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UK Scene Weekly

UK Scene #127

Welcome one and all to my last UK Scene column for the summer. Yes that’s right my summer hiatus is upon us as I travel to Connecticut to work and to visit the WWE headquarters in Stamford. So I think it is only fair that I go out with a bang as I deviate from the usual column style you are accustomed to. No news this week although there has been a lot doing the rounds, this column is going to me shooting from the heart and giving my opinions on the last few years of writing this column, the highs and the lows. I think and hope this column will shock some people so enjoy reading…

Welcome one and all to my last UK Scene column for the summer. Yes that’s right my summer hiatus is upon us as I travel to Connecticut to work and to visit the WWE headquarters in Stamford. So I think it is only fair that I go out with a bang as I deviate from the usual column style you are accustomed to. No news this week although there has been a lot doing the rounds, this column is going to me shooting from the heart and giving my opinions on the last few years of writing this column, the highs and the lows. I think and hope this column will shock some people so enjoy reading.

Just about two years ago I was wondering around the Internet and just happened to come across a post by our beloved leader Kam asking for a UK Scene writer for the website. Well with no former column experience and at the time little knowledge of the Internet I took a chance and wrote a column and sent it. Well as you all know Kam took that chance on me, a boy not known in the Internet wrestling circles and I will never be able to repay Kam for giving me the job.

I was determined to repay Kam so I started beavering away at the computer churning out columns on a weekly basis becoming one of the most consistent UK wrestling columnists on the Internet. As the weeks went by the feedback that was coming into my inbox kept growing as I developed a loyal following of readers. With this confidence the column went from strength to strength attracting more and more readers every week ok I didn’t have people sucking my you know what on internet forums which is what people today call “making it” but it has never been about that for me that is why I have done my best to try and avoid the forums as much as I could.

As weeks turned in to months and then in to years people were surprised to still find me working hard every week putting my all into getting a quality column out each and every week. This to me was my proudest accomplishment as I went on not to miss one single week of doing a column yes there has been times where I have felt like crap or had lots on my plate but there have been so many websites on the Internet that I have seen go down the crapper because of those guys that want to “make it” and show interest for five minutes then after that columns become more infrequent to the point where they spend more time making pointless posts on Internet forums than writing a column.

I knew I had achieved what I set out to achieve when people started emailing me if the column was ever late which wasn’t that often but when it happened I knew about it. Then as time went by more UK industry insiders that I had been in awe of for years started making contact with me talking about my columns and asking for my opinion on things that were happening. At that moment I knew I had achieved my goal as I didn’t want everyone to kiss my ass and worship the ground I walk on I just wanted people to have an opinion on what I said whether it be agreeing or disagreeing it didn’t matter to me I just loved discussing British Wrestling.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing though over the years as behind the scenes I dealt with a lot of unjust criticism from people within the UK wrestling industry. With promotions in the UK currently a dime a dozen it became impossible to cover what was happening in every promotion each week. So each week I tried my best to put the biggest mix of stories in the column that I could which would include the new start ups to the so called big leagues if there is such thing in the UK Scene. This lead to resentment from some promoters as they thought it was their god given right to have their promotion featured in my column.

I have always been unbiased in my approach to reporting on British wrestling and tried to feature as many promotions and stories as possible but still this wasn’t good enough for some people. If putting the hours in to the column to help promote the UK Scene wasn’t enough I had to spend time having petty squabbles with promoters. This got me thinking about why I even bothered to write the column just to get abuse but I was determined not to let them win or sway my decisions to what news stories I featured and which ones I didn’t. The one saving grace was no one ever criticised my writing style just the content which was of some comfort.

This lead me to serious thinking at the time when this was all happening and I finally realised I had got lost in the politics of the UK Scene and the Internet. I rewound my mind back three years ago before I started the column and in that year I attended 47 live shows during my two years of reporting I had only been able to get to 23. Three years ago I was a fan just going to wrestling for the pure enjoyment now I have lost out on going to shows through all my hours spent at the computer. Even when I get to a show now I can’t fully sit back and enjoy the show like I use to as I know a lot of the guys on the shows and am always looking for a story or trying to put the event into context with the current wrestling scene. Now I ask you this question would I have been more of an asset to British Wrestling by going to more shows over the last two years or by writing this column?

Now I know I’m never going to get people admitting to be constant readers of the column (Kam’s let me see the stats from time to time so I know there is a lot of you out there that do) and bigging me up on Internet forums but I couldn’t give two hoots because to me if I persuaded one person through my columns to attend a live show in the UK then I can sleep happy knowing I have done my job. Too many people have lost sight of this over the last few years, so to all those than have ever slagged this column its never been about being liked or respected for me its just been about trying to get more people to shows in the UK, as this is the only way the UK Scene is going to progress on to bigger things. So if I could ask each and every person that has ever read this column to do me one favour it would be to get away from the computer screen and attend a live show as I regret losing sight of this over the last two years.

Until next time,

Adam Sibley

PS I lie I must quickly squeeze one bit of news in and that is that the BAFTA winning channel 4 series Wifeswap is looking for a family involved in wrestling to take part in the next series to swap with a none wrestling family. Now if you think this could be up your alley and what wrestler would say no to this kind of publicity, see this link.

Have a good summer guys I will be back in September but there will be a very suitable replacement taking over the column for the summer so remember to keep checking back to this site every week for the UK Scene column.