FWA – Frontier Wrestling Alliance By Alex Kirkham

Hi, I'm Alex, this is my first article for WLH and I thought I'd talk about the UK's FWA promotion, feel free to add me on twitter @WholeKirknShow

As a British wrestling fan, who craves to see high class matches from the sport he loves, you would think not having companies like WWE or TNA in the country that often would make a dent in my passion for the sport. But oh, how very wrong that is. We are privileged to have a company here in the UK that has tradition, history and a vast net of talent who week after week put on high class matches for all of the UK fans. I’m talking about FWA wrestling, the face of British Wrestling in my eyes.
Many American fans may not be aware of the FWA promotion, as it doesn’t receive the acclaim of other independent promotions such as ROH or CZW for example. But what it can boast is a rich history of high class matches and a pedigree for grooming top class stars for companies like TNA & WWE respectively.
Due to an extreme void that British fans had for the sport of wrestling, the FWA soon gained notoriety amongst fans, and gave them a mix of fresh British talents, competing against the finest foreign imports. Names like Eddie Guerrero, AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, Dan Severn, Sabu, Steve Corino and the list just goes on and on. Though fans were initially more in favour of seeing the foreign talent, it was break through stars like Jonny Storm, Jody Fleisch, Alex Shane, Nikita, Paul Burchill, & Doug Williams who were slowly making their way to the head of the pack.
It was a rebirth for British Wrestling fans, not since the days of Giant Haystacks, Jonny Saint & Big Daddy had fans been able to watch wrestling in their own country, let alone televised events which FWA held at the peak of its fame. It was an alternative to the American companies, it wasn’t better or worse, but it gave fans a fresh look at a historic and meaningful sport. As a company, the years 2000 – 2006 were bumper for the company, signing inter-promotional deals with ROH and having the British Heavyweight Title defended on ROH shows just showed what strides the company had made within the world of wrestling. So it was with great sadness when it closed in 2007 after a storyline feud with rival promotion IPW, resulted in the FWA closing its doors, leaving behind a legacy, that not only brought wrestling to British screens, but showcased that we as a country, can produce solid, talented young guys as good as anyone else.
But much like the proverbial phoenix, rising from the flames, the FWA was never really gone, and this was proven in 2009 when FWA was reborn, revamped and ready to once again dominate European wrestling again. With a new roster, new management, and new rules, this was a fresh company, not dwelling on the past and its former high profile names, but with a desire to build upon the young talent coming through the FWA academy. The fresh look of the company, soon led to a partnership between the FWA and leading American promotion TNA, whereby FWA would support TNA’s European tours, as well as promote them and talent swap when necessary (such as Mark Haskins joining TNA from the FWA in 2011).
With a new look Adrenaline division, similar to the TNA X Division, FWA is leading the way when it comes to innovation here in the UK. People like Zack Sabre Jr (@zacksabrejr) , El Ligero, Jonny Storm, Mark Haskins (@Mark_Haskins), Bubblegum, RJ Singh (@BollywoodSingh ) & Rockstar Spud (@RockstarSpud) , the company is breaking down barriers, challenging those who said it would never work and providing us all with high class shows all year round.
While keeping in mind this is not a major promotion, doesn’t have major funding and is built of solid hard working guys achieving a dream, the FWA flourishes in the UK and showcases the talent that often makes it to America for a chance with the big promotions. This is the FWA, a proud British company, with proud hard working British guys chasing a dream. Good luck to them in the future is all I can say.

No Surrender: Out with the old, in with the new

First and foremost, I’d like to thank the team here at Wrestling’s Last Hope for giving me the privilege and honor to write with them. I hope to make the most of this opportunity as well as offer WLH a new perspective on TNA Wrestling.

With that being said, I will get straight into the main topic- No Surrender. As a TNA fan, I can easily admit that they generally fail to produce a good, long build up to a match, but with Bound for Glory this year, they’ve done so in great style, setting up a mini match series at No Surrender to determine the number one contender for the World Title.

First thing I’d like to point out is the fact none of the final four have ever held a World title. Putting four guys who’ve never held the title, in this match could do wonders for the company. One common complaint about TNA is not enough young, TNA home grown talents getting title shots. They finally listened, and have put the final four men against each other to decide who truly is Bound for Glory (pun intended!)

