoyed me and I'm sure drinkers were ticked off and that situation during the intermission was a nightmare. But then the York Hall is pretty easy to get too and as it being London it's seen as the "home" of England so pulls off that big show feeling.

 

Honestly I'd love every show to be at Broxbourne Civic Hall but then keep that reserved for the A-Merch shows.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Broxbourne Civic Hall is probably my favourite venue.

[diamond_dust]

There's valid points on both sides of this and what Lion said about the original FWA is true but I still think the state of UK wrestling is improving and this is just my point of view.

 

Last year was the first time I set myself a target to go to at least 20 shows and I managed that, before hand it was a case of "lets just see what days one promotion is running and see which shows I can make from there" but these days there are so many wrestlers over here who I view as talented that I can pick out a match on most shows in the country that I'd either pay to see or buy a DVD just to watch. Of course imports are still a major reason for me to buy a ticket for the pure reason that with so many of them it will probably be the only chance I get to see them live, but I can safely say over the last year plus I've enjoyed Kris Travis' work more than 99% of the international talent. That might not be the best example as most of his bigger matches have come against the imports in PCW but his matches with other UK guys have been equally as enjoyable.

 

Similar to that Futureshock have put on some of the best matches I've seen over the last 18 months. Maybe the Mastiff vs Cyanide match from Futureshock 66 wont go down as a pure classic, but the atmosphere in the crowd on that night was fantastic. I haven't seen Zack Gibson have a bad match ever and his matches with Xander Cooper are one of the first things that come to mind when trying to convince people to give British shows a try and as for Dave Rayne, his mic work this year has been brilliant meaning it isn't just the in ring product that is of a high standard.

 

To meet my target of 20 shows I had to venture out of my comfort zone last year and look outside the northen companies. I made it to my first Rev Pro show, although admittedly that was for Liger as I'd been waiting 14 years for the chance to see him live but there were British people on that card I'd seen on DVD and wanted to see live for the first time. Similarly I went to Kamikaze Pro for the first time, Uhaa Nation sealed it for me but having yet to see Damian Dunne, Eddie Dennis, Ryan Smile, and more than a couple of others live I was already trying to talk someone into going when Uhaa's name came up. Wrestle Midlands and AWW also had me making the drives for the British names I hadn't seen yet.

 

I'm not saying we're at an all time high, or even that we're close to the days of the WoS era, but what I am saying is compared to the days a few years ago where there wasn't any "strong promotion" other than All Star appealing to kids and 20 small companies trying to be the FWA replacement, followed by 1PW relying on International names with Brits in the opener, I personally enjoy whats on offer today more than I did a few years ago. I don't know if that means the industry in the country is on the up or not but it definitely feels like it to me.

[Your Fight Site]

To get British wrestling back on Tv for example, there needs to be stability and a certain amount of exclusivity amongst the talent. If there are any promoters out there that want to think big and start the push for a national promotion, then they would have to think about tying up talent.

The only way that