RE-POST: WAW Diary Part 4 (Originally Written in 2001)

PART FOUR - Counting my chickens.....

SUMMER 2001

The meeting I had with NRG Films head honcho and WAW co-promoter Martin Marshall had gone exceedingly well. In all the years I had been writing, it looked like it was finally going to happen - I was going to earn some money from doing what I love. Add to that the possibility I might join the ranks of wrestling broadcasters, and I was happy.

Pleased at what I could be accomplishing, less than a year after I first became "noticed" by the Internet wrestling community, I wanted to tell as many people as possible about my good fortune. Those closest to me in my family were the first to know, followed by friends and co-workers.

I then began to consider my other writing responsibilities. If I did manage to achieve this feat, and do what only one man had done before, and go from Internet wrestling journalist to wrestling commentator, then something would have to be sacrificed. After all, writing on the 'net paid nothing. Writing for WAW was paying something.

The decision made, I contacted my various editors saying that if the WAW deal went through, I would have to give up my weekly Internet column.

I then made what was, in hindsight, an error in judgement. Having just started my own e-zine, and wanting to share my good news with the world at large, I used my mailing list to spread my news.

By doing this, it showed me just how many people read my views on the wrestling world. Those of my readers from the US were pleased by my news. Those of my readers in the UK were not only pleased at my news, but were also pleased that finally, after a gap of thirteen years, British wrestling had a chance of returning to a national television network - Sky Sports - and that their favourite writer would be calling the shots.

Hindsight is a great thing, and I know now that perhaps I should have kept quiet about the whole thing. But at the time I didn't care. I was on top of the world!

What amazed me about the whole thing was that friends who were definitely wrestling fans seemed to take more of an interest in me and my work. Jokingly, the aforementioned friend who could have gotten me the tickets to see Jerry Springer last year said she should become my agent. Knowing her like I do, she cold have probably got me an ice-selling franchise deal in Alaska.

So all I could do now was wait patiently, patience not being something that I was exactly renowned for.

As I awaited my date with the cameras, and the arrival of the research material that Martin promised. I got a call from "Big" Dave Waters, one half of the UK Pitbulls. Dave, having kindly put my Fightmare report on his website, said that as I had such a great interest in wrestling, perhaps I should give Ricky Knight a telephone call, offering my creative services to him.

Thanking Dave for his call, I told him of my meeting with Martin, and of his offer. Dave didn't seem impressed, saying that it was Ricky who hired the WAW staff, and not Martin.

I was confused. Why had Martin offered me a job working for WAW when he apparently had no power to do so?

Not wanting to step on the toes of my new contacts, I got in touch with Martin, to try and find out what was happening. Martin had told Ricky of our meeting, but he would make sure that everything was okay. So all I could do now was wait.

During this time, I had continued to get some congratulations about my work. Danny and Chloe Quintain had read my report, and Chloe had said that I would make a good WAW commentator. I thought what the hell, let the young girl in on the secret as well!

I had also received some words of advice from professional writer David Southwell. My relationship with David had begun in a strange way. He had severely criticised a column I wrote about Barry Horowitz, but now we seemed on the most friendly of terms. He suggested that, if I wanted to become an announcer, the next time I watched wrestling, to turn the sound down, and provide my own play-by-play.

This wasn't the only advice. Then TCN writer The Moz suggested that I get in touch with East Norfolk Backyard Wrestling, and offer them my services. While this seemed like a good idea at the time, my thinking soon changed. My reasons for this have already been documented.

The joyous mood I was in soon changed when the first setback came. For some reason, Ricky and Julia Knight wanted to get the recording of the commentary out of the way as soon as possible. So, without even getting a tryout, Martin withdrew his offer, but kept his offer of the writing jobs still on the table.

To say that I was disappointed was an understatement, a bitter understatement. I was upset that I hadn't even been given a chance. I was also disappointed because I thought that Ricky and Julia Knight had lost an opportunity here.

With the accusation of Knight family bias in all matters WAW from certain quarters, they could have given me this commentary position and say something like - "Look. You may be accusing us of bias, but look what we've done here. We've got this man, Julian Radbourne, an Internet wrestling journalist. We like him, we like what he does, and we're going to show some faith in him by giving him this job." It would have been the Knight's way of giving their detractors the proverbial finger.

Having shared my good news with my mailing list, I felt honour-bound to give them the bad news as well. It may sound like an overstatement or something, but it was perhaps one of the saddest things I have ever written.

Just jokingly, at the end, I said that perhaps someone should start a "Get Julian a job with WAW" petition. I didn't expect anyone to take me seriously. Someone did, and they actually offered to e-mail WAW giving them a piece of their mind, demanding that they give me a broadcasting job. Thanking them for their support, I managed to talk them out of it.

