Twist-A-Saw
I@E> :?8DG@FEËJ EFN 8 >CF98C =@>?K JLG<IJK8I
A VERY happy anniversary to Insane Championship Wrestling, who are celebrating a decade in the business.
But that’s by no means the sum of their achievements, as the Glasgow promotion, brainchild of promoter Mark Dallas, continues to go from strength to strength.
This weekend sees the conclusion of their celebratory tour in Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, to wet the whistle for their biggest-ever show at Glasgow’s HYDRO Arena in November.
From small beginnings in Maryhill in October 2006, the promotion has swept the nation, capturing the public imagination on an unprecedented scale, and garnering mainstream attention on TV.
The inaugural ICW Champion that day a decade ago was Drew Galloway, who has since enjoyed a superb career taking in WWE, TNA and a host of others, and can truly call himself a global star.
Not that it goes to his head of course. When we speak this week in advance of his return for the triple header this weekend, he’s having furniture delivered to his home under the watchful eye of his fiancée.
“When I first left for America, I was 21, just turning 22. We all wrestled exactly the same, there weren’t very many companies, there wasn’t very many of us in the British scene. We all wrestled a similar way and we were basically trying to help each other get better,” muses the 31-year-old from Ayr.
“I went to America for eight years, and now I come back to the UK and to see the level of talent is just unbelievable, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been when I see how great the companies are doing.”
Dallas set his stall out early, this was an adult-orientated product, at odds with the PG doldrums of the larger American promotions, something with a palpable taste of home.
A Scottish product, British in wider terms, but we’ll leave that particular argument to the politicians.
When Drew moved to TNA, where he swiftly became champion to his huge credit, the landscape had changed. British talent was permeating the upper echelons of the world scene, and he set his goal to be a fighting champion, defending his belts around the world to elevate those titles and their parent promotions.
“It’s been an unbelievable ride,” he tells FT.
“People have given me continuous opportunity and allowed me to show what I can do in the ring and out of the ring, especially the out of the ring part!
“I was never afforded the chance to talk very often and towards the end of my run in WWE, I wasn’t allowed the opportunity to show what I could do in the ring, which was my main attribute.”
“When I won the Evolve and ICW titles, my goal was to defend them across the world, get them recognised as world titles. I did that, with my ultimate goal to be the first travelling world champion since Ric Flair.”
Drew takes all of it in his stride with a commendable humility, for such a successful young man in the prime of his career. He’ll be on the road with his proud dad Andy, who is making the trip to the three shows.
“I see it as my responsibility to keep going to these companies, because I’m in a position where I know how to grow these companies and really improve wrestling. I’ve got a lot of work left to do.”
In closing, Drew says that ICW’s greatest strength is the fact it has brought people to wrestling who otherwise would not have come. So, if you haven’t had the pleasure, this weekend is a great opportunity, Drew says.
“It’s such a unique product, you don’t have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy ICW. It’s just a crazy interactive show with all these different characters, there’s amazing wrestling.
“Such crazy interactive things, you’re helping the wrestlers during the matches, passing them a weapon or passing them a beer.
“There’s so much going in to keep the fans’ attention at an ICW show that I’d recommend it to anyone.
“I speak to the fans and I hear what they have to say. That’s the biggest quote of all – ‘I’m not a wrestling fan, I’m an ICW fan.’” 29/07/16: 30/07/16: 31/07/16: 20/11/2016: Tickets: Finn Balor