Paid Members BomberPat Posted May 14 Paid Members Share Posted May 14 1 hour ago, Carbomb said: The only other promotions I know with that were Dale Martin Promotions and Jim Crockett Promotions. I'm guessing there were quite a few. a lot of old British companies were similar; Paul Lincoln Promotions (or Paul Lincoln Management), Bill Best Promotions (later Best/Wyrton), Jack Atherton Promotions, and Relwyskow and Green Promotions were all part of Joint Promotions at one time or another. Dale Martin Promotions is a fun one for the "Some Bloke Promotions" trend, as it's not named after a bloke named Dale Martin, but after Les Martin and the Dale brothers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 14 Paid Members Share Posted May 14 47 minutes ago, BomberPat said: a lot of old British companies were similar; Paul Lincoln Promotions (or Paul Lincoln Management), Bill Best Promotions (later Best/Wyrton), Jack Atherton Promotions, and Relwyskow and Green Promotions were all part of Joint Promotions at one time or another. How does Paul Raymond Publications work into all that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted May 14 Paid Members Share Posted May 14 9 minutes ago, air_raid said: How does Paul Raymond Publications work into all that? From behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Williams Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 (edited) 12 hours ago, Carbomb said: Yeh, there was a bit of an indie wrestling "scene" in the Midlands back in the early 2000s, I remember: you had Midlands Pro Wrestling (run by the estimable @Majik I think), WAR, TAP, LPW (Leicester Pro Wrestling, not the Bowler debacle), Gerry Norton Promotions (I'm fairly sure they were in the Midlands), K-STAR (run by Kevin O'Neill?), then a little later the aforementioned AMP, which was the family-friendly branch of the two promotions run by Jeckyl and Blokbusta, the other being the popular (on here) Triple X Wrestling.  I was quite a fan around the early 2000s, catching the tail end of Midlands Pro Wrestling's shows at the Ivy Leaf in Birmingham. It was quite a shock when they announced the closure, but Mad Mike and Ronin kept the spirit alive by running some of the MPW venues under the banner of LPW (Leicester Pro Wrestling), later rebranded as Live Pro Wrestling as they expanded their shows to Birmingham and Coventry. Their events received mixed reactions, and rightly so in some cases, but they definitely provided a platform for some very talented wrestlers to cut their teeth. Following MPW's closure, Triple X Wrestling emerged, attempting to offer a more adult-oriented product. Despite consistently positive reviews, it never quite captured the audience it deserved. However, it likely played a crucial role in shaping the approach of many major promotions we see today. AMP while it had some overlap with Triple X seemed to be an attempt to bring the Triple X style of wrestling and make it more family-friendly, I never got to witness an AMP show myself but they seemed to get good reviews much like Triple X did. Moving northward in the Midlands, FCW operated in the Black Country, primarily as a training school promotion, similar to MPW. They occasionally featured imports like the early Super Dragon and Chris Hero, adding a bit of excitement to their line-up. In Birmingham, the most significant promotion during much of the 2000s was AWW, Anti Watershed Wrestling, which later became Alternative Wrestling World when they landed a tentative "TV deal" with a channel called Red TV, which unfortunately never materialized. Their shows were consistently good for the era, attracting solid crowds, and in my opinion, they were perhaps the best promotion in the Midlands at the time. The promotion still exists but has undergone at least two ownership changes and shifted its base from Birmingham to the Black Country, now operating primarily as another training school promotion.  Edited May 14 by Dan Williams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAREBEAR LUVVA Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Tidal Championship Wrestling always struck me as a really rubbish name that didn't make any sense. It was originally based in Leeds, but they now seem to have moved to Huddersfield with occasional shows in London, none of which are near the sea. Rivers, maybe, but "tidal" surely conjures up images of vast rolling waves rather than piddly little murky canals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshC Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 E 1 hour ago, Dan Williams said: Following MPW's closure, Triple X Wrestling emerged, attempting to offer a more adult-oriented product. Despite consistently positive reviews, it never quite captured the audience it deserved. However, it likely played a crucial role in shaping the approach of many major promotions we see today. AMP while it had some overlap with Triple X seemed to be an attempt to bring the Triple X style of wrestling and make it more family-friendly, I never got to witness an AMP show myself but they seemed to get good reviews much like Triple X did. Especially fond memories of an AMP show in January 2010 where there was snow on the ground and maybe 40 people braved it to see the likes of Zack Sabre Jr., Mark Andrews, Pete Dunne, Big Damo and Nikki Cross. Triple X was a bit of a forerunner for Attack!, not only in some of the wackier stuff presented, but also in that they gave a bit of a platform to a number of the guys who were just starting to break out. I always thought having an Ax title, a Smash title and a Crush title was good as well, haha! Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 19 hours ago, Carbomb said: Yeh, there was a bit of an indie wrestling "scene" in the Midlands back in the early 2000s, I remember: you had Midlands Pro Wrestling (run by the estimable @Majik I think), WAR, TAP, LPW (Leicester Pro Wrestling, not the Bowler debacle), Gerry Norton Promotions (I'm fairly sure they were in the Midlands), K-STAR (run by Kevin O'Neill?), then a little later the aforementioned AMP, which was the family-friendly branch of the two promotions run by Jeckyl and Blokbusta, the other being the popular (on here) Triple X Wrestling. Plus FCW in the West Midlands featuring Spud, Dave Morales (Mastiff), Jack Storm and Luke/Dragon Phoenix. Which wasn’t bad for a show in a pub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 Although its shortening to 3PW was more palatable, Pro Pain Pro Wrestling was a wretched name for a very bad promotion. Sounds like something Hank Hill would get excited at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 4 hours ago, air_raid said: Plus FCW in the West Midlands featuring Spud, Dave Morales (Mastiff), Jack Storm and Luke/Dragon Phoenix. Which wasn’t bad for a show in a pub. I'd forgotten FCW, and AWW as well. Really racking my brain, a name pops out from memory: Brandon Thomas. I think he was a promoter as well as a wrestler, but I never got to go to any of those Midlands promotions' shows, so others would know better than myself. I vaguely remember reading in a bit of a detailed post on here that there was some kind of falling out in one promotion leading to a split and formation of a new one - again, I think it might have been Kevin O'Neil - and I think Thomas might have had something to do with it. Can't remember who posted it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 45 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Although its shortening to 3PW was more palatable, Pro Pain Pro Wrestling was a wretched name for a very bad promotion. Sounds like something Hank Hill would get excited at. we're all kind of used to CZW now, but both 3PW and CZW are names where they clearly came up with the initials first, so that people could easily chant them to the same cadence as "ECW", and just bungled together a name that fit after the fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 Combat Zone Wrestling is a pretty damn cool name for a wrestling promotion though. Other ones I always thought sounded cool and made the promotions stand out were Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Lucha Underground, Chikara and Attack! Pro Wrestling (though admittedly have never seen a single one of their shows). Just the names alone made you feel like you were going to be watching something a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 Conversely I've always felt that indy names like Progress, Evolve and anyone that blatantly wants you to think they're changing what the sport's about or moving into the future, are total toss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 Just now, air_raid said: Conversely I've always felt that indy names like Progress, Evolve and anyone that blatantly wants you to think they're changing what the sport's about or moving into the future, are total toss. Being at shows and hearing fans chanting "This is progress!" during some run of the mill spotfest was always pretty silly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 This also reminds me that I had a bit of a fond spot for British regional promotions' names and concepts - Herts & Essex Wrestling, Preston City Wrestling, Leicester Pro Wrestling, Midlands Pro Wrestling, LDN, etc. - in that I appreciated the realism and humility of not trying to be a global promotion with a world championship when it was pretty clear that couldn't be the case. Plus there's something that felt a bit "naffly cosy" about it - like they were trying to re-create the glamour of the American state territory system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 NOAH was always a cool name especially with the history behind it with everyone jumping ship from the sinking post- Baba AJPW to the new ark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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