Happy Not-Actually 20th Birthday UKFF

[rollthedice]

Not sure how I found the forum but it was in relation to Trent Acid, Jonny Kashmere and Ian Knoxx doing signings at ECUK in Manchester.

They were here for that show where a ring never turned up. 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Hulkamania fan...

[BrodyGraham]

2 hours ago, rollthedice said:

Not sure how I found the forum but it was in relation to Trent Acid, Jonny Kashmere and Ian Knoxx doing signings at ECUK in Manchester.

They were here for that show where a ring never turned up. 

I was at that signing I asked them a question about Messiah. Thought they were gonna batter me. Probably deserved it to be fair.

[Jazzy G]

I was at that Blackburn no show. Somebody made a comment about how great the fans in Blackburn were and I started a cheap pop chant, which Kashmere hated. He looked daggers at me. 

[AnotherCrapUsername]

11 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

I was at that Blackburn no show. Somebody made a comment about how great the fans in Blackburn were and I started a cheap pop chant, which Kashmere hated. He looked daggers at me. 

Was probably a look of disappointment when he realised you weren't chanting for below average priced skunk.

Edited September 17, 2021 by ThommoLincs

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

2003 I joined this place as a fresh faced 18 year old about to brave the wide world after bombing my A Levels, flash forward to today as a 36 year old working in a retail job for over 7 years that can one day give me something to be happy about then the next 3/4 turn me into a moaning grumpy twat, bit like watching WWE's output these days

[rollthedice]

1 hour ago, BrodyGraham said:

I was at that signing I asked them a question about Messiah. Thought they were gonna batter me. Probably deserved it to be fair.

I had such a blast at that signing, I was 16 and Trent and Jonny were cool as fuck to me.I still have the Polaroid I took with them and always puts a smile on my face. Trent is just having a laugh showing off his abs.

They signed my Backseat Boyz tshirt, Kashmere signed it "Rich, stay cool bro"  I know they weren't big time stars but it was a big deal to me. Still is.

It also lead to me attending more signings there, Jerry Lynn, Raven, AJ, Colt Cabana.

Edit: Now I think about it, I think I discovered the UKFF through the czwfans board.

Edited September 17, 2021 by rollthedice

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

I joined in 2003 after reading an article about the UKFF in some magazine, I think it may have been called Fighting Spirit? (EDIT- looked into it, wasn't that. Possibly Total Wrestling? Can't for the life of it find the article though.) Part of the article mentioned that although it was the UK Fan Forum, anyone around the world was welcome, and that was good enough for this Aussie.

Although I don't post all the time, I essentially grew up in this place. I was 13, in my first year of high school, and I was bullied very badly due to my disability. So at school every lunch time, I retreated to the library and would come here, posting at times that worked out terribly in relation to the UK time zone. I said some stupid shit over the years, but would like to think having this place as an outlet for my wrestling fandom helped me mature as I sit here at 31.

So thanks UKFF, and happy anniversary! 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Shane O' Mac Version 2

[bAzTNM#1]

16 hours ago, Phil Jones said:

The Shitarse 50. Say no more.

Yeah, one of the main threads I was tuned into for more. It was brilliant. Some guy getting his mum involved and stuff. Did happen right?

2002 I've been here. Anybody remember the mIRC chat room? That was a must-be place most nights early 2000s. Used to be packed.

Edited September 18, 2021 by bAzTNM#1

[quote the raven]

i joined after strong style tapes stole my money. (I did get tapes in the end) 

I still wonder what happened to Dave pick. I remember him attending iwa mid south 

[TildeGuy~!]

I attended an FWA show with some school mates back in 2002, which lead me to searching for FWA online which lead me to this place as it used to have an FWA section. 

[Nexus]

I was a lapsed wrestling fan when I was shown one of the save.us promos for Jericho. One of my mates, who was still into wrestling/does a wrestle, pointed me to the thread on here, and then I signed up.  

[HarmonicGenerator]

I lurked for a while, reading threads like the UKFF50 and one that’s really stuck in my mind about backyard wrestling. Joined in March 2007 after a few years on the TWC forum. Second year of uni and not sure what I’d do with my life. Flash forward to now and I’m still not sure but the UKFF has been a constant and reassuring presence the whole time. 20 more!

[Max Power]

My sign up date says 2003 - but I'm pretty sure that's wrong as I posted about a Flair and Hogan Smackdown Main Event in 2002 - which is rather sad that I can remember that.

I'm 38 years old, so I've been on here half my life. Barely posted like, but stuff has been a good read.

I must have The Midas Touch.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Max Power

[Lenin]

19 hours ago, JNLister said:

So UKFF is sort of 20 today. It's actually a bit older as it began some time in 1999-2000 when several boards merged under what I believe was called Wrestling UK Fan Forum.

20 years ago today is when the database was last reset/recreated/relaunched and everyone had to reregister. From a purely technical perspective, that's an impressive task in that things like user accounts and post counts have been tracked for two decades, though older posts have to be deleted every so often to avoid a complete crash.

Per the member list (https://ukff.com/search/?type=core_members), people who signed up (or rather recreated their account) on day one were:

• Moo
• Five Alive
• Junkman
• Bad News
• Mackem Man
• LCJ
• Van Dammer
• Gossy
• Pabster

 

I was a day two-er along with several others who are still around. By the end of 2001 there were still fewer than 90 members. A few of those were/went on to be involved in wrestling including:

• Dean Ayass & Linus (who commentated together on Revival on Talk Sport and Bravo a few months later)
• Majik
• Patrick 'MadMan' Kelly (not at all sure, but I think he was Keith 'Ruffneck' Colwill)
• Jon Farrer
• Mark Sloan
• Mark Dallas 
• The Middleman (wrestler/promoter Lee Butler)
• CracktonMOJ (ring announcer)
   

Meanwhile, the only people who've topped 20,000 posts are IandrewDiceClay, Egg Shen and wandshogun09, though I can't remember if that excludes off-topic posts these days.

Thoughts, memories, etc?

Twenty years? That's incredible. I've grown up with this site. Although I didn't sign up at the time read the forum as guest for 8 years or so before deciding to join once Smash Wrestling (big Tony's site) ended up disappearing one day. Obviously my current account isn't my original one, that one died around 2011 when AOL finally deleted my email address.

In terms of memories a couple stand out - The UKFF 50, James Brown/Wallace controversy, Carlos Tevez, Meat Sung Park. Still gutted having donated several times with no acknowledgement that I dunno if it helped or if everyone's had a cracking night out on my behalf. 

On a more serious note, it's been a place of refuge over the years. I've been all over the world, experienced just about every situation and emotion in life and always found myself lurking around here and finding comfort in the experience of others during the hard times. 

It's hard to explain to someone why you're on a wrestling forum when you're pushing 40 but that's just it...you can't explain it. It's just a different and supportive community here that you don't find anywhere else, virtual or real world. 

Happy birthday and here's to another 20 years! 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Suplex Sinner