One Pro Wrestling: Difference between revisions

1 Pro Wrestling
	1 Pro Wrestling logo
Acronym	1PW
Founded	2005 - 2007
Headquarters	Doncaster
Founder(s)	Steven Gauntley, Rosie Gauntley
Owner(s)	Steven Gauntley, Rosie Gauntley

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Revision as of 12:19, 12 January 2007

1 Pro Wrestling (or 1PW) was an English professional wrestling promotion based in Doncaster. It existed from 2005 - 2007. It was run by a leading UK wrestling store, 1 Up Games (now out of business) and chaired by Steven Gauntley.

History

File:1pwlogo.PNG

1PW's Old Logo

1PW was formed at the beginning of 2005, with the aim of becoming Britain's number one wrestling promotion (hence the name). It soon attracted big-name stars such as D'Lo Brown, Matt Hardy and Abyss. Joe Dombrowski and Anthony Kingdom James, then part of the announce team for International Wrestling Cartel, were hired. 1PW announced that its first show was to be held on October 1, 2005 and was to be called '1PW A Twist Of Fate' as a thank you to Matt Hardy for appearing.

More well-known American independent wrestlers signed up to be part of 1PW, such as Low-Ki and Chris Sabin, as well as former WWE/WCW/ECW star Raven. Several UK wrestlers also signed on the dotted line; Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm to name but two.

All seemed well until, based on fan reaction, World Wrestling Entertainment re-signed Matt Hardy, who subsequently cancelled all his independent wrestling dates. 1PW lost its main draw for the night, (although the promoter insisted to the fans with days to go that Matt Hardy would be appearing even though he knew that Hardy would not) and, with that, a lot of casual fans and the show name (WWE trademarked "Twist Of Fate"). It also left Abyss with no opponent. With mere days to spare, it was announced that The Phenomenal AJ Styles had signed a contract to work the main event at the renamed A Cruel Twist Of Fate. Notably, Styles had agreed to work the show despite having been booked originally for a Ring Of Honor show on the same weekend - the logic being that, whilst the ROH show would not have suffered greatly by Styles' absence, 1PW would benefit hugely from his appearance.

A Cruel Twist Of Fate was a successful debut for 1PW. They announced their next shows, entitled No Turning Back, to be held on January 7, 2006 at the Doncaster Dome and January 8, 2006 at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England. Five major new superstars were signed to appear on both nights: The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Charlie Haas, FMW Legend Masato Tanaka and Sabu. However, the Blackpool show was quickly cancelled due to legal complications with the Winter Gardens, so a second show was added on January 6, 2006, also at the Doncaster Dome. 1PW's increased reputation meant that it sold out the 1600 seat Doncaster Dome [1], as well as 450 Q&A tickets for the Saturday afternoon.

On February 18, 2006 it was announced that 1PW had been given a 4-hour Supercard spot on Sky's The Wrestling Channel in the UK, which aired on April 2, 2006. The Wrestling Channel and 1PW felt the quality of this first show was sub par. This led to the firing of 1PW's production team, Idigicon, and the forming of a working relationship with Mark Sloan to film the events for DVD and TV.

1PW continued to produce more shows that involved more international talent and were often plagued with last minute card changes due to other wrestlers being recalled to their various promotions. On May 31, 2006, it was confirmed that 1PW would begin a fortnightly two-hour slot at 9pm Fridays on The Wrestling Channel presented by Adam Curtis. The magazine style show, featured a blend of music videos, interviews and wrestling. Adam Curtis would also go on to host 1PW's radio show, along with Brett Steadman (who eventually left the company a week before its downfall). However in November 2006 it was announced that due to poor ratings 1PW's TV show would no longer air on The Wrestling Channel.

During May 2006, at the Know Your Enemy shows a 1PW Tag Title Tournament began that involved the teams of AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels, Team SHAG (Colt Cabana& Darren Burridge), Andy Boy Simmonz & Lance Storm, Jonny Storm & Jody Fleisch, Southern Comfort (Tracy Smothers & Chris Hamrick), Austin Aries & Roderick Strong, The Job Squad (Al Snow & Blue Meanie), and Chad Collyer & Ricky Reyes. The tournament and titles were won by Storm & Fleisch, after they defeated Styles & Daniels in the finals.

Throughout the rest of 2006, 1PW continued to produce several shows amongst rumours of financial trouble, hosting a First Anniversary Show as well as numerous weekend events. 1PW would go on to crown a 1PW Openweight Champion at the Fight Club 4 show before undergoing a change in head booker, as Steve Corino left and was replaced by Steven Gauntley and Dean Ayass.

On January 5, 2007, 1PW announced that it had gone into liquidation and all forthcoming shows were cancelled, just one week before their proposed January 13 show No Turning Back, featuring the UK debut of The Great Muta. 3CW, another British promotion helped ran by ex 1PW regulars, Stevie Aaron and Dragon Aisu, announced they would run a farewell show, entitled "...Will Not Die" on the same night, and would honor 1PW tickets^{[citation needed]} for this show, while supershow promoter Alex Shane, with the help of Len Davies and former 1PW owner Steven Gauntley, secured the appearance of Keiji Mutoh and other All Japan Pro Wrestling stars to a Real Quality Wrestling show happening the same week also honouring 1PW tickets.

Tournaments

1PW Heavyweight Championship Tournament

All Or Nothing Night 1 (4/3/06)

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Abyss

Darren Burridge