The Two Sheds Review

Thursday, 21 March 2019

The WAW Archive is Complete!

So there you have it. After nearly two months, and with countless hours spent trawling through the old sites I used to write for and scouring the Internet Archive it's done. My World Association of Wrestling archive is back online, for the most part anyway.

There are some articles that are still missing, such as some of my reviews from 2005, and my original October Outrage 1999 video review, but most of it is now back online, the live show reviews, the DVD and video reviews, and the articles designed to promote WAW and it's wrestlers both online and in the WAW Magazine which was edited by yours truly and available to buy at all live events, and you can find the links to them here: https://twoshedsreview.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

In this edition of The Two Sheds Review we’re going to take a trip back a couple of years with a visit to the now-defunct Ultimate Wrestling Alliance, who staged something of a comeback after their original demise. This DVD, UWA Volume One, features matches from various shows held in 2004.

In 1999, British cable television station Live TV, amongst the weather midgets, topless darts matches, and news bunnies, presented a show from one of the few British wrestling promotions to get on television since Greg Dyke kicked it off the ITV television schedules in 1988, the Ultimate Wrestling Alliance. Now, after many months of searching the Internet, I can now bring you a review of the first UWA Wrestling Rampage show, the latest in my series of Retro Show Reviews.

Last year, the good and the great from sixteen of the world’s top wrestling promotions gathered in Liverpool for a two night knock-out tournament. Stars such as Rhino, Trent Acid, Doug Williams, Chris Hero, Go Shiozaki and many more gathered to determine who would be the winner of the first King of Europe tournament, and it’s the two disc DVD release of these two shows that we’re going to be taking a look at now. Dann Read and Dean Ayass will be handling commentary duties for this one.

It’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at John Freemantle’s Premier Promotions, one of the oldest companies in Britain at the moment. So what better way to have a gander than through The Best of Premier Promotions DVD compilation, originally filmed by Figure Four Films.

Following on from my recent review of LDN’s debut show, I’ve decided to make a quick return to Sanjay Bagga’s company with a review of their latest DVD release, The Showdown II.

Following on from my recent review of Herts & Essex Wrestling’s “Forever Joe” DVD, we once again take a look at Sam Knee’s promotion and their latest DVD release, a fan-cam recording of “The Devil’s Temptation” show.

Following on from my recent review of WAW’s tribute to British wrestling referee Joe Williams, I thought it would be quite apt to take a look at another promotion who paid tribute to Joe in their own way, with the DVD release of Herts & Essex Wrestling’s Forever Joe show, held last November and filmed by Bagga Entertainment.

Two reviews for the price of one here, as once again we take a trip to the east of England to take another look at Sam Knee’s Herts & Essex Wrestling promotion, taking a look at their most recent DVD releases, “Show 2” and “Show 3”.

The Two Sheds Review European tour continues, and following the trip to Norway, we move on to France’s Fighting Spirit Federation, and the DVD release of their recent Queens of Chaos show, featuring some of the top female wrestlers from Europe, Japan and America.

So I had a little problem. British music legend Midge Ure, one of the founding fathers of the Band Aid and Live Aid charities, was coming to Cromer for the first time in five years to play a live acoustic gig, on the same night that DAMPromotions were holding their Spring Showdown event ten miles away in Holt? What was I to do? Simple. The wrestling show was being filmed, so I went to the gig instead, and a year after it’s release, I’ve finally found the time to review the Spring Showdown DVD, courtesy of Pinfall Productions. Our hosts for the evening are John Johnson and Dan Ambrose.

This week I'm dipping into the video archives, for a review of the British Real Attitude Wrestling League's (BRAWL) "Collision at Coalville" DVD, a show filmed by WAR Productions last November.

RE-POST: My Top 10 Female Wrestlers from the Past 10 Years (2010)

An item doing the news rounds here in Britain about women’s wrestling in Bolivia reminded me that I hadn’t done a list of my ten favourite women’s wrestlers from the past ten years. Sadly, as I’ve never seen any of the aforementioned South American Knockout Divas I can’t list any of them, but the list does contain some of the best female grapplers from Japan, America, and merry old England.

