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Post by Baixo Astral on Jul 8, 2008 5:56:02 GMT -5
Hi, yes, sorry I took my time getting here.
I've slightly toned down my show attendance, because at one point I figure I was going to 4-5 shows a month - haven't missed an IPW:UK main show (ie Bromley/Orpington) for over two years, make it to all of the SAS shows in the south, and was an RQW regular till pretty much the end. Smattering of other shows, too.
My thoughts:
- Haven't seen the Trios tournament, but heard that Team IPW:UK got very over - Sha Samuels is a limited worker, but Terry Frazier continues to improve, and Stone is maybe a year or so from being at the level where he could work anywhere.
- Andy Boy Simmonz gets a bit too much love, IMHO, for a guy that is a hokey face, a smirking heel, and a slick yet generic worker.
- Doug Williams is quite clearly superb and polished, but never think he should get quite the love he gets in "Best UK Worker" polls, simply because IMHO he's an import these days - Regal can't be in those polls, ditto Nigel McGuinness, so Doug shouldn't.
- Although he'll almost certainly remain a UK guy, El Ligero is at a level where amazingly he earns a full time living from wrestling UK indy shows, which points toward how reliable and top notch a performer he is.
- Don't quite get the UK Pitbulls hatred - they do what they do, they do it well, and are fat.
- Zack Sabre Jr. should be a very big star in short order.
- Gentleman Gilligan Gordon is now the best manager on the scene
- Why doesn't Iceman get booked so much these days? He might be a big fat Johnny Vegas lookalike, but he's always entertaining.
- The opposite is true of Dragon Aisu - nothing he does convinces
- Martin Kirby should be on even more shows than he is right now
- Sam Slam should be in US indies, he just needs a name change and he'd be a bigger star, green though he still undoubtedly is.
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Post by Baixo Astral on Jul 8, 2008 6:04:57 GMT -5
They were three guys from England to be Team IPW UK. That's all. It was just them representing the company I guess. It's probably not a good representation for your company though. Its just that its a bad choice to represent the company because a) They have better workers (that could help guide ROH trainees thriugh the motions) and b) Those guys just dont compliment each other at all!!! Couple of points: - They weren't, I don't believe, facing the RoH kids - they faced The Naptown Dragons, and put them out, and then lost to the Golden Trio. - Don't see the not complimenting each other thing - they are an unofficial stable in IPW:UK, and are a heel group in XWA, F4W and elsewhere (as the Firm) - they're all 'ard bastards from East London, and wrestle in a brawling style with a few spots thrown in - what's not complimentary?
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Post by ScottishProWrestling on Jul 9, 2008 8:13:36 GMT -5
FWA booked themselves into financial trouble and broke down a while back though the company was brought back last year by Greg Lambert, its the XWA now i think. They still run a handful of shows a year. Im sure they still have a couple of schools dotted about the south of England.
Sounds like Golden Spike has been around! Your right on most of what you said, not seen Gilligan or Sam Slam yet but he undoubtedly needs a name change, ive heard a few of the boys talk about him here and there. I agree with Aisu aswell, hes not as great as some people seem to think. Never really spoke to him to him much, seems to keep himself to himself. Simmondz does get to much love but he has a real passion for the business and i think he could make some waves over the pond, not to sure why, just get that feeling from him. Ligero has talent but i think he should stick to the comedy schtick he uses, the kids love it and goes over huge. One for the politics ive been warned though, but then theres so many guys that do it. Iceman cut down his schedule after everything with wZw i think,havent heard from or seen him in ages actually. Never enjoyed his work though, not bad at what he did mind!
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Post by Gregor-2012 on Jul 9, 2008 11:13:59 GMT -5
I was a big fan of FWA around 2001-2002 when Jodie Fliesch was getting a huge push. They did a show on Bravo tv which i thought was really good. I think it was called british uprising, had some great matches such as Fleisch vs Storm, Fleisch vs Doug Williams, Scott Parker vs Alex Shane and a absolute classic between Williams and Eddie Guerrero.
Speaking of Alex Shane, does anyone know what he is doing now? I was really impressed by him. Does anyone else remember the radio show he did on Talk Sport.
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Post by Joekishi on Jul 9, 2008 11:33:52 GMT -5
The only guy keeping the world of sport technical/catch wrestling style alive is Doug Williams, most everybody else is a cruiserweight who does a lot of flips.
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Post by rogerworkman on Jul 9, 2008 12:20:00 GMT -5
Did anyone else see the episode of Brainiac with Alex Shane peeling onions to see if he would cry? You can't buy publicity like that, my friends, you really can't.
And the last show i saw was about 14 months ago, a 1PW show, and then they stiffed me out of some money so I stopped going. I saw a few good british wrestlers but I can't remember them now.
Even if I could, i'm not the best person at remembering how they wrestled. I have a poster of Nikita on my wall for 3 years and it took me like 5 episodes of Raw before I realised she was Katie Lea Burchill...
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Post by cruiserfan on Jul 9, 2008 15:54:17 GMT -5
I used to go to Alex Shane's wrestling school in Manchester. He's a good heel but way one-dimensional (he's HUGE yet he cheats more than he bullies). At the time Declan O'Conner was the head trainer when Alex wasn't in town (most weeks) and he wasn't much of a trainer, only teaching flashy sequences not everybody wanted or needed to learn. I was happier learning all the basics from Dave Rayne. But it eventually got to the point where there were too many trainees there to really get anywhere in 3 hours.
As for the shows, at the time they were fun but they mostly used trainees so not anything special... But in retrospect I've seen much worse in UK Indy. I personally hate the trend of fully-costumed comedy heels who make wrestling look stupid.
