The Wrestling Channel (UK TV)

[Hollywood Naitch]

Did anyone watch this channel when it was on Sky in the UK a few years ago.

I thought it was great having a channel dedicated to nothing but wrestling, and that is where I first saw guys like CM Punk, AJ Styles, Danielson, Joe and many others.

When it first launched we had wrestling from all around the world:

TNA
ROH
NOAH
All Japan
New Japan
CZW
3PW
CMLL
FWA

and plenty of others. There were also shoot interviews with guys like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ken Shamrock, Rave, Steve Corino, Marty Jannetty and plenty of others. It was brilliant and a welcome change from WWE.

Seeing TNA in its early days was great, there were alot of guys that you remembered from WWE/WCW and many young up and coming guys like Styles, Daniels, The Truth etc mixed with more established talent.

There was the hardcore CZW for the garbage wrestling fans, some lucha libre from Mexico and the strong style of Japan. I think there was even a womens federation shown on there too.

However, it lost the rights to TNA (its most popular show) and over time it got watered down with shitty MMA promotions and ended up becoming TWC:Fight before shutting down. Obviously thery must not have got high-enough viewing figures to remain on the air, and that was a crying shame for passionate wrestling fans across the UK.

What was everyones thoughts on The Wrestling Channel. Do you miss it? Do you ever think there will be a wrestling-specific channel again in the UK?

 

[a0161613]

It was a great channel and I truly credit it for getting me into TNA and specifically AJ Styles. I was gutted that they never seemed to get a really great range of content and that seemed to be a factor in it being shut down.

I can't believe there is no market for it but I guess its' advertising and marketing sucked because it was never advertised and I only stumbled onto it.

 

[Diet Soda]

Definitely, without it I wouldn't have heard of any of those indy companies.

It is a shame, especially when single football clubs get an entire channel devoted to them, and a whole channel dedicated to F1 is about to launch.

It'd be great if Sky could make a deal with WWE to rerun old matches and PPVs and put them on the same channel as indy shows. Long shot though.