Let’s break down the final four

Bully Ray

Age: 40

Bubba (Bully) Ray is no doubt one of the greatest TAG team wrestlers of all time. He, along with Dvon did some amazing things, and they deserve all the praise they get. But, when TNA decided to separate the team, people foresaw the exact same thing that happened when WWE tried, a complete mess. At the start, it seemed to be heading that way, but Bully Ray was given a chance to take his singles feuds away from D von and move onto Immortal. Who’d have thought he’d be so successful? He’s by far the best heel in TNA right now, and has a lot of freedom in TNA to give him that chance to shine.

Gunner

Age: 29

Gunner has surprised so many people with the momentum he’s been able to gain given his little opportunities at TNA. At first, he was a petty security guard for immortal. He, along with Murphy had zero momentum, zero fan base and no real hope in TNA. Gunner was lucky enough to have put in a good performance against the Motor City Machine Guns and was able to get out of that crappy tag team. They gave him a couple of singles matches, and he was able to really show his power house style and intensity that made him popular in the NWA scene. TNA gave him a huge mini push, giving him the chance to wrestle, and defeat the then TNA World champion Sting. He later beat Mr. Anderson in a non title match and solidified his position as a genuine contender, coming from nothing to do so.

James Storm

Age: 34

Here’s a guy who started his career with TNA (Can’t count his jobber stint with WCW) and will retire with TNA. He’s a man who’d give anything for the company. Look at his time with AMW, he was over. Then came BMI, and he’s still over. The only thing that has truly held him back was how successful his tag teams were. Who’d have thought success could hold you back! Now, he and Roode have been given a chance to show their in ring skills as solo competitors, it has worked wonders on both men’s careers. Storm is flying high, and if you don’t like it. Well, sorry about your damn luck!

Robert Roode

Age: 34

A staple of TNA wrestling; Robert (Bobby) Roode has (like Storm) been held back by the success of Beer Money. Quite possibly the most over tag team in the world. Through his time at TNA, he’s well and truly fine tuned himself and developed into a fine in ring competitor. From Petey Williams’ side kick, to main event quality wrestler, he’s the perfect example of what hard work and dedication can do to a wrestler. His work against Flair and Hogan on the mic got him well over as a stand alone man, and, if given the chance, could easily become as big as AJ was.

So, that leaves us with the question- who will win?
For me, it has to be Bobby Roode because he’s by far the most suitable candidate. In saying that, I would be more than happy for any of these men to win it, each have made their own IMPACT (heh, another pun) as of late!

It is safe to say, that whoever wins the number 1 contenders match will go on to win the strap. Why? Kurt’s liver was hacked (yet again) by some budweiser and I think TNA may have learned that people with addictions shouldn’t be champions!

To make the most of No Surrender, they need both members of Beer Money to win and have a long, awesome match to end the night. They have so much chemistry, that if they were given the chance, they could blow the crowd away!

Until then, thank you for your time!

Many warm Regards,

Jordan (Danger) Merrick


All in all, No Surrender is the make or break point for the build up to the Bound for Glory series to be a success, and given how much time and effort TNA have put into it, I’d say, not even they could stuff this one up easily!

I’ll be writing a full review of No Surrender next week, lets hope its all positive!

Musings, ramblings and nonsense With Paul Dyer

Be warned dear reader the following column is real stream of consciousness stuff.

