Apparently I Never Worked for Claws 'N' Paws

To say that at this moment I'm angry and frustrated would be an understatement.

Two months ago I instigated Employment Tribunal proceedings against my former employer at Claws 'N' Paws, Helen SIdell, in an attempt to get the wages and holiday pay she still owed me after the closure of the business. It had been my hope that the matter would be sorted during the conciliation process, before the scheduled tribunal date on June 14th, but after having recieved an e-mail from the tribunal service this morning I learned that this wasn't going to be the case.

Why? Because Helen responded to my claim by saying that she never employed me, and that I never worked for her company.

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

RE-POST: UWA Volume 1 - DVD Review

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. 

RE-POST: UWA Wrestling Rampage Episode 1 - TV Review

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.

RE-POST: Showstealer Promotions King of Europe Cup 2007 - DVD Review

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.
 

RE-POST: The Best of Premier Promotions - DVD Review

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.

RE-POST: LDN Wrestling The Showdown II - DVD Review

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.

RE-POST: HEW The Devil's Temptation - DVD Review

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.

RE-POST: HEW Forever Joe - DVD Review

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.

RE-POST: HEW Shows 2 & 3 - DVD Reviews

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”.

RE-POST: FSF Queens of Chaos - DVD Review

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.

RE-POST: DAM Promotions Spring Showdown - DVD Review

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.

RE-POST: BRAWL Collision at Coalville - DVD Review

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.
 

RE-POST: The 10 Worst Wrestlers from the Past 10 Years (2010)

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;

RE-POST: Why Wrestlers Should Stay Away from the Internet (2011)

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.)

RE-POST: It's Official! I'm a "Professional" Wrestling Referee! (2011)

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.

RE-POST: Never Meet Your Heroes: Encounters with Jake "The Snake" Roberts (2011)

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.

RE-POST: The Importance of the Internet to Professional Wrestling (2008)

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.

RE-POST: Goodbye For Now (2001)

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.