As with my previous lists I haven’t used any kind of scientific formula or anything like that. These are women whose performances I’ve enjoyed over the past decade.

It’s time to make another list to mark the ten years that The Two Sheds Review has been in existence, and following on from my list of ten worst MMA fighters, I’m now going to list the ten worst professional wrestlers whose performances haven’t exactly enthralled me over the past ten years. No science involved here!

Some of these you will know, and some you won’t, although I know them very well on a personal level. So let’s get started!

First, the honourable mentions, the bubbling unders who almost made the list. And these include;

When Stu Allen went to the UK Fan Forum to promote his latest podcast he probably had no idea that he’d end up in a massive online argument.

Allen, well known in British wrestling circles as a presenter, commentator and writer was promoting his Women of Wrestling podcast, in which he interviewed the mother and daughter duo of Sweet Saraya and Britani Knight before their debut in Shimmer this past weekend.

Almost as soon as the topic was posted the comments started, mainly regarding Saraya’s appearance. While several commented about how “nubile” Britani looked, one poster said Saraya looked like a “saggy gypo”. In case you don’t know gypo is slang for gypsy, a person from Romany stock, a pikey. (I’m allowed to use the term pikey by the way, because I’m one quarter Romany.)

There’s an interesting topic on that doyen of information that is the UK Fan Forum at the moment. The discussion centres on what the term “professional wrestler” actually means.

The questions that are being asked are simple. Are you a professional wrestler if you make a living as a wrestler? Can you call yourself a professional wrestler if it isn’t your sole form of income?, and so on and so forth.

This got me thinking of my own time in the professional wrestling business, working for the World Association of Wrestling from 2001-05.

I would hardly say that I worked as a professional for WAW, mainly because I was very rarely paid. In fact it was more like volunteer work. I would get the occasional note here and there, and also a few free DVDs, but there was no way I could have made a living working for “Rowdy” Ricky Knight and his band of merry men.

A few days ago news broke of Scott Hall’s rather shambolic performance at the Top Rope Promotions 30th anniversary show. While the great and the good have commented about this it brought back memories of another wrestling great who has gone off the rails too many times to mention. That man is Jake “The Snake” Roberts.

When I first got into the American wrestling scene back in 1989 Jake was one of those guys who just grabbed my attention. He may not have been the most powerful or the most skilled but he was certainly the most charismatic.

I got the opportunity to speak and work with Jake during my time with the World Association of Wrestling. Jake had relocated here to Britain in 2001 and had been doing the rounds on the wrestling circuit. I’d read quite a few reviews about his apparent poor performances. I remember one said that he’d actually fallen asleep leaning against the corner post during a tag team match.

So it was with some trepidation that I watched his first match for WAW that December in Lowestoft. Jake was teaming with local here “The Tattooed Warrior” (this nickname © Julian Radbourne) Steve Quintain against the U.K. Pitbulls.

Ever since The Two Sheds Review made it’s debut way back in the year 2000 (yes, it’s been that long) I’ve often wondered just how important the internet is to the professional wrestling industry. I’ve wondered how important it is for some wrestlers that they’re portrayed in a positive light amongst the faithful on the fan forums. At the moment a bank manager from Wales is compiling a list of the fifty worst British wrestlers. It’s a list which some have taken in good humour, while others have gone on a verbal rampage against those who voted for them.

This list got me thinking about an event way back in May 2002. It was at Sheringham High School that Mike and Dave Waters, otherwise known as the U.K. Pitbulls, held their first show under the DAM Promotions banner, gathering together a vast array of wrestlers from the various promotions they had worked for.

The second match of the evening featured Mr. Total Xtreme against Chris Fury. Jem Brown, the man behind the MTX persona, is a hell of a guy, one of the nicest guys I met during my time in the British wrestling business. One slight problem though - he’s actually not a very good wrestler. I’ve only ever seen him in one good match, against “Rowdy” Ricky Knight.

It is with a slight sense of sadness that I must make the following announcement.

For a number of reasons, I must announce my (sort of) retirement from Internet wrestling journalism. However, don't worry! I'm not going away entirely! Far from it!