I’ve been a wrestling fan for a long long time, I’ve traveled thousands of miles through the years to watch this silly and often time’s strange business. I’ve had the pleasure to get to know and meet some of the all-time greats and had great fun doing it. But I’ve got to say I do find it hard now to sit down and watch a full episode of any one of the numerous shows from “the big two” without hitting the fast forward button until something catches my eye or a certain wrestler I like pops up. I still love wrestling, but loving something is also admitting its faults. WWE at the moment is so formulaic that even if the script is handed in 5 minutes before the camera light turns red (which happens nearly every week) I can tell you segment by segment roughly what will happen. That can be a great positive but on the other side of that coin if you don’t change it up once in a while it’s a huge negative also. The CM Punk promo from a few weeks ago was a piece of genius, not because of just what was said or the sublime delivery but because it broke the formula. Last year the Nexus beat down that got Danielson fired caught lots of people by surprise because it’s not something WWE does every week but the biggest thing for me was removing of all commentary.
The commentary has been a bone of contention for years now, the removing of Jim Ross from play-by-play and the heel persona of Michael Cole driving everyone up the friggin’ wall, except the guy that’s feeding him the lines. I truly believe Cole is the reason the mute button on my television was invented. That leads me to TNA or Impact wrestling and its Grand Canyon sized logic holes. I love some of the wrestlers that work for the company, including one I used to know personally but holy crap the writing is worse than having a drill force able inserted into my ear or any other orifice you care to choose. In 2006 I went to a house show of theirs in the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia and was highly impressed by the organisation of the show and the level of fan interactivity, in other words they made it special. You never really hear of bad reports from the house shows but I find it nearly impossible to make it through Impact. They certainly don’t make it must see TV, in fact it’s almost to the stage where it’s just excruciating watching great workers put in WCW 2000 level storylines.
I really don’t want this to come off as I’m super negative on wrestling because I’m really not but after 28 years of watching I’m a very harsh critic and even harder to please. I’m not your typical fan, I haven’t been since 1993 so I’m really not the audience they are booking for. Like Punk I want the WWE to be fun again but unfortunately I can’t say I’ve found it fun in sometime. I get to see WWE’s feeder group, Florida Championship Wrestling, nearly every week and I can’t say (besides the former ROH alumni) that anyone really stands out. It boggles my mind that the woman’s champ can’t run the damn ropes correctly or their former multi-time world champ can’t take a corner correctly. The possible (seriously do these medicals take that long?) signing of the Kings of Wrestling and the fact that they are supposedly destined for the main roster straight away lifts my spirits but for every good thing you hear, another Sin Cara/Mistico/Hunico story makes the rounds and crushes my optimism like a fly on the window.
Groups like Chikara, New Japan, DDT, PWG, Dragon Gate and Ring of Honor make wrestling fun for me to watch. I desperately want to be that 6 year old fan sitting in my grandparent’s living room watching Big Daddy belly bouncing Giant Haystacks on World of Sport and thinking it was the best thing I’d ever seen. Yes we all know he was utter shit and a real son of a bitch in reality but god damnit he was fun, it was FUN! WWE used to be fun too, I watch some of the old TV’s from 85-86 and it is glorious stuff. The workers weren’t close to the level of the top guys on the current roster but nearly everyone was competent, and the booking was top notch. No second guessing, no on again off again pushes, wins and losses meant something. My god it was good. And more than that it was bloody entertaining and come on that’s what the 6 year old in us all wants, just to be entertained by this fake art form. A prime example of fun within wrestling is The Osirian Portal from Chikara, using a hypnotism gimmick to have their opponents dance mid match. Yes of course it’s stupid but its great great fun and makes me smile, broadly.
Wrestling isn’t solely about getting over, work-rate, being the best worker in the world, being the best on the mic etc. etc. etc. It’s about entertaining people enough so they come back for more. The big companies need to remember this because at the moment they haven’t a clue and it’s affecting their business. As I said at the start I love wrestling, always have and always will, it’s a passion that has waned at some points in my life but has never fully left me.
Well I’m glad I got that off my chest and if you managed to get to the end of this without calling me a whinging idiot, kudos to you because I sure didn’t. The next column, I promise, will be more positive I promise and hopefully will have more structure aka some structure and not just me moaning! Now go and treat yourself and watch the G-1 Climax from last month and thank me later!

