We’ve been accused of being a little too critical of certain promotions and wrestlers here on BackBodyDrop. So we’re going to turn the tables, and dig out the good that’s bound to exist… no matter how hard it is to find, or how tough it’ll be to admit.
For the first (and maybe last, depending on how tough these are!), we’ll start with a group that’s gotten a lot of negative comment… a lot of it from us: What Culture Pro Wrestling.
Extra content for free
Until the launch of WhatCulture’s “Extra” service, and the iffy iPPV stream, all of WhatCulture’s showings could legally be seen on their YouTube channels. Even some dark matches that didn’t make their regular show went up… so for the sake of something new, we have to give them credit for this.
Using completely “fresh” guys
Whilst WCPW have been slammed lately for ramping up the number of flown-in talent for their “supershow” events, there are a sizable number of wrestlers in this promotion who aren’t necessarily prominently used in other promotions.
For instance, WCPW is easily the biggest exposure that Gabriel Kidd has had to date, whilst the three guys in Prospect – Drake, Archer and Gracie – can probably say the same thing. WCPW’s also have given increased exposure to folks like Joseph Conners, Joe Hendry and Primate – guys who’ve had some level of fame on the UK scene, but had largely been limited to one or two promotions. Besides, regardless of whether you’ve had exposure before or whether this is your first gig, extra paydays are always welcome for wrestlers. Especially if the cheques don’t bounce!
Creating new fans
Like it or loathe it, the “listicle” form of “churnalism” is the in thing right now. Heck, you’re reading some of it right now. Whether it’s “ten things X want you to forget about Y”, “the seven best Z’s” or “five things we learned from…” formats, it’s easily absorbed, easily forgotten stuff that does little but generate advertising revenue.
We really should have put some banners on here, shouldn’t we?
New locations
In the past few years, British wrestling has been concentrated in three area: Scotland (for ICW), London (for PROGRESS/Rev Pro) and the north-west of England (for PCW). Like it or loathe it, WCPW’s arrival has added Newcastle to that slate, even though there were already several “home” promotions there.
Add in the promotion touring to venues that aren’t necessarily strongly tied to wrestling – like Altrincham’s Silver Blades Ice Rink – and you’re opening up wrestling to parts of the UK that may not necessarily get any form of wrestling.
Teaching America Geography
With the two Adams from WCPW having gone on record as saying that they don’t perceive themselves to be a British wrestling company, I can only assume that part of their business plan is to teach an American audience more about British geography. Especially if WCPW continue to expand to other parts of the UK…
So there… some positives in amongst WCPW. And we didn’t mention perceived predatory pricing (and other allegations), exhuming tired old WWE storylines and character cliches, constantly changing timeslots, having personalities with social media that follows kayfabe only during live streams, having storylines “self contained” within tapings (largely due to a small, core number of wrestlers appearing on successive tapings), or indeed, the presence of British wrestling’s answer to Marmite: Alex Shane!
Oh… Bugger.