In recent months, things have become rather difficult for me writing wise. As I previously stated, writing about the American wrestling industry when you are an ocean away is not the easiest of past-times, and ever since the World Wrestling Federation gained a virtual monopoly on the national market, things have become a little more difficult.

I never thought I would say this, but I do miss World Championship Wrestling, and I definitely miss Extreme Championship Wrestling. Since these two entities ceased to be, I have very often found it difficult to find inspiration. An example of this is the fact that in the past two months, I think I've only written two columns on American wrestling.

I would like to start this column by sharing with you an excerpt from a show review by Chad Mayne, who wrote about a show in Bristol on November 27th. The full report can be seen by logging onto www.geocities.com/wawwrestling2001, and going to the newsboard.

"The big draw was the main event appearance of former WWF legend Jake 'The Snake' Roberts who put in one of the poorest and most embarrassing performances that I have ever seen in a wrestling ring. He was falling asleep on the tag rope and when he did get in the ring he was flat on his back selling."

It was while reading this that I began to see that there is perhaps a new trend in British wrestling. The ageing, has-been, washed-up former WWF or WCW superstar who, not being able to find work in the good old USA, decides to ply his trade here in good old Blighty. But the moment they get here, they decide to try and throw their weight around, making demand after demand. Then, when they get into the ring, they put in a piss poor performance.

This week has been a rather interesting one in the world of sports entertainment. Old friends have apparently left, while other old friends have returned, with a little unexpected help from others. And in one aspect, it reminds me just how money hungry another old friend is.

The Survivor Series seems to be the end of the InVasion angle. Those who did not acquire "immunity" vanished from the television, although I'm sure that the most talented, the most over, will soon regain a spot on WWF television. It does make you wonder what will happen to the likes of Hugh Morrus, Lance Storm and Mike Awesome, when the likes of DDP, Booker T and Hurricane Helms return to WWF television.

This week saw the "departure" of our old friend Mick Foley. When Mick was brought back as WWF commissioner, I immediately found myself asking, "why?". For some reason, he just didn't seem to fit into the story line. Mick put in perfectly himself last Sunday, speaking to the pay-per-view audience from WWF New York, the commissionership was a joke, and everyone watching knew it.
Nash seems to think the WWF are desperate to sign him. (WCW)

The lives of Internet wrestling journalists have become rather difficult in recent months, and when you are an Internet wrestling journalist based in the UK, and you are seemingly one of the few who are, life is very hard.

When you have chosen to follow the world of American wrestling, being based some 6,000 miles away is somewhat of a handicap. Attending shows and television tapings is impossible for monetary purposes, and watching TV shows days after your US counterparts also makes things difficult. You find that you are unable to offer a first hand, cutting view on the proceedings.

And in the first few months of this year, life got even harder.

Welcome to this special issue of The Two Sheds Review, previewing tomorrow's WWF pay-per-view, Backlash.

To be completely honest, I only really decided to do this special issue at the last minute, which is why it wasn't advertised in previous issues. Anyway, hope you enjoy it, and on with the show!

RE-POST: UK Pitbulls: The Video - Video Review

To commemorate the 34th birthday of Big Dave Waters (hey, I know it was last month, but I’ve been busy!), my latest review takes a look at a video release from the most dominant tag-team in Britain today, as we look at U.K. Pitbulls: The Video.

This past July, British wrestling’s biggest and most successful tag-team, the U.K. Pitbulls, sat down at the FWA Academy to record the latest in the series of British Shoot Interviews.

It was in April 2001 that I first took notice of Roy Bevis, the Zebra Kid. Since then I’ve followed his career with great interest, both at close range and long distance, and his career hit the heights and then the lows following two prison sentences. Which is why I was eager to see the latest in the World Association of Wrestling Shoot Interview series – Zebra Kid: Stiff as F**k.

It’s been almost five months since I reviewed a shoot interview, so what better place to return to this particular genre than my old stomping ground, the World Association of Wrestling, as the English Rose herself talks to the cameras in “Sour Touch From The Sweet Saraya”.

