After an early morning start I finally arrived at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth at just gone 1 to find things well under way with the seating being moved in to place and a host of guys from the FWA academy helping out, all hands to the deck. On the bad side though posters had only been put up on board in the venue which was a shame coupled to the fact Portsmouth football club rearranged a game to kick off the same time as our event and it was to shown live on Sky which doesn’t help. At least the preparation of the venue was well under way though.
No sooner had I put my stuff down in the venue that the ring truck had arrived so more work was needed to be done. Now in just under an hour a huge transformation of the venue took place as the ring, lighting and entrance way were set up. It was a brilliant group effort by everyone which put us way ahead schedule and left me breathing easy. If you ever do have chance to sit down and watch everything being set up it is quite remarkable how fast Mark can get his team to do it in. There came my first thought of the day why not set up an FWA Display team who can go to various shows setting up the ring and packing it all away again in double quick time.
As time moved on towards 4pm all the guys started turning up so a chance to meet up again with familiar faces and to meet some of the guys I hadn’t met before and what a top bunch of guys the FWA have. I don’t know if it has since the tour has been happening, but through the ring being set up and the guys getting off the bus there is a great sense of family in the FWA with everyone happily chatting away and helping each other out. So the first two promoters nightmares out the way the ring was in place and the wrestlers were at the venue.
Now some comical stories, on arriving Ulf Herman saw the facilities had a gym that was open so off he went for a work out only to be told he couldn’t use the gym now whoever told him he couldn’t use it is braver than me cause I don’t know many people who would stand in Ulf’s way. On arriving at the venue Juvi needed to do some shopping and buy a shirt so off he and Jonny went not sure if they realised the venue was a good walk from the shops and with time getting on I doubted any would be open but like I say I am not one to get in peoples way.
As time got on I went through the running order with Elisar and the ring was used as free time for any of the guys who wanted to practise anything. Although it soon turned in to comedy hour when Alex Shane got in the ring not sure if any was caught on tape but if it had been it would have been priceless him and Travell are really funny guys.
So time moved and it was getting close to doors time and all the guys headed backstage whilst final checks on the arena were done. And doors opened a little later than planned at 6:20 which meant a healthy gathering of people were already waiting to get in which is always good to see. From this moment on the realisation and the adrenaline starts to hit you.
With packed bleachers things were looking good and the show got under way right on time. Here is a quick run down of the results:
1. Jack Xavier beat 5-Star
2. ‘Specialist’ Mark Sloan beat Eamon Shrahan (FWA debut match)
3. Raj Ghosh beat Chris Hamrick
4. All-England Title Match: Zebra Kid beat Wonderkid Jonny Storm (C) to win A-E belt
5. Nikita beat Simmons (with Buttercup)after Birchill interfered
6. FWA Tag Title Match (Falls Count Anywhere): Alex Shane & Ulf Herman beat The Family (C) to win the tag belts
7. Juventud Guerrera beat James Tighe
The best matches of the night were Raj vs. Hamrick and the FWA tag title match. Hamrick totally stole the show he can really interact well with the crowd which is something you didn’t really see in ECW. As for the Tag title match it was simply out of control they were all over the place the ref even gave up trying to find where they had all gone to.
Watching the crowd through the night they all seemed to really enjoy which was the thing I was worried about the most as I feel it is the most important part of the show is being able to send the fans home happy. The first ever FWA/TWO event was marked with two significant title changes Alex Shane and Ulf Herman as new tag team champs and Zebra Kid winning back the All England title.
The show ended, the night drew to a close and it was off to Newport for most of the guys. Before I go I would like to say a big thanks to everyone helped in anyway make the show possible especially Dean Ayass who was doing a brilliant job running the backstage has he found his niche who knows? Also a big shout out must got to our illustrious leader Kam for all the support with everything.
Until next time
Adam Sibley