My Weekend of (British) Wrestling 4

For those of you that are unsure, NBWA or New Breed Wrestling Association is a North Oxfordshire-based wrestling promotion that has been newly created in the last few months. Its first show was on Friday 15th February and second show on Sunday 17th March. The next show is due to take place on Sunday 14th April 2013.

Before looking at the NBWA in depth, I wanted to go to two of their shows before giving my verdict. As stated above, the first show took place on 15/2/2013 in the General Foods Social Club, Banbury and was entitled 'Home Coming'.

On entry to the venue, I couldn't help but notice the height of the ceiling. It would be my biggest hang-up of the night as I felt it would limit certain wrestlers from performing to the best of their ability. I couldn't help but wonder how any high-flyers on the show would be able to 'fly' with this restriction just above their heads.

Another concern of mine was when the ring announcer came to the ring to start proceedings. MC Rob Maltman, who is supposedly the 'Voice of British Wrestling' is not the best man to have as a ring announcer - throughout the night his style of ring announcing was very strange for a wrestling show; instead of announcing wrestlers to the ring, he would 'ask' for them to come out. This was a very strange approach in my opinion. He would also go onto get several names wrong throughout the night - names and basic information of each wrestler should be one of the first things that a ring announcer should be familiar with, right?

Something that was not in Mr Maltman's favour was that the microphone/speakers didn't seem to be able to handle the volume that was required to get the announcements to all in attendance. Admittedly, this was out of his control - unless sound checks were not carried out before the show? A lot of the announcements were very muffled as a result. This weakened the show in an area that you might feel isn't that important, but a good ring announcer and equipment are a very important aspect to a wrestling show to get the audience 'warmed up' and excited for what they're about to witness.

Another unneeded situation that involved Maltman was when [heel] wrestling manager Harvey Dale entered the fray to confront him. This interaction was a little confusing as it seemed that the two have had an ongoing feud. Unfortunately, for the majority of the new Banbury crowd this feud would have gone completely over their heads. Why would they care that a manager and a ring announcer are engaged in a feud? They're here to see wrestlers wrestle; not two weedy, shirt-wearing 'talkers' go at it?

Stixx

With regards to Harvey Dale; his situation over the night was very strange. I believe during the night, he and Maltman had three separate confrontations. This overshadowed a lot of the rest of the show; it seemed like the main focus, instead of the talented guys that were on the card wrestling. One of the talented individuals that I talk of is the 'Heavyweight House of Pain' Stixx - Harvey Dale's main client. Now, my understanding of a wrestling manager is to promote and make sure the audience knows their client's name, as well as their credentials. They should not overshadow their wrestler. This night in Banbury seemed a hell of a lot more about Dale than it did Stixx (who was in, arguably, the match of the night against Stu Odyssey). This was a disappointment to a very good debut show by NBWA.

An overwhelming positive in all of these negative comments that I've presented is that of the talent that was on offer in this show. Names such as Noam Dar, The Bhangra Knights, Stixx and The London Riots were on show here just to name a few. I'm not sure that having nine matches (the last being a 30-man-rumble match) was such a great idea, though. It became a chore to get through the night with so much talent on offer - maybe a couple of matches less might have been ideal.

All in all, a good first show; there were always going to be teething problems to sort out going into the second show. Going into the second show, I was looking for some of these problems to be ironed out. I was not disappointed. Lessons seemed to have been learnt from the first outing and it made for a very enjoyable second show - 'Born 2 Fight'.

For starters the second show; still at the General Foods Social Club, Banbury; had a new ring announcer - Leo Orbison - a very competent MC, who has been part of several shows in this area, as well as in the Midlands. Orbison is clear in delivery, gets the main points across, announces wrestlers in a familiar way so that we know who is who, and gets the audience ready for the show that they are about to see. He was also complimented by working equipment. A very good change made by the NBWA there!

Secondly, the ceiling of the venue didn't seem to be as low as the first show. Maybe a different ring (lower)? Or maybe my vantage point was different this show? There were several spots that required coming from the top turnbuckle and the height of the ceiling didn't seem to hinder these situations.

