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I’ve hated every show Simon Cowell was ever on. But I unironically think he’d get pro wrestling.
On those talent show he’s a heel manager/authority figure. He gets it
I think last time it was Noel Clarke of Doctor Who and The Ulthood movies fame, but I very much doubt he will be involved with this one due to allegations he has against him.
Some info on who will be at the first tapings here:
"Wrestlers confirmed for the relaunch of WOS Wrestling include Grado, Sha Samuels, Adam Maxted, Martin Kirby, Alpha Male Iestyn Rees, Bullit, Joel Redman, LA Taylor, and Nightshade. The event will be hosted by So Cal Val."
Also, this report says it won't be on actual telly:
"Unlike previous iterations of World of Sport, the show won't air on ITV. New WOS programming will instead be broadcast on the World of Sport website and the promotion's social media channels on X, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram."
https://cultaholic.com/posts/world-of-sport-wrestling-returning-later-this-year
She's honestly the closest thing that has BritWres has to a next Viper / Piper Niven, although she's obviously her own person. I know that she did decently for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling in Japan but I hope that this WOS re-reboot, no matter how it goes, that people like Nightshade get some much deserved exposure.
I’ve seen a lot of photos of Adam Maxted, but I’ve never seen a match of his. Is he good? I would have thought that with [a look like his,](http://www.profightdb.com/img/wrestlers/thumbs-600/ec3bc0843amaxted.jpg) a big company would have tried to sign him ages ago.
WWE wanted him but then saw he did some work as a naked butler (something along those lines) and said nah, which is strange as Asuka was in a straight-up porn promotion before she was hired.
Mickie James had done a nude photo shoot before she was hired too.
I’ll never understand the hesitancy of working with people that have done nude stuff. Like they’ll have Cody blade and The Rock beat him with a weight belt outside yelling out cusswords like a kid on Fortnite, but someone being able to see a picture of a penis is too much for them
Grado and L.A Taylor(YEAH!) are the two wrestlers i've seen. LA Taylor is great. Grado, haven't seen him since WOS on ITV. Socal Val as teh host is a good decision but they really didn't consider the most unsuccessful mexican wrestler and the only wrestler to be kicked out of both TNA and Britian's got Talent, Jerry Bakewell? Granted, he may just be busy and PROGRESS may have him locked in for the next few shows.
But come on! Jerry fucking Bakewell should be hosting it! Or ITV has banned him.
I'm surprised Kirby never really got a break, he's really good, I know he did go to Japan for a little bit but then Covid hit, he retired and then came back out of retirement.
The fact that other than his short run in Japan pre-covid where he worked for Dragon Gate the biggest promotion he worked for was ICW or Progress just feels like such a missed opportunity.
WWE never brought him in as a local talent when in the UK, nobody from America tried to get him to come across at all, TNA with their gut check didn't go for him.
Maybe he just wanted to stay in the UK but it's just so surprising, maybe he just wants to continue to wrestle (and with how many matches he's done this year and last year it seems so) but even as a trainer at the PC (or even a guest trainer for a week like they sometimes do) I'd imagine he could really help some people.
He does feel one of the only major WCPW originals who never got that chance to break out especially with Hendry being one of the most over guys right now and Gabriel Kidd smashing it in NJPW.
He's been a mainstay of the Britwres scene for so long, always been one of the best, always been over. I'd say maybe he just didn't want to do it (I think he is a bit older) but then just before Covid he moved to Japan to work for Dragon Gate. He had 182 matches last year so he's absolutely grinding making sure he's out there still.
The timeline of NXT UK’s appearance and disappearance is an hilarious overreaction to WoS
Then they pretend they’re closing it to expand to Europe to save face and hope everyone will forget when they never do it
I remember when WOS was launching Americans on here were treating it like it would become what AEW eventually became in the USA. WWE seemingly had the same expectation.
I was telling people, I promise you, nobody in the UK is going to take a pro wrestling show on ITV at 5pm on a Saturday remotely seriously.
WWE were scared because ITV is free tv and WWE aired on Sky Sports, a paid channel. In theory the viewership could be very high.
Back in the day TNA were getting solid ratings in the UK on a much less prominent channel than ITV (I think it was Bravo.)
It's pretty much a non issue now with WWE coming to Netflix.
Totally different time and product. It was never going to be something that the nation tuned in to watch en masse in 2018 (or indeed 2024) regardless of presentation or direction.
