Retro Review // TNA Lockdown 2006

April 2006, Gnarls Barkley's Crazy was blasting out, everyone was about to die of bird flu and TNA were hosting Lockdown 2006. Gosh golly, it was a mad time to be about. The second ever all steel cage event was still a pretty novel concept at the time, with the show being headlined by Abyss challenging for Christian Cage's NWA World Heavyweight title and a Lethal Lockdown match with Sting being joined by AJ Styles, Rhino & Ron “The Truth” Killings to battle a Jeff Jarrett-led team that included America's Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) & Scott Steiner. But how was Lockdown 2006? Here's our review.

“Brutality meets Hardcore”, the opening package throws up random words, focusing on Christian Cage vs. Abyss for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Samoa Joe defending his X Division title against Sabu and the Lethal Lockdown match pitting a Jeff Jarrett-led team against a group headed up by Sting. This promo is too much, man.

“Screw McMahonism, I'm a TNAthiest” reads a sign in the crowd, as Mike Tenay and Don West welcome us to the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida.

Six Man Tag Team World X Cup Preview Steel Cage Match - Team Japan (Minoru, Hirooki Goto & Black Tiger) vs. Team USA (Sonjay Dutt, Alex Shelley & Jay Lethal)

A sweet opener here with six talented young performers combining well to present an exciting preview to that year's World X Cup. Whilst the steel cage was barely used and the match would probably have been much better without, the six lads worked well within the confines, working a number of tight sequences and bringing in a number of sick fucking tag moves that hyped the crowd up well. Team USA worked particularly well together with the majority of their offence coming in short bursts of double and triple team offence, highlighted early on with a wheelbarrow gutbuster combination from Jay Lethal & Alex Shelley that was followed up with a lionsault from Sonjay Dutt. Whilst Team Japan would get the win with a tasty bridging Tiger suplex from Black Tiger (better known as Rocky Romero in New Japan Pro Wrestling) on Jay Lethal, I feel like Team Japan still could've been better presented in the main body of the match, often coming across as a little generic whilst Team USA got the majority of the exciting offence in. Lethal showed signs of the world-class performer he'd develop into in Ring of Honor, pulling out a good variety of action with his three opponents and looking the smoothest and most reliable performer on Team USA, whilst also doing a great job of selling his arm following a sequence that concluded with him getting caught in Minoru's signature submission, the Minoru Special (flying cross armbreaker).

Next PPV – On 14^th May at Sacrifice, all six men would compete in the World X Cup Final Gauntlet match that also featured Eric Young, Incognito, Johnny Devine, Jushin Thunder Liger, Magno, Puma, Shocker, Tyson Dux and eventual winner Petey Williams. This would be the final TNA PPV appearances for both Hirooki Goto & Black Tiger.

Mike Tenay and Don West chatted a bit and showed us some of the matches that were still to come, whilst pushing the idea that Lockdown was a unique show because of the all steel cage gimmick

Jeremy Borash pushed the new TNA action figure set, before interviewing a Team 3D who all very intense with Brother Ray proclaiming he'd rather work for “that company in Conneticut” than hear the Canadian national anthem...also Latte Zbssskfko to ask Borash something, it was unclear what was going on.

Steel Cage Match - “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels vs. “Formerly Known as Low-Ki” Senshi

Considering the pedigree of the talent involved, this match comes out feeling surprisingly throwaway and whilst it's still a pretty good outing, it doesn't come close to reaching the potential that a match between Christopher Daniels and Senshi had at this time when looked at on paper. This is partly down to a relatively basic match structure and a couple of teases of big highspots that ultimately came to nothing. Neither man seemed completely into the bout, perhaps feeling pissed at being chucked into the second match on the card with no build and this leads to a middle section with little direction and a surprising lack of high-quality sequences. There was however some strong psychology at work in the opening with Senshi taking the action to Daniels with the commentary team pushing that Daniels had been caught off guard by his former Triple X stablemate answering his open challenge with the former and future Low Ki unloading some stiff strikes on the Fallen Angel, including a brutal looking double foot stomp. The highlight of the match was a strong near fall for Daniels off a Best Moonsault Ever, but the finish ended up falling flat for this reviewer as Senshi escaped an Angel's Wings attempt into a pinning combination picking up the win with his feet on the middle turnbuckle. I've probably been a bit hard on this match and I'd still say it would be worth checking out, but if you're pushed for time and want an example of a singles match between the two then you'd probably be better served by watching their encounter from earlier in 2006 at Ring of Honor's Tag Wars event.

Next PPV – At Sacrifice, Christopher Daniels would tag with AJ Styles in a losing effort against America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team titles. On the other hand, Senshi missed Sacrfice but would return for Slammiversary in June, winning a six way elimination bout that also included Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Petey Williams, Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt.

Jeremy Borash had a chat with “Bullet” Bob Armstrong and the James Gang ahead of Armstrong's arm wrestling match with Konnan...there's a lot of weird cliches that I'm sure sounded good when they came up with them...

The promo package for the Arm Wrestling match is an absolute dumpster fire, acting more as a promo video for whatever mad song is being played in the background than telling me what has actually happened in this feud.

Konnan cut a promo on Orlando, the crowd didn't react because the show is in a theme park, so the crowd is mostly tourists. Brilliant work Konnan, you cunt.

Steel Cage Arm Wrestling Match – Konnan (with The Latin American Xchange (Homicide & Hernandez)) vs. “Bullet” Bob Armstrong (with The James Gang (BG James & Kip James))

63 year old Bob Armstrong got the win in an overly theatric arm wrestling match, despite repeated attempt at cheating from Konnan. What else can I say?

As per the pre-match stipulation the James Gang got to administer ten whips with belts to LAX...this was a bit of a shambles, but did included an unintentionally funny moment when BG accidentally called Kip “Billy”, leading to Mike Tenay quipping on commentary that Kip had “jumped the Gun(n)”.

Next PPV – Whilst this was Konnan's final PPV match, Bob Armstrong would return for February 2008's Against All Odds event, tagging with BG James for an unsuccessful shot at AJ Styles & Tomko's TNA World Tag Team Championships.

Latte told Jeff Jarrett that his team had won the coin toss for Lethal Lockdown, as the rest of Team Jarrett chatted to Jeremy Borash about the upcoming Lethal Lockdown match, including Scott Steiner absolutely murdering the English language and a surpringsly competent performance from America's Most Wanted's Chris Harris.

