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I think it's clear to most people around the world that professional wrestling in the UK is in a good place right now. The WWE have just started a UK branch of NXT, World of Sport Wrestling has just been revived, Impact Wrestling have a new UK broadcaster and several top independent promotions like Progress and Rev Pro have just secured television deals.
But nothing has ever happened in the UK like Wrestling MediaCon 2018, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to attend the event that was both a celebration of wrestling, and a celebration of the, often reviled, but nevertheless important, wrestling media. In fact the first ever MediaCon Hall of Fame entrants were inducted for their contribution to wrestling media!
The convention, the first of its kind in the UK, and in turn, the biggest, was billed as two days of panel shows, incredible live wrestling and a weekend's worth of opportunity to meet and greet several of professional wrestling's top stars and influential figures and it certainly didn't disappoint on all of those fronts! So let's start from the beginning.
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#1. The Convention Hall
I arrived fairly early on the Saturday morning and, I'll admit it, I was a little worried. The place had been open an hour or so and there weren't many people there. The booths set up in the main hall were made up of several incredible contributors to the wrestling industry, like Wrestling Travel, WrestleTalk, Fight Forever and so much more, but no-one was there to interact with them.
I needn't have worried though as it didn't take long for the hall to fill up with excited but hesitant wrestling fans who didn't know what to expect. And then shortly after that the whole thing kicked off with Dave Meltzer interviewing Pat Patterson, A group cosplaying as the Undertaker, Carmella and others were walking round and Jeff Jarrett was running round looking incredibly busy. It was great!
I missed most of the first half of Saturday as I was doing interviews with some of the stars in attendance. I was lucky enough to talk to Nick Aldis, Colt Cabana, Trevor Lee, Moose, Sonjay Dutt and Eli Drake. The kicker for this was that the interviews took place in a Star Wars themed Cantina Bar because, of course they did.
A few hours in, and for the rest of the weekend, the convention hall was a place full of buzz and excitement and brimming with positivity whether it be the expected hiccups occurring at a first time event, So Cal Val introducing the next event, Rich Swann stealing the band's guitar and taking selfies with everyone or Jushin 'Thunder' Liger popping to WrestleTalk doing a ridiculous dance as one of the panels.
Essentially, the main part of the convention was great. It did look a little empty at times, but I'm sure that next time they'll be able to get a few more interesting stalls to fill it out a little bit. It was definitely a bit sad at the end when it was completely empty and the weekend was over!
#2. The Panels including the Hall of Fame
The convention was neatly bullet pointed by hourly panels that came from all corners of the wrestling sphere and displayed everything wacky and wonderful about wrestling from Dave Meltzer doing Inside the Ropes or Wrestling Observer Live to Maffew Greg teaming up with Wrestling Memes.
I missed more of the panels than I would've liked as I was conducting interviews and also watching the live wrestling shows, which I will get to in a minute, but the panels I did catch were incredibly varied and excellent.
The first one I caught was Ten Pounds of Gold Live that saw Kenny McIntosh officiate proceedings with Nick Aldis, Dave Lagana and Jeff Jarrett offering their insight into the revival of the NWA and how the special ALL IN moment came about. It was fascinating, and that was before British legend Doug Williams came out and challenged Aldis to a match with Aldis' title rematch against Cody Rhodes on the line!
The next panel I caught was The Rise and Rise of British Wrestling that saw British legend Doug Williams, Andy Quildan from RevPro, Nathan Cruz from World of Sport Wrestling (wearing Spider-Man socks!) and British indy wrestler Andy Simmonz discuss wrestling's evolution in the British Isles.
The last panel I caught on Saturday was the MediaCon Hall of Fame ceremony conducted by Joe Hendry and So Cal Val who were perfect hosts. The inductees were Colt Cabana, Dave Meltzer, Findlay Martin and Martin Goldsmith. All four very deserving entrants for their contribution to wrestling media.