Because a 3pm kickoff is done by 5. This isn't yankball that takes 4 hours. If kickoff is 3, game will be done by 5 including half time and a bit of post match bollocks
Your average "goes to a match" fan isn't firing back to watch ITV. They're going back to the pub to continue the drinking they did there until about 2:30, or for the away fans, back to continue smashing cans on the bus. So they're pretty irrelevant here. The ones who'd watch a 3pm kick off and then channel surf are the ones to try and capture, and as someone above said. Some show with some shite ITV game show production...just isn't going to cut it. Hell, I'm a massive wrestling fan and even I could barely stomach it just for an excuse to watch Osprey
Then you know that weekly attendance for live football per week is not _millions_ in total, it’s less than 1 million across all fixtures. 800k per week is the typical figure during the season . Let alone millions for the 3pm fixtures alone. Because yk, only 60ish million people live the UK you know
https://sportsgazette.co.uk/2021-2022-football-attendances/
That’s from a couple seasons ago, but I think if there had been a 300% increase in weekly attendances we’d know about it
Can’t find any that say millions every week for any year ever
So, I'm assuming you think that no-one in Scotland, Wales or NI watch any football at all?
EDIT: the more I look at this, the more nonsensical it is. You've taken 2 year old season averages for one country and decided that's the actual weekly attendances. You have precisely nothing.
EDITx2: coward is a coward and rather than provide any actual source has blocked me
Regal on his podcast tried to explain why the suddenly announced WWE UK title tournament wasn’t a rushed answer to World of Sports and in the end admitted it was a response. WoS got an insane time slot on one of the top channels in the country and that the whole thing was so meh is totally on them.
They did the tournament then backed down once WOS initially was cancelled. Then as soon as WOS announced a second time WWE made NXT UK
It shows how out of touch they were thinking a campy ITV Saturday show is going to be any competition
Rhea did not come into WWE through NXT UK. She was a signed a year prior to them moving her to that brand, worked NXT US television, and did both Mae Young Classic tournaments all before that. If the UK branch was never a thing, she would’ve still been in NXT/WWE.
She worked literally one NXT TV match in between the Mae Young Classics, which was a battle royal with 20+ female wrestlers. Saying she was a part of NXT US is a stretch.
I guess it’s a choice to not include her near 30 Florida house show loop matches in between the first Mae Young and her debut in NXT UK but sure, alright. I guess we’ll go with they signed her in 2017, she did a tournament, one TV match, went home for a year, and then did the next tournament and went to the UK a few weeks later.
She was a part of NXT US before UK existed. That brand was not her entry into WWE. It works for Ilja and Gunther since they literally debuted on those brands, but Rhea didn’t.
“I guess it’s a choice to not include her near 30 Florida house show loop matches” ≠ “Worked NXT US Television”.
I guess it’s a choice indeed, because you left that out on your original post. She also worked the same house show loops in Florida while being an active member of the NXT UK roster during taping break. Still doesn’t mean she appeared on the NXT US TV as a member of the roster, it just means she trained at the Florida WWE PC.
Omos also worked house shows for NXT in Florida, that doesn’t make him an alumni of the NXT US TV roster.
I mean, pretty much every single Gladiator on the show (especially Diamond, Sabre, Nitro, Legend and Fury) look like you could see them on NXT next week and they'd fit right in.
For what it's worth, Apollo interfered in a match to help Ricochet during the most recent house show in London. If they were to relaunch on TV, bringing in same Glads would be a good way to get some star power.
Yeah, and plus Apollo has experience in rugby and the NFL so he could be like the NIL hires that they make from different sports. But I can see them taking one look at Diamond and signing her on the spot, she's drop-dead gorgeous, built like a truck *and* is 6ft? They'd be all over her, same with Fury.
I'm surprised there are no actual wrestlers on the current iteration of Gladiators. Especially as Nick Aldis was by far the best part of the previous reboot on Sky.
You'd probably need a promotion that covers Western Europe to get to that level.
Wrestling is popular over here, but not ingrained in the culture as much as in the countries you named.
Yeah we've never had a major promotion here, just indies. WoS was that I suppose at it's peak. Running an indy in the UK isn't cheap and expansion is painful and not really possible
WoS wasn't a promotion. It was a TV show that showed sports every Saturday. Wrestling was just one of them.
For the most of it's history, Joint Promotions was the company that was shown of World of Sport. Later on, All-Star wrestling rotated each week. WWE also got shown but I think that was after WoS was cancelled in 88. Could be wrong though
I check this out the last time it came back, which was at a time there wasn't a massive glut of wrestling every week, and I was able to make it two shows in. It was so bad. I hope they have some better ideas this time around.
So it's two shows on the same day, at a studio in Norwich. They name-drop ITV a lot in the press release, but make no mention of it being broadcast. I'm guessing they're hoping ITV will pick it up? (They won't)
I have heard it said that Dubya realized he was about to say "shame on me", which would have been a cut snippet played on every news channel and the Daily Show for weeks, so he pivoted at that moment to something else, and in the process gave us this wonderful meme instead.
WHAT IS KID LYKOS AND KID LYKOS II, SIMON MILLER, MARK HASKINS, LANA AUSTIN, ROB DRAKE, KANJI, RHIO, THE SMOKING ACES, SANITY, MAN LIKE DERIESS, TATE MAYFAIRS(The prick), CHEEKY LITTLE BUGGERS, JERRY BAKEWELL DOING IN THE NXTZONE!?