X-Division X-Scape Match – “Primetime” Elix Skipper (w/ Simon Diamond) vs. Petey Williams (w/ Coach D'Amore) vs. Puma vs. Chase Stevens vs. Shark Boy vs. “The Captain of Team USA” Chris Sabin

Despite a convoluted gimmick, the X-Scape match featured the best action of the show so far with strong performances from the likes of eventual winner Chris Sabin and Petey Williams. If you're unfamiliar with the gimmick, it's basically an elimination match with pinfalls or submissions until the final two competitors have to attempt to “X-scape” the cage (seriously, Tenay really hammered home that they would be “X-scaping”) to earn the victory. The earlier part of the match is hampered by the competitors having to tag in and out for some illogical reason, but once Shark Boy gets eliminated and everyone begins flying around the ring at the same time it became an exciting spot-heavy clash, featuring a number of intricate fast-paced sequences. The match peaked with a ridiculous shooting star press off the top of the cage from Chase Stevens, where everyone failed to catch the Hoosier. The spot could've ended up much worse for Stevens and it's damn good job he performed the move perfectly. Wrestling-wise the best action resulted in Puma's elimination as the man now known as TJP had a brilliant exchange with Petey Williams with the pair going back and forth repeatedly before Williams catapulted Puma straight into a Cradle Shock from Sabin. I'm not sure how much the X-scape gimmick helped the finale between Sabin and Williams as the wrestling stopped and both men simply tried to jump over the top, which would have been cool if there was something on the line, but without anything to fight for it was hard to buy into the drama of those moments. The finish itself came across as a little hokey with Williams ending up falling on his manager Coach D'Amore's shoulders when trying to escape, allowing Sabin to pick up the win and the momentum heading into the World X Cup. With a few tweaks to the gimmick and perhaps a better performance from a lacklustre Elix Skipper, this match would've been brilliant, however it's still a very fun watch that doesn't outstay it's welcome.

Next PPV – At Sacrifice, Petey Williams would lose to Jushin Thunder Liger in the World X Cup, before going on to win the final Gauntlet match that also included Puma and Chris Sabin. Shark Boy had to wait another month for PPV action, taking part in the aforementioned six way elimination match that was won by Senshi, whilst Chase Stevens & Elix Skipper returned at July's Victory Road show as Steven's teamed with Andy Douglas at The Naturals to defeat Skipper and his partner David Young, known collectively as The Diamonds in the Rough (which is an awful tag team name)

Jeremy Borash had tracked down Abyss & Father James Mitchell backstage and Mitchell cut a mad promo about Christian Cage not being a real champion and promising that Cage's head will roll later tonight. Odd stuff, but oddly compelling also.

The promo for Samoa Joe vs. Sabu, showing us lots of mad things that have happened, but it appears there's not much of a feud here.

Mikey Tenay gave us the “X Factors” for the Samoa Joe vs. Sabu match, which included that Joe was yet to be defeated in TNA, that both men were the epitome of the X-Division's “no limits” ethos and that Latte had chosen to bring in someone from outside TNA in order to push Joe further than before.

X Division Championship – Sabu vs. “The Undefeated Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe ©

This is neither man's best effort, but it does the job of putting Samoa Joe over strong as a dominant force capable of tackling an opponent with a unique style as Joe beats the shit out of the former ECW Champion. The match is probably 80% Joe as he lobs his opponent around the cage with Sabu being busted open pretty early, which really helps towards the aura TNA were trying to build around Joe at this time. I'm not a massive fan of Sabu, but he actually manages to hit most of his offence effectively here, including a number of old favourites, even if he called every move ridiculously loudly. There's some weird stuff with Sabu having a cast on a supposedly broken arm, which I don't think achieved anything as despite Joe repeatedly going after the cast, Sabu couldn't sell because he had a cast on and even if he didn't I'm not sure he'd have sold it anyway, because he's Sabu. Could the two have had a better match? Probably, under different circumstances, but considering Sabu would be challenging John Cena and Rey Mysterio for titles in WWE a few months later, this was a massive victory for Samoa Joe at the time.

Next PPV – At Sacrifice, Samoa Joe continued to build momentum as he teamed with Sting to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner. Sabu would jump ship to WWE, appearing on the ECW One Night Stand show just two month's later in June, going to a no contest with Rey Mysterio over the World Heavyweight title, before returning to TNA PPV in August 2010, losing to Rob Van Dam at Hardcore Justice – The Last Stand.

Team Canada (Coach D'Amore, Bobby Roode, Eric Young & A1) sang “O Canada” and Coach D'Amore explained that most of the issues between them and Team 3D come from Team 3D being fat or something. Latte was back as he continued to try to find out what the big announcement is going to be, but received no help from Team Canada.

Hype promo time in which we learn that Team 3D are furious for being covered in a Canadian flag at some point by Team Canada and some more weird nationalistic weird shit. The backbone of this was a ridiculously cringey promo from Brother Ray.

Six Man Tag Team Steel Cage Anthem Match - Team Canada (A1, “The Canadian Enforcer” Bobby Roode & “Showtime” Eric Young) (with Coach D'Amore) vs. Team 3D (Brother Ray, Brother Devon & Brother Runt)

Whilst there was a handful of great spots and nice creativity here, this match becomes a painful watch thanks to the awful gimmick and some horrible booking. Firstly, lets discuss the idea of the Anthem match. The aim of the match is to retrieve your country's flag from the top of the cage, which will then result in your country's national anthem being played and victory. Why? Team Canada had already came out to their usual entrance theme...”O Canada”...and also sang the anthem in the backstage segment earlier. Lads. Onto the booking which is very poor indeed. After a ref bump, Team 3D grabbed the Stars and Stripes, which, of course, didn't result in the end of the match because the referee was down. Team Canada managed to put the flag back and after Coach D'Amore nailed the “gatekeeper” with a steel chair, he got a table in the cage, which eventually Eric Young ended up going through with a diving elbow drop attempt on Brother Runt, before A1 took an Acid Drop from Runt and Roode a 3D from Ray & Devon, leading to Team 3D getting the flag down for the second time and winning the match. This made Team Canada look like an absolute bunch of chumps. They lost the match twice, despite underhanded tactics and spent a long time in control without even attempting to get their flag. Despite all this shit, there were a couple of great moments, including Roode taking an Avalanche Bubba Bomb early on and a lovely spot with A1 blocking an Acid Drop and setting up Roode for a wicked sitout powerbomb.

After the match, a terrible version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” played and Brother Ray and Brother Devon gave Coach D'Amore a 3D.

Next PPV – At Sacrifice, Brother's Ray and Devon came out on the losing side of a match with The James Gang (BJ James & Kip James), whilst it was a mixed night for Team Canada as despite Bobby Roode's victory over Rhino, A1 put over Raven and Eric Young was unsuccessful in the World X Cup Final Gauntlet match. Brother Runt's next PPV match would be for the HUSTLE promotion in June as he tagged with his storyline brother's Kinetaro Kinemura, Masato Tanaka and Tetsuhiro Kuroda at House Vol. 16 – The Road to HUSTLE Aid, before returning to TNA in July at Victory Road for another six man tag, this time seeing Team 3D losing to Abyss & The James Gang.