That same day I got another e-mail from a man on the south coast of England, saying that he was setting up his own wrestling promotion, and would like to hire me as an announcer. Sadly, because of the fact that I don't drive, and it would take about ten hours or more to travel there, I had to turn him down.

I have to wonder, though, what would have happened if I had given out the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of the WAW people. How many of my readers would have contacted Ricky Knight, Martin Marshall and the others, demanding that they give me a prominent role in WAW affairs. If this had happened though, it would have probably damaged the writing job that Martin still wanted me to do.

Probably the two most disappointed people were Danny and Chloe. Their excitement at the possibility of WAW, a promotion they had watched while growing up, getting onto national television was tempered by the disappointment at the fact that their new friend wouldn't be working on the finished product.

It was my ever-evolving friendship with Danny and Chloe that led me to what could have been my next WAW-related story. Danny's uncle and Chloe's father, Steve Quintain, had the previous year organised a charity wrestling event in Lowestoft, and wanted to do the same again this year. The tentative date for the show was late June.

While realising that this wasn't going to be an event on the scale of Fightmare, I still had plans to do my bit. After all, I had gotten some Yanks interested in the WAW product through my writings. I had done my little bit to promote the event on the Internet. I had the idea that perhaps I could do the same for the charity show.

Danny was kind enough to give me his uncle's e-mail address. Thanking Danny, I e-mailed his uncle telling him of my little idea, my hope that I could help him promote his event, and asking him if perhaps he could give me some ticket information. Even though the town of Lowestoft was in the next county, and would involve a long(ish) train journey, I was willing to take time off work to attend.

I have no idea if Steve ever read my e-mail. I never got a reply.

The excitement I had been feeling about WAW was starting to fade as the summer progressed. As time went on, it became obvious that Ricky Knight's dream, to get British wrestling back on British television was not going to be realised.

This fact was all but confirmed. My brother Mark, who works as a DJ at the Pit Stop nightclub in Cromer, had spoken to one of the WAW wrestlers, who I will not mention to protect his identity. Apparently, Sky had seen the two pilot films that NRG Films had put together, and they were not impressed. To that end, WAW had apparently taken their film to another company to edit.

This worried me. If NRG Films were no longer handling the editing and promoting of the Fightmare footage, where did this leave me and my writing assignments?

The next day, I e-mailed Martin again, telling him what I had heard, and asking if this was true. This was, in fact, news to Martin as well, and it worried him as much as me. He said he would get in touch with Ricky, and that he'd keep me informed.

The summer season progressed. My contact with Martin had all but dried up. Danny and Chloe continued to keep in touch, and told me that Steve's charity event had been pushed back to the end of July. However, because my boss would be away on holiday at the same time, I would be unable to attend the event.

As July came, I had heard nothing from Martin about the writing assignments. I had given up hope. It was now obvious to me that Ricky Knight's dream had died. WAW was not going to get on television, and therefore, there would be no writing assignment for me to do.

While this was another bitter disappointment for me, what annoyed me the most was that Martin didn't even have the decency to get in touch with me to tell me this. Although, in essence, Martin didn't really owe me anything, a short phone call or e-mail saying that my services would not be needed after all is all I would have asked for.

With the disappointment over the writing assignments still uppermost in my mind, I saw that perhaps I could still get some good material for my Internet column from WAW. At the time, news that the WWF would be starting a reality-based show showing people training to become wrestlers had started to do the rounds. At the time, WAW had also announced that they would be holding one of their regular training schools in July. So I began to come up with an idea, a simple idea. Use the new contacts I had made to try and get a "backstage pass" at the school. Spend some time there, observe the proceedings, take in the atmosphere, and come out with a good story at the end of it, and in the process, get some good publicity for WAW as well.

And the fact that the school was being held at the Matrix Studios, home of NRG Films, also lifted my spirits a little. After all, if I couldn't get in touch with Ricky Knight to ask his permission, why not get in touch with Martin Marshall, see if he could pull a few strings.

I discussed my idea with a few others, including Adam Mumford, owner of the Wrestle Britain website. Adam agreed that it was a good idea, if I could pull it off.

Which I couldn't. I e-mailed Martin again, but got no response. I put postings on several message boards, asking if anyone from WAW could help. The response I got was very disappointing. It was virtually non-existent.

So the planned article never happened. I never went to the training school. I never watched Ricky and Julia put the young whippersnappers through their paces, teaching them how to take bumps, throw forearms and sell moves. I never got to take in the atmosphere of the wrestling school.

From the euphoric pleasure of watching Fightmare at the Sport Village in April, I had gone to the utter disappointment of not getting into the wrestling school in July.

But all was not lost apparently. WAW would soon be holding shows again - in the nearby seaside town of Great Yarmouth!