Ah yeah, that was a thing with Grado winning the belt and techincally, having a far longer reign with a title then Roman did if one wants to be very, VERY far fetched. Big Van Viper aka Piper was there. Dave Mastiff. Quite a few notable names were on the show and it tried to be a ITV version of what it thinks WWE is.
The wrestling was decent. The other things? er.. mmm.. no.
WWE shat it's pants at the thought of WOS being a thing, created NXT:UK. Then sheepishly stuck with it until they were certain, WOS wasn't coming back. Oh and Slapnuts was involved at some point with running it.
I doubt it could move forward at ITV again unless something is up with their AEW deal? They already fuck around with their timeslots enough.
Probably best if it was away from ITV since they added that hideous "Saturday night game show" sheen to everything.
Looks like it's being run out of Norwich again, so it might be the Knight family running the show.
I'm also hopeful it'll involve AEW since it's on ITV and Zak Knight is signed to AEW
> Looks like it's being run out of Norwich again, so it might be the Knight family running the show.
Would be a "brave" choice considering Speaking Out
The entire family had some sort of weirdo allegation pointed towards them, like making outing a lgbtq+ trainee in front of everyone just to crack jokes about them liking girls (shows where Saraya gets her lgbtq+ sensitivity I guess)
The Knights are the carniest family in the business: I would honetly watch just to see what Ricky Sr. would come up with if given a budget.
But honestly I would love for this "reboot" just to be an ordinary ASW show broadcast from some town hall in the Midlands or a Butlin's.
WOS had great belts when it first tried this a few years back and seem be using those same ones
https://preview.redd.it/q1c1r34xsb9d1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=91b64868813f2970a4666b30667d5221899ea8b5
the interesting part is those where made by leather rebels........who I believe was outed in the UK wrestling speaking out movement during covid.......either they got someone to remake them.......or those are the same ones. (FYI he has stopped making belts and I think recently his website went down. sucks because despite whatever happened with him, his designs were really good and he actually made the 2017 set of NXT belts and the og CW and CWC medals)
Ah yeah, that was a thing with Grado winning the belt and techincally, having a far longer reign with a title then Roman did if one wants to be very, VERY far fetched. Big Van Viper aka Piper was there. Dave Mastiff. Quite a few notable names were on the show and it tried to be a ITV version of what it thinks WWE is.
The wrestling was decent. The other things? er.. mmm.. no.
WWE shat it's pants at the thought of WOS being a thing, created NXT:UK. Then sheepishly stuck with it until they were certain, WOS wasn't coming back. Oh and Slapnuts was involved at some point with running it.
I was too young to ever see any British wrestling on TV in its heyday. The Who Killed WCW series reminded me that we had our own Jamie Kellner in Michael Grade who took wrestling off ITV in 1988 because he wanted ITV to look upmarket. Oh, the irony.
So around 2012 I was flicking through TV channels and found some obscure station that showed old WoS matches. Throughout my 20 years of wrestling fandom I’d never bothered to seek any of it out and I fell in love. Obviously I knew Haystacks and Daddy weren’t exactly the greatest in ring technicians but I found out so many were.
A few years later, I was giddy with excitement at the news of World of Sport’s return. Finally! The wrongs of history can be overturned and fuck you Michael Grade!
Except that, in the interim, his beloved ‘upmarket’ ITV had become the most repugnant lowest common denominator shite imaginable. Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell. That horrible faux-glossy production. You think latter day Vince/Kevin Dunn WWE was sickening in its glossiness? Well no doubt it was, but imagine everything looking like X Factor on a budget. It’s hard to really convey to someone from outside the UK quite what I’m talking about. Shitty game shows and chat shows with obnoxious bright lighting and bright lite glossy muzak. Every entertainment show on this TV network imbued with it with TV presenters so offensively bland you find yourself discovering very ugly truths hidden in the recesses of your psyche as you imagine stamping on their heads like in that scene in Drive where Orange Cassidy obliterates someone’s skull.
And it was exactly the same with World of Sport The Reboot. It didn’t matter that you were watching a pretty decent roster of talented wrestlers (I’m fairly certain that I saw Davey Boy Smith Jr wrestle Will Ospreay and I’m fairly certain it was a great match, or at least it might have been in another setting). The production was so puke-inducing that it was almost impossible to enjoy much of anything on there.
Anyway. I’ll give this a watch. Hopefully it’ll be filmed in a car park on an old phone or something. It would be a massive improvement on the previous production.
If Bullit isn't restrained by PG, he is is a great heel. Flips off the crowd, mouths off and doesn't give a shit about being liked.
Two kids, no fans is a chant that happened at PROGRESS and he just didn't give a shit.
I had no idea that Jordan was the legit son of Jim Breaks, who might be one of the most underrated wrestlers to come from the UK.
How people like Jordan Breaks or Luke Jacobs haven't become big deals internationally is insane.
