Welcome one all to a column which comes on one of the most important and busiest weekends in modern British wrestling history and why is this I hear you ask. Do you even need to ask its because the Americans are invading. Following on from the disappointments of Wrestlexpress, X-Wrestling and GWF to name a few, The Wrestling Channel bring us their attempt to bring a big budget show to our shores. We must not forget all the other shows that are happening this weekend of which there are too many to fit in to one column.
When I started doing this column we were still recovering from the Wrestlexpress fiasco. Wrestlexpress was a young man trying to book up as many top names as he possibly could by bringing a big budget show to the Coventry Skydome. As we all know now after big promises the show never happened even after getting to the stage of putting tickets on sale. This at the time was a big blow to the UK Scene and had a lot of people up in arms including yours truly.
Next it was turn of GWF, now the show wasn’t as quite ridiculously budgeted as Wrestlexpress and wasn’t talking place at the Coventry Skydome, their debut show was still billed as a big event with many stars including Trent Acid booked for the card if my memory serves me right. This event actually took place but in front of a modest crowd and with one or two no shows from US talent. Things went from bad to worse for GWF when at a follow up event the ring failed to turn up and around 500 fans turned up for an event which never took place.
Just when we thought the idea of ever having a big show in the UK were dead and buried up popped Phil Lowe with his X-Wrestling company which promised to put on a big event in the north of the country again featuring top US talent that used to work for WWE, WCW and ECW. Surprise, surprise again after a lot of hype at the beginning the event didn’t go ahead and this time they didn’t even get to the stage of selling tickets. So at this point I thought things were getting worse not better.
FWA managing director had been watching all of this happen and finally decided to restore some faith in the big show idea with British Uprising III coming from the Coventry Skydome. Finally the event went ahead, the event drew well and the talent advertised appeared. This led to The Wrestling Channel deciding to put their hat in the ring and promoting their show “International Showdown “ from the Coventry Skydome this weekend.
With 12 international stars booked to appear at the show “International Showdown” looks set to eclipse anything tried before in the UK. Being a British wrestling fan it saddens me to see a card made up of predominantly American talent and it being hyped as the biggest event of the year but if it helps keep The Wrestling Channel alive I will be appreciative. I know a lot of the expensive tickets were sold in advance I just hope they can sell out the cheap seats as well to make it look like a big crowd but after hearing only 5 posters were ever printed for the event I am worried.
The stars appearing at “International Showdown” will be earning their corn this week as they top up their earnings by appearing on various cards around the UK. You will be able to catch various international stars appearing for WZW, UCW, FCW, BCW, IWW, IPW:UK and WAR. These events take place in, Newport, Middlesbrough, Walsall, Scotland, Ireland, Kent and Rugby. Please do get out and support these shows as well because a lot of smaller promotions have invested money they probably don’t have in these US stars to bring them closer to you.
These aren’t the only show happening this week as there are also notable shows by K-Star and WAW to name a few which are well worth getting to.
One of Britain’s youngest wrestlers will be getting in to the squared circle this weekend. Zak Zodiac will be tagging with his brother the Zebra Kid to go against their dad Ricky Knight and Jason Cross at WAW “Who dares wins II” show from the Talk in Norwich (19/03). Zak is really starting to command some attention at a very young age after appearing at a recent FWA event, it looks like the Ricky Knight family dynasty is set to continue for years to come. With their being no legal age limit to become a professional wrestler I have known wrestlers who had their first match in front of a crowd at the age of 12 but 13 is still a very young age.
Following in the footsteps of the old school promotions and their summer seaside tours the FWA are planning a summer tour of their own. Not all venues have been announced yet but so far three new venues in Yorkshire have been announced as well as a return to the Winter Gardens in Cleethorpes. The tour starts at the end of May and roles into June with more dates and venues set to be announced in the coming weeks.
That’s all for this week if you are going to a show this weekend I hope you enjoy it and that you have a good time. If you have any thoughts or feelings on any shows you go to this weekend feel free to email me [Adam@wrestling101.com] and I will see if I can feature your bits next week.
Until next time,
Adam Sibley
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