RE-POST: Aspects of Professional Wrestling Part 2: The Holiday Camp (Originally Written in 2002)

A day after the searing heat of the car park in Sheringham, I find myself in a slightly different environment. The temperature is still high, but the weather is inclement. The heavens threaten to open on many occasions.

I am now seated in a dilapidated white van, perched on pieces of metal which normally make a wrestling ring. Seated next to me, in the driver's seat, is Julia, otherwise known as the Sweet Saraya. Today, she is in her "civilian" role, as we drive towards the Norfolk coastal town of Great Yarmouth, and the Haven Seashore holiday camp. Julia is not wrestling or acting as manageress today, and that is perhaps a good thing. Her broken left thumb is causing her some discomfort, and her right shoulder is also injured, thanks to some rough manhandling by the U.K. Pitbulls at yesterday's carnival show.

Sprawled upon some ring mats in the back is young Saraya, Julia's daughter. She hurls insults at me, but I know she really doesn't mean them.

RE-POST: Aspects of Professional Wrestling Part 1: The Carnival (Originally Written in 2002)

I'm standing in the middle of a car park on a Wednesday afternoon, and it's hot, damn hot. In three days, there will be a market here. It will be filled with eager shoppers looking to snap up the latest bargains. But on this day, the people are scattered far and wide, enjoying the atmosphere of Sheringham Carnival Day.

If truth be known, this is the first time ever I have paid attention to Sheringham Carnival. Living in Cromer, the "gem of the Norfolk coast", I have been accustomed to the splendour, the grandeur of the Cromer Carnival, second biggest in the country behind that of Notting Hill.

So why am I here? Simple. Because the World Association of Wrestling are, and where they go, I follow.

RE-POST: The Internet & Professional Wrestling (Orginally Written in June 2002)

In this edition, I am going to discuss two wrestlers, one British, one Canadian, and the way that the Internet has reacted to them over the past week or so.

Let's start close to home, with the British wrestler - the Zebra Kid. I consider Roy Bevis to be a friend of mine. A lot of people agree with me that Roy is perhaps the best young wrestler in Britain today. Personally, I think he would go down a storm in the WWE. He has the looks, the ability, the charm, and the charisma to go right to the top in the wrestling industry, given the right push, the right amount of publicity.

RE-POST: Random Ramblings, June 2002

It's been a while since I wrote my last on-line column, so, as I have a great deal of time on my hands at the moment, I thought I'd give this a go again.

But first things first. Let's get this over with. Half of my hometown of Cromer seems to know about this, so I may as well tell you all.

RE-POST: WAW, Fakenham, June 2002 - Live Show Review

Becks stuck to the Argentine football team earlier in the day!

WAW made a welcome return to the town of Fakenham this evening, in front of a crowd that was very vocal, and probably one of the loudest crowds I have heard in recent months.

RE-POST: UWA, Stowmarket, June 2002 - Live Show Review

Me and Carl Moore at the show.

From the relatively large crowd of the F.W.A.'s "Carpe Diem", my next show took me to Suffolk, and a smaller crowd for the newly re-formed Ultimate Wrestling Alliance. Our main focus for the evening would be a single elimination tournament for the U.W.A. Cruiserweight title. However, the tournament rules would change as the night wore on.

RE-POST: DAM Promotions, Sheringham, May 2002 - Live Show Review

A warmish night in the Norfolk coastal town of Sheringham, for a show in aid of the local Ladybird Playgroup, which was recently the victim of an arson attack. The show was the first promoted in the area for a number of years, and the first show of the newly formed DAM Promotions, who co-promoted the show with WAW. Our ring announcer was local town crier Tony Nelson, decked out in a splendid outfit, complete with bell!

RE-POST: WAW, Thetford/Lowestoft, May 2002 - Live Show Reviews

THETFORD, MAY 2002

A first for me in my time with WAW, returning to an arena. A couple of months ago WAW had put on a great show here, but this night's crowd was somewhat disappointing. However, this didn't detract from the quality of the matches.

RE-POST: Response to Fightmare Criticism (Originally Written in 2001)

I'm concerned about the dangers of bringing American-style wrestling to Norwich. Violence is increasing both in Norwich and the country yet this has always been one of the most peaceful cities. Surely we should do our best to keep it so. The young are deeply impressed and influenced by "sports" such as American wrestling.

W.D. GILES, SOUTH HILL ROAD, NORWICH.

RE-POST: Why Do We Need to Import Talent? (Originally Written in 2001)

In this instalment of The Two Sheds Review, I will be doing two things;
1. Flogging a dead horse.
2. Biting the hands that feed me.
Things will become apparent to you all soon enough.

Today, in the many newsletters I write for, I saw a news item about a British wrestling event. In October, NWA UK Hammerlock and the FWA will be co-promoting a show in Coventry.

RE-POST: Copyright Infringement (Originally Written in 2000)

Normally, around this time of the month, I would write about an upcoming WWF pay-per-view, but as I've been away, I don't really know much about the Survivor Series matches.

So I thought I would write about something different. This afternoon in Cromer, I saw a poster for a WAW event in the nearby town of Fakenham. I saw a photo of the Incredible Bulk, a local man mountain of a wrestler I've met a couple of times, but this wasn't the thing that grabbed my attention. You see, there were several other photos on this poster. One showed a large man wearing a Vader style mask, complete with customary Vader salute. Near to him was a man dressed like one of the Road Warriors, complete with spiked shoulder pads and face paint. Then there was another man with longish dark hair, dark glasses, and the original DX t-shirt, giving the DX crotch chop. Then there was the man dressed like Doink The Clown.

RE-POST: WAW, Hingham, April 2002 - Live Show Review

While the previous evening's show at The Talk got everyone talking, the next night's show in Hingham offered something different, a chance for recent graduates of the WAW training school to show their stuff.

RE-POST: WAW, Norwich, April 2002 - Live Show Review

WAW returned to their hometown this past Saturday, performing in front of a capacity crowd at The Talk on Oak Street, with a card that would have sold out any arena in the country, packed with top notch matches.

RE-POST: TWA, Ipswich, March 2002 - Live Show Review

"The Highlander" Drew MacDonald

Being unable to attend WAW's upcoming show in Launceston would have left me with over a month between wrestling shows. Not being able to wait until my trip to Clacton on April 18th, I decided to accept an invitation, and travelled down with some of the WAW crew to the TWA show in Ipswich. Although I enjoy WAW shows a great deal, I felt it was time for a change, to sample another company's action, and to see some people I don't get to see that often.

RE-POST: Professional Wrestling and the Political Blogger (2008)

The name of Iain Dale will probably mean very little to you, so let me fill you in with a few background details.

Iain was selected as the Conservative party candidate for the North Norfolk constituency at the 2005 General Election. He announced that he was the first openly gay candidate to be chosen by his party to run for political office (although this has later been disproved, although Iain still claims it to be true). Iain’s campaign didn’t actually amount to much, and consisted mainly of publicity stunts, so much so that the winner, Liberal Democrat incumbent Norman Lamb, saw his majority vote rise from around 400 in the previous election to over 10,000 that year, such was the public’s dislike for Iain’s style of campaigning.

RE-POST: WAW, Watton/Clacton February 2002 - Live Show Reviews

WATTON SPORTS CENTRE, February 2002

I have decided not to begin this review by saying a few things about Watton. If truth be known, I had never been here before.

Having travelled to Watton via the training school in Hingham, I knew that at this show, I would get the opportunity to see some of the trainees in action in the climax of the show. But more on that later.

RE-POST: WAW, Canvey Island/Fakenham February 2002 - Live Show Reviews

THE PADDOCKS, CANVEY ISLAND, FEBRUARY 2002

Our evening started in the small Paddocks arena, and an almost capacity crowd greeted both Team WAW and Team Essex as they came down to the ring. To help kick start the night's tournament, our ring announcer Michael Mann asked for the help of the crowd in picking tonight's four single matches. The decisions made, it was on with the show.
  

RE-POST: Patrick Viera (Originally Written in 2001)

Once again a Premiership player has hit the headlines for publicly criticising his team. Patrick Viera, French World Cup winner, has gone on record assaying that his team, Arsenal, are just not good enough to win anything, and because of that, he wants to leave.

RE-POST: My Plan for the County Championship (Originally Written in 2001)

As the sport content of this English-based newsletter seems to mainly revolve around American sports, I thought I would add a little home-country value by writing about the most English of sports - the gentlemanly game of cricket, and in particular, out esteemed county championship, which, as some records would have you believe, dates back to the early 1800's.

In recent years, the county championship had become rather boring. With a massive 18 teams competing in a single division, games towards the end of the season, between teams that had no chance of winning the championship, seemed meaningless, and the counties would often put out understrength sides, often playing in front of crowds numbering under a hundred.

RE-POST: WAW, Lowestoft December 2001 - Live Show Review

It was a cold winter's night as I entered the arena, taking my seat at the ringside table as the new official WAW Internet reporter. I had the best seat in the house, but at times I wished I had another! (Read on and you'll find out more!)

Our ring announcer, Michael Mann, reminded us all exactly why we were there, to help raise money to help local children get some much needed medical treatment in America. But I have the feeling that in the minds of the majority of the fans, they were there for a whole different reason. Yep, you guessed it; Snake Man in da house.