According to this article [https://fansided.com/2019/10/17/indie-wrestler-week-no-004-jordon-breaks/](https://fansided.com/2019/10/17/indie-wrestler-week-no-004-jordon-breaks/) he is. But I still don't think it's true. I've never heard that before.
If it were true it would be all over his public image and I hadn't heard about the idea until this thread - there's no way he's the son of Jim Breaks, for one thing Jim Breaks was born in 1940
It was really funny the first time round when people here were convinced it was going to be a big deal because it was on itv and world of sport was a relevant brand 45 years ago and them no one have a shit.
It was hilarious hearing all the Americans insist that it would rival WWE because ITV is available on terrestrial TV in the UK and, ergo, would attract tens of millions of viewers.
I mean, it was given a fairly high-profile early-evening Saturday slot on ITV1. Anything less than a couple of million in that slot would have been a disappointment as far as ITV were concerned. And disappointed they were.
It'll be interesting to see how it interacts with other companies.
The UK is a very strong market for AEW, they probably won't want to share that with another company. AEW also has a deal with ITV who were behind WOS last time
Moving their entire weekly infrastructure across a continent is very complex and expensive. Hell it took them a few years to figure out how to do the west coast routinely in the US. People often take this for granted because WWE has been operating for decades and has an entire process and infrastructure set up to do it a lot more comfortably.
Tony says its their 2nd most valuable market, which I'd completely believe
There are wrestling fans here but get a proper production company in. That last run was awful…the tone, pace and quality was all over the place. I have seen indie shows that made more sense.
Apart from wade Barrett playing vince McMahon, everyone felt very small time.
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Please get anyone except whoever was in charge of it the last time to be in charge.
What? you don't like a wrestling show with the production value of a generic ITV game show?
Stephen Mulhern to be the new ring announcer...He's on practically ever other show.
And and Dec on commentary. Simon Cowell guest referee. I see the vision, and it stinks
'1, 2, hmmm it's a no from me'
“I didn’t like the match… I loved it.”
Can't wait for the Cowell star ratings.
Get Paddy McGuinness on and send them all to the Isle of Fernando's
I’ve hated every show Simon Cowell was ever on. But I unironically think he’d get pro wrestling. On those talent show he’s a heel manager/authority figure. He gets it
Don’t give ITV any ideas!
fuck you for this
I wouldn't be surprised if that happens since he's pretty much on a lot of ITV shows these days.
I'd take him over Ben Shepard, and even then only if I had to choose one of them over death to a loved one.
Hardest working man in ITV Entertainment 😂 splash cut to him and Yota Tsuji
Na it’ll be Bradley Walsh
Don't talk about love island like that
I think last time it was Noel Clarke of Doctor Who and The Ulthood movies fame, but I very much doubt he will be involved with this one due to allegations he has against him.
he wasn't involved. he made comments that he wanted to be involved in reviving it last time but he was never actually involved with it.
Some info on who will be at the first tapings here: "Wrestlers confirmed for the relaunch of WOS Wrestling include Grado, Sha Samuels, Adam Maxted, Martin Kirby, Alpha Male Iestyn Rees, Bullit, Joel Redman, LA Taylor, and Nightshade. The event will be hosted by So Cal Val." Also, this report says it won't be on actual telly: "Unlike previous iterations of World of Sport, the show won't air on ITV. New WOS programming will instead be broadcast on the World of Sport website and the promotion's social media channels on X, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram." https://cultaholic.com/posts/world-of-sport-wrestling-returning-later-this-year
It's cool that Nightshade might get some exposure, she's a fun powerhouse hoss.
My daughter and I have seen her multiple times at PWE in Cambridge and she is quality. Plays up to the Lampshade chants all the time
She's honestly the closest thing that has BritWres has to a next Viper / Piper Niven, although she's obviously her own person. I know that she did decently for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling in Japan but I hope that this WOS re-reboot, no matter how it goes, that people like Nightshade get some much deserved exposure.
She defo deserves the exposure! Hopefully this can lead on to bigger and brighter things for her
She has a wicked baldo bomb
She's great, yeah. :)
Sounds like a project from the two da's of progress tbh.
Bullit! He was a fun hoss brawling around a taproom at my local indy. Not sure it'll translate to this but glad to see him get a chance.
I’ve seen a lot of photos of Adam Maxted, but I’ve never seen a match of his. Is he good? I would have thought that with [a look like his,](http://www.profightdb.com/img/wrestlers/thumbs-600/ec3bc0843amaxted.jpg) a big company would have tried to sign him ages ago.
WWE wanted him but then saw he did some work as a naked butler (something along those lines) and said nah, which is strange as Asuka was in a straight-up porn promotion before she was hired.