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Post by rogerworkman on Jul 9, 2008 18:34:07 GMT -5
I used to go to Alex Shane's wrestling school in Manchester. He's a good heel but way one-dimensional (he's HUGE yet he cheats more than he bullies). At the time Declan O'Conner was the head trainer when Alex wasn't in town (most weeks) and he wasn't much of a trainer, only teaching flashy sequences not everybody wanted or needed to learn. I was happier learning all the basics from Dave Rayne. But it eventually got to the point where there were too many trainees there to really get anywhere in 3 hours. As for the shows, at the time they were fun but they mostly used trainees so not anything special... But in retrospect I've seen much worse in UK Indy. I personally hate the trend of fully-costumed comedy heels who make wrestling look stupid. I went there for about 6 weeks before it moved Gyms and I couldn't afford the travel, Alex was never there when I went though.
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Post by cruiserfan on Jul 10, 2008 13:28:55 GMT -5
^ Awesome username ^
Yeah, Mac's Gym was way further our of Manchester city centre than the old one, but I never went there. It was fun learning in such a huge ring (20 x 20). I'm been tempted to go back to training, but I have a friend who went to GPW training and said it was no good. Plus I'm lazy.
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Post by ScottishProWrestling on Jul 10, 2008 22:01:32 GMT -5
Alex has tons of stuff on, he does life coaching too. Only place you will see or read Alex just now is in Fighting Spirit Magazine, he does an interesting little column for trainees on how to work. Not the best wrestler but understands the buisness through and through, he also promotes TNA shows when they are over here. 1PW have stiffed so many people fans and workers, i know a ton of guys who wouldnt even work there again. Money marks with no idea atall. No business nous either. I think the comment about all being high fliers is way off the mark though, what have you been watching?
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Post by cruiserfan on Jul 11, 2008 13:22:16 GMT -5
I was just referring to that trainer's style (only teaching high-fly).
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Post by ScottishProWrestling on Jul 12, 2008 8:36:18 GMT -5
Ah right, there are very few top notch trainers in Britiain, then again there are very few ones in the world! My comapany, Scottish Pro Wrestling are starting a training school and are bringing in some of the top UK Stars to lecture and do a seminar on a weekly basis come september so our students will be versed in all style and can go where they feel comfortable after nailing the basics. We are based Dumfries in the south west of Scotland so we arent far from Northern English Cities like Carlisle, Newcastle etc and the same goes for the Scots cities... max 1hr and half journey!
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Post by Gregor-2012 on Jul 12, 2008 9:54:40 GMT -5
Do you know of any promotions in the Midlands area?
Im pretty sure a guy i used to work with is now wrestling for one of them although i haven't found it yet.
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Post by ScottishProWrestling on Jul 12, 2008 14:49:42 GMT -5
Oh yea, there are a few of them, are you looking to train or just go to shows? Let me know what your looking for and ill hook you up mate!
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Post by Gregor-2012 on Jul 12, 2008 19:18:36 GMT -5
At the moment im living at uni so dont get the chance to see any shows unfortuntley but when i get the chance i do. I used to know quite a few but have forgotten their names. I think one was called AWW, but im not sure.
I was just more interested in the guy that i know. I saw a pick of him wrestling but it didn't say who it was for. His name is Aaron Hudson (doubt that's his wrestling name though), he's pretty new, dont know if he's any good. Heard of him?
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Post by Steveweiser on Jul 12, 2008 19:34:42 GMT -5
During my student days, I used to go to a lot of FWA and All Star shows - in fact, at one show in Portsmouth, I got to pick an opponent for Nigel McGuinness. I also attended some of the fan events, especially with the Ring of Honor linkups at the time, so I spent a bit of time with the likes of AJ Styles, Low-Ki and Samoa Joe, and also hooked up with CM Punk and Colt Cabana once.
Then the loans ran out, and I had to cut back to just watching WWE. Doesn't appear as though the British wrestling scene is doing quite so well as I remember it, though there are a few talents coming through, and I'm of course pleased to see the likes of Paul Burchill, Nikita (Katie Lea), Doug Williams and Nigel McGuinness having made it in America, as well as some of the British boys in FCW.
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Post by ScottishProWrestling on Jul 12, 2008 19:43:47 GMT -5
Actually i think its as strong as ever, there is finally a wealth of talent, for the first time in like 30 years!!! It totally died at one point, All-Star have been running for so long, i want hold of thier business module! AWW i believe is situated there theres also MIDLANDSWRESTLE and a few other companies, what styles you into?
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Post by Gregor-2012 on Jul 12, 2008 20:03:29 GMT -5
I prefer technical and spotty stuff really. I cant for the life of me remember what show i saw or who was wrestling, i think it was in the Aston area, but i was impressed none the less.
What do you think about TNA coming to do another tour over here? Seems like a positive move to me, as an acknowledgement to fans if anything. Did they use any British talent on their last tour? Also i hear that UFC are doing a show in Birmingham as well.
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Post by ScottishProWrestling on Jul 12, 2008 21:59:05 GMT -5
Im not sure though i know Pac was meant to be doing some stuff with them during one of thier european tours? UFC have done a couple of shows here now and are going over HUGE! TNAs return is good for the global buisiness wihout a doubt but im not sure if the can fill the M.E.N Arena, thats one big joint for wrestling and WWE do well to fill it for some of thier TV tapings never mind TNA on a house show! Ambitious but it might pay off. TNA just need a better TV deal over here and they could explode in the UK.
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