Having recently reviewed the latest in the World Association of Wrestling Shoot Interview series, I thought it would be quite apt to go back to the first DVD release of this series, featuring WAW head honcho in Ricky Knight: Shut It!

In eager anticipation of the Zebra Kid's debut for the most publicised wrestling company in the U.K., I made my way to the F.W.A.'s Carpe Diem show, eager to get a taste of a company I had heard so much of in the past year. The show actually started later than advertised (an ominous sign, perhaps?), but at least I was getting the chance to sample another promotion.

My first professional wrestling review of 2009 will in fact be the end of an era (more on that later), as once again I go back to my old stomping ground, the World Association of Wrestling, taking a look at the DVD release of Battle of the Champions, held at the Waveney Sports & Leisure Centre in Lowestoft in October 2004.

This release actually has quite a bit of back story. It was originally film by The Wrestling Channel for inclusion on their UK Round-Up show, with the deal being that none of the matches were included, then WAW would be allowed to release a DVD of the show. So when none of the matches made it onto television, the powers-that-be waited for their fully edited DVD. And waited. And waited. Even after seeing those responsible at countless shows and voicing their concerns, the waiting game continued.

June 19th, 2010 is the tenth anniversary of The Two Sheds Review, so to mark this momentous occasion I’m going back in time to take another look at a few “firsts”. Coming up will be another look at the first pay-per-view I ever reviewed (WWF Summerslam 2000), the first MMA show I saw (UFC 38), and the first Supercard Sunday show I saw on the now defunct Wrestling Channel (MLW Reload).

But to kick things off I’m taking another look at the first ever wrestling video I reviewed, and for that I must return to my old stomping ground, the World Association of Wrestling. October Outrage 1999 was the title, headline by “Rowdy” Ricky Knight taking on “Big” Dave Waters in a hardcore match for the British title, with Sweet Saraya and Michael Mann handling commentary duties.

RE-POST: 1 Stop Wrestling 17th November 2003

Recently, wrestling fans were treated to the site of Team FWA competing on the Challenge TV show Fort Boyard. The show, hosted by Jodie Penfold, featured Doug Williams, Paul Birchall, James Tighe, Nikita & Sweet Saraya undergoing a number of physical tasks in order to win the big prize.

The appearance of Saraya on the team has met with a great deal of debate among the FWA faithful on the Internet, leading many to ask the question - is Saraya headed to the FWA to feud with their one and only active female wrestler? The fact of the matter is that this feud has already taken place, and in this writer's opinion was woefully underbooked by the powers-that-be.

Cast your mind back to June 2002. At the FWA's Carpe Diem show in Walthamstow, Nikita came to the ring as a guest announcer for an upcoming match. As she was about to speak, the Sweet Saraya stormed the ring from the crowd, and battered her rival, taking her down with her trademark power bomb, before taking the microphone and lambasting Nikita's claim to be the best female wrestler in Britain.

One of the saddest stories I had to report on happened on this very website, and was sad because the person thestory was about was, at the time, a good friend of mine.

Chris Bullard was one of the first people in WAW who actually took the time to come up to me and to introduce themselves. I met Chris in Lowestoft in December 2001, the first show I covered for WAW as their official reporter.

Chris was a really kind and nice bloke, and was actually a wrestler who had been trying to make it in the wrestling business for quite some time. In fact, he began his training at the same time as Mike and Dave Waters, who went on to achieve great success, of course.

In recent times on television we've seen examples of how certain wrestlers should remain silent, they should never speak, and should be portrayed as virtual wrestling machines, there to do one thing, and one thing only - kick ass!

I saw a fine example of this during the early days of my tenure with WAW. Because they lived just a few short miles away from me, the U.K. Pitbulls, "Big" Dave and Mike "Bulk" Waters gave me a ride whenever I had to get to a show.

Travelling with these guys, although in somewhat cramped conditions, was quite often fun. While Dave was the more serious of the two, Mike always seemed to bring a sense of fun to each journey, no matter how long it was. Naturally, we would spend most of the time talking about wrestling, sharing memories of old WWF and WCW shows as well as discussing what was going on in the British wrestling industry.