Mike Tenay and Don West attempted to talk about the two matches left on the card, but the crowd obviously wanted to actually sing the US National anthem still, because the version TNA played was impossible to join in with. Team 3D recognised this and ended up leading a sing-a-long at the top of the babyface ramp in what was actually a pretty cute moment.

After being heavily pushed in every backstage segment on the show, it turned out that TNA's major announcement was that they were going through a corporate restructuring. Come on guys, that's not going to get anyone excited about anything. What this boiled down to was that there was a new “face of TNA management”, who would be revealed at a later date. Latte was put on probation as the “Head of the Championship Committee” and former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Raven returned to the company, chasing Latte around the ring for reason's that I'm sure were clear if you were watch iMPACT at the time. Oh, Christy Hemme also made her TNA debut in this segment, delivering an envelope to the commentary bois.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage refused to be interviewed by Jeremy Borash

Good golly, it was all going on in the Abyss vs. Christian Cage feud in '06. Abyss and Father James Mitchell had stalked Cage's wife and beaten Cage up in his home and attempted to drown him, whilst Cage had looked to use a tyre iron on Abyss. Why are we having a wrestling match and not a day in court?

Mike Tenay ran down the tale of the tape for the NWA World title match, with some shit puns and stuff.

Steel Cage match for NWA World Heavyweight Championship - “The Monster” Abyss vs. Christian Cage ©

Whilst at times over-booked, Abyss vs. Christian Cage is a fun World title cage match, that has good variety and remained entertaining for over 20 minutes. The match is packed with strong near falls with Abyss kicking out of an Unprettier, whilst Cage survives a Blackhole Slam, as well as featuring a number of big highspots with the highlight being a Frog Splash from the top of the six sides of steel from the champion. The double ref bump was gratuitous, but both bumps were creatively done and allowed for a little added drama down the stretch, whilst the second showed signs of desperation from The Monster as he threw the ref into the cage to prevent Cage diving off the top, which in turn added a little depth to the storytelling in the later stages. I think at times the match lost sight of how serious the feud had been between the two, as after the opening brawl there's a slight lack of intensity from either man and things almost settle into a typical power vs. technique type contest. Whilst the thumbtack spots are brutal, they have more of an air of trying anything possible to win the top prize in the NWA than anything else. The finish, however, is done very well, with Cage countering a chokeslam and nailing the second Unprettier of the match, this time onto a massive pile of thumbtacks, whilst Tenay and West sold the moment on commentary. This is probably a Top Five singles match for Abyss in TNA, whilst also being the strongest match on the card.

After the match, Christian Cage attempted to gain some revenge on Father James Mitchell, but was instead low-blowed by Abyss, before being bloodied and hung by a chain using the steel cage in what was an unnecessary angle. Mitchell handed Abyss the NWA World Heavyweight title belt before the pair left.

Next PPV – The two would collide again at Sacrfice, with Christian Cage retaining once more in a Full Metal Mayhem match, which main evented the show.

Ron Killings, AJ Styles and Rhino were all interviewed by Jeremy Borash with Rhino giving the best account of himself on the mic, pulling out an intense promo, ending with his “Gore, Gore, Gore” catchphrase. Sting showed up at the end to say “It's showtime, folks”.

The hype package for the main event focused on the issues between Jeff Jarrett and Sting, whilst never actually explaining what those issues were, whilst also pushing Lethal Lockdown as the most

Lethal Lockdown – Team Jarrett (NWA World Tag Team Champion “Wildcat” Chris Harris, NWA World Tag Team Champion “Cowboy” James Storm, Jeff Jarrett & “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner) (with Gail Kim & Jackie) vs. Sting's Warriors (“The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, Rhino, Ron “The Truth” Killings & Sting)

Lethal Lockdown produced an entertaining main event, that whilst at times lacking in substance, used the gimmick to keep the momentum building, whilst two massive spots make this a more than worthwhile watch. One of the spots is probably one of the most memorable moments in Lethal Lockdown history as AJ Styles and James Storm battled on top of the cage, concluding with Styles scaling a tall ladder and using some trussing to splash Storm through a table. Whilst this isn't shot particularly well by TNA, it still looks incredible and is a testament to what Styles was willing to do for the company at this time. This is also seen in the other spot as Styles is at the top of a ridiculous tower of doom spot that sees him fall from the top of the cage. Had their been more of an issue between anyone other than Jeff Jarrett and Sting, I think the latter stages could've been a much more compelling watch, as things essentially boil down to a sequence where everyone hits their signature moves, before an awkward sequence where Sting reversed a Sharpshooter from Chris Harris into a Scorpion Deathlock, which struggled following the massive spot from Styles and Storm on top of the cage. The undisputed lowlight was Jackie removing Gail Kim's skirt as she attempted to scale the cage, something which makes it seem like 2006 was a world away from the modern day.

Performance wise, there's no doubt that Styles is the MVP of this bout as he works his arse off throughout, helping others look like a million bucks, especially when starting the match with Harris, whilst taking part in the matches two biggest spots of the evening. Everyone else almost fades into the background, mainly appearing during their entrances to hit a number of big moves before coming back into the action for the finishing sequence. Everyone manages to look pretty good when first out the gate, with Rhino and Steiner's entrances in particularly lifting the contest at the right time, when they unleash a series of power moves, whilst Ron Killings also pulls out a greatest hits of his funky offence. For me, the two captains of the team put in disappointing efforts, as aside from a melodramatic stand-off with their guitar and baseball bat respectively, it's hard to point out anything particularly impressive or memorable from either man.

2006's incarnation of Lethal Lockdown is certainly worth a watch and has a case for being the best version of the contest, that has never quite fufilled its potential as TNA's version of WarGames. Although I'd put the Team Angle vs. Team Cage bout from the next Lockdown show as slightly ahead.

Next PPV – The feud between Sting and Jeff Jarrett continued at Sacrifice with Sting picking up another victory as he teamed with Samoa Joe to take on Jarrett & Scott Steiner. America's Most Wanted succesfully defended their NWA World Tag Team Championships against AJ Styles and his partner Christopher Daniels at the same event, whilst Rhino ended up putting over Bobby Roode. Ron Killings wouldn't be back on PPV til July at Slammiversary, taking part in a King of the Mountain match for Christian Cage's NWA World Heavyweight title, in a match that also included Abyss and Sting and saw Jeff Jarrett walk out with the ten pounds of gold.

