Recently I caught up with FCW’s British Connection Tag Team and fortunately had a chance to conduct an interview with them. Read on to find out all about how they first broke into the wrestling business, their views on the current UK scene and even how they came up with the name The British Connection.
GBH – Great British Hero
BBS – British Born Steele
Hi, Welcome to Wrestling101, how are you both?
We’re both fine, thanks for asking.
Excellent, let’s start at the beginning. How did you first get into wrestling? Where did you train? Who trained you?
GBH: I got into wrestling in October 1998, I got trained by Andy Blair and Steve Logan at the K-Star gym in Perry Barr in Birmingham.
BBS: I first started wrestling in April 2001 I got trained by Carl Mizzery also at K-Star in Birmingham.
How long was it before you got your first pro-match?
GBH: I made my debut in February 1999 about 4 months after I started training.
BBS: I made my debut too soon, I had only been training about a month and a half when I got thrown into a match.
That quick! How did the match go? Talk us through your debut match who, when and where?
GBH: My debut match was in a Royal Rumble for K-Star the match was OK but I dislocated my knee in the match. I had to push it back into place myself, I put it back in with my thumb.
Eww sounds painful!
BBS: My debut match was in a 3 on 1 Handicap match against my tag team partner GBH, my tag partners were Gerogeburg and Maquina. The match was good it lasted about 7 or 8 minutes, we pretty much got thrown about by GBH, which only he knows how to do best hahaha.
Did you follow wrestling when you were kids? If so who were your favourites?
GBH: I really liked Big Daddy and Mark Rollerball Rocco, but later on I started to watch the WWF and liked tag teams such as Legion Of Doom and The British Bulldogs.
BBS: When I was a kid I really liked The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The British Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, The Rockers and Demolition.
Both seemingly liking the tag teams then!
Wrestlers are renowned for having a huge list of injuries, I’ve seen you both wrestle and specially BBS who’s a high flier, what injuries have you incurred, which was the worst/most painful and how are you at the moment?
GBH: I have a list of injuries which I have picked up over the years. They are:
- A dislocated knee, I couldn’t walk on it for a week!
- I chipped bones in both of my ankles
- I have bruised my kidney
- I have also got an injured shoulder and hip which are still irritating me.
BBS: I have not had any major injuries yet, I always get loads of bruises and rope burn after matches but that’s about it really.
You currently work for AWW and FCW, both very much up and coming promotions, are you enjoying working for them?
Yeah we enjoy working for both promotions, they are really fun to work for and they are well organized and very professional. FCW is a well respected promotion around the Midlands and the UK and we are happy to be apart of it.
As-well as FCW and AWW what other promotions have you worked for and is there any you would like to work for?
GBH: I have worked for a lot of promotions in the UK. They are K-Star, Jack Taylor Promotions, RAW, ESEW, BXW, All Star, Combat Promotions, BRAWL, BRAWL-Midlands, Gang Of 4, FCW, AAW, WI*LD and AWW.
BBS: I have only worked for one other promotion other than AWW and FCW and that is K-Star Promotions. We would love to work for pretty much any promotion in the country.
Many UK stars seem to go touring other countries to wrestle these days, have you ever worked for any foreign federations or do you have any plans to in the future?
We have never worked for any foreign federations, it would be really nice if we could work abroad in the future but that is something that we have to think about doing later on.
What has been your favourite UK event to work and why?
GBH: I really enjoyed working on an All-Star show in Stroud (2001) the reason being I was wrestling in front of over 2,000 people.
BBS: I suppose my favourite event to work on was the AWW Show from March this year, the reason being I won an 8 man tournament plus the crowd were so lively from the start of the show until the very end.
What’s been the worst moment in your career thus far?
GBH: Being mistreated by K-Star when I initiated most of the training and kept it running.
BBS: Worst moment was also at K-Star, being told I was too small to wrestle on their shows and they said I looked like a boy. All I can say is it doesn’t matter how old you look as long as you have the ability to entertain the fans.
Yeah you’ve definitely proved that theory wrong. What are the next goals you want to achieve in wrestling?
Our next goals we would like to achieve would be:
1) Work for promotions around the UK
2) Get a few tag team championships under our belt
3) Become one of the best tag teams within the UK.
What’s your proudest moment to date? I know that you were voted tag team of the year for FCW and also by Tom Lancaster and you BBS were voted most improved wrestler for 2003, how did you feel about that?
BBS: It was a great achievement for me to receive the ‘Most Improved Wrestler Award’ but I would just like to keep improving and enjoying what I am doing.
We are very honoured to pick up these achievements, it is nice to be recognized by people for our work on the British wrestling scene. My proudest moment was when I won the Royal Rumble to become the first ever AWW Champion.