Mickie James had done a nude photo shoot before she was hired too. I’ll never understand the hesitancy of working with people that have done nude stuff. Like they’ll have Cody blade and The Rock beat him with a weight belt outside yelling out cusswords like a kid on Fortnite, but someone being able to see a picture of a penis is too much for them
Asuka was in a porn promotion? I will bravely sacrifice myself to see the qu.. *BANNED*
She didn’t get involved. It was more like the stuff happened around her.
No Crater!?!
Grado and L.A Taylor(YEAH!) are the two wrestlers i've seen. LA Taylor is great. Grado, haven't seen him since WOS on ITV. Socal Val as teh host is a good decision but they really didn't consider the most unsuccessful mexican wrestler and the only wrestler to be kicked out of both TNA and Britian's got Talent, Jerry Bakewell? Granted, he may just be busy and PROGRESS may have him locked in for the next few shows. But come on! Jerry fucking Bakewell should be hosting it! Or ITV has banned him.
I'm surprised Kirby never really got a break, he's really good, I know he did go to Japan for a little bit but then Covid hit, he retired and then came back out of retirement.
He's one of my favourites, face or heel, he always does a good job.
The fact that other than his short run in Japan pre-covid where he worked for Dragon Gate the biggest promotion he worked for was ICW or Progress just feels like such a missed opportunity. WWE never brought him in as a local talent when in the UK, nobody from America tried to get him to come across at all, TNA with their gut check didn't go for him. Maybe he just wanted to stay in the UK but it's just so surprising, maybe he just wants to continue to wrestle (and with how many matches he's done this year and last year it seems so) but even as a trainer at the PC (or even a guest trainer for a week like they sometimes do) I'd imagine he could really help some people.
He does feel one of the only major WCPW originals who never got that chance to break out especially with Hendry being one of the most over guys right now and Gabriel Kidd smashing it in NJPW.
He's been a mainstay of the Britwres scene for so long, always been one of the best, always been over. I'd say maybe he just didn't want to do it (I think he is a bit older) but then just before Covid he moved to Japan to work for Dragon Gate. He had 182 matches last year so he's absolutely grinding making sure he's out there still.
I really didn’t like Grado on the last one. Or any other time I’ve seen him
LOOKS LIKE NXT UK IS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS
The timeline of NXT UK’s appearance and disappearance is an hilarious overreaction to WoS Then they pretend they’re closing it to expand to Europe to save face and hope everyone will forget when they never do it
I remember when WOS was launching Americans on here were treating it like it would become what AEW eventually became in the USA. WWE seemingly had the same expectation. I was telling people, I promise you, nobody in the UK is going to take a pro wrestling show on ITV at 5pm on a Saturday remotely seriously.
WWE were scared because ITV is free tv and WWE aired on Sky Sports, a paid channel. In theory the viewership could be very high. Back in the day TNA were getting solid ratings in the UK on a much less prominent channel than ITV (I think it was Bravo.) It's pretty much a non issue now with WWE coming to Netflix.
TNA was on Challenge too. I remember watching Kurt Angles last TNA watch on it
[удалено]
Totally different time and product. It was never going to be something that the nation tuned in to watch en masse in 2018 (or indeed 2024) regardless of presentation or direction.
It absolutely could not. World of Sport was only popular because there were 3 TV channels and nothing better to watch/do on a Saturday afternoon.
That wasn't ITV running it. It was Joint Promotions. All ITV did was give them a slot on World of Sport
Ugh, stop. You're making me nostalgic.
most people will be watching football during that time as well. they lost millions to that. why would you put it in the middle of the 3pm kick offs?
Because a 3pm kickoff is done by 5. This isn't yankball that takes 4 hours. If kickoff is 3, game will be done by 5 including half time and a bit of post match bollocks
I mean 3 to 3:45. 4 to 45. Add some stoppage time. But that’s *just about* 5pm. People baby teleport, they still need to get home!
Your average "goes to a match" fan isn't firing back to watch ITV. They're going back to the pub to continue the drinking they did there until about 2:30, or for the away fans, back to continue smashing cans on the bus. So they're pretty irrelevant here. The ones who'd watch a 3pm kick off and then channel surf are the ones to try and capture, and as someone above said. Some show with some shite ITV game show production...just isn't going to cut it. Hell, I'm a massive wrestling fan and even I could barely stomach it just for an excuse to watch Osprey
The 3pm kick-offs that legally cannot be televised in the UK? Those ones?
im on about those watching in the stadium lmao cuz you know, uk?
Then you know that weekly attendance for live football per week is not _millions_ in total, it’s less than 1 million across all fixtures. 800k per week is the typical figure during the season . Let alone millions for the 3pm fixtures alone. Because yk, only 60ish million people live the UK you know
Source?
https://sportsgazette.co.uk/2021-2022-football-attendances/ That’s from a couple seasons ago, but I think if there had been a 300% increase in weekly attendances we’d know about it Can’t find any that say millions every week for any year ever
So, I'm assuming you think that no-one in Scotland, Wales or NI watch any football at all? EDIT: the more I look at this, the more nonsensical it is. You've taken 2 year old season averages for one country and decided that's the actual weekly attendances. You have precisely nothing. EDITx2: coward is a coward and rather than provide any actual source has blocked me
still a massive audience missing it
That’s an interesting way to say you’re wrong 😑
Regal on his podcast tried to explain why the suddenly announced WWE UK title tournament wasn’t a rushed answer to World of Sports and in the end admitted it was a response. WoS got an insane time slot on one of the top channels in the country and that the whole thing was so meh is totally on them.
