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UK Scene Weekly

UK Scene #165

Welcome one and all to a UK Scene column which comes to you on a week that has seen a heightened interest in British wrestling again. This means that I am brimming with more excitement than normal to bring you this column. This week I will be talking about the biggest wrestling show in the UK since World of Sport, how All Star paid tribute to UK scene legend Pat Roach and much more so what are you waiting for, go on click on the link…

Welcome one and all to a UK Scene column which comes to you on a week that has seen a heightened interest in British wrestling again. This means that I am brimming with more excitement than normal to bring you this column. This week I will be talking about the biggest wrestling show in the UK since World of Sport, how All Star paid tribute to UK scene legend Pat Roach and much more so what are you waiting for…

Whoever said a wrestling show using British talent put on by a company or promoters mainly based in the UK couldn’t sell out the Coventry Skydome hadn’t banked on those people behind The Wrestling Channel putting on a show as last week they managed to jam 3,500 fans in to International Showdown. You can argue as much as you like about the amount of imported talent that was used and what if any actual profits were made on the show but last Saturday 3,500 got to see the likes of Doug Williams, Alex Shane, Jonny Storm and many more show they are as good if not better than their foreign counterparts.

Thanks to this show people are once again buzzing about wrestling in the UK. Ok they may have only gone to see their US idols and maybe they are still only talking about them and not the UK talent but there is now a buzz about wrestling the UK Scene can use. This is like the times British venues were selling out based on the popularity WWF were enjoying in the late 90s.

More events like this promoted by The Wrestling Channel in the UK could hopefully keep the channel alive which at the moment is one of few if not only national platforms for British wrestling promotions. From a personal point of view I hope the money from this show will help get more wrestling back on the channel and that programmes like bikini beach and bang babes will be removed.

A big show also went down in Croydon this week but due to the hype around International Showdown it has sadly been forgot about. All Star ran their favourite venue the Fairfield Halls and put on a show in tribute of wrestling legend and international celebrity Pat Roach. The event featured “The Pat Roach Southern Counties Tournament.” The 4 stars given the honour to compete were Robbie Dynamite, Doug Williams, Domino and Frankie Sloan.

The tournament was won by Robbie Dynamite after defeating Domino in his semi final match he went on to beat Doug Williams in the final following interference from Frankie Sloan and 5 Star Flash. Also on the card Dean 2 Xtreme and Kid Cool defeated Chad Collyer & TJ Wilson in an impressive bout.

A local city to me took another continuing step last weekend on its road to becoming a hotbed for British wrestling. The city of course being Exeter an hour’s drive up the A38 for me. Now I remember going to shows at St. Georges Hall in Exeter over the last 10 years watching the likes of All Star and TWA put on their touring shows and in the later days the short lived promotion that was HCW (Havoc Championship Wrestling). Since Scott Conway moved to Thailand Exeter has only been the venue for a handful of wrestling shows promoted by All Star who now run out of the Riverside leisure centre which has seen St. Georges Hall robbed of its regular wrestling shows.

The Wrestling scene in Exeter is starting to thrive again though as now RBW have come out of London and Nottingham to have their own weekly school in Exeter which sees many top guest trainers coming down to take weekly seminars. All Star are still promoting the odd show in Exeter and now WAW have taken on the challenge on bringing wrestling back to St. Georges Hall.

The first WAW show in Exeter went down last weekend which I wanted to attend but due to running a half marathon in Bath that day I was unable to attend. Zac Zodiac wrestled his second WAW event in a week as he went down to Jason Cross. There were also victories for Sweet Saraya, Ashe, Kraft and Ricky Knight defeated Bash in the main event. WAW have already announced that Ricky Knight and Sweet Saraya will tag up to take on Bash and Destiny at the next WAW event in Exeter in July.

I was in Exeter during the week and I was glad to see whilst walking up the high street many WAW posters in shop windows of local shops and newsagents which hopefully has got people talking about WAW in Exeter. I’m not sure how many people WAW managed to draw but I hope it was successful and if it wasn’t I hope people start supporting it as we need wrestling in Exeter as the lack of good, affordable venues in Plymouth makes it almost impossible to promote a profitable show in Plymouth.

Due to everything that has been happening in the UK Scene this week there are a lot of great UK related articles to read:

Saracen has done double duty this week delivering us his Tenet and interviewing fellow K-Star wrestler and UK Scene favourite Carl Mizzery.

Andrew Morris bring us his views from ringside at TWC’s International Showdown.

And of course be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next TWO newsletter which have the most comprehensive UK Scene roundup on the net by the lovely Goldy.

Until next time,

Adam Sibley