Lockdown 2006 was a really solid PPV that, despite some issues with the booking, featured a number of entertaining matches. The opening stretch of X Division action (albeit broken up by a lame arm wrestling match) is an inspired way to do the first half, that also displays the sheer amount of talent that TNA had in that area at the time as we see appearances from Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, Low Ki, Christopher Daniels, Chris Sabin, TJP and Jay Lethal. There's a definite lull in the middle with the Joe vs. Sabu match not setting the world alight, whilst the Anthem match has it's moments but features six men fighting against a poorly conceived gimmick, whilst the constant interruptions from Latte resulted in a disappointing “major announcement” (something that would become a running theme for TNA in later years). The prevalence of multi-man matches gets a little much by the end of the show as TNA seems dead set on trying to get as many men inside the steel cage as possible, but that does also mean that when it comes time for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match the match gains more of a big match feel than it perhaps would have got following a series of particularly good singles matches. Indeed, for me, the Abyss vs. Christian Cage match is the best on the show, going heavy on the drama that is at times missing from the Lethal Lockdown main event, whilst also showcasing what was a perhaps surprising chemistry between The Monster and Captain Charisma. For the first time on Retro Review, I'd recommend this PPV as a complete watch, as despite it's flaws it is a good show that is mostly carried well across the three hours. You can check it out on the Global Wrestling Network. 

Next time - NWA Starrcade 1985 feat. Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard in an I Quit Steel Cage match and The Rock N' Roll Express vs. The Russians in a Cage match.

Written by James Marston 

GFW One Night Only: Amped Anthology Part 1 Review

Remember when Global Force Wrestling taped a TV show in Las Vegas, way back in 2015? No? Well, I freaking do. I know, Jozef Raczka does too. Well, the show was called Amped and they did three tapings in July, August and October 2015. Since GFW and Impact Wrestling merged earlier this year, it seems that the new GFW has decided to cut some costs and air the tapings across four of their One Night Only PPVs. Even if it's a pretty obvious money saving method, I was still interested to see what these tapings were like. I mean, the show couldn't get commissioned for whatever reason, so my hopes weren't particularly high, but there was a decent line-up of names including Mickie James, Bobby Roode, PJ Black [Justin Gabriel], Sonjay Dutt and KUSHIDA amongst others on this first part, so out of hope and genuine intrigue (and the fact it's currently available on Channel 5's on Demand service, My5, for free in the UK) I thought I'd give it a shot. 

So let's find out if the mysterious GFW Amped was any good...

• Promo - This explains how the show will work, letting us know that what we will see isn't scripted and is real, which is a little lame but let's roll with it. It also lets us know about the various championship tournaments that will be the spine of the show and gives a glimpse into some of the stars of the show. 

Match One - GFW NEXGEN Championship Tournament First Round

PJ Black def. Seiya Sanada 

PJ Black had left WWE in January, Seiya Sanada had left TNA in February, so kicking off the show with two known international television talents, that happen to wrestle a high pace, exciting style was a pretty sound tactic. The two were presented as an even match for one another with some technical exchanges breaking out in some smooth back and forth as the duo pinged about the ring before both ended up missing attempts at different moonsault variants. The later part of the matches provided some big spots and some good near falls for the man from Niigata, Japan as he hit a frankensteiner, managing to counter Black's counter, a bridging tiger suplex and then came closer still after powering out of a crucifix attempt to hit a TKO. The finish ended up being the scrapiest part of the match as the scramble for a superplex couldn't match the action that had come moments prior and otherwise cool moments like Sanada kipping up moments before Black went for a top rope move felt a little wasted in their placement. However, once Black had pulled his opponents throat across the top rope and nailed his signature 450 splash for the victory, I was more than satisfied with the quality of this opener. Both men came out of it looking capable of pulling out a victory, whilst Black was helped by surviving a barrage of high impact offence. 

• Promo - Kevin Kross - We're informed that Kross is well travelled, up to this point he'd mainly wrestled in Portland, Oregon and Las Vegas, Nevada (with a single match for IGF in Japan according to Cagematch.net)  

• Backstage - Los Luchas (Misteriosa Jr., Phoenix Star & Zokre) - The lads fire each other up in the locker room, part in Spanish and part in English, saying they'll win the Tag Team Tournament, which is a little confusing because there's three of them and it's not a trios tourney.

• Backstage - Bobby Roode - Roode's arrived pulling his wheely suitcase behind him, he's not bothered with a suit for this show.

In-Ring Segment

feat. Bobby Roode, Nick Aldis and Kongo Kong

This was an odd segment, with seemingly odd intentions and a lack of self awareness on the part of GFW and whoever was in charge of putting this together. Bobby Roode came out first, cutting a pro-TNA promo, positioning himself as an anti-GFW guy, who was coming to take the belt from the company in response for Jeff Jarrett taking the TNA King of the Mountain Championship at Slammiversary (28/05/15 and by mid-August Jarrett had vacated the belt on TNA television as part of the GFW Invasion angle). After just one match, expecting the audience to give a crap about GFW, especially enough to care about Bobby Roode (arguably the most established male star on the show) disparaging the company seemed like a misstep. Roode's promo about how he was always going to be a TNA guy is also unintentionally comical two years on, with then IT Factor and now Glorious One currently being WWE's NXT Champion and spending only eight more months with TNA past these tapings. The Nick Aldis [Magnus] interruption didn't do much for either guy as Aldis spent most of his promo putting over Jeff Jarrett, before being jumping by Kongo Kong with a nasty looking Samoan drop. We conclude things with a Crossface from Roode and even without looking at spoilers it's pretty clear to see that it will be these two men in the GFW Global title tournament final. 

• Backstage - PJ Black - A promo is spliced to fuck with various clips from the match and he really doesn't say anything at all of note.

• In-Arena - Chael Sonnen and Cyrus Fees - Chat about the upcoming Global Championship Tournament, talking about Brian Myers [Curt Hawkins], Chris Mordetzky [Chris Masters] and Nick Aldis, with Sonnen singling out Mordetzky as his pick to win the tournament.

Match Two -   Six Man Tag Team Match

Los Luchas (Phoenix Star &Zokre)& Misterioso Jr. def. Shamu Jr., Blood Eagle & Bestia 666

Despite the company supposedly being partnered with AAA, this Lucha showcase match that served as the first main event has no AAA talent in it, which could be to do with the launch of Lucha Underground which happened in nine months before these tapings. However, these six lads come in and do a really good job in this spot, creating something that still feels exciting to watch now, even with the influx of lucha talent that we've seen since LU's arrival on the scene. It starts of regular enough, the heel side (Shamu Jr. and pals) do some double and triple moves on one of Los Luchas, before a pop-up reversed into a rana sends us into a hot tag and it's all go from there. Everyone flies around the place, with a number of sweet highspots including a funky spinebuster from Phoenix Star, Bestia hitting a Ki Krusher, Misterioso Jr. landing on his feet from a moonsault and hitting a standing one anyway and then a series of dives from anyone who fancies it, including big chunky Shamu Jr. pulling out a suicide dive. The conclusion showcases Los Luchas nicely as Misterioso hits a lung blower and wicked af front flip piledriver, before Star and Zokre finish Blood Eagle off with a moonsault and rope-hung backbreaker combination. This was a tremendously fun match to watch, that stands out from most of the main stream TV products at the time and ended what was supposed to be the first episode on a real high note. 

