Entertainmania

Where the Recorded Story Begins

One of the earliest RWL events, taking place during the promotion’s original backyard era in Blackburn, this show marks an important turning point in RWL history: the beginning of the recorded era.

Before this, RWL existed almost entirely between friends. Corey Carver, later known as Valo, Jayyy, and Tom Baron, later known in RWL as Shawn O’ Mercy, had already been wrestling together in a backyard style for several years, with matches taking place wherever they could find the space: school playgrounds, random fields, back gardens… and even Jayyy’s attic.

By the time of this event, things had begun to become a little more organised. Corey Carver and Nixy Nix had both been training professionally for around a year, and approximately two months before this show they began passing on some of the basics they had learned to newer members of the RWL roster who would go on to appear throughout 2006.

Someone Found a Camera…

The reason this particular show became the beginning of RWL’s recorded history came down to a discovery made by Corey and Jayyy at high school: the school library had handheld Mini-DV camcorders available to borrow.

Naturally, they borrowed one for the weekend.

With a camera suddenly at their disposal, the rest of the RWL crew were contacted and brought together for a show. From this point on, the cameras were rolling, beginning an audiovisual record of RWL that would continue through the years that followed.

The “Ring”

Calling the setup a wrestling ring required a fairly generous interpretation of the word.

The wrestling area was constructed using cardboard sourced from the Aldi across the road, laid out to create what everyone involved simply called the ring.

During the setup, a local resident watching proceedings from his back garden decided to get involved and helped tape the cardboard together.

And, somehow, footage of him doing it still survives.

The location itself was hardly secluded. The show took place alongside a busy main road in Ewood, directly across from Blackburn Rovers’ stadium, with heavy traffic regularly passing the makeshift ring while the show was taking place.

On the Card

The RWL Championship takes centre stage in the main event as Jayyy faces Japanese Superstar Hyogo Kantai.

Elsewhere, Corey Carver battles Nixy Nix for the RWL International Championship, while The Sentinel goes one-on-one with “Cyanide” Danny Cooper.

Rounding out the card, Adam Watson faces Teh Gr8 Phuka-u, while Shawn O’ Mercy takes on Teh Gr8 Schitzu.

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Before the venues, the crowds and the years of shows that followed, there were just a group of friends, a borrowed camera, some cardboard and somewhere to wrestle.