The State of the British Wrestling Scene?

[Infinity Land]

RevPro at the York Hall and ICW had their Fear & Loathing weekender at the Barrowlands. No real buzz online. Between NXTUK, #SpeakingOut, and COVID lockdowns it seems like enough people have been put off following the UK scene. Heading into 2022 is there a company actually worth keeping an eye on?

[DavidB6937]

26 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

RevPro at the York Hall and ICW had their Fear & Loathing weekender at the Barrowlands. No real buzz online.

Beyond online buzz, how did the shows actually do?

[Guest]

I have only seen pics of the barralands which has went from packed standing, to rows of seats and back of room curtained off, so didn’t look busy. From my group of friends we just didn’t miss it when gone and haven’t went back. New generation are all young kids, and at 38 I can’t associate with them how I did with wrestlers around early 30s it was before to make me go. 
a lot of people went to shows as it was an alternative to wwe that wasn’t for them anymore, and that gaps been plugged with the widely enjoyed aew, there’s less need to leave the house to enjoy wrestling 

[JNLister]

From my own experiences and those of people I know/talk with online, it seems like the smaller scale promotions running 150-300 seat buildings are doing much better than expected at this stage, while the bigger venue shows are struggling. A lot of it seems to be people being eager to get back to watching shows in their local area, but little appetite for travelling long distances to shows/staying overnight/making a weekend of it. 

That's partly because it's very hard to put on a "big/special" show right now given it's hard to bring in imports and a healthy proportion of the 'names' from the late 2010s are working full time abroad, locked up in a warehouse in Enfield, unbookable by most decent promoters after Speaking Out, or called it a day during COVID. The shows now are getting generally good reviews but it's going to take a good while to build their names to the point people will travel to see them or a particular match-up.

TL;DR: the scene has definitely hit the floor, but that floor is higher than many expected.

[Snitsky's back acne]

I attend BWR which runs out of Cleethorpes and Grimsby regularly and they always put on strong shows with lively crowds.

Wrestlers like RKJ, Ethan Allen, Luke Jacobs, Will Krooz, Robbie X, Big Guns Joe, Man Like Dereiss, Myles Kayman, Dan Moloney and others show that the scene has some great young talent at its disposal.

Its not flourishing in terms of big attendance in most instances but there are some great show out there. 

[Guest]

I’d agree on the level of talent SBA. I don’t think the proper fundamentals of training have ever been so high, you never see people look lost in the ring. I feel tho several are a few years away from finding their personality and character. The guys before them had nearly a decade to do that and make it bigger. But with the smaller shows being in abundance, the reps will bring that outta them 

[Keith Houchen]

Danny Boy Johnson is still on the scene and is a great enforcer, so that means the UK scene is flourishing. 

[Callum1993]

I went to a Southwest Wrestling Show in Walkabout in Cardiff last night. In the past when Attack! Ran there it was almost always a sell out. Last night there was maybe 50/60 people watching the show. Overall quality of the show was good but there definitely seems to be less people attending than previously.