• Promo - Sort of a next time trailer, which is pretty redundant in this format.

• Promo - Sort of a last time trailer, which is pretty redundant in this format. 

• In-Arena - Chael Sonnen and Cyrus Fees - We're shown the tale of the tape for Bobby Roode vs. Kevin Kross and then KUSHIDA vs. Virgil Flynn, both matches will seemingly happen within the next portion of the PPV.

• Promo - KUSHIDA vs. Virgil Flynn - A look at KUSHIDA winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with Flynn mostly putting him over as one of the best wrestlers in the world. Whether it was a great idea to focus a major part of KUSHIDA's story around a title that he'd lose two months after these tapings took place (and just happens to have won back by the time they finally aired!) or whether it was just a case of GFW management naively expecting these episodes would be almost immediately picked up by a TV network, I do not know. 

Match Three - Singles Match

KUSHIDA def. Virgil Flynn 

We get a decent introduction KUSHIDA here and California-based Indy star Virgil Flynn does a decent job of making the Japanese wrestler look like a star in front of a fresh audience. The match is almost entirely focused on KUSHIDA looking for the Hoverboard lock (or Kimura as the commentary team decide to opt for) as he takes control of the match by applying a hammerlock and lobbing Flynn into the ringpost, before managing to transition into the hold out of a bridging German suplex. Flynn looked capable with some big offence, that made KUSHIDA look durable, but at times I felt like he could have made more of selling the arm as in between the two submissions it didn't feel like it was made the most of. A nice sequence that saw some back and forth strikes before a Pele kick from the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and then Flynn reversing a cross body into a moonsault slam is arguably the highlight of fun match. An awkward 450 splash still makes for a decent near fall for Flynn before a straight punch, a kick to the arm and the Hoverboard lock pick up the submission victory for the New Japan star. We're three for three for entertaining matches so far. 

• Promo - Lei'd Tapa vs. Mickie James vs. Christina Von Eerie - We get a look at each woman training and their personal lives, with James having the most interesting story after taking a break to have first child, but Tapa looking like the most interesting character. We also get clips of Karen Jarrett talking about how the company will be looking to focus on it's women, not calling them names like Diva or Knockout, whilst also giving them the opportunity in main events. Less than four months later Sasha Banks and Bayley main evented NXT Takeover: Respect and in under a year WWE dropped the term "Diva", so this segment is a little dated by August 2017.

• Backstage - KUSHIDA & Virgil Flynn - Both boys are lovely here, putting each other over again as KUSHIDA points to his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and calls it a dream come true. Heart warming.

• Promo - Kevin Kross - Another look at Kross who claims "if [he] needs to punch a whole in Bobby Roode's head [he] will", which is a weird thing when you're supposed to be the home-town babyface. 

• Promo - Chris Mordetzky - The Adonis chats about how he broke into the business and how he felt he was unfairly treated during his time in WWE, before closing with talking about developing a reputation in England (mostly for PCW, but also with a handful of appearances for the likes of Southside, HOPE and 4FW) after his release. These promos feel completely different to anything WWE or TNA was doing or is doing, having a genuinely real feel about them, but the main problem is it often isn't translating to what is happening in the ring.

• Promo - The Bollywood Boyz - Harv & Gurv Sihra (currently Jinder Mahal's trusty sidekicks in WWE) discuss wanting to portray India culture without resulting to stereotypes (their examples are turbans and swords) so they decided to celebrate Bollywood instead. I'm not sure I completely follow their logic, but they talk a bit about Ring Ka King so all is forgiven. 

Match Four - GFW Global Championship Tournament Qualifying Match 

Bobby Roode def. Kevin Kross 

For a match that has been built up with two promo videos on Kevin Kross, an in-ring segment with Bobby Roode, the commentary chatter about the tale of the tape and at various points with on-screen graphics during other matches, this was disappointingly one sided. Had their not been so much fan fare about it (and also had the previous bout not focused on the same body part) then Roode targeting Kross' shoulder to set up for the crossface with a series of vicious attacks inside and out of the ring would have been a decent squash match, that put Roode over as a technical veteran who would be a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. However, seeing Kross get in very little offence after having so much time dedicated to how he was a shooter and prepared to punch a whole through Roode's face, left the bout feeling a little flat. The TNA star would eventually get the win after reversing a sunset flip attempt straight into the Crossface for the second submission victory in a row.

• Promo - The Akbars - In a poorly advised move, GFW have Omar and Ali Akbar [Mohammad Ali Vaez] cut a promo, spliced with pictures of busy streets and flying planes as they ask the audience "What would you do if someone who looked like us sat next to you on a plane?". It's got similar vibes to what Jinder Mahal is doing at the moment, but taken two or three steps to far, in my opinion.

• Promo - Another last time trailer, with an added promo from Kevin Kross where he called Bobby Roode a douchebag, but said he respected him, because he didn't know what he'd gone through. 

• In-Ring - Some lad called Henry Maxwell [Maxwell Chicago], who apparently wrestled for the likes of FUW and BELIEVE in Florida, hammed the fuck out of the American national anthem, before getting the shit beaten out of him by The Akbars. It was tonally off with both acts working heel, with it feeling like whoever was supposed to sing the anthem pulled out when they heard about the Akbars dated gimmick. 

Match Five - GFW Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match

The Bollywood Boyz def. The Akbars

I'm going to be totally up front and say I despise everything about The Akbars gimmick and believe that there is absolutely no reason to have to resort to shouting "Allahu Akbar" in 2015. As much as The Akbars talked about being American and tried to spin their gimmick (similar to Jinder Mahal in WWE) as being upset for the way they were treated by Americans because of their looks, there's no doubt that this sort of gimmick attempts to stir up xenaphobia and bigotry, whilst appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to get a reaction. The match itself was a perfectly fine paint-by-numbers tag team match, with nothing out of the ordinary, as we got some cliche heely tag tactics from the Akbars, followed by a comeback from the Bollywood Boyz. A pair of superkicks, a diving back elbow and an elbow drop later and the future Cruiserweight Classic competitors found themselves in the next round of the tag tournament. 

