EDITORIAL: British Wrestling Is Primed For Television Success

I just had the opportunity to watch the BluRay edition of a super match between El Ligero and Zack Sabre Jr. from Preston City Wrestling's Festive Fury. You will not often see a match as good as that, second on the card.

The bout just highlights a point that I strongly believe in: if you put good British wrestling on UK TV - and yes, I'm talking a major channel here - and give the wrestlers a chance to show off their personalities on other shows or in adverts, there is unquestionably an audience for the local sport.

It's 2013, and like almost anything, if pro wrestling is treated as filler programming, it'll remain filler programming. Similarly, if the marketing of such a show doesn't respect the skill of the wrestlers as athletes, actors, and entertainers, there's no hope for it. If you present them like they're clowns, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

No-one in their right mind should be claiming that British wrestling can draw 12 million viewers on TV today - those days are long gone, and much, much more because of the state of the television business, as opposed to the wrestling business.

But if a TV executive with a keen eye for talent and personality, who understands how to create stars, is reading this editorial, British wrestling is now primed to be taken to the next level.

And all you need is a camera crew and a recording truck, because the wrestlers and the fans take care of everything else.

Brian Elliott
Editor, Fighting Spirit Magazine
[email protected]