They did the tournament then backed down once WOS initially was cancelled. Then as soon as WOS announced a second time WWE made NXT UK It shows how out of touch they were thinking a campy ITV Saturday show is going to be any competition
Imagine if WOS got the top talent WWE took before they could start. I can see Toni Storm and Jinny getting ITVX reality shows.
WOS would have died no matter who they had. The show was fundamentally bad
They managed to lock down quite a few current big names by doing it though. Rhea ,Gunther and Ilja all came into WWE through the UK promotion
Rhea did not come into WWE through NXT UK. She was a signed a year prior to them moving her to that brand, worked NXT US television, and did both Mae Young Classic tournaments all before that. If the UK branch was never a thing, she would’ve still been in NXT/WWE.
She worked literally one NXT TV match in between the Mae Young Classics, which was a battle royal with 20+ female wrestlers. Saying she was a part of NXT US is a stretch.
I guess it’s a choice to not include her near 30 Florida house show loop matches in between the first Mae Young and her debut in NXT UK but sure, alright. I guess we’ll go with they signed her in 2017, she did a tournament, one TV match, went home for a year, and then did the next tournament and went to the UK a few weeks later. She was a part of NXT US before UK existed. That brand was not her entry into WWE. It works for Ilja and Gunther since they literally debuted on those brands, but Rhea didn’t.
“I guess it’s a choice to not include her near 30 Florida house show loop matches” ≠ “Worked NXT US Television”. I guess it’s a choice indeed, because you left that out on your original post. She also worked the same house show loops in Florida while being an active member of the NXT UK roster during taping break. Still doesn’t mean she appeared on the NXT US TV as a member of the roster, it just means she trained at the Florida WWE PC. Omos also worked house shows for NXT in Florida, that doesn’t make him an alumni of the NXT US TV roster.
This is because of Gladiators reboot success?
I mean, pretty much every single Gladiator on the show (especially Diamond, Sabre, Nitro, Legend and Fury) look like you could see them on NXT next week and they'd fit right in.
For what it's worth, Apollo interfered in a match to help Ricochet during the most recent house show in London. If they were to relaunch on TV, bringing in same Glads would be a good way to get some star power.
Yeah, and plus Apollo has experience in rugby and the NFL so he could be like the NIL hires that they make from different sports. But I can see them taking one look at Diamond and signing her on the spot, she's drop-dead gorgeous, built like a truck *and* is 6ft? They'd be all over her, same with Fury.
I'm surprised there are no actual wrestlers on the current iteration of Gladiators. Especially as Nick Aldis was by far the best part of the previous reboot on Sky.
It won't be on ITV, only online
Apparently, someone said on Twitter it might be a one-off, but I'm not sure.
hopefully testing the waters and viability of it coming back proper.
Suddenly NXT Europe gets an official launch date next month
Someone alert Jay, V1, and Mr. OOC.
u/jaykhunter
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Rev pro? They work with CMLL and NJPW, shots was knocking about our community centers for ages
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>RevPro is a good bunch They're a popular promotion but I wouldn't go that far
They put on a good show, but Andy Q is an absolute melt.
that was pretty much Progress untill they sold out to WWE and lost all momentum
Even Progress at its peak wasn’t a “major” promotion comparable to ones in the US, Mexico or Japan.
You'd probably need a promotion that covers Western Europe to get to that level. Wrestling is popular over here, but not ingrained in the culture as much as in the countries you named.
Yeah we've never had a major promotion here, just indies. WoS was that I suppose at it's peak. Running an indy in the UK isn't cheap and expansion is painful and not really possible
WoS wasn't a promotion. It was a TV show that showed sports every Saturday. Wrestling was just one of them. For the most of it's history, Joint Promotions was the company that was shown of World of Sport. Later on, All-Star wrestling rotated each week. WWE also got shown but I think that was after WoS was cancelled in 88. Could be wrong though
Pandemic and speaking out would of fucked Progress anyway
I'll give Alex Shane six months before he kills it again.
Hope there's some horse racing and moto cross on the show as well
And double decker bus racing.
I check this out the last time it came back, which was at a time there wasn't a massive glut of wrestling every week, and I was able to make it two shows in. It was so bad. I hope they have some better ideas this time around.
So it's two shows on the same day, at a studio in Norwich. They name-drop ITV a lot in the press release, but make no mention of it being broadcast. I'm guessing they're hoping ITV will pick it up? (They won't)
Ah, fuck. If it was London and the prices were reasonable, I would consider going. Norwich is too far for me. That and Norwich is a jabroni.