In my last column I wrote about the events around the WAW British Championship, which was declared vacant last September when Hot Stuff fell ill, and could not defend the title.

WAW announced almost immediately that at the upcoming October Outrage IV show in Norwich, Bash would be facing Ricky Knight for the vacant crown. However, at the time I came up with an idea that would have allowed WAW to use the vast majority of the wrestlers that were hired for the show - a one night tournament to crown the new champion.

OO4 was scheduled to have eight matches. In my plan, only two of those original matches would have had to be scrapped. Triple X v Fabuloz, which was basically a four minute knockoff job before the victorious Fabuloz was signed up by Lloyd Ryan in an angle which ultimately didn't go anywhere, and Jace The Ace v Lee Darren. On the night in question, although Jace v Darren was an entertaining bout it drew very little heat from the crowd.

An interesting question was asked of me some time ago why don't I stage my own wrestling show? The feeling was that as I was a man full of ideas, I would, therefore, make a good wrestling promoter.

I have been in and around the wrestling business for about eighteen months now, and the first thing I learned was that although it seems like an easy job, actually promoting a show is a damn sight harder than it looks.

Although I don't speak from experience when I say this, but if you are an aspiring, wannabe promoter looking to make a quick few quid by putting on a wrestling show in your local town hall or sports centre then you're in the wrong job. Speaking to a few people who have staged a handful of shows, most of them will tell you that they actually made a loss on their first show.

Promoting a wrestling show is a hard and thankless task, there is so much to do, and so little time in which to do it.

When I first began to take an interest in my local promotion, the World Association of Wrestling, there was one aspect of their company in which they were lacking. They were receiving hardly any exposure on the Internet.

After the big Fightmare show at the Norwich Sport Village just over two years ago, I searched the world wide web for information on WAW, but found that there was very little. A young lad by the name of Dan Quintain, nephew of WAW wrestler Steve Quintain, had put together a couple of fan sites, and, of course, the U.K. Pitbulls had their own web site, but the company itself had no web site worth speaking of.

Well, I tell a lie here. They did actually have an official web site - there just wasn't any substance to it. Whenever I logged onto the web site, all I saw was a "coming soon" kind of message. They had a fan forum, but nothing else.

In the past few months, some people have heavily criticised me for the way that I defend WAW, particularly when so-called "smart marks" lash out at anyone connected with the company, including yours truly.

Regular visitors to my website, particularly those who read my Personal Journals section, will know that in the summer of 2002 I suffered a nervous breakdown. I won't go into the exact circumstances here, but for many months I suffered from severe depression.

December 15th, 2001 was a momentous point in my writing career, as my official connection with British wrestling started on that day, in the Suffolk town of Lowestoft.

It's no secret that I had been very critical of the World Association of Wrestling in the months after their Fightmare show in Norwich the previous April. I had been approached about doing some work for them, but the deal fell flat when the proposed television deal fell through.

The problem was that I was comparing WAW's product and output with that of the mighty World Wrestling Federation. This was a huge mistake. No one, with the exception of the world's biggest computer geek, and perhaps Billionaire Ted, could match the financial clout of the mighty Vince McMahon.

RE-POST: Come Home Julia (2005)

This is probably the hardest column I have ever had to write, but it’s just something I knew I had to do.

Today, October 19th, is the 34th birthday of Julia Hamer, known to wrestling fans around the world as the Sweet Saraya. By now, most of you reading this column will know that Julia has been missing since August 27th, and although she has reported in to the police a couple of times, she still hasn’t been found.

Well, it's certainly been another busy year in WAW, with some highs and lows throughout the year, and as we head towards 2005, I thought I'd take a look back at the events of the past twelve months.

Following my WAW Year in Review 2004, here's the second part of my little trilogy to end the year, as I present to you my personal Top 10 WAW Wrestlers for 2004.

Before I begin the list, I'll tell you about the ground rules I laid down for myself. Those who made the final cut are there because I enjoyed their matches this year. However, you'll notice some prominent names missing from the list, the likes of Stevie Knight, Alex Shane, Klondyke Kate, and many more prominent names who wrestled for WAW this year. The reason they are missing from the list is simple - they only made one or two appearances for WAW, so, in my opinion, it's not really fair to include someone who has only appeared for WAW once or twice, while not including someone who has appeared time and time again during 2004. So now the rules have been explained, let's start the countdown.....