Little side note for this. The first time I meet Dave Meltzer will now forever be stumbling into him getting changed for the Hall of Fame ceremony in one of the toilets, stood in his boxers doing his shirt up. The first words I will ever say to him in person are "Do you mind if I use the cubicle" as he was in the way of it. Good times.
I followed this up on Sunday with Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling with special guests Jeff Jarrett, Dave Meltzer, Jonathan Gresham, Dave Lagana and Sonjay Dutt which was obviously great. World of Sport's panel following shortly afterwards which I only caught a bit of but was also incredibly interesting.
I enjoyed hearing stories, anecdotes and conversations with several people I hugely admire in the industry as someone who reports on it. The panels aren't as viscerally exhilarating as the live wrestling, but they were an integral part of Wrestling MediaCon
#3. The Live Wrestling Part 1 - RevPro's British J Cup
Wrestling MediaCon had free live events provided by Defiant and NGW but was also the home two huge shows from RevPro and Impact Wrestling, who were returning to the UK for the first time in a long, long time. There was also a surprise NWA match with huge consequences for the NWA Title.
The first show I saw was RevPro's British J Cup day 1 that pitted 16 Junior Heavyweights against each other, with a mixture of British independent stars and imports from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Four almost four hours the likes of Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, Kushida, Roppongi 3K, David Starr, El Phantasmo, Rich Swann, Flamita and Bandido almost killed themselves for my entertainment. It was great. Here are some highlights from the first day--
Then it was RevPro's day two of the tournament with Sho, Yoh, Rocky Romero, El Phantasmo, Jushin 'Thunder' Liger, Kushida, David Starr and Rich Swann in second round matches with Phantasmo, Rocky, Kushida and Swann advancing to the British J Cup Fatal Fourway Elimination Final. Here's some more highlights.
There were also non British J Cup tournament matches with Ring Kampf taking on CCK on the first day, but the two standouts were Aussie Open vs Bandido & Flamita and Ring Kampf vs LAX, both on the second day. And that's what made Wrestling MediaCon so great, seeing Impact Wrestling talent in the ring with RevPro talent.
As I mentioned in my introduction, RevPro have just gotten a UK television deal and are definitely a great promotion to follow, I can't thank them enough for bringing guys like Kazuchika Okada and Jushin 'Thunder' Liger to the UK for people like me to see! Check them out!
#4. The Live Wrestling Part 2: NWA and Impact Wrestling
Following the two RevPro shows was a nice little surprise as Nick Aldis and Doug Williams went one-on-one for the right to challenge Cody Rhodes for the NWA Title at the NWA's big upcoming 70th anniversary show. It was a great classic feel match and also a great moment for Nick and Doug to share the ring together one last time with Williams' retirement ever looming.
Then we were treated to Impact Wrestling's big return to the UK, and having had the opportunity to speak to a lot of the guys involved beforehand I could tell they were throwing the kitchen sink at this one. They put on a great show with the LAX vs Jody Fleisch and Jonny Storm Impact World Tag-Team Title match and the Jimmy Havoc Vs. Sami Callihan Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Deathmatch standing out.
Read Also: Impact Wrestling Vs. The UK Results (9th September, 2018)
I didn't get any video highlights of this one as my recording device annoying ran out of storage (bad planning on my part!) But Impact have done a good job of posting the highlights themselves on their Twitter. Alternatively you can head to Twitch and just watch the show for free. WHICH YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST DO. Ahem.
Seriously, the LAX vs Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch tag match and the Deathmatch are something else. Click the links here to watch them in their entirety, I promise you won't be disappointed.
To conclude...
Wrestling MediaCon was the first event of its kind in the UK, and any wrestling fan able to attend will surely have been thrilled with the chance to mingle and interact with the wrestlers and wrestling personalities we know and love. I know I sure was! Here's hoping to a return for 2019!
Did you see the Impact Wrestling vs UK show on Twitch? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
The IMPACT show at Wrestling MediaCon will air in full on Fight Network UK (Sky Channel 455) at 9pm on Thursday September 13.