• Promo - Sonjay Dutt vs. Jigsaw - We got a look at the lives of Dutt and Jigsaw here, with Dutt telling a great story about being signed with TNA whilst still studying at University as well as being set up as a family man. Jigsaw was presented as someone with a fresh, interesting style and look (despite having seen a six man tag earlier in the show where everyone wore a mask) and came off a little awkward on camera with a couple of oddly worded statements. 

• Promo - Chris Mordetzky - The Adonis is back again, this time with lots of footage of his time in PCW and whilst it's lovely to see Kris Travis on my TV screen in 2017, comparing the promotion to a trip to Japan is a little bit of a stretch. 

• In-Ring Segment - Karen Jarrett, Lei'D Tapa & Royal Red - A pretty pointless segment, that involved Jarrett telling Tapa that she didn't need her husband to talk for her, which didn't exactly helped the monster image that Tapa was trying to portray.

Match Six - GFW Women's Championship Tournament First Round Triple Threat Match 

Christina von Eerie def. Lei'D Tapa and Mickie James 

As arguably the biggest name on the show and with six reigns on top of WWE's Women's division and three at TNA, it was some what surprising to see Mickie James as the element that held this match back. Yes, James had only given birth for the first time less than a year previously, but she'd also been back in the ring since November 2014 and wrestling regularly on the Indies in 2015, so I would've expected her at least be able to hit a handful of signature moves effectively. A flapjack on CvE and a Mick-DT on Tapa both looked red reels. The bout did have a decent dynamic though with James and CvE fighting against the larger Tapa, which allowed Lei'D took look like a monster when she dominated the competition, including hitting a cool double samoan drop to the pair (even if James landed awkwardly on her leg). The move that CvE picked up the surprise pinfall on Tapa with looked brilliant as she nailed a straight-jacket backstabber after leaping off the middle rope and the star of California's AWS made a good account of herself throughout. Chael Sonnen's commentary continued to grate on me here as he made a comment about preferring skinny women, whilst his commentary partner would know a thing about bigger women like Lei'D Tapa. Considering the promotion had pushed how it was looking to present it's women as credible competitors, the comment about which type of women he fancied and their body shapes really didn't fit. 

• Promo - As Christina von Eerie was walking to the back, her post-match promo began airing over the top, I'm not sure whether I liked this style but it was different and gave a nice pace to the production.

• Commentary - A tale of the tape for Kongo Kong vs. Nick Aldis, as well as a look at the brackets for the GFW Global Championship and GFW NEXGEN Championship tournaments, before another tale of the tape for Sonjay Dutt vs. Jigsaw.

Match Seven - GFW NEXGEN Championship Tournament First Round Match

Jigsaw def. Sonjay Dutt

Two underrated performers pulled out the match of the PPV with a really good Junior heavyweight style match as the NEXGEN Tournament became the highlight of Amped. The two opened up with a wonderful series of quick near misses and crisp reversals that would grab any audience and seemed to get quicker as it went on. Jigsaw's Gory special looked beautiful and the sequence of near falls that followed was only let down by a referee who couldn't keep up with the pace. After the technical battle, both began to show off their high-flying arsenal with Jigsaw nailing a tasty tope conhilo and missile dropkick, before Dutt answered with a leaping hurricanrana and a running shooting star press. The pendulum of momentum swung back and forth throughout with a feeling that either man could pull out the victory, producing a great sequence with Jigsaw blocking a shiranui attempt, only for Dutt to able to counter once again with a Satellite DDT for a near fall. After a big german suplex near fall for Jigsaw, the CHIKARA star was able to block a superplex, before hitting a double stomp to the back of Dutt's neck and advancing with the Jig N' Tonic (cradle belly-to-back piledriver). This match flew by, with both men's offence looking crisp as they kept up a good speed throughout, getting just enough time. With five more minutes I think we could have seen a couple of extra near falls and highspots that would've taken things to the next level, but both men worked hard to create the best match on the show. 

• Promo - Nick Aldis vs. Kongo Kong - This was the most baffling part of the show, as we got a load of footage that hadn't previously aired, showing that the singer from earlier, Henry Maxwell, was Kong's manager and he'd had a couple of run ins with Aldis as well. The booking of Maxwell in the Akbars segment earlier was even more confusing now. 

• Backstage - Sonjay Dutt spoke to Jigsaw, putting over their match as the best they'd have to date (they'd previously worked in CZW and TNA) as well as wishing Jigsaw well in the later rounds of the tournament. 

• Promo - Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend) - From this I learnt that these two lads are a tag team and we saw some footage of them in the gym, even having seen them on a couple of episodes of Impact earlier in the year, I feel I know less about them now than before I saw this promo.

• In-Ring - Henry Maxwell announces Kongo Kong to the ring, which was nice of him.

Match Eight - GFW Global Championship Tournament First Round Match

Nick Aldis def. Kongo Kong

This match outdid my expectations, but my expectations weren't incredibly high to begin with. Until a final stretch of near falls, the bouts highlight was the antics of Henry Maxwell at ringside, which lead to him being the most over part of the match and actually getting a chant from the Las Vegas crowd. Vegas didn't seem to give a flying fuck about Nick Aldis or the peril he faced. The match felt a little bit out of it's time with the monster facing the good looking hero, whilst featuring plenty of interference from a flamboyant manager and a grand total of three bear hugs, whilst Sonnen essentially took the piss out of Kong's look on commentary. The last few minutes however were well put together as Aldis hit a nice-looking superplex before getting a convincing near fall from his diving elbow drop finisher. This was followed up by a well-worked distraction false finish, as Kong got two off a cannonball, before the 400lbs Kong missed a moonsault and Aldis advanced with a weak looking Spineshaker (Belly-to-back side slam). Whilst no one came away looking particularly impressive in the bout and it seems a shame to have the potential monster of Kong lose in his first match, the closing stretch was entertaining stuff and ended up saving what could have been a dud of a main event.

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.46/10 

As a PPV, this show wasn't great. It was poorly put together at points and also difficult to follow, with it being clear that whilst the earlier episode had been put together with care to shop to Networks, the later stuff on the show was thrown together to make up the show. However, the majority of the in-ring action was of a high quality, especially when involving the NEXGEN division as Sonjay Dutt vs. Jigsaw and PJ Black vs. Seiya Sanada were both good to very good matches, whilst the Lucha trios match and KUSHIDA vs. Virgil Flynn also producing some entertaining action. Parts of the show were dated already and some of the booking decisions were questionable (The Akbars and Henry Maxwell segment and the Akbars character in general, Bobby Roode being positioned as against a company that I had no reason to care about yet) and the commentary was awful (Sonnen was almost unbearable at points) but as a show that was available to me on an on demand service in the United Kingdom for free and with no ad-breaks, it provided me with more than enough to be satisfied by on a Sunday afternoon with my brother (@DaveAtTheGraps on Twitter). I think we'd both quite happily watch the next PPV, as we found a lot to enjoy and even the stuff that we didn't think was much cop was still fun to discuss. 