Who ran down stone cold.. Who sent a text to Kevin Nash

Back in 1999 in the month of November at the Survivor Series pay per view Steve Austin was run down by an unknown person. For months the WWF had no idea who did it. They held investigations, in ring promos, heck even Austin stomped a few mud holes and walked them dry. In the end we found out it was Triple H who ran down Austin. Now we jump 12 years later and we find a guy who isn't afraid to say anything on the mic an outlaw. CM Punk. We find the boss, Triple H, and we find a 6 ft 5 monster Big sexy Kevin Nash. At Summer slam Nash was sent a text to "stick the winner" of the Cena/Punk match. The next night we find out that indeed it was Triple H who invited Nash to Summerslam however he did not send the text to Nash. If I remember it was HHH black limo that ran down Austin but HHH denied the fact that he drove it. We then see Cm Punk who believes that Nash and HHH are faking and playing the part and indeed they did set up Punk. Now let's go back 12 years ago, when Austin was run down, there were two suspects. The Rock, and Triple H. HHH once again denied the fact that he ran down Austin and we had Shawn Michaels pointing fingers at HHH along with the corporation. Jumping back to the present we see the same thing happen here, HHH denying the fact he sent a text to Nash. Also I will add that our beloved chief operating officer would get to the bottom of finding out who sent a text to Nash, like he did try 12 years back to find out who ran down Austin

To make this article a little less complicated, as a fan for the past 14 years of the WWE, I see this storyline as somewhat of a rip off from the Austin rundown story. As a fan I am excited. So far there are 3 questions that come to mind.

1. Who sent the text?
2. Are HH and Nash working together?
3. What roll will Nash play at Night of Champions?

Personally if you ask me I have two suspects
Vince and Shane McMahon.

I pick Vince because, we can have a interesting story where Vince was backstage and he took HHH cell and sent the text causing an outburst within the WWE so he could take over his company again.

My other suspect Shane, I pick because well we could have a storyline where Shane returns and he is unhappy with the fact that HHH has taken over the company what his father had built and nothing had gone to him thus causing him to text Nash and cause an outburst within the company.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or views leave me a comment on my Twitter and follow!
@azansaigol
Would love to hear from you all cheers!

Mike on a Monday 37 - WWE's CM Punk on Quitting, Coming Back, Stone Cold...

Good video interview with CM Punk via Mike on Monday

The Rise Of Punk - By Captain Obvious

Some of you may see the title of this and tell me that CM Punk has been risen. That the Internet wrestling community has known how great CM Punk has been for while now. That this is no surprise to us, we knew all along he was the best in the world. Well, this isn't about what we knew. This is about why the "normal" wrestling fans have taken a shine to him and catapulted him to elite status with the names of John Cena and Randy Orton.
What makes CM Punk so special. He isn't the biggest guy in the world, but neither were Flair, Bret, Michaels, and Jericho. He isnt the flashiest guy, but neither was Austin, Angle, or Funk. There has to be something about him that draw people in. Maybe its the fact we can all see how much he loves doing what he does. CM Punk would be a horrible poker player because you can genuinely see his emotions when he is on screen. You can tell when he's having fun or when he is just going through the motions trying to make corporate happy. The guy eats, sleeps, and bleeds wrestling. Punk is always looking for ways to improve his wrestling ability, his character and also help bring along the guys who helped him get to where he is. The great thing is the guys he wants to help out don't suck in the ring.
Another thing that has really helped Punk is the era we live in. Reality TV is everywhere still to this day. As people, we love to be voyeurs and then ridicule the people we love to watch. Car wreck TV, so to speak. Why else would Jerry Springer have a show on this long. How do you think Oprah got her fame? She wasn't interviewing Tom Cruise when she started. She was interviewing the midget who had a foursome with an albino track star, a chemistry teacher, and a 400 lb. McDonald's drive-thru girl who kept getting stuck at the window because she couldn't get out. Punk has tapped into that vein, even before his "shoot" promo on him leaving the WWE. He is the most real character on wrestling television today. He says he is straight edge and he lives his life that way. Everything he says seems to end up happening, so why doubt the words now?
In the same way that Hulk Hogan got us to all say our prayers and take our vitamins, CM Punk has tapped into that vein of purism. Every time we look around, we see all this negativity in the world. People running around shooting one another, doing all kinds of insane amounts of drugs, just day to day crap that seems to want to bury us all underneath it. Punk has come along and brought of ray of Truth (sorry R-Truth). his candor and honesty is refreshing and he is actually someone kids can look up to and admire. I doubt we will be seeing any half naked pics tweeted from him (although one from Beth Phoenix I wouldn't mind). Punk can the bearer for this generation much in the same way most wrestling fans think of the virtuous days of Hulkamania.
The other thing Punk has recaptured from the attitude days is this undertow of animosity towards corporate America. It's no coincidence that Punks sudden rise to mainstream fame was done in the same way Steve Austins career took off. The hardcore fans noticed how great the in-ring work was and then the mainstream fans noticed their anti-authority stance and followed suit behind their respective antagonist. Punk has grabbed the flag that Austin layed down and waves it proudly as the voice of the voiceless. It's everyones dream to punch their boss in the face and we get to live that excitement every Monday night.


