Welcome one and all to another grapple with the UK news. Hope you all enjoyed No Mercy. Now down to business and there is lots to talk about this week including Jonny Storm’s interview on The Bagpipe Report, a promotion coming to the UK to tour and no I’m not talking about the WWE and all the major news regarding British Uprising 3. So sit back, relax and enjoy a belated UK Scene.
Jonny Storm gave one of the most interesting interviews from a UK wrestling fans perspective on The Bagpipe Report this week. Now one of the big pieces of news this year was the news that former UK promoter Scott Conway was going to be taking UK stars for three months at a time to tour Thailand with his new wrestling venture after being so successful in the UK.
With a business partner and big ideas this was set to be a very good money maker for Scott and the UK wrestlers that went over there. The hope was that tour busses would be stopping at the venue to guarantee big crowds and after a lot of publicity it was thought widely that it was going to be a big success. As soon as the UK stars got out there it seemed something was wrong as we heard nothing about how they were getting on and then two months into the tour the UK stars started to appear back in the UK. Nothing was said but everyone wondered what had happened and finally this week Jonny Storm let us in to what went down in Thailand.
Jonny Storm told of how the buses never came and they were left performing in front of handfuls of fans. The venue was really good but due to the lack of fans Scott Conway was losing money so after a while had to stop paying the wrestlers because he was losing serious amounts of money. When Scott went to see his business partner he got told to leave the area as some not so nice things were going to happen to him. Doing the sensible thing Scott and the wrestlers ran for safe ground. Jonny did say though that the problem was resolved and they went back to the area shortly after and even said he may be back in Thailand so who knows what the future in Thailand holds.
One last thing though on the Jonny Storm story, he is still asking people to sign his petition to get back in the FWA. This got me thinking maybe I should get a petition going for me to take over from Blake as presenter when he leaves or to at least be a UK Scene correspondent what do you think?
Now I’m going to talk about the European Wrestling Promotion. When I normally talk about the EWP in a column I am normally talking about UK stars going to work for them in Europe well now they are bringing the party to us as they bring their promotion to the UK for the Invasion Tour. The promotion has strong English connections with it being run by Tony St. Clair and its awesome news that we finally get to witness their shows live in person.
The 4 date tour starts on the 29th of October in Corby then moves on to Worcester on the 30th, Spalding on the 31st and Colne on the 1st of November. You an expect to see a good mix of European and UK talent on the shows including Robbie Brookside, Drew McDonald, Ecki Ekstein, Doug Williams, Thunder, Johnny Kidd, Dave Taylor and on top of all of these names Kendo Kashin. So be sure to check them out if you can as it should be a history making tour.
The FWA’s promotion engine is in top gear now as they work towards selling out the Coventry Skydome in November. The promotion has seemed to have taken on a new direction since they announced the event making the fans feel that the FWA finally want to make the step from town halls to mainstream. The company have taken on a much more professional approach to the way they promote events by holding press conferences and getting recognition in national press.
The FWA this week became the first British wrestling promotion that I know of in recent times to hold a press conference. Danny Williams attended the conference and once again got involved with Alex Shane as the intensity in their rivalry reaches boiling point. The stipulation was finally made that if Doug Williams retains his title against Alex Shane at British Uprising 3 that Alex will have to fight Danny in a wrestler vs. Boxer match. The story was featured in the Daily Star this week.
Now many of the internet fans have been quick to have a go at the FWA for not naming any more imports before tickets go on sale this week like what normally happens but I think they have finally decided to go the attention of the casual fan. What I will say to the smart fan who is thinking of not getting a ticket due to the lack of US talent announced so far is when have the FWA let you down before? Another question I ask as a joke, with all the press attention the FWA are getting will the FWA pull a WWE style move and ask Doug to change his name as it’s so similar to Danny’s?
I would just like to say a big well done to all the promotions that put on a show last weekend I have heard good stories about all of them and you’re a credit to the UK Scene, to have that many quality shows in one weekend is awesome.
Before I go would just like to say that this month’s top tens are now up on the site thanks to Saracen’s continuing hard work on this as we now have 9 promotions top ten wrestler rankings. This is good publicity for the promotions and provides an interesting unique news point for the fans so they can find out who should be in line for a title shot and how their favourite wrestler is getting on. Also remember to check the brilliant newsboard where you get the news just minutes after it breaks thanks to the one and only Goldy.
Until next time,
Adam Sibley