As promised, it's the final part of my End of Year trilogy, and in this edition I will list my Top Ten WAW Matches for 2004. Here we go.....

As promised last week, yours truly is back with a review of the World Association of Wrestling's 10th anniversary spectacular, The War of 2004, which emanates from The Talk in Norwich this coming Saturday, September 11th. I'll be giving a brief preview of each match on the card, and offering my opinions on who will win.

RE-POST: WAW Past, Present & Future (2004)

In 1993, Ricky Knight & Jimmy Ocean were far from happy men. As the legendary Superflys tag-team, they had reigned supreme as the British Tag-Team Champions since they defeated King Ben & Kid McCoy in Bristol in 1989. Along with their glamorous manager, the Sweet Saraya, they defeated all challengers to their titles.

But they were unhappy with the way that certain aspects of the wrestling business were being handled. In their opinion, hardly any promoters in Britain were putting on shows for the fans, they were in the business just to make some fast money. Knight, Ocean & Saraya knew the fans wanted more.

So, in 1993, they formed the World Association of Wrestling, in an attempt to rectify this situation.

When I first began to work for WAW in December 2001, one of my first memories comes from attending the WAW Training Academy a couple of months later. As the trainees were put through their paces by the head trainer, the Sweet Saraya, I found myself walking around the hall and secretly predicting who had "it", and who didn't.

Now, over two years on from that date, I'd like to take a look back at some of the people who attended the academy that weekend.

When the FWA powers-that-be asked me to contribute my thoughts regarding the Zebra Kid/Ricky Knight situation, I can see why they came to me. I've chronicled the careers of both men over the past few years, so I guess I'm an expert on this situation in a way.

The thing is, many FWA fans were surprised when Ricky cost Zebra the FWA title recently. If truth be known, I could see this coming a long time ago. This situation began long before Carpe Diem.

But to get an insight into why this situation arose, you have to look into the past of these two men.

Well, it certainly has been a busy past few weeks for everyone associated with the World Association of Wrestling. If you take into account their commitments on the Pontins Holiday Camp circuit, and include their recent, six week run at the Atlantis Arena in Great Yarmouth, I think it's safe to say that they are certainly the busiest wrestling promotion in Britain at the moment.

Inter-promotional angles are nothing new in the wrestling industry. In Japan, it's not uncommon for two or more promotions to stage a big show. In America, we've seen many so-called "invasion" angles over the past ten years or so. The Smokey Mountain tag-team title being defended on WWF pay-per-view ten years ago, the infamous ECW invasion of Monday Night Raw in 1997, the WCW/ECW invasion of the WWF in 2001, and the unscheduled XPW invasion of ECW three years ago.

But such an event has, to my knowledge, never happened in British wrestling. In a day when new companies are springing up virtually every month, it's quite common for the most well-known British wrestlers, and touring overseas wrestlers, to work for several of these promotions within a short space of time. However, an outright challenge from one company to another is virtually unheard of in British wrestling circles.

Bret Meadows entered the WAW training system in February 2002, and immediately made an impact. Adopting the name "The Kraft", in his first outing won the rookies battle royal at the Watton Sports Centre that same month.

It was a few weeks later where he made an dramatic entrance in his hometown of Clacton. At the Princes Theatre, as the U.K. Pitbulls fought the team of Hot Stuff and Triple X. After Big Dave Waters and Triple X were eliminated from the contest, the Bulk used every illegal tactic he could against Hot Stuff. In the heat of battle, the referee got blind sided, as was knocked out. The Kraft saw the chance to make an impact. Storming the ring, Kraft clobbered the Bulk over the head with a keyboard, giving Hot Stuff the chance to gain the victory.

Thursday, 21 March 2019

Wednesday, 20 March 2019

Tuesday, 19 March 2019

Monday, 18 March 2019

Sunday, 17 March 2019

Saturday, 16 March 2019