You can check the show out for yourself in the UK here - https://www.my5.tv/impact-wrestling-one-night-only/season-1/impact-wrestling-one-night-only

Review - James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

Johnny Moss Interview - WOS Wrestling/IMPACT Wrestling

Recorded at the ITV WOS Wrestling press conference at MediaCityUK in Salford, here's our interview with veteran of the British and European wrestling scene, Johnny Moss. 


ATPW - How did you performing on the WOS Wrestling on New Year's Eve come about? Who contacted you about appearing? 


Johnny Moss - Well, it was as simple as this. I had a phone call one day from the people at ITV, asking if I'd like to be part of the rebirth of WOS Wrestling. I said "Absolutely". At first, I was sceptical because after being around for twenty years, you get all these things "This is gonna happen, that's gonna happen" and they never pan out. I've been involved in so many failures, that have never got off the ground, I was sceptical. So when it actually became, "Oh my God, this is actually going to happen", it was an amazing feeling. 


So, you're one of the guys on WOS who have been wrestling for the longest times, so you've had one of the longest journeys to this point, how did it feel to finally get to work with a company like ITV? 


Yeah, nearly twenty years. It made it all worthwhile. I never ever thought this day would happen. In all honesty, I have told people in the past, I don't think we'll ever see British wrestling back on national television. So to be a part of it is overwhelming for me, especially with being such a huge fan of World of Sport. I collected all of the videos, all the bootleg videos, everything and studies it. I became friends with some of the old guys, Marty Jones, Johnny Saint and to be able to follow in their footsteps on the special on New Year's Eve meant a lot. It's took twenty years but if you want something, you'll stick at it. 

I think it meant a lot to the fans as well who had wanted to see British wrestling on the telly, because they knew how good the performers were and to see you guys get the opportunity it certainly meant a lot to people like me. 

It was great for the fans who stuck with British wrestling for so long. Now, is probably the greatest time to be a wrestling fan in Britain, with everything that's going on. So much happening. From when I first started it's like chalk and cheese. It was nothing like this. Nobody could have imagined it would be like this. The fact that WWE is involved in this country now, which I think's great, I think it's great for everybody what's happened with WWE and World of Sport and everything else, the other promotions. There's lots of other promotions that are doing well. It's only good for everybody. It's good for the fans because there's more choice, it's good for the wrestlers because there's more work. 

So, you mentioned watching the original World of Sport, how do feel that the special from New Year's Eve compared to the original?

To me they're two totally different animals, that are that far apart, you're talking over thirty years and things do evolve and things do change. The only similarities are that there is wrestling on both shows. It was very nice to pay tribute to the people that paved the way for us, but to me it's totally different. Things have changed so much, it'd be very different to back to that old style of rounds and everything else, which I'm a huge fan of, but not everybody would be sitting their on a Saturday afternoon with the kids. Things do evolve. 

Would you like to see the Rounds come back, perhaps as a one-off or a gimmick match?

Maybe, I think it would have to be a gimmick match and it would have to be explained why we're doing it. If it was every week I think people would lose interest, especially with the rounds. There are a lot of guys who could that style of match, no problem, but you've got to think what would appeal to the masses. That's what people have to realise, it's a show on ITV on a late Saturday afternoon, appealing to the masses. It's gonna have some good wrestling on there, but it's appealing to the masses. 

You also run a training school...

That's right, Johnny Moss School of Pro Wrestling up in Egremont, Cumbria. I've had that open for just over two years now, it's been great, I wish I'd opened it earlier! I've had such a great response and people travelling from all over the world to come and train there. 

If someone was looking at training to be pro wrestler, what could they learn from coming to Johnny Moss School of Pro Wrestling?

There is a lot of schools around the country, but [those who attend my school] learn all the knowledge that I've picked up, over my years of travelling, wrestling some great people and the places that I've been. I can show them the other way of doing things. I've been to the Performance Centre, I've coached there, I know what they're looking for. I know what World of Sport are looking for. I think I could certainly give them a very good foundation in wrestling from just starting out or even if they have wrestled a few years. I've had people who've been wrestling for four, five, six years come and see me and they've learnt a lot of new stuff. I think I've got something to offer everybody. You never stop learning in this job, but look at Jeff Jarrett, he's been doing it nearly twice as long as me, imagine how much experience he's got! 

With IMPACT Wrestling coming in, how do you think that could change the product from what we saw in the special? 

I think it's going to be very similar to what we saw on New Year's Eve, to be honest, I don't think it will be too different. It's very good to have someone like Jeff Jarrett involved, who, of course, has a long and storied history with wrestling and promoting, plus he's worked with TV companies before. It's very good to have his knowledge on board. I think, there will be some small changes, but I think it'll be very similar to what we saw on New Year's Eve. 

A big thanks to Johnny Moss for giving us the time for this interview. WOS Wrestling tapes for TV at the Preston Guild Hall on 25/26 May. Tickets go on sale on 7th April at 9am.

Interviewer - James Marston

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

Alex Shane Interview - WOS Wrestling

On 27th March, ITV's WOS Wrestling and Anthem Sports and Entertainment, parent company to IMPACT Wrestling, held a press conference at dock10 at MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester on the heels of announcing that WOS will return to our screens for a 10 part series later in 2017. Before hand, ATPW got the chance to speak to three members of the roster, beginning with WOS commentator and veteran of the British wrestling scene Alex Shane. 

ATPW - World of Sport is back on ITV after thirty years, what's been your involvement in bringing UK wrestling back to a main stream audience?

Alex Shane - I think really, the people that really deserve credit, there's obviously a lot of people, producers and wrestling insiders, but I think what happened was ITV were smart in seeing there was a real revival in British wrestling. Nobody could have done it more than the fans done it, by supporting it and actually getting behind it. All of sudden because there was more fan interest and more promotions and because there was more promotions there was more fans. We essentially reached what ever industry needs, when it reaches it's zenith, which is a tipping point. The tipping point happened and ITV was the first major broadcaster, it happened on a few smaller channels before, but ITV, always with their finger on the pulse said "Now's the time to bring it back". I think, it really was, even though there's lots of people, who've helped this go to a series, Tom McClennon, Jeff Jarrett, the people like that who have done the inner workings of getting it going, really I think it's down to the fact that the industry was just ready.

It's taken a long time, but I think that time was needed. To get the talent ready, to get the promoters ready and even to get the fans ready. Because even a few years ago, the wasn't really the same fanbase that we see today.

