FWA Sign TV Deal with TWC

[Hong Kong Dave]

So you don't think it's hypocritical when a WWE fan criticises the FWA for trying to protect its position?

Not in the least. You're an ROH fan. Are you saying you wouldn't criticise Alex Shane if he was caught fiddling with kids?

I am the only one who fails to see the relevance of Bobbin's comeback?

[Midnight Zeus]

The exclusivity of FWA on the TWC means less UK promotions on the channel and thus more time available for decent wrestling - bonus!(I'm on Telewest and won't even be getting TWC so I can afford to be facetious, or am I?)

[Chaka Demus]

3) NEVER have WCW and the WWF aired shows on the same channel during the same television network season. They aired on different channels, therefore you had the Monday Night Wars of the mid to late nineties. They competed. Having it all on the same channel means you largely recycle the same audience as audiences are finicky things and have their territory channels which they watch religiously. (i.e. some watch ITV mostly... some watch BBC1 mostly... I watch Sky One/Paramount mostly) So your not neccesarily going to bring in larger audiences to british wrestling whilst if you have british wrestling on multiple television channels then you can snare the zealot viewers of that channel into being interested in wrestling so that they go snooping elsewhere. Again I point to WCW Monday Nitro/RAW Found one becoming boring they switched. Can't do that if they are on the same network... they just switch off.

Comparing British wrestling to to the WCW Vs WWF war is stupid. WCW and WWF were big time promotions making millions. British promotions are small and hardly earn a profit after each event. They should stick together like the US Indy's do.

[masstransit]

re: the impending statement, here's to being called a bunch of ungrateful cunts.Cheers.*clinks glass*

There needs to be an official "ungrateful cunt" t-shirt made.

One that can be turned inside out when the wearer's opinions suddenly change upon being ranted at by their idol.

How pathetically true this post is. I love it

[bobbins]

So you don't think it's hypocritical when a WWE fan criticises the FWA for trying to protect its position?

Not in the least. You're an ROH fan. Are you saying you wouldn't criticise Alex Shane if he was caught fiddling with kids?

I am the only one who fails to see the relevance of Bobbin's comeback?

I agree.Oh wait, that was a question?I think it was just as relevant (or irrelevant) as the point I was addressing, so therefore it was valid. Yes.Wrestling promoters are sleazy carny bastards, we shouldn't be unable to criticise ones that make sleazy carny decisions, just because we like companies that have made sleazy carny decisions in the past.If I lived in Louisiana in the mid 80s, I'd be well pissed off with Vince coming to town and stealing all the top talent (DiBiase, Duggan, JYD etc.) and running shows in competition with Bill Watts and trying to steal the TV etc. But instead I live in Britain in 2004, so I'm pissed off with this situation instead. Edited March 10, 2004 by bobbins

[masstransit]

The thing is thinking about it as a promoter.The FWA are the only promotion in the UK that are really ready for TV. They have first class production values, which improve at every show. The talent they have on the shows piss all over every other promotion in the UK.I know I say wZw have some shit hot shows and yes we do, but we are a while off TV standards as are every other promotion in the UK.This is a benchmark for us all to reach. Production, show management and the talent booked on these shows. I am not going to be glum, sod it I am going to get my company up to the standards the FWA have set. Gary

And If Im correctly understanding this Statement you've got 5 years to reach said standards,

[RMC420]

The exclusivity of FWA on the TWC means less UK promotions on the channel and thus more time available for decent wrestling - bonus!(I'm on Telewest and won't even be getting TWC so I can afford to be facetious, or am I?)

No. How someone can seriously justify having 3PW and TNA Explosion ahead of British wrestling on a British wrestling channel is beyond me.Imagine this situation (a few stereotypes thrown in). A football channel is set up to show football across the UK. It's free if you have Sky, so it's not like you have to go out of your way to see it. However, Scottish football is crap. The actual match is crap and the "production values" eg the stadiums the matches are played in are crap. The football channel signs a deal with the English Premiership where by only the Premiership can be shown as it is the only British league up to standard. Leagues of similar standards are then signed up from around the world, La Liga, Serie A, The Bundesliga. However, until they reach this standard the SPL, League of Wales and League of Ireland aren't allowed to be on TV.Imagine the uproar in the press of the celtic nations if this were the case. A perfect opportunity to showcase British football and expose and get people interested in the other leagues, flushed down the bog. Subsiquently the other leagues are left without a TV deal and continue to struggle along. Being a scotsman, I for one would be livid.The magazine show sounds like a fantastic idea. Showcase a couple of promotions a week and then give a rundown of shows happening in each area of the country. I'd be all for production standards being introduced here, but only at a level to which smaller promotions could reach. If one week TWC was struggling to get quality matches to show on TV, then they could interview a wrestler who tours the UK who could let the fans know what is happening in each fed they are wrestling in. I guess they could do this anyway.It's simple business practice that to try and make TWC work you have to get fans interested in the British scene. FWA aren't a British company, they are a Southern English company therefore only showing them is unfair to British wrestling and a bad business decision. Even if they were a British company, only showing them is unfair. Do the TWC really think that they are going to increase interest in wrestling in Britain by taking the focus away from British wrestling? Like Fadda said, 99% of wrestling fans in the UK are only WWE fans and even then they probably struggle to watch both Raw and Smackdown. Getting people interested in a product that they can actually go and see is the only way forward, because just now the WWE is the only game in town.Talking about production standards being a turn off. Nearly all of TWC's programmes will be a turn off to casual wrestling fans anyway. People won't watch foreign promotions because of the weird commentary, they won't watch small indies because they look crap, they won't watch TNA because it is a WWE rip-off.TWC shouldn't be designed to cater to internet smarks, although we are an audience who need to be reached. It should be designed to find all those wrestling fans in the UK who stopped watching wrestling after World of Sport died. It should be designed to find all those people that go to local shows and either only watch the WWE or don't watch any other wrestling at all. It should be designed to get people to go and watch British wrestling because it will only be benefitial to TWC in the long run.Only showing the FWA won't do that. Infact, I think it could have the opposite affect. In short, this shouldn't be looked on as an attack on the FWA. I think we all want the FWA to grow and prosper, but they shouldn't be the only ones to do so.