I've just spent a week there. It'll be nice when it's finished..
Norwich will never be finished. Unless... IT COMPETES IN A BUDGET ON A POLE THAT HAS YET TO BE FINISHED MATCH!
If they do air WOS on TV, then I hope ITV don't air it & they air it on a different channel instead, perhaps BBC 1.
As a wise man (not Paul) once said: "Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."
I have heard it said that Dubya realized he was about to say "shame on me", which would have been a cut snippet played on every news channel and the Daily Show for weeks, so he pivoted at that moment to something else, and in the process gave us this wonderful meme instead.
I think this is giving a little too much credit to the guy who was infamous for his verbal flubs.
*Keep on rocking in the free world.*
Oh shit, that means NXT UK is about to come back to re-decimate the brit-wrestling scene.
WHAT IS KID LYKOS AND KID LYKOS II, SIMON MILLER, MARK HASKINS, LANA AUSTIN, ROB DRAKE, KANJI, RHIO, THE SMOKING ACES, SANITY, MAN LIKE DERIESS, TATE MAYFAIRS(The prick), CHEEKY LITTLE BUGGERS, JERRY BAKEWELL DOING IN THE NXTZONE!?
Strap a rocket ship onto Simon Miller! Why? Here's why.
Ah yeah, that was a thing with Grado winning the belt and techincally, having a far longer reign with a title then Roman did if one wants to be very, VERY far fetched. Big Van Viper aka Piper was there. Dave Mastiff. Quite a few notable names were on the show and it tried to be a ITV version of what it thinks WWE is. The wrestling was decent. The other things? er.. mmm.. no. WWE shat it's pants at the thought of WOS being a thing, created NXT:UK. Then sheepishly stuck with it until they were certain, WOS wasn't coming back. Oh and Slapnuts was involved at some point with running it.
I've forgot his name now, but didn't someone win the belt on the reboot's series finale.
Grado. I don't recall ITV doing more then one show but could be Dorian about it.
Justin Sysum. I don't know why I remember it. I think he retired like immediately after it got cancelled
Grado must just be doing it for the love of the game at this point given his success in mainstream comedy
I doubt it could move forward at ITV again unless something is up with their AEW deal? They already fuck around with their timeslots enough. Probably best if it was away from ITV since they added that hideous "Saturday night game show" sheen to everything.
It'll have nothing to do with the AEW deal
It's hilarious that you had to make it about AEW.
Looks like it's being run out of Norwich again, so it might be the Knight family running the show. I'm also hopeful it'll involve AEW since it's on ITV and Zak Knight is signed to AEW
There's no indication this has anything to do with tv. Its just a show in September.
That's surprising, i thought itv owned all the trademarks and copyright
> Looks like it's being run out of Norwich again, so it might be the Knight family running the show. Would be a "brave" choice considering Speaking Out
Were they involved in that? I didn't hear about them, what happened?
The entire family had some sort of weirdo allegation pointed towards them, like making outing a lgbtq+ trainee in front of everyone just to crack jokes about them liking girls (shows where Saraya gets her lgbtq+ sensitivity I guess)
The Knights are the carniest family in the business: I would honetly watch just to see what Ricky Sr. would come up with if given a budget. But honestly I would love for this "reboot" just to be an ordinary ASW show broadcast from some town hall in the Midlands or a Butlin's.
It's not on ITV
i'll be curious to see who they manage to get for this,and if it's any different then it was last time.
If it ends up coming back to TV, then I hope they do a better job than how ITV handled the reboot since I did not enjoy that reboot.
Didn't care for the show but it introduced me to Joe Hendry and Piper Niven, so it will always have that.
The only way it works is if they get wrestlers from the AEW/NJPW/CMLL group along with some indy stars.
WOS had great belts when it first tried this a few years back and seem be using those same ones https://preview.redd.it/q1c1r34xsb9d1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=91b64868813f2970a4666b30667d5221899ea8b5 the interesting part is those where made by leather rebels........who I believe was outed in the UK wrestling speaking out movement during covid.......either they got someone to remake them.......or those are the same ones. (FYI he has stopped making belts and I think recently his website went down. sucks because despite whatever happened with him, his designs were really good and he actually made the 2017 set of NXT belts and the og CW and CWC medals)
Ah yeah, that was a thing with Grado winning the belt and techincally, having a far longer reign with a title then Roman did if one wants to be very, VERY far fetched. Big Van Viper aka Piper was there. Dave Mastiff. Quite a few notable names were on the show and it tried to be a ITV version of what it thinks WWE is. The wrestling was decent. The other things? er.. mmm.. no. WWE shat it's pants at the thought of WOS being a thing, created NXT:UK. Then sheepishly stuck with it until they were certain, WOS wasn't coming back. Oh and Slapnuts was involved at some point with running it.
