At first, I was very surprised to hear the news that "Big" Dave Waters and his brother, "The Bulk" Mike Waters, known collectively as The U.K. Pitbulls, had parted company with the World Association of Wrestling.
It came as a shock to me because, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others who had watched WAW recently, the Pitbulls were probably their biggest stars. Sure, they may not exactly have been the best wrestlers, but with their size and their power, they had potential, the potential to become the biggest heel tag-team in British wrestling.
What I had seen of Dave and Mike, both on video and in person, had impressed me. At 6'2" and around the 380ilb mark, Dave has the power and ability to out muscle any opponent, and he showed this in April, in his losing WAW World Title effort against the 7'2" Tiger Steele. And at the age of 29, his best years are still ahead of him.
Mike, meanwhile, at 6' and around a hundred pounds heavier than his brother, is considered one of the best hard-core wrestlers in Britain today, and he is still very young, at just 22 years of age.
The Bulk (left) and Big Dave have the potential to become British wrestling's greatest heels.
So why have they left WAW, and parted company with the men who took them in, trained them, and turned them into stars? The answer to that question is very simple, and it is something that has happened to probably every wrestling promotion that has ever existed - a disagreement over booking.
Let me elaborate more. Recently, WAW began running weekly shows at Tiffany's nightclub in Yarmouth, and, if I recall correctly, WAW owner/booker/wrestler Ricky Knight, wanted Dave to adopt a persona he had in the past, that of the UK Vader, and compete against his brother, The Bulk. The brothers, not wanting to do this, wanted to be booked as The U.K. Pitbulls instead. Agreeing to disagree, the Pitbulls and WAW parted on friendly terms.
When Dave Waters himself, via e-mail, told me this, at first, I was very surprised. The Pitbulls were probably one of the main reasons I began to take an interest in WAW, mainly because their hometown is just five miles away from mine, and it is not an irregular occurrence to see them in the area. Indeed, they even visited the garden centre I work at about two months ago. Sadly, I didn't get to see them, because I was visiting The Eden Project in Cornwall. Although I did hear that they were looking for outdoor water features and barb wire. Hmm. An interesting match concept! But I digress.
Thinking about what Dave had told me, I began to see his point of view, and I also began to think of an article I wrote last November, after seeing Dave on a WAW promotional poster, dressed as the UK Vader, as well as seeing an advertisement for the Wrestlemania tour. I wrote then that I couldn't see the point in going to a show where a British wrestler was dressed as and tried to act like a famous US wrestler. I couldn't see the point, and judging by the amount of feedback I got back then, a lot of British wrestling fans agreed with me.
But once again, I digress. You see, after watching the Fightmare event in April, and doing a little bit of research into the Pitbulls history in wrestling, I began to see what possibilities they had - as a unit.
When there was talk of my doing some sort of work for WAW, talk which, unfortunately, came to nothing, I began to get a booking idea for the Pitbulls, and it would have been perfect had WAW got that much sought after TV contract.
But to tell you the idea, I first have to take you back to the Fightmare angle. Tiger Steele was due to fight P.N. News for the WAW World Title, but during an interview segment, the Pitbulls attacked News, and "injured" his angle. Dave then demanded a match with Steele, which Ricky Knight gave him. Dave lost, due to the outside interference of News.
My idea would have seen the Pitbulls become the biggest bastards in WAW, and is a booking idea that is probably as old as the hills. In the first couple of shows, the Pitbulls would have run rampant, attacking everyone and everything, because Dave was pissed off at having lost to Steele. They would have done this until Ricky Knight gave them what they wanted - a rematch with Tiger Steele.
But this booking idea will never happen now, because WAW didn't get their TV deal, and because the Pitbulls have now left. A shame on both counts.
But I am beginning to see now, perhaps why WAW didn't get their television deal. It seems to be the same thing that I've been talking about this entire segment - poor booking.
Ever since WAW announced their weekly Yarmouth shows, it was always my intention to attend at least one of them. But since they began, I haven't really heard many good things about these shows. What I have heard is things like low turnouts, boring matches, involving wrestlers who can't take bumps, and other little things, like bad food, little things like that. These comments have come from a variety of sources, including some people who will soon be undergoing some wrestling training, courtesy of Ricky Knight and WAW.
Thinking about these comments, I began to think back to the Fightmare event in April. This event was attended by nearly 2000 people, which is about 1500 higher than the crowd the FWA got for their big show, No Surprises 3, which included Guido Maritado & Jasmin St. Claire, this past weekend.