Harvey Dale made another appearance this show and I was delighted to see that he did what he should have done - promoted his wrestler. Not only did he endorse Stixx, but also another tough, tattooed, talented individual - T-Bone. The only downside to his promo (to show a new babyface side) when addressing the crowd was that 'we were all lucky' that he and Stixx had had a change of attitude and decided that Banbury folk are actually alright - this still seemed very heel-like and arrogant; maybe the intention? Still, another positive over the last show!

NBWA Champion Kay Jutler (courtesy of Superkick.co.uk)

The show started out with the introduction of the NEW NBWA Heavyweight Champion 'The Male Model' Kay Jutler. On the 'Home Coming' show, Jutler would beat 29 other wrestlers to earn the right to be the inaugural NBWA Champion - a well deserved honour; I have seen Jutler wrestle for around three years now and he is probably my favourite performer to see wrestler and strut around the ring. A genuinely funny and entertaining guy. Jutler would cut a promo outlining his match that night with star attraction El Ligero and would end the show against him.

In between this segment and match were some very entertaining and funny matches. The talents of Mad Man Manson, Noam Dar, Grado and Kay Lee Ray were on offer along with more local talent in Kristoff Walton, Stu Odyssey, Chris Walker and Scotty Riot.

The opening match told a story that I really enjoyed. It's one of my favourite situations that wrestling brings to life. Scotty Riot faced Dante in what was billed as two pals having a friendly match. Both started out and there was good fun and banter between the two. Towards the end of the match evil manager Mr McCoy - flanked by his client Kristoff Walton - made their way to ringside. After directing unflattering comments to him, he would cost Dante the match. McCoy would then inform Riot that The McCoy Family would like to invite him as one of their own. Surely this was something that Riot would resist in favour of helping his friend to the backstage? But in a shocking turn of events, Riot would then shake McCoy's hand and help Walton in the destruction of Dante.

Another match that I was looking forward to was the debut of The Magnums; 'Dirty' Dick Riley and 'Filthy' Chris Walker. This is a fairly new tag team, who are already making waves throughout the south of England. Their entrance is something to be admired - a stroll down to ringside accompanied by a slow, sleazy version of a 1970's classic song; checking out the local females and MILFs in attendance, before entering the ring to conduct their business. Unfortunately, they were faced with another newly formed tag team - The Bone Yard - consisting of the earlier mentioned Stixx and T-Bone. A very dominant looking force across the ring.

Results:

• Singles match: Scotty Riot defeated Dante (and then became the newest member of the McCoy Family)
• 6man tag: Noam Dar, Grado & 'Shining' Johnny Searle defeated The Heavy Metal Cowboys & Frankie Felicano
• Ladies tag match: Kay Lee Ray & Bacardi defeated Carmel Jacob & Dragonita
• Mad Man Manson defeated Kirk Langley
• No 1 Contenders match (triple threat): Kristoff Walton (w/ Mr McCoy) defeated 'Showcase' Stu Odyssey and 'Bhangra Knight' Darrel Allen to become the number one contender to the NBWA Championship.
• The Bone Yard; Stixx & T-Bone defeated The Magnums; 'Dirty' Dick Riley & 'Filthy' Chris Walker
• NBWA Championship: 'The Male Model' Kay Jutler (c) defeated El Ligero

Kay Lee Ray

Overall, a very entertaining night. Instead of the nine matches on the previous show, we had seven this time around; which made for a manageable show length-wise. Situations that needed ironing out, were ironed out; Leo Orbison was excellent on ring announcing duties and Harvey Dale did a great job making his clients look the threats that they were when they entered the scene. I think there was also a good blend of singles, tag and ladies matches on the card - something for everyone.

Everybody worked hard and played their parts in making this a very good show. It stands them in good stead for future shows.

The next show - entitled 'Fight for 3Dom' - will take place on Sunday 14th April 2013 at the General Foods Social Club, Banbury. Check the NBWA Facebook page out for updates and future shows.

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@jimmosangle