Welcome one and all to my latest rambling on the British Wrestling scene. This week I will talk about news which is coming from north and south of the border. It is another week of new promotions starting up although I must say it’s been a few weeks since I last heard mention of one so I though I better stop myself from getting withdrawal symptoms. The main news this week though is have we heard the last of X-Wrestling.
It has been a turbulent year for the people down at X-Wrestling, after claiming they were coming to change the shape of British Wrestling and be a market leader they are now no where to be seen. It has been one bit of bad news after another for the fledgling promotion this year which has left us at the state we are now with an announcement promised for last week which did not take place and a website which is no longer available.
After a well publicised launch the hype started to die down and people were already comparing it to the ill-fated Wrestlexpress project. Then the bad news really started to come in abundance firstly it was changes in the staff at X-Wrestling headquarters. For a promotion that had not even staged it’s first even yet this started to concern the internet fans. Although this was probably unavoidable and had no bearing on the proposed show it was not a good start.
Then there was a hammer blow for the company as they were forced to change the date of its show from April to August the reason claimed was due to an upcoming tour by the WWE in England in April and that it would affect ticket sales. Changing a date for an event always gives people judders and affects ticket sales unless you are major pop act with mainstream media attention lets take the Sugababes for example they rescheduled their tour but due to always being on TV ticket sales weren’t affected this is a luxury though that X-Wrestling didn’t have.
Moving the date of the event caused more problems than X-Wrestling may have thought. Over UK promotions started to capitalise on this and started approaching the US talent booked on the X-Wrestling show to work for their promotion before the rescheduled X-Wrestling event. As X-Wrestling didn’t have the money to sign them down to exclusive contracts we saw their headlining US talent like Raven and D’Lo Brown brought over in March and April working for FWA and WZW. These two names had drawing power because they hadn’t been booked by a UK promotion before but now most people who wanted to see them have they have lost a lot of their drawing power.
Not to be beaten X-Wrestling took their website offline for a regroup and claimed they would be back in mid April with an announcement but mid April has come and gone with the website not reappearing so one can only assume the worst although I do hope I am proven wrong.
This weekend will be a huge weekend of live wrestling. After months of waiting and a change in promotions GPW “Hostile takeover” takes place from the Darwen leisure centre on Saturday (24/4) with the big main event we have all been looking forward to B-Boy vs. Chris Hero. Then on Sunday FCW present their biggest card to date featuring the imported talent of X-Dream and Jonny Storm for “Road to the Gold – the final battle” on Sunday (25/4) from the Baggeridge Social Welfare Centre. Both shows will be absolutely huge for the promotions involved and both shows have had a lot of investment.
This is the weekend to get out and support the UK Scene and two promotions which have the chance with your support to in the future rival the likes of the FWA. All the wrestlers on those cards will be giving it their all as for most it will be their biggest event to date. On both shows you will see a mix of new and developed UK wrestlers as well as a sprinkling of class acts from the US. With tickets for these events price from £5 these are two shows you definitely don’t want to miss especially at these very affordable prices.
Now it’s time for news of yes you guessed it a new promotion. This new promotion is called SWF-UK. A group of 4 wrestling fans have come together and want to promote a show with a distinctly UK feel but with a few US stars thrown in for good measure. They have two venues in mind for their first show one in the midlands and one in London. For publicity to start the promotion off they want your vote to where the first show should take place and you can register your vote by emailing ukswf@yahoo.com. On a side note there is another wrestling yes another wrestling promotion on the way and that is going to be called GWE and I will bring you more news when I have it.
On Saturday the 1st of May WZW will be promoting the first ever UK inter-promotion tag team tournament. As part of the “Path of destruction tour” they will be stopping at the Starlight suite in Cramlington where the first round of the tournament will commence. The show will feature Domino and Spitfire fresh from their appearance at FWA Unsigned 1 as well as BCW promoter “Highlander” Colin Mckay. For more information on this event go to wzwuk.com.
Speaking of Highlanders Drew McDonald this week was the first ever to be inducted in to the SCW hall of fame. The ceremony took place at the end of “Golden Harvest“. The award was given to him as a mark of respect from SCW for helping put them on the map and his involvement with the promotion. Drew has been one of the most renowned wrestlers ever to come out of Scotland and this award was recognition from everybody in Scotland that looks up to him as a role model and something to aim towards. Well done to Drew McDonald on this award and for being an ambassador for wrestling in Scotland.
Before I got this week I must say a big well done to Goldy and her work on the email newsletter. If you read it last week you would of seen her UK section stacked with more information that you could poke a stick at and it is turning into a one-stop shop for your UK wrestling information. Keep up the good work star.
Until next time
Adam Sibley