Varsity Pro Wrestling
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Acronym | VPW |
| Established | 2005 |
| Style | British Wrestling |
| Location | South West England |
| Founder(s) | The UK Kid |
| Owner(s) | The UK Kid |
| Parent | Revolution British Wrestling (formerly) |
| Formerly | RBW Southwest |
Varsity Pro Wrestling (VPW) is an English professional wrestling promotion. VPW replaced the short-lived Revolution British Wrestling branch, RBW Southwest in September 2005. VPW stated its goal is to bring the very best wrestlers the United Kingdom has to offer all together for action packed shows, and guaranteed that they would bring the best action possible with the most proven athletes around.
Contents |
[edit] History
Revolution British Wrestling was originally formed in early 2002, with the sole intention of providing fans in the Nottinghamshire region of Great Britain with a source of quality British wrestling live events.
At the same time, WrestlingUK was launched with the same aim, but focusing on the Southern area of England.
Months of preparation took place leading to the debut events of both promotions, with the first WrestlingUK event taking place in August 2002 and the first RBW event taking place in September 2002. It was decided shortly afterwards that WrestlingUK would come under the RBW banner, and promote events under one name, rather than two.
The RBW management team concentrated on expanding all other the country, with the opening of a new RBW Training Centre in Hampshire, shortly followed by another in Exeter in early 2005 creating its RBW Southwest branch.
As 2005 began, RBW again saw new areas entered with live events in Cambridgeshire, Devon and Hampshire.
The last shows the promotion held under the RBW southwest banner was in Horndean Technology College in Horndean, Hampshire on 6th May and 24th June in 2005.
The first show saw one of RBW's top babyfaces, The UK Kid defeat one of the promotions main heels, Phil Powers. Inspite of this lose Phil Powers would go on to win a battle royal later in the night.
The second show featured an eight man knock out tournament both the UK Kid and Phil Powers would advance through the quarter finals. During the semi finals UK Kid would advance but Powers would lose his match against on/off team mate Doug Williams by forfeit after claiming to be injured. In the finals Doug Williams would defeat the UK Kid following help from Phil Powers.
In July 2005, the RBW management team changed over, with the original team focusing on other projects, while the new team, ran by Mr Ron Sands, began work on building up Revolution British Wrestling in a bid to improve things even further for the remainder of 2005. This would not go as expected and resulted in the closer of RBW and its smaller divisions, including RBW Southwest.
This would see the RBW Southwest branch reform itself under the new name Varsity Pro Wrestling. This allowed The UK Kid and Phil Powers to continue their feuding into the debut of VPW.
[edit] VPW
On September 16th 2005 VPW held their debut show from the Horndean Technology College, in which UK Kid cost Powers and Williams a match against the debuting The Ballard Brothers getting a bit of revenge from the events months before. VPW would go on to hold two more shows from Horndean before the end of the year, one on October 28th and the other on November 25th. During the first of these last two show UK Kid would win the right to face Phil Powers in a match after defeating a hand picked opponent in Joe E. Legend, but this match would not be fought under the confines of a normal match, it would be a ladder match with the position of VPW spokesmen on the line. It was during the November show that UK Kid would defeat Phil Powers in the ladder match to become the Official VPW Spokesman.
VPW would bring in the new year by announcing the first VPW shows of 2006, the first of which would take place in Horndean Technology College (VPW's home arena) on January 27th. The other show announced for January was on the 26th in Crediton. Three shows were announced for February the first would be on the 12th a charity show in aid of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance at the Sir John Colfox School in Bridport, the second show would be on the 17th at VPW's home arena in Horndean, and the third on the 18th in the St George's Hall, Exeter.
On the 13th of January it was confirmed that in the month of February Kip James (aka former WWE star Billy Gunn) would be coming to Varsity Pro Wrestling, Kip James would appear at VPW shows on February 17th and 18th in Horndean and Exeter respectively. However, this would not be the last time James came to VPW as he would return for a three night tour in August 2006.
After the August tour, VPW would enter into a working relationship with Irish promotion, Irish Whip Wrestling that would see talent trading between the two promotions and would also allow VPW wrestlers screen time on IwW's Whiplash TV show on TWC.
VPW shows would often be recorded for future DVD release. During the last two RBW shows an 8 man tournament for a significant cash prize was held this was later released to DVD as a VPW presents title called One Of A Kind.
[edit] VPW roster
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[edit] Non-wrestlers
- Dean Ayass (Redman's manager)
- Erin Angel (Erin Marshall) (Powers' valet)
- Len Davies (Ring announcer)
- "Hardcore" John Allen (Referee)
[edit] School Of Excellence
The promotion runs its own training school in Portsmouth, which is known as VPW's School Of Excellence. The head instructor is The UK Kid, a graduate of the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy in Texas June 2000, UK Kid turned pro at 16 and has over 7 years of experience within the business. The UK Kid was also the head trainer within RBW southwest. Within this course students would be able to learn the professional trade, then master and hone their craft to become an individual within the sport. The followed curriculum would see students also learn about weight and diet management also the professionalism that goes with the business. The training school would also be known for bringing in guest trainers like D-Lo Brown.
