So, the first bit of pints piledrivers and replacement bus services has been an interesting one, and it has been an absolute corker.
Venues have included a ballroom, an o2 academy (well 2 if you consider the loaded tapings I went to and didn't blog about because spoilers) a nightclub and a town hall. Each of these gave a different dynamic and feel to the show.
The o2 academy shows in Newcastle had one row of seating which kind of looked out of place in a sea of standing people. One thing about the Newcastle o2 is that the crowd there were red hot. it's has become apparent that sometimes seating the audience can take a little bit of the steam out of them, but that can be pulled back in hen the in ring action is as good as it is. (See the 3CW revival event)
What I think is happening here is that the enthusiasm is there but can be less apparent as out of politeness people up front can seem a little reluctant to stand up in case someone behind them can't see or is otherwise inconvenienced. Though that didn't seem to be the case over at the loaded tapings at the university this month as people up front were up and down whenever something big was kicking off. I'm guessing that is something they were looking for as the aesthetic of people rising to their feet is going to look great on video. Though at the progress show, seated folks stayed seated until told to move by the wrestlers who were kicking 12 bells out of each other, and heading in that general direction and it took nothing away. For the record, during the main event of that one, i did opt to stand, but I moved to the back of the standing section to do so, and offered direction to my seat to someone who looked uncomfortable/knackered from standing for the rest of the show. They declined, presumably because, like me, ZSJ vs Pete Dunne was something that they didn't want to sit down for.
People are willing to travel for a good show - it's not just me. At the progress show, there were folk that had travelled not only from London, and Manchester, but from Glasgow - when there was an ICW show running there. There was an absolute show running in Newcastle while I was there, and I know I wasn't the only one coming down on that day. The 3CW show had folk from Sunderland, Newcastle and Teesside kicking about at it. As well as folk that had navigated the bizarre public transport system up here in order to get to Hartlepool headlands from Houghton le spring and Easington. Kudos to the fans for getting out there to watch and supporting local wrestling.
One aspect of each of these shows I have to mention is lighting control. Music venues, night clubs and social clubs tend to have built in lighting rigs which add focus to and atmosphere to the event. Other venues that don't have this can really see an effect the level of an audiences reaction. This could be down to self consciousness (the "if I'm in full light and everyone can see me I'm probably not going to go as mental" mentality) and the fact that there's not as much directed focus on the ring or entrance way. It can drag you right out of the suspension of disbelief and back into reality really quickly if you've got crew milling about and various other usually unnoticeable things catching the corner of your eye. It can also be a bit distracting if the show doesn't draw as much as normal - I'm sure the wrestlers get this distraction as well. I have to mention the Tidal show at this point as much as I hate to in this context - the solid blazing light from the chandeliers at the dolphin centre made it difficult to ignore the bank of empty seats across the other side of the ring (even though the show was brilliant).
A couple of guys have really impressed me this so far in the way they've adapted and continue to adapt dependent on where they are working are Joseph Conners, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Gracie and the New Nation.
Conners I had initially seen on the NGW tv show with a particular twist to his in ring character that piqued my interest. Seeing him live at WCPW was like watching a completely different performer and again at Tidal where it seemed like he was having a bit more fun with it. At 3CW he was brought in defending the WCPW title, and as such was kind of married to that particular facet of his gimmick (god I hate using that word in this context).
Watching his match at Tidal against Kidd, and then the following night watching the two of them have a match in completely different circumstances on WCPW loaded the following night is one of the reasons I brought up the name of Gabriel Kidd as a stand out. WCPW pairing him up with Prince Ameen as his "Virgil" has given him a platform to shine with his technical skills while his acts of defiance against Ameen's ownership of him have given him even more of a reason for people to get behind him. I can see him being a breakout star this year. His match with Zack Sabre and his ability to hang with him was an absolute joy to watch - if you're reading this before the end of January 2017 then you've got that one to look forward to on an upcoming edition of WCPW Loaded, and no, I'm not spoiling the result.
Alex Gracie is someone who has come right out of his shell in the promotions I've followed - from seeing him as part of the Prospect heel faction where he was portrayed as henchman No.2 for James R Kennedy, his personality has started to come out a lot more. The 3CW match where he was tagging with the defiant Gabriel Kidd seemed to be the turning point for this, more than likely because he was the only representative of Prospect at the show. From trying to get the hired Kidd involved with the daft entry way dabbing to the eventual reaction to the "accidental" kick, he started to come into his own. Shortly after that, the Tidal show where he was working against Liam Slater, he shone even in defeat. They say the nuances and little things a wrestler does can make a performance truly his own, and in a match where a simple mistake led to a roll up pin, his confusion over how it happened and trying to work it out was so well played out, that it came showed another glimpse of his personality. Since then, the neglect of Prospect by Kennedy in WCPW has seen more heelish acts coming through to where it almost seems like the team doesn't need him, because henchman No.2 has become Alex Gracie. The wearing 2 pairs of trunks, and pulling one down to reveal his own face on the backside of the other before stinkfacing the opponent (there are two things I feel the need to point out here - the fact that I'm not ashamed of employing the word "stinkface" as a verb, and the line from a show broadcast on the wrestling channel back in the day comes to mind "what kind of a man wants to sit on his own face" - that might have also been employed in wwecw when Matt Stryker used to wear trunks with his face on the back), the silliness when he was put into an intergender match (again, this was at the WCPW show that I'm not spoiling, so no further details) and just his demeanour in general. I genuinely look forward to seeing him on shows these days.
The New Nation are picking up steam since splitting away from Rampage - Primate is a massively versatile performer, and Henry is a complete package - despite the fact that thanks to the progress crowd I can't unthink "evil Sami Zayn". The series of matches against the sons of Ulaid were fantastic, Primate being portrayed as a full on ultraviolent missing link in WCPW and dominating MEW, the infamous match with Scrappy-Doo *ahem* sorry, Paul Robinson at NORTH, as well as the absolute corker at Progress chapter 40 against the London Riots (due to have round 2 happen at Tidal's wipe out event at Church nightclub in Leeds in the coming weeks and hopefully chapter 3 back at NORTH in February) all being full on brilliant performances, these guys have shown they can be in their element both as a tag team or in singles matches.
2017 is looking promising, and around March/April, I'll do another one of these "journey so far type articles".
Hope you have enjoyed reading so far, and as always, feedback is always appreciated.
In the meantime, check out my friend's blog over at http://thegirlyguidetowrestling.blogspot.co.uk/
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