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Whats been the most successful british card in the last 25 years?


RancidPunx

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There's been a few other UK shows in recent years with crowds as big or almost as big as International Showdown, but I doubt they were as good or got as much coverage, and probably didn't make as much money. I would say International Showdown should win the argument for this century, but not sure about the last 25 years.

 

Yeah, like I said - I'd put it forward. But I don't know enough history of UK shows to say it's the best attended/acclaimed for the last x number of years. This century, I reckon it's safe to say.

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I was at Showdown too, and whilst my memory isn't the greatest I can't imagine there being less than 2000 there. I seem to remember Uproar doing about half the crowd that the first show did, but the venue was still pretty full. The first show was pretty great, albeit with a large amount of bellends in the crowd who thought it was fun to shit on the Grey/Sanders match.

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Was Uproar also promoted by TWC?

 

No, just Alex Shane. We opted out of doing another. 1PW had also launched & started doing "supershows", so TWC figured it was best to leave it as a 1-show deal.

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Memory can be an odd thing so I'll recant on this occasion. No point arguing over fake fighting :)

 

For CONTENT~! I'll add the Walthamstow show with Sabu & Dirt Bike Kid in 1995. Not the biggest crowd but it started something off that led to everything that came later.

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A show by either WAW or All-Star, because those organizations are still running shows.

 

Is that what the OP asked? He said "most successful British card" - i.e. a single card. Not a promotion. And he defined success by "how many people paid to watch the card".

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From what I remember from the Coventry SkyDome 'supershows' of 2004-2005, FWA British Uprising III did about 1,800, TWC International Showdown did around 3,400 and Universal Uproar was about 2,400.

 

You're correct. 

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According to Greg Lamberts book Uprising III lost £24,000. That's an unreal amount to lose over a British Wrestling show. Hat Guy, dont forget - in November you'll have to start one of you're 10 year anniversary threads for Uprising III.

 

The Revival show I'd say was a historically up there. It drew about 2000 (If memory serves), it was on telly and broadcast live on radio. Not just that, it seemed everyone who was in attendance ended up getting into the business. In terms of hype and just the sheer ideas of what British Wrestling good do after it, its hard to beat that show. There was a proper sense this country wasn't a shithole whose only stars were fake X-Pac's in dinner halls. I definitely remember by perception of British Wrestling went from "oh its shit" to "oh its quite good" overnight. Well done to Linus. He was great on that show.

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Well done to Linus. He was great on that show.

 

Agreed - the commentary actually stood out on that show as excellent. A lot of times, commentary is just 'there'.

 

According to Greg Lamberts book Uprising III lost £24,000. That's an unreal amount to lose over a British Wrestling show. 

 

 

That's why I found it a bit irritating in Greg's book where he said that International Showdown was "essentially an FWA show". We hired their ring & crew - that was it.

It was TWC's reputation and money that were at risk if this failed - not Greg's and not FWA's. The comparison was ludicrous. If Showdown was "just an FWA show", how did we draw double what they did mere months earlier? The comparison made no sense to me. Myself, Alex, and all the TWC staff worked our asses off putting this show together - it was our money & reputation at risk if it failed. We put tonnes of airtime behind it too - we had commercials running for 4 months on the channel non-stop. The show had nothing to do with FWA, except that we ran it with Alex, so inherently ended up hiring the FWA ring & crew (who were great, BTW - Greg especially - but they all got paid for their services). Maybe backstage it ran like an FWA show, and Greg being there probably just remembers that vibe with all the familiar faces - but sentimentality can't supersede the facts. 

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The Revival show I'd say was a historically up there. It drew about 2000 (If memory serves), it was on telly and broadcast live on radio.

My first thought when I saw the thread. Was it on Bravo? Seemed to be one of those things that everyone saw. It was a god show that had decent talent on and looked cutting edge for the time. I really think of that show as a turning point for British wrestling after years in the doldrums. Some good work was going on in the late 90's but it wasn't really being seen.

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