XWA (professional wrestling)

XWA
Public company
Industry Professional wrestling, sports entertainment
Founded 2007
Headquarters Morecambe, Lancashire
Key people
 Mark Kay (Majority Owner)
Greg Lambert (Majority Owner)[1]
Website Official Site

XWA is a British professional wrestling promotion, based in the English north west seaside town of Morecambe, Lancashire, dealing primarily in the professional wrestling industry. The XWA was formed in March 2007, following the demise of the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, when Greg 'The Truth' Lambert formed the new promotion from its ashes and continues to run quarterly events in Morecambe, using FWA titles, some former FWA talent and a lot of new, local, talent.[2] XWA's business focus is on professional wrestling.

History

Following the closure of the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) after FWA v IPW:UK Final Frontiers at Orpington Halls, Kent on 25 March 2007, Greg Lambert called a press conference announcing that he was unhappy with the circumstances of the FWA's defeat, blaming Robbie Brookside for interfering and costing Flash Barker the Losing Promotion Must Close match with IPW representative Martin Stone. Lambert stated that he intended to start a new promotion, the XWA. In reality, Lambert had wanted to change the name of the promotion from FWA to XWA so he could run the promotion as a storyline-based, family-friendly product centred on its British stars, rather than the more 'American indie-style' company geared towards young adults and with a heavy reliance on overseas imports which the FWA had always been. In summer 2006, Lambert and his business partner Mark Kay agreed to 'put IPW:UK over' in a promotion versus promotion feud to give IPW a boost, and also to give a storyline reason for the demise of the FWA so they could make a completely fresh start.

The new promotion was named 'XWA' because it was close enough to the original name to ensure some semblance of continuity for their regular fans in Morecambe. Lambert said when the promotion was formed that the XWA stood for high quality British wrestling featuring the cream of UK wrestling talent on shows in the best UK wrestling venue (The Morecambe Dome) in front of the hottest crowd in UK wrestling, and also stood for the desire to keep the name of the FWA alive.

To this end, Lambert and Kay continued storylines in Morecambe where they left off when they promoted the first ever XWA show, XWA War on the Shore, on 7 April 2007. The last FWA British Heavyweight Champion, Robbie Brookside, was recognised as XWA British Heavyweight Champion. FWA Flyweight Champion Ross Jordan was now recognised as XWA British Flyweight Champion. However, other former FWA titles did not fall under the banner of the XWA. The XWA has also continued with names of live events that were formerly used by the FWA, such as Vendetta, Goldrush and War on the Shore.

On 11 April 2009 at XWA War on the Shore V, former FWA owner 'The Showstealer' Alex Shane made his return to the Morecambe Dome after a three and a half-year absence. In an angle, British Heavyweight Champion Sam Slam handed Alex the old FWA Heavyweight Title belt which the XWA had continued to use as its main title belt ever since the XWA was formed. In exchange, Shane handed Slam the brand new XWA Title belt. This angle was conceived so Shane could once again take possession of the FWA Title belt ahead of the reformation of the FWA, which was announced a week afterward and also to 'pass the torch' to Slam.

In July 2012 the XWA lost an inter-promotional feud to the North-West promotion GPW after XWA roster member Joey Hayes turned on his XWA team-mates Rockstar Spud, Jack Clarke, Jynx and XWA British Heavyweight Champion Johnny Phere, giving the GPW team victory in the final elimination tag team contest. The betrayal of Joey Hayes and subsequent loss of his second inter-promotional feud lead to Greg Lambert spiral into depression, cancel all future XWA events and vacating all XWA Championship belts in order to save them from appearing on lesser promotions events.

The cancellation of XWA events led to fans nationwide launching "Bring Back The XWA" Facebook groups, pages and petitions in order to convince the Powerslam journalist to bring back one of the UK's leading professional wrestling promotions but to no avail.

On 22 August 2014, Greg Lambert released a video of a telephone conversation between him and an unnamed person that revealed he had sold the XWA on and that the promotion was returning on October 31st. The conversation ended with Lambert stating not to mess it up for he'll be watching...

Training centre

The XWA opened its first training centre at Regent Park Studios, Morecambe, in January 2009. The head trainer was formerly 'Deadly' Damon Leigh, who has stepped back from training due to responsibilities in his work as a Police Community Support officer. Training at the Morecambe school is now headed up by Dave Rayne who also teaches at the Manchester based FutureShock School. The Centres are part of the British Wrestling Council. A second training school opened in Ipswich, Suffolk, in April 2009 under the management of Dann Read and head trainer Ashe.

DVDs

The XWA released its first ever DVD, XWA War on the Shore V, on 4 July 2009, featuring commentary by Greg Lambert and Stallion.

Championships

Current champions

ChampionshipCurrent championDate wonEventPrevious champion
British Heavyweight Championship Damo O'Connor 31 October 204 XWA Revival Vacant
British Flyweight Championship Vacant 28 July 2012 XWA vs GPW Vendetta Spud

Other accomplishments

AccomplishmentLatest winnerDate won
Goldrush Jimmy Havoc 6 February 2015
Best of the North West Declan O'Connor 4 July 2009[3]

References

  1. ↑ Greg Lambert interview XWAonline "This year for the first time Mark (Kay) and I have been able to take full control of our own wrestling company". Retrieved 2007-12-24
  2. ↑ XWA: Raising From The FWA's Ashes britwres.com. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  3. ↑ "Vendetta 2009". XWA. Retrieved 2009-07-25.

External links