Yeah and also I think the important thing is wrestling is a skill, but wrestling on television is a different skill and because there hadn't been British wrestling on television, it was almost impossible to find the guys ten years ago that were British with the experience wrestling on television and any that showed any promise were snapped up by WWE. So anytime anyone came along who had that ability, a Sheamus, a Wade Barrett, an Adrian Neville, they would be plucked for stardom in the States, but it, kind of, left a drought on our scene. Now we've got a situation where this generation, because there's lots of wrestling companies in England, some tremendous ones, that have done a lot to build the scene, now they film their stuff and because of that they use two, three, four, sometimes five cameras and that's given the guys the experience of going "Hold on, where's the hard camera?". So now the wrestlers are actually ready for television. Whereas I was trying to get wrestling on television, for most of my adult life, but if I'm honest, ten years ago, I don't think we were ready. Now, we're more than ready, that's why everyone's ready to explode and get a full series which is what today is all about! 

On the special on New Year's Eve, you commentated with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, someone you'd worked with earlier in the year at WCPW, how was that experience?

It was amazing. There's so many compliments than you can give JR, but one of the ones I had to tell him was, "When I commentate I hear your voice", which was a compliment, but was intended as me being nervous. There was one point where I said "That clothesline turned him inside out, inside out!" and suddenly as I said I thought "Oh my God, I've just done Jim Ross, to Jim Ross, on TV!" The fact that JR is such a legend and the fact that he is the voice of my childhood and some many others, if I hadn't worked with him one time before, I think I would've been terrified for the pilot. Actually as it turned out, all the planets aligned, I think in life, when something's meant to be, you feel it in the moment and I felt it was meant to be. It was great, really really great and he's a legend. 

Do you know if there's a plan to bring JR back for the series?

I hope so. At this point in time, obviously it's the last thing that anyone's going to ask him about, because of what happened with Jan, which is a really sad situation. Even though he's at the top of everyone's thoughts, I don't think his television schedule is, but let's see what happens. 

How did feel about the reaction that special got when it aired?

It was pretty amazing. I watched it at a New Year's Eve party with my family, my Mom, my Dad, my Auntie, my Uncle, my Missus, we all sat and watched it and it was surreal. I make television programmes as well, but not on the scale of ITV World of Sport. I think that was the point when all of the wrestler that were on that show, came together and realised, "Wow, this is The X Factor, but with us!". The fan reaction was fantastic.

At the moment you're working with a couple of different companies, the likes of WCPW and NGW, how will those experiences pull into creating WOS? 

I think the experience is fantastic. As a TV producer I look at what's happening on screen and I think what should the soundtrack to this be. So for WCPW because it's more tongue in cheek, I'll make it a bit more funny and not so serious. With NGW, it's essentially a brand for kids, that's also cool enough for adults to go "There's a good match", but it's aimed really at children, so I don't do any of those kind of jokes. I think with World of Sport, it's perfect, because it's exactly in the middle. It's got to be engaging enough, that you might crack a joke here or there, but it's not a joke show, also you want to make it accessible enough for wrestling fans so it's serious. So with all of those experiences, World of Sport is the perfect mixture of all those style. 

Just to turn the questions round on you, what did you particularly like about the show? 

I liked that there was something for everyone. I didn't feel it was a blowaway show, but it was sound throughout. You had El Ligero vs. Zack Gibson, the tag team match and you had the story between Dave Mastiff and Grado throughout. There was something to pull the audience in and it was a good way to introduce the product. 

I agree. It did what it needed to do. I always say if you look at World of Sport in 1988 and you look at Gladiators in '92, that's five years in real time, but in TV time it looks their thirty years apart. British wrestling needed that influx of light, sound. This press conference is better produced than most of the World of Sport stuff in 80's, which says a lot. I think that's really what it needed to show. It needed to show to a whole new audience, that British wrestling can do the production, it can do the elaborate lighting rigs, video screens. I think that's what it did and it did a great job of doing that. It showed a colourful, flashy cast of character. 

So WOS is currently scheduled to tape ten episodes. Would you prefer to tape those ten and then take a break or would you prefer to do more of a weekly soap opera style?

That is a very good question! I am a fan of series'. NGW, you mentioned earlier, I do that in seasons and now a few other companies in Britain are in seasons. I think, you have a burnout, Coronation Street is a perfect example. Not of something that's "burnt out" but of something that needs a massive turnover of writers, but then with new writers you lose people who were familiar with the product. So, what you need is a team of people who know wrestling, one, people that can write, two, that have a rapport with the wrestling, three, and also know what else a wrestler has in the tank. You go "I know, this guy has got that amazing blow-away match in him, particularly with this person", so if you actually narrow it down, even though everyone wants to be a wrestling writer, it's a really narrow group of people. You don't want those people to get burnt out by doing 52 weeks a year, plus specials, so I'm a big fan of the concept of doing series. I like it personally, all my favourite shows are in series, in fact, I don't have another show that isn't in a series. Just from my own personal tastes that's what I like, but other companies have been very successful running forever, but I think it could potentially create burn out. If you compare it to the original, you used to have one match sometimes that would go on for half an hour, depending on how many rounds it was, but now people want it quick and so I think series are the way to go. 

Do you know how many episode will be taped per taping? 

That's the magic question! Probably best for me not to say anything that might be an accidental world exclusive! "Alex Shane crucified in World exclusive shocker". That's the great thing though, when you're in the hands of a TV channel, not just a production company, but an actual TV channel, you can't find anyone better at making television. Whereas a lot of the time you have a wrestling company that tries their hand at making television, which can be a problem. Then sometimes it can go the other way, you get a television company, that's trying to do wrestling without wrestling people. Which is why I think with IMPACT Wrestling, we've got people who've got a lot of experience, Jeff Jarrett, Jeremy Borash, who have a lot of experience of doing large scale, American television, but there's enough influence from us Brits in there to keep it British as well. I think that's going to be a massive Godsend. So, the long answer to your question is...it'll be good, no matter how many they shoot. 

I think with the talent already involved and IMPACT Wrestling/Anthem Sports and Entertainment coming in as well, it should create something that the British wrestling fans can be really proud of. With ITV you've got the potential to take the product around the world, do you see the product being able to spread internationally?

Well, yeah, Anthem has the Fight Network. The Fight Network is in 36 countries. I know that because I make two shows from them. So it's in a lot of countries, it's just because we don't have it here, a lot of people don't realise, but it's everywhere. So, that's a great thing as well, because I can only imagine, that means more people in different countries will be watching World of Sport and potentially who knows maybe some of the archive stuff, it could be really exciting. I'm speculating on that, but that's exactly what I would do. It's perfect.  

I'd like to thank Alex for taking the time to talk with us on Monday. WOS Wrestling will tape at Preston Guild Hall on 25th/26th May with tickets going on sale on 7th April at 9am from Gigs and Tours, Ticketmaster and Preston Guild Hall. 

Interviewer: James Marston

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling