British Wrestling

[Prime Time]

A name I'm seeing more and more of here is Chris Brookes, though I can't claim to be familiar with his work.

He is wrestling WALTER for RevPro on June 3rd so Mizzie, if you wind up checking that one out, a report would be good.

Also saw he has an 'open challenge' set up for a Fight Club: Pro show that will also feature Low Ki.


In other news Viper and Kris Wolf are working an Eve show in London on the 9th.

[mizfan]

I like Chris Brookes... sort of. His very lanky look is memorable but not especially imposing. He can be a little goofy in his matches, so your mileage may vary with that. I think I've liked him better in tag situations so far, but I could see him maybe breaking out further. He feels a little overrated to me at the moment but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

I'll probably check that WALTER match out at some point. Brookes' chest is thin enough that WALTER might be able to stop his heart with chops, so that'll be interesting!

I loved Low Ki for a long time but all I could think about was making a joke about what excuse he'll use to no show this time if they ask him to do a job. The guy takes himself a little too seriously.

I miss Kris Wolf from Stardom but I love that she's getting a chance to work a bunch of other places while her visa(?) issues get sorted out. She's a really fun talent. My major Viper fandom is well known, so the more attention on her the better in my book!

[Prime Time]

Viper is wrestling the Australian, Charli Evans. I don't know if that makes it a match to look out for or not. All I've really seen involves her running her ass into opponents who are downed in the corner. But that could be a very unfair summary.


Interesting development - I've seen indy shows here advertised as featuring WWE UK and WoS stars going head-to-head. Didn't expect that, and certainly not so soon.

The Wrestling League also seem to be upping their level, they are bringing in a Japanese star (Naoki Tanizaki) for an Ipswich show. Think it's the first time they've had some one from Japan in, though I can't say that for sure.

[mizfan]

I saw Charli Evans work RevPro earlier this year and thought she did well. Sounds like it should be a fine match.

Surprised as well about that, but I guess WWE still doesn't care that much what their UK people do on the indy scene, as long as they aren't working WoS directly.

Haha, I wouldn't have guessed Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin, formerly of Dragon Gate, would get flown into the UK for something like that. I like him just fine, just not necessarily a talent I'd spend money specifically to bring in.

[Funker]

Any update on the broadcast date for World of Sport? I can't find any information...

[mizfan]

Yeah, I don't see any specific date except it's supposed to air sometime later in the year.

[Prime Time]

There's not a great deal out there. In fact, if you follow the link on the WoS twitter, it redirects you to the Global Force Wrestling homepage, so their online presence still needs some work it seems.

Lots of card changes out there, but it's hard to keep track of them. We might have too much indy stuff going on at the moment, because they basically seem to feature the same people in slightly different combinations and then sometimes someone has a title belt that doesn't really mean a lot to anyone but the most committed fans of that promotion. I think we could probably do with someone establishing themselves, and a set of titles, as a 'top level' here.

Maybe someone - World of Sport, perhaps - could buy out the old British title from All Star? I don't think they are doing much with it and it'd give them some tradition to play into. 'The belt that dates back to 1930 and the Mountevans rules...' etc etc....

[mizfan]

There's not a great deal out there. In fact, if you follow the link on the WoS twitter, it redirects you to the Global Force Wrestling homepage, so their online presence still needs some work it seems.

Haha, that didn't age well, did it?

I have definitely noticed that the many UK companies are rather incestuous, sharing tons of talent and even sometimes running the same matches/feuds with different focuses. It can be a bit cluttered. What I'd like to see most is a promotion that went all in on creating unique characters and stories for these guys. PROGRESS is actually sort of doing this but I don't love their approach, as I've mentioned they tend to go overboard with cute WWE references and melodrama to the point where I'm sometimes turned off despite their amazingly good roster. The alternative is my other favorite, RevPro, which presents itself very straightforwardly as a well produced super indy, which leads to lots of fun matches (and benefits from their New Japan partnership to stay fresh), but doesn't necessarily draw you in long term.

I feel like All Star means nothing to most people these days, except the die hard fans. Even they may not think much of it, I rarely think of All Star when I think of traditional UK wrestling, it's always World of Sport and they've already got that.

[Prime Time]

Oh no, you wouldn't want anything except the right to claim the title lineage. All Star doesn't mean a lot and I don't think even in the glory days they went by that name much, if at all.

Maybe I'm the only person who'd give a damn about it but I think being able to claim it's the oldest British title was a respected lineage would help them stand out as more than one of the huge range of indies.

[Prime Time]

Not enough older stuff in here yet so here's a short match between Dynamite Kid and Rollerball Rocco!

And more modern.... SPOILER BELOW....


If you have't seen, WALTER got the pinfall in a PROGRESS tag main event, so he now gets a title shot at Travis Banks for their version of the world title.

[mizfan]

Again, just gonna pretend that's in my recommend thread and put it on the list.

Nice that WALTER gets another shot, I liked the first title match a lot earlier this year but not quite as much as I hoped I would. I'm really not a big fan of the heel turn for Banks, he's a scrappy, likeable guy whose biggest attribute is an ability to eat ridiculous offense and continue believably fighting back. Doesn't feel like it works as well as a heel act. With the reports that Banks may be signed by WWE, I wonder a bit if he'll lose the belt? Then again, those contracts don't really seem to mean anything in terms of not wrestling on the scene anymore, so I won't hold my breath. PROGRESS couldn't do better than WALTER as a champion if they are just concerned about their own success, but since WALTER turned down a WWE contract recently (or so the rumors say) I'd be a little surprised if they do the switch.

[Prime Time]

I'm putting the videos up in here for anyone and everyone, but yes, I think you should absolutely watch anything I post in this one, even if only to indulge me.


Sounds like WALTER's shot won't be first, the Progress world cup winner will be getting a shot at their champ later this month. I guess WALTER will have to come later?

Interesting, after her appearance on TV the other day Viper is now occasionally being billed as a 'BBC Star'. Not something that'll hurt her, I suspect.

The biggest news from this side of the pond is that the World of Sport stars - incidentally, that is supposed to be aired later this year though no date is confirmed yet - are being paid as actors by ITV, and entered a full-on collective bargaining agreement like they would if they were soap opera actors. It's been seen as a fairly major step. If it gets popular, means they can negotiate higher salaries, and also leaves them free to work other promotions too, this is the sort of thing that might stop WoS bleeding out talent to the WWE.

[Prime Time]

^ Just to add to this last, no date is confirmed for WoS but the rumour is it'll air in July, so sooner rather than later.

[mizfan]

If I remember it was Sabre who won that tournament, and it's a bit hard for me to think he'll be the one to take it off him since he's so damn busy everywhere else. It's not impossible though, and Sabre/WALTER has been one of the best things in wrestling this year so they could use it to set up another bout between them. Not sure if the WALTER/Banks stuff pays off though then, but with Banks surely headed for WWE UK maybe it won't matter anyway?

I LOVE that they're being paid as actors. That actually makes me feel more positive about the WoS reboot in general, to the point where I might try to watch and support them solely for that reason, because it's a change that is LONG overdue.

[Prime Time]

It was actually Chuck Mambo who won it, not ZSJ. My guess is Sabre won an older tournament?