Disclaimer: After "Response to Jackie Polo" and "Trials & Tribulations", this is what I call the finale of the "Grado Trilogy". The British Wrestler was a documentary made by VICE back in 2012 and shone a huge light on the British wrestling scene in general, specifically ICW and Grado.
Now excuse me if I am talking out of context here but from a few podcasts I have heard on the subject, "The British Wrestler" was originally intended as a bit of a pisstake on the part of VICE. I believe they wanted to create a video making fun at the silly boys who keep trying to make the passe days of World Of Sport relevant once again.
What they found instead was ICW.
The absolute force and passion from Mark Dallas and co. shaped the eventual documentary which was in fact a very frank look at the people who make Insane Championship Wrestling tick. My favourite thing about this documentary is that everybody gets a say. Although a few years later the BBC would shine a larger light on the company, The British Wrestler for me is a fairer look at ICW as the likes of Red Lightning, The Bucky Boys and Wolfgang manage to get a word in edgeways. The best parts for me are when Mikey Whiplash is talking about his character and the disassociation from the real man behind that character. A rare look behind the curtain, so to speak.
Now excuse me if I am talking out of context here but from a few podcasts I have heard on the subject, "The British Wrestler" was originally intended as a bit of a pisstake on the part of VICE. I believe they wanted to create a video making fun at the silly boys who keep trying to make the passe days of World Of Sport relevant once again.
What they found instead was ICW.
The absolute force and passion from Mark Dallas and co. shaped the eventual documentary which was in fact a very frank look at the people who make Insane Championship Wrestling tick. My favourite thing about this documentary is that everybody gets a say. Although a few years later the BBC would shine a larger light on the company, The British Wrestler for me is a fairer look at ICW as the likes of Red Lightning, The Bucky Boys and Wolfgang manage to get a word in edgeways. The best parts for me are when Mikey Whiplash is talking about his character and the disassociation from the real man behind that character. A rare look behind the curtain, so to speak.
Once again, what becomes apparent is just how eminently watchable Grado is. Although everybody gets a say (and there are even a few segments of English wrestling that show why Rockstar Spud got his TNA shot), this is truly the Grado show, and what an entertaining show it is.
I hope these first three videos in the series have provided a front door to the history of Gradomania and how ICW exploded in popularity towards the end of 2012 and have continued riding the exciting wave until today. This is for me both objectively and subjectively where it all began. Now I have shown you the start, next week I will show a more current video. As always, hit up the Twitter, Facebook or email AWBAblog@gmail.com if you have anything in particular you want to see from this series.
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