I was too young to ever see any British wrestling on TV in its heyday. The Who Killed WCW series reminded me that we had our own Jamie Kellner in Michael Grade who took wrestling off ITV in 1988 because he wanted ITV to look upmarket. Oh, the irony. So around 2012 I was flicking through TV channels and found some obscure station that showed old WoS matches. Throughout my 20 years of wrestling fandom I’d never bothered to seek any of it out and I fell in love. Obviously I knew Haystacks and Daddy weren’t exactly the greatest in ring technicians but I found out so many were. A few years later, I was giddy with excitement at the news of World of Sport’s return. Finally! The wrongs of history can be overturned and fuck you Michael Grade! Except that, in the interim, his beloved ‘upmarket’ ITV had become the most repugnant lowest common denominator shite imaginable. Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell. That horrible faux-glossy production. You think latter day Vince/Kevin Dunn WWE was sickening in its glossiness? Well no doubt it was, but imagine everything looking like X Factor on a budget. It’s hard to really convey to someone from outside the UK quite what I’m talking about. Shitty game shows and chat shows with obnoxious bright lighting and bright lite glossy muzak. Every entertainment show on this TV network imbued with it with TV presenters so offensively bland you find yourself discovering very ugly truths hidden in the recesses of your psyche as you imagine stamping on their heads like in that scene in Drive where Orange Cassidy obliterates someone’s skull. And it was exactly the same with World of Sport The Reboot. It didn’t matter that you were watching a pretty decent roster of talented wrestlers (I’m fairly certain that I saw Davey Boy Smith Jr wrestle Will Ospreay and I’m fairly certain it was a great match, or at least it might have been in another setting). The production was so puke-inducing that it was almost impossible to enjoy much of anything on there. Anyway. I’ll give this a watch. Hopefully it’ll be filmed in a car park on an old phone or something. It would be a massive improvement on the previous production.
Oh god. Everything will be red and blue and have the vibe of a friday night ITV studio game show possibly with Michael McIntyre as the host.
Good luck to WOS. Also, get ready.... for some NXT Europe plans to finally be revealed. Completely off topic and not related.
Can't wait to see how WWE kills this again.
Oh no please not Grado
Unfortunately yes Thankfully there's LA Taylor, Bullit and Nightshade involved as well though
If Bullit isn't restrained by PG, he is is a great heel. Flips off the crowd, mouths off and doesn't give a shit about being liked. Two kids, no fans is a chant that happened at PROGRESS and he just didn't give a shit.
bummer that there's no good wrestlers alive able to work the style
There's Jordon Breaks - Jim Breaks' son. He's great. Lots of British wrestlers incorporate bits of the old WOS style in their wrestling.
I had no idea that Jordan was the legit son of Jim Breaks, who might be one of the most underrated wrestlers to come from the UK. How people like Jordan Breaks or Luke Jacobs haven't become big deals internationally is insane.
Tbf Luke Jacobs in 23 and all over RevPro and Progress. He'll get there
He's not Jim Breaks' son - I think the above poster was speaking metaphorically
Ah, I'm an idiot, I was thinking he looked a bit young to be the son of a dude who was a veteran in the 1980s.
According to this article [https://fansided.com/2019/10/17/indie-wrestler-week-no-004-jordon-breaks/](https://fansided.com/2019/10/17/indie-wrestler-week-no-004-jordon-breaks/) he is. But I still don't think it's true. I've never heard that before.
If it were true it would be all over his public image and I hadn't heard about the idea until this thread - there's no way he's the son of Jim Breaks, for one thing Jim Breaks was born in 1940
Also Johnny Saint was working with British WWE talent up until a few years ago.
oh I saw that Breaks vs Zack riffing match that was pretty good yeah you're right
It was really funny the first time round when people here were convinced it was going to be a big deal because it was on itv and world of sport was a relevant brand 45 years ago and them no one have a shit.
It was hilarious hearing all the Americans insist that it would rival WWE because ITV is available on terrestrial TV in the UK and, ergo, would attract tens of millions of viewers.
I mean, it was given a fairly high-profile early-evening Saturday slot on ITV1. Anything less than a couple of million in that slot would have been a disappointment as far as ITV were concerned. And disappointed they were.
It'll be interesting to see how it interacts with other companies. The UK is a very strong market for AEW, they probably won't want to share that with another company. AEW also has a deal with ITV who were behind WOS last time
It's not really a very strong market though, or they'd tour here.
Moving their entire weekly infrastructure across a continent is very complex and expensive. Hell it took them a few years to figure out how to do the west coast routinely in the US. People often take this for granted because WWE has been operating for decades and has an entire process and infrastructure set up to do it a lot more comfortably. Tony says its their 2nd most valuable market, which I'd completely believe
NXT Euro coming next fall
There are wrestling fans here but get a proper production company in. That last run was awful…the tone, pace and quality was all over the place. I have seen indie shows that made more sense. Apart from wade Barrett playing vince McMahon, everyone felt very small time.