But I began to think back to some of the best performers on that night - and I realised that, the Pitbulls apart, some of the best wrestlers on that night were actually "outsiders", wrestlers who were not under exclusive contract to WAW. Men like Jonny Storm, Poison, and someone I'm fast becoming a favourite of, Jodie Fleisch, who had a brilliant ladder match with WAW Cruiserweight champion, Zebra Kid. Fightmare was a great event, with some excellent matches, and a good main event angle.
There was also a tremendous local publicity campaign in all the media. And, of course, yours truly got a little excited and wrote a few words in his Internet column. In short, Fightmare was a critical and commercial success.
But recent events have made me think that perhaps WAW are starting to get off their chosen path a little. Here's an example - guess how I found out about the weekly shows in Yarmouth? A flyer in a shop window? No. Local advertising campaign in my local newspaper? No.
Word of mouth - talking to someone, via instant messaging, and getting the news confirmed by the Pitbulls themselves.
This could perhaps account for the low turnout of these events - lack of advertising. Not all wrestling fans have, or are allowed, access to the Internet. They probably have no idea that the Pitbulls have their own web site. And it doesn't really help matters that the "official" WAW web site hasn't been up and running for months. Whenever you logged onto it recently, the only thing you saw was "this page will return soon."
And it could also be that their biggest stars are now competing elsewhere. From being forced to masquerade as one of Japan's favourite American wrestlers, Dave, and his brother Mike, recently competed for the BRAWL promotion, in a tournament to determine new British tag-team champions. And in a few weeks, they will wrestling for BRAWL again, on a card that features former ECW stars C.W. Anderson and Chilly Willy. Surely this shows that, with the right handling, what regard the Pitbulls are held with on the British pro wrestling scene.
On Saturday, October 13th, WAW will be holding their annual October Outrage event at the Norwich Sport Village. They are holding an invitational battle royal, inviting wrestlers from other promotions to take part. I think it would be a fitting send off for the Pitbulls to be part of this battle royal. They deserve no less.
A final word to Dave and Mike, who I hope will read this (and they probably will, because I might post this on their own message board). Fellas, if you ever do get in touch with Jim Ross, can you please remember the man who gave you good ol' JR's e-mail address, and perhaps put in a good word for me! Perhaps if you ever get to Stanford, they'll want to cast someone as your manager! (Hint, hint!)
It came as a shock to me because, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others who had watched WAW recently, the Pitbulls were probably their biggest stars. Sure, they may not exactly have been the best wrestlers, but with their size and their power, they had potential, the potential to become the biggest heel tag-team in British wrestling.
What I had seen of Dave and Mike, both on video and in person, had impressed me. At 6'2" and around the 380ilb mark, Dave has the power and ability to out muscle any opponent, and he showed this in April, in his losing WAW World Title effort against the 7'2" Tiger Steele. And at the age of 29, his best years are still ahead of him.
Mike, meanwhile, at 6' and around a hundred pounds heavier than his brother, is considered one of the best hard-core wrestlers in Britain today, and he is still very young, at just 22 years of age.
The Bulk (left) and Big Dave have the potential to become British wrestling's greatest heels.
So why have they left WAW, and parted company with the men who took them in, trained them, and turned them into stars? The answer to that question is very simple, and it is something that has happened to probably every wrestling promotion that has ever existed - a disagreement over booking.
Let me elaborate more. Recently, WAW began running weekly shows at Tiffany's nightclub in Yarmouth, and, if I recall correctly, WAW owner/booker/wrestler Ricky Knight, wanted Dave to adopt a persona he had in the past, that of the UK Vader, and compete against his brother, The Bulk. The brothers, not wanting to do this, wanted to be booked as The U.K. Pitbulls instead. Agreeing to disagree, the Pitbulls and WAW parted on friendly terms.
When Dave Waters himself, via e-mail, told me this, at first, I was very surprised. The Pitbulls were probably one of the main reasons I began to take an interest in WAW, mainly because their hometown is just five miles away from mine, and it is not an irregular occurrence to see them in the area. Indeed, they even visited the garden centre I work at about two months ago. Sadly, I didn't get to see them, because I was visiting The Eden Project in Cornwall. Although I did hear that they were looking for outdoor water features and barb wire. Hmm. An interesting match concept! But I digress.