Captain Obvious Trey Dent
Part time co-host of The Still Real To Us Show
Friend me on Facebook......http://www.facebook.com/TheCaptainObvious ;
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and if I had merchandise I know you'd buy it too

Existing in the Past - Sting vs. Flair in 2011...Really? By Shaun Nichols

On March 27th 1988, Ric Flair basically made Sting a genuine main event star at the first Clash of the Champions special. Although the match ended in a 45 minute draw and the judges were split as to who they thought had won it turned Sting from a popular midcard guy into WCW's most popular babyface. Interesting note to that match, is that the judge who picked Flair as the winner was a woman called Patty Mullen who was a former Penthouse Pet of the Month. Obviously Flair's boasts of 'Space Mountain' were remembered well.
The serious point though is that was over 23 years ago and TNA have decided that now is the time that Sting will once again face the 'Nature Boy' on PPV. Why TNA think that their fans would want to see Sting and Flair wrestle one another in 2011 is a complete mystery, have they decided that their obsession of trying to re-create WCW of the 1990's was not retro enough so that they should go back to the 1980's.
Weirdly the idea that Sting vs Flair should appear on PPV, was an idea that TNA have wanted to do since Ric Flair made his debut in TNA in January 2010. They have a feeling that although it was successful in 1988 and eventually WCW did make the decision to have Sting as the company's main man in 1990 when he defeated Flair for the World title at the Great American Bash in an event that was titled 'The New Revolution'. Unfortunately though Sting was not a success as a draw and the title was quitely put back on Flair in January 1991 when WCW decided they couldn't wait until a PPV event to move the title back to Flair.
Those two matches in 1988 and 1990 are the only real evidence that these two have good chemistry together and could attract ratings and PPV orders. Although they had the occasional feud in the 1990's they were mainly kept apart, Sting got to hang out in the rafters and Flair would be booked to be a complete idiot for the last several years of WCW. However they remained to a certain degree the main stays of WCW and on the final episode of Nitro they wrestled in a frankly awful match in which as usual Sting won. The quality of the match though was irrelevant though it was an emotional send off to the company and it was the two biggest stars that got to do the final goodbye.
TNA have in my view have always seen Sting as more important than he actually his, I have never been convinced that Sting as shown that he as been able to make that much of difference to TNA ratings or the PPV buy-rates. As he is now into his 50's he is pretty limited as to what he can do, he can still put in decent performances when he is working with the right person but it's obvious that in his matches he needs to be led. His promo work is better than it's probably ever been and while people initially enjoyed his new Joker persona, it's becoming frankly ridiculous. Although it was noticeable that in the final show before Hardcore Justice PPV, Sting toned down the persona in a final effort to attract PPV buys.
The use of Ric Flair also would seem to show that he is also not worth the money they are paying him. He has also not been seen on TV for several weeks a combination of Flair suffering a torn rotator cuff and also that he made his minimum number of appearances and so in an attempt to cut costs he wasn't used for a while. His promos are still more often than not great although they tend to be more wacky and less focused than in his glory days. He often seems to go out to just entertain himself and contradicts TNA's attempted storylines. He really should not be wrestling anymore although the truth is that if they do manage to have a good match then the credit will go to Flair.
The scariest thought of all though is that the Sting vs Ric Flair match at the No Surrender PPV is simply a stepping stone to the big event in TNA this year. The match in question is Sting vs Hulk Hogan, a match which considering Hogan's current physical state could be about as good as Hogan-Warrior 2 from Halloween Havoc 1998. And yet TNA do not seem to be aware that trying to offer themselves as a nostalgia promotion is a terrible idea. There seems to be very little that TNA can do to effect things in any kind of positive manner, the buyrate for Hardcore Justice seems to be the same as Destination X which was 8,000. However the company really needs to look for the future and with every passing month they seem to be more inclined to look towards the past and hope that the magic of March 1988 will work again, it won't.