ST: 1PW

Well it’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid and in the spirit of Christmas I feel it is generosity and good will to all men that if you write in, you get your say, all promotions all about the wrestling.

I was given this response to our UK Scene overview last time round and I feel it is only fair that they are to respond, the promotion I refer to is 1PW.

This is written by their commercial manager Anthony Booth:

I have just been reading your future of British wrestling column in 2006 and to be quite honest I must take offence to what you have written about our organisation 1PW.

Firstly you state that you have no doubt in your mind the A Cruel Twist of Fate show ran at a loss? where do you get your information from? I have figures that show that the show broke even and even made a profit.

As far Steven booking matches that will amuse him and not benefit the company I have a reply for that too.

1) We have a booking committee run by 3 people including Steven, Joe Dombrowski, and Anthony Ruttgaizer. The matches are thought upon between the 3 of them, and come up with promoting the shows to give matches that people want to see, and that will financially benefit us in the long run

2) What would be the point in running matches that we just want to see? we listen to our fans and forums, and columns, and other such media, to make sure the wrestling fans in the UK get to see the matches they thought they could only see by watching a DVD, or to a higher extent present matches that have not be presented before.

3) As far as using British talent goes, of course Jonny Jodie, and Doug are more established than any other british wrestlers on the scene at the minute, but by no extent are they household names, you go to any casual fan in the UK and say there name and you will more than likely get a clueless look. Same goes for Spud. All tremendous talents and have been on the indy scene for years, but not yet exposed to the masses on a regular basis.

But for your information you may like to know that the following UK talent are booked for No Turning Back:

I seriously do not believe that we are killing the British wrestling scene, and as far as getting into financial issues go well we have a very good and strict business model and are STILL! making money from A Cruel Twist of Fate, and have distributed the event wholesale throughout the UK, Europe, and North America.

I do not what we have done to offend you in anyway but it is by no means intentional, I just felt like I had to get this off my chest when people are saying what they believe will happen, and then next minute people post that we are in financial difficulties which is by no means true.

As a business, we are doing fine and as far as entertaining and drawing fans in the UK well just ask the 3,000 plus fans at No Turning Back whether we are killing British wrestling, then I am sure you will get a different answer to the one you are so hasty to predict and post online.

Make of the above what you will, now personally I am interested in this Joe Dombrowski, and Anthony Ruttgaizer, are they American?

The other point of interest is the line up of British talent they have, that is good to know.

Final point to make though, the word “casual fan” is used, I am 100% sure that most of the Casual fans will know wrestlers on the current roster of WWE. I was there at a Cruel Twist of Fate and the people there were not casual fans, I overheard one fan say “I hope they bleed!”.

But I digress.

Anthony, you’re a good bloke, but don’t take offence at what is written about the organisation, people are going to criticise you and rightly so, you were in the interview with Meanie when he said people pay for tickets and say what they like (and I did pay for 2 tickets).

I get regularly criticised for my opinions rightly or wrongly, it is part of the fun of wrestling, when a load of wrestlers log onto forums (usually as a fan) to talk about my articles here, which is good, whether you agree with my opinion or not, whether you believe I am qualified to make any sort of comment, it promotes discussion.

Maybe I’m not, but my job here at Wrestling 101 is to promote discussion about the UK Scene, those who will have read my columns fully will note that I fully admit that I am new when it comes to wrestling, but I am learning fast and making observations from wrestling and talking to wrestlers.

So let me reiterate for those who love to take offence from one article, I listen, I observe and I report opinion from what I have learnt from other wrestlers and fans, I take your flack stating the varying opinions and ideals of wrestlers and fans alike.

Where there is a protest, there is a congratulations.

I have my opinions and Mitchell has his and now 1PW have been given theirs, which goes to show that here at Wrestling 101 it’s the discussion that counts.

Saz