GBH: My proudest moments were when I won the K-Star Tag Team Championship and the ESEW Tag Team Championship.
How did you start tagging together?
GBH: When Eruption split up back in May 2003 (Eruption the team of myself Great British Hero and “Heavy Metal Maniac” Marc Hogan) I wanted a new tag team partner. The reason I chose BBS was because I saw alot of potential in him, so we got teamed up in a match at the August FCW show against The Bouncer and The Judge. We seemed to gel well as a team and we have teamed up on a permanent basis ever since.
There’s a notable height and style difference between the two of you, how do you manage to work so well as a tag team and do the differences create any problems?
BBS: We have no problems at all, its a good style we have with myself doing the high flying moves and GBH doing all of the power moves.
What are your finishing moves and why did you choose them?
Our finishing moves are The Rocket Launcher and The British Bombshell
The Rocket Launcher is where BBS gets to the top rope and GBH elevates BBS into a splash onto opponent.
The British Bombshell is where GBH elevates opponent into a power-bomb position and then BBS comes of the top rope with a front face bulldog
The reason why we chose these moves were was because they both adapt to our style, GBH uses his power on both moves and BBS uses his high flying ability on both moves.
How did you come up with the name ‘The British Connection’?
BBS: When myself and GBH found out we were going to permanently be a tag team we obviously had to think of a name. My name used to be Bad Boy Steel and I had to change that as I was a face, so it took us ages to think of what to change the Bad Boy bit in my name too. Kevin O’Neil then came up with British Born Steele, I have stuck with that name ever since. So I just thought we both got British in our name so why not call us The British Connection?.
I love the fact you come out to Rule Britannia, are you at all patriotic?
Yes, we are patriotic because we are proud of our country and the people who defend it.
Who are your best friends and worst enemies in the UK Scene?
Best Friends: Too many to name
Worst Enemies: Devils Advocate, 4 play, Pain INC, The Funk You Crew
What are your opinions on the current UK wrestling scene and what do you think could be done to improve it?
We think to improve the UK Wrestling scene we should all be united to attempt to get wrestling like it used to be when Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks used to be on our screens instead of bitchiness that goes on with promotions today.
With the introduction of The Wrestling Channel, do you think this will help boost the popularity of UK wrestlers and promotions?
Yes but they shouldn’t just have one UK promotion on there, there should be more promotions to give more variety because most of the promotions in the UK are different.
What would you say to anyone wanting to enter the world of Pro-wrestling?
We would say go for it because you will enjoy it but there is no money on the independent scene.
How do you feel about K-Star since leaving the promotion?
Disappointed, thats all we got to say about that promotion.
Past and present, which UK wrestlers have you looked up to?
GBH: The past I looked up to, Drew McDonald, Ricky Knight, “Dynamite Kid” Tom Billington, Davey Boy Smith, Andy Blair and “Judo” Jonny Brown and the present I get along with most of the wrestlers around the UK.
BBS: The past UK wrestlers I looked up to would be The British Bulldogs. The present wrestlers I respect the most would be Jack Storm, Spud and GBH, as if I need any advise at all I would go to these 3 people as they have helped me out alot.
I’m loving FCW shows, as-well as yourselves there’s a new phenomenon in the shape of the VERY entertaining Party Boys! What’s your thoughts on them, as a tag team, as I know you’ve already said that Jack Storm is a good friend in the locker room?
The Party Boys are brilliant they are both tremendous wrestlers and I think this gimmick will go far in British Wrestling. The main thing is Jack Storm and Dragon Pheonix are having fun and they are putting smiles on peoples faces every time they do the conga.
You have your own range of merchandise which I noticed on your website, how did that come about? (There’s a link at the end of this interview for anyone wanting to view the merchandise and the site)
We just suggested the idea to WAR and they put a page on our website. There are T-shirts, signed picture’s, videos and DVDs you can buy from there.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank WAR for doing this merchandise for us and for doing the website. Thanks lads 🙂
Many thanks both for giving up your time, is their any message or last comments for your fans?
We would just like to say thanks to all our fans for supporting us, keep supporting British wrestling. Please keep checking out www.britishconnection.2ya.com and feel free to leave a message on the forum”.
An important announcement that we need to make is that is GBH will be taking 6 weeks off due to an injury.
Aww, I’m sorry to hear that GBH, hope you get better soon and your recovery goes well.
Can I just add that on behalf of everyone at Talk Wrestling Online / Wrestling 101 we wish you both every success in your careers. Thank you both very much for doing this interview for me, it’s been a pleasure.
Goldy