Thinking about what Dave had told me, I began to see his point of view, and I also began to think of an article I wrote last November, after seeing Dave on a WAW promotional poster, dressed as the UK Vader, as well as seeing an advertisement for the Wrestlemania tour. I wrote then that I couldn't see the point in going to a show where a British wrestler was dressed as and tried to act like a famous US wrestler. I couldn't see the point, and judging by the amount of feedback I got back then, a lot of British wrestling fans agreed with me.
But once again, I digress. You see, after watching the Fightmare event in April, and doing a little bit of research into the Pitbulls history in wrestling, I began to see what possibilities they had - as a unit.
When there was talk of my doing some sort of work for WAW, talk which, unfortunately, came to nothing, I began to get a booking idea for the Pitbulls, and it would have been perfect had WAW got that much sought after TV contract.
But to tell you the idea, I first have to take you back to the Fightmare angle. Tiger Steele was due to fight P.N. News for the WAW World Title, but during an interview segment, the Pitbulls attacked News, and "injured" his angle. Dave then demanded a match with Steele, which Ricky Knight gave him. Dave lost, due to the outside interference of News.
My idea would have seen the Pitbulls become the biggest bastards in WAW, and is a booking idea that is probably as old as the hills. In the first couple of shows, the Pitbulls would have run rampant, attacking everyone and everything, because Dave was pissed off at having lost to Steele. They would have done this until Ricky Knight gave them what they wanted - a rematch with Tiger Steele.
But this booking idea will never happen now, because WAW didn't get their TV deal, and because the Pitbulls have now left. A shame on both counts.
But I am beginning to see now, perhaps why WAW didn't get their television deal. It seems to be the same thing that I've been talking about this entire segment - poor booking.
Ever since WAW announced their weekly Yarmouth shows, it was always my intention to attend at least one of them. But since they began, I haven't really heard many good things about these shows. What I have heard is things like low turnouts, boring matches, involving wrestlers who can't take bumps, and other little things, like bad food, little things like that. These comments have come from a variety of sources, including some people who will soon be undergoing some wrestling training, courtesy of Ricky Knight and WAW.
Thinking about these comments, I began to think back to the Fightmare event in April. This event was attended by nearly 2000 people, which is about 1500 higher than the crowd the FWA got for their big show, No Surprises 3, which included Guido Maritado & Jasmin St. Claire, this past weekend.
But I began to think back to some of the best performers on that night - and I realised that, the Pitbulls apart, some of the best wrestlers on that night were actually "outsiders", wrestlers who were not under exclusive contract to WAW. Men like Jonny Storm, Poison, and someone I'm fast becoming a favourite of, Jodie Fleisch, who had a brilliant ladder match with WAW Cruiserweight champion, Zebra Kid. Fightmare was a great event, with some excellent matches, and a good main event angle.
There was also a tremendous local publicity campaign in all the media. And, of course, yours truly got a little excited and wrote a few words in his Internet column. In short, Fightmare was a critical and commercial success.
But recent events have made me think that perhaps WAW are starting to get off their chosen path a little. Here's an example - guess how I found out about the weekly shows in Yarmouth? A flyer in a shop window? No. Local advertising campaign in my local newspaper? No.
Word of mouth - talking to someone, via instant messaging, and getting the news confirmed by the Pitbulls themselves.
This could perhaps account for the low turnout of these events - lack of advertising. Not all wrestling fans have, or are allowed, access to the Internet. They probably have no idea that the Pitbulls have their own web site. And it doesn't really help matters that the "official" WAW web site hasn't been up and running for months. Whenever you logged onto it recently, the only thing you saw was "this page will return soon."
And it could also be that their biggest stars are now competing elsewhere. From being forced to masquerade as one of Japan's favourite American wrestlers, Dave, and his brother Mike, recently competed for the BRAWL promotion, in a tournament to determine new British tag-team champions. And in a few weeks, they will wrestling for BRAWL again, on a card that features former ECW stars C.W. Anderson and Chilly Willy. Surely this shows that, with the right handling, what regard the Pitbulls are held with on the British pro wrestling scene.
On Saturday, October 13th, WAW will be holding their annual October Outrage event at the Norwich Sport Village. They are holding an invitational battle royal, inviting wrestlers from other promotions to take part. I think it would be a fitting send off for the Pitbulls to be part of this battle royal. They deserve no less.
A final word to Dave and Mike, who I hope will read this (and they probably will, because I might post this on their own message board). Fellas, if you ever do get in touch with Jim Ross, can you please remember the man who gave you good ol' JR's e-mail address, and perhaps put in a good word for me! Perhaps if you ever get to Stanford, they'll want to cast someone as your manager! (Hint, hint!)
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