[Guest Joey Jo-Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

When did The Wrestling Channel ever say it was about promoting British wrestling? I thought they were showing wrestling from around the world. They've got stuff from Britain, Japan, America and Mexico so far.

[Onyx2]

I cannot see how any of this makes TWC bods or the FWA evil people. Every other British organisation would have had a chance or window to stick a bid in or tie up a contract in the way the FWA has. And they were the only ones that put it on the table and claimed the prize.

 

$tew, for once I'm not going to agree with you: other than the diehards, the only reason I would say most people visit 'local' BritWres events is to see a fragment of their weekly WWE show. With people being exposed to FWA as well, and with a chance of actually seeing someone they've seen on TV, I think this will help attendances.

 

I see a lot of call for collaboration, but it was out of the regionalised territories that the current US wrestling scene formed. There's been twelve years since World of Sport croaked and yet it's the FWA's fault that they've haven't gone down this road until now? It's all down to money, and as someone who thinks 'meh' about FWA in general, I'm happy for them. They had the acumen to secure such a deal and the other promotions should stop being sour and ramp up the presentation of their product to meet FWA's plimsoll line.

[CracktonMoj]

Oh, Black2 just said everything I was going to say, except with a lot less anger.British Wrestling companies have had sixteen years (since WOS died) to work together and get the industry all popular again. They chose to spend the time bitching and infighting and putting on shit like tributes, WOS relics, past their prime Americans and just generally conning the public. They couldn't get a universal champion together without it unravelling the night it started. Yet they're meant to be the martyrs in this? With the best will in the world, why should they just then walk into a TV deal after all this shit? Because they're British? That's retarded, and you know it is.If TWC had an open door policy, anyone with a spare thousand pounds could stick their footage on TWC. Fair enough, it gets British wrestling more exposure - but Keith Myatt V Sam Green is going to turn more people off Britwres than it turns on. And you knows it. There needs to be some kind of filter, and if the FWA are the only people that could act as that filter (which on previous records, they are), then that's what we've got. I'd also like to point out that a lot of the most vocal people in this thread have vested interests and/or bitterness.

[Hong Kong Dave]

So you don't think it's hypocritical when a WWE fan criticises the FWA for trying to protect its position?

Not in the least. You're an ROH fan. Are you saying you wouldn't criticise Alex Shane if he was caught fiddling with kids?

I am the only one who fails to see the relevance of Bobbin's comeback?

I agree.Oh wait, that was a question?I think it was just as relevant (or irrelevant) as the point I was addressing, so therefore it was valid. Yes.Wrestling promoters are sleazy carny bastards, we shouldn't be unable to criticise ones that make sleazy carny decisions, just because we like companies that have made sleazy carny decisions in the past.If I lived in Louisiana in the mid 80s, I'd be well pissed off with Vince coming to town and stealing all the top talent (DiBiase, Duggan, JYD etc.) and running shows in competition with Bill Watts and trying to steal the TV etc. But instead I live in Britain in 2004, so I'm pissed off with this situation instead.

My mistake I meant to say am I..... All the FWA have done is looked out for their own best interests. Would you really expect ANYONE running a business to do otherwise?

[CracktonMoj]

If I lived in Louisiana in the mid 80s, I'd be well pissed off with Vince coming to town and stealing all the top talent (DiBiase, Duggan, JYD etc.) and running shows in competition with Bill Watts and trying to steal the TV etc. But instead I live in Britain in 2004, so I'm pissed off with this situation instead.

I can understand that, with all the British wrestling shows you go to.Oh, wait.

[Guest overbooked]

British Wrestling companies have had sixteen years (since WOS died) to work together and get the industry all popular again. They chose to spend the time bitching and infighting and putting on shit like tributes, WOS relics, past their prime Americans and just generally conning the public.

You can't just tar every promotion with the same brush. What about the more recently established promotions?

With the best will in the world, why should they just then walk into a TV deal after all this shit? Because they're British? That's retarded, and you know it is.

I think the point is, what happens when another promotion is in a position to put on a decent TV show? Where do they go? Depending on how 'exclusive' this deal is, they could well be fucked before they start, and thats not good for British wrestling. Or for TWC- as the more good British wrestling coverage, the better. Or for FWA, who could quite easily get complacent without any friendly rivalries.

If TWC had an open door policy, anyone with a spare thousand pounds could stick their footage on TWC.

That doesn't mean it has to have a closed door policy, though. There is ground in-between.

There needs to be some kind of filter, and if the FWA are the only people that could act as that filter (which on previous records, they are), then that's what we've got.

I find it funny that the FWA footage is to be a yardstick, considering how awful some of the stuff they've shown on the previews has been. Once they can light a ring correctly, then we can start talking. And for production to be an issue when CZW, MLW, FWA and others production is so poor makes no sense to me. How about making NOAH the yardstick, as their shows actually look professional?

I'd also like to point out that a lot of the most vocal people in this thread have vested interests and/or bitterness.

I'm not that bitter.

[JNLister]

[Guest The Minx]

I reckon I'd get bored of watching FWA every week.....everybody is different & likes to see a variation.