Fighting Spirit magazine

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Issue #1 of Fighting Spirit magazine

Fighting Spirit is a monthly professional wrestling and mixed martial arts magazine published in the United Kingdom by Uncooked Media, the company behind special interest publications such as Neo. The magazine launched its first issue on Thursday 13 April 2006. The magazine will compete against long established U.K. wrestling publication, Power Slam.

Unlike its rival publication, Fighting Spirit provides a broader look at the MMA industry, doing so from the perspective of the wrestling fan (one of the magazine's mission statements is to expand the crossover appeal of MMA among viewers of wrestling programming). It's roster of writers includes professional wrestlers (Lance Storm, Dan Severn), MMA fighters (Severn), authors (Bryan Alvarez, Scott Keith, RD Reynolds), industry experts (Bill Apter) and guest columns from prominent wrestling and MMA websites (Dave Scherer of PW Insider and Mike Sloan of Sherdog).

In addition, the magazine's editor, James Denton, is both a qualified martial artist and a professional wrestling trainee, deflecting much of the criticism that "sheet writers" are not qualified to criticise athletes because they have never been in the ring. He can be seen in the monthly feature "How Tough Is Enough" training at the FWA Academy, one of the magazine's strongest selling points.

1 DVD
2 Trivia
3 Writers
4 External links

[edit] DVD

The FIGHTING SPIRIT DVD, "TKO Volume 1", free with issue 008 of the magazine.

Samoa Joe VS CM Punk was one of the matches featured on TKO Volume 1.

Issue 008 of FIGHTING SPIRIT came with a free covermounted DVD called "TKO Volume 1". It featured four complete matches, music highlight videos, videogame and movie footage, TV spots, featurettes and Easter Eggs. It also featured an exclusive audio commentary track by Ring Of Honor Champion "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson.

Although the DVD is not scheduled to be a recurring monthly feature, further instalments will be produced in 2007 (the original DVD is available with the back issue of 008 from the FIGHTING SPIRIT website).

MATCHES:

Bryan Danielson (ROH Champion) VS Mark Sloan (FWA:A Co-Tag Team Champion)
CM Punk VS Samoa Joe
Cruiserweight Four-way: Jonny Storm VS Jody Fleisch VS Max Voltage VS Pac
RQW Title Match: Billy Kidman VS Robbie Brookside (traditional British rounds rules)

OTHER:

LDN Wrestling feature (20 mins)
Three music videos
WWE SmackDown VS Raw 2007 trailer and game footage
Sex And Violence wrestling documentary trailer
FIGHTING SPIRIT TV spot
Five Easter Eggs

[edit] Trivia

Issue 3 of the magazine was infamously plagued by typos and other errors, after a system failure saw the entire issue lost, requiring an urgent last-minute rewrite of the text.
The magazine's editor, James Denton, is pictured on the "Curtain Jerk" editorial introduction page wearing a cowboy hat. This is something of a trademark, as he can always be found wearing the hat at wrestling events.
It is a common misunderstanding that this is an "Apter Mag" due to the involvement of Bill Apter and apparent similarities to other titles he has worked on. However, Apter's role is that of columnist and he has no editorial power on the title outside of this position.
Both British wrestlers and British wrestling fans have embraced the publication as it has provided unprecedented support for British wrestling.