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Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) was a
professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...
in Britain. Established in 1993 as the Fratton Wrestling Association it soon became the Frontier Wrestling Alliance six years later and until 2007 when it lost a scripted inter-promotional feud with International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom. As a result of losing the promotion was forced to close and the company XWA was founded, largely based on the old FWA with some old staff and wrestlers as well as some championships. However, in 2009 the FWA brand was relaunched again as a separate promotion to the XWA, running for three more years before folding again in 2012.


History


First run

The FWA initially started out as the Fratton Wrestling Association in 1993 by Mark Sloan in an attempt to create a forum for serious wrestling training and performance based in Portsmouth. Renaming the promotion to the Fratton Wrestling Alliance 1999, it experienced a renovation that geared it towards national expansion and promoted its first show in February of that year, changing to Frontier Wrestling Alliance by the second show in June. The promotion (now being co-run by Mark Sloan and film and TV producer Elisar Cabrera) soon produced a regional television programme ("Frontier Wrestling") in Portsmouth as well as founding a training academy to create its own talent. The emphasis on new wrestlers organically led to an early storyline of new, internationally influenced wrestling clashing with traditional British wrestling with some veterans brought in to help promote FWA's own performers. The company created a British championship later that year and in 2000 also crowned tag team champions as it continued to expand, performing across the south of the country. By August FWA began promoting shows with foreign talent, initially Sabu and Dan Severn, which it would continue to do so during its first run by cross promoting with other promotions. This eventually led to the British Heavyweight Championship being won by American wrestler
Christopher Daniels Daniel Christopher Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by the ring name Christopher Daniels, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is the Head of Talent Relations. He is best kno ...
, the belt being defended on international soil and a joint-promoted event with American independent promotion
Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...
in 2003. The company used international stars to gain notoriety (including hosting the XPW European Championship) and were further aided in advertisement when Alex Shane became a regular presenter on national talk radio station Talksport, aiding the company's expansion into the north of England. The ties with Talksport became important when FWA promoted a show entitled "Revival" from the Crystal Palace Indoor Arena that was broadcast live on radio and later on national television, through
Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
. In late 2006, FWA entered into a scripted feud with International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW:UK) when FWA wrestlers invaded IPW:UK's annual Brawl at the Hall event and took some of the locker room hostage. In the elimination tag team contest, Team FWA beat Team IPW:UK and proclaimed war on the company. As the rivalry intensified over the next few months, wrestlers from both rosters had matches in both promotions and neutral ground with FWA gaining the early advantage. After months of clashes three events were held under joint banners with the final show, IPW:UK vs. FWA: Final Frontiers, booked for a match between IPW's Martin Stone and an unnamed FWA wrestler to with both companies' future on the line. The show featured much in-fighting, including the two commentators breaking out into a brawl and ended with the mystery FWA wrestler being revealed as the retired former FWA British Heavyweight Champion Flash Barker who lost the match, resulting in FWA folding in March 2007.


Closure and XWA

After the FWA went out of business, Greg Lambert and Mark Kay held a press conference and formed a new promotion named XWA alluding to their former company but insisting the two had a different ethos, with the new company gearing its product towards family entertainment rather than being adult orientated. Despite only basing their promotion on the former company, XWA inherited the physical British Heavyweight and Flyweight Championship belts from FWA and continued to use them, promising to also resurrect the
FWA Tag Team Championship The Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship contested for in the British Frontier Wrestling Alliance promotion. The title was only contestable by male tag teams and in tag team matches. B ...
, though they never would. However, in April 2009 at XWA's War on the Shore V, Lambert finally announced the creation of XWA's own British Heavyweight Championship belts and gave the FWA belt to Alex Shane, making his only appearance at an XWA event, while Shane presented the new physical title to the winner of the evening's championship match, Sam Slam.


Rebirth

Despite being on the losing end of the battle with International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom and the XWA promotion purportedly taking its lineage, in May 2009, over two years after its original demise, Tony Simpson and Alex Shane announced their intention to revive the national promotion. They held their comeback show, New Frontiers, in early August with matches designed to crown a new FWA World Champion and FWA Flyweight Champion. On 13 February 2010 at the British Uproar event in Broxbourne, Martin Stone defeated Andy Simmonz in the tournament finals to become the first FWA World Heavyweight Champion. He subsequently turned
heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...
and formed a faction called "The Agenda", whose aims are to decimate the UK's top talent in order to showcase their skills to the large American wrestling companies and earn a lucrative contract as a result. At the European Uprising show in Birmingham on 20 November 2010, Alex Shane turned heel and revealed it was he who was the real leader of the Agenda. After April 2012, the company quietly went inactive again running no further events, and their website going down.


Rules

The promotion follows the same rules as seen in most of professional wrestling but has adopted the penalty card system from
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, with the yellow card serving as a warning, and any
red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...
offence resulting in disqualification. Piledrivers are banned under FWA rules and can result in a
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...
as well as disqualification.


Notable wrestlers

* Alex Shane * Zack Sabre Jr. * Marty Scurll * Andrew Simmonz * Jonny Storm *
El Ligero Simon Musk (born 7 January 1985) is an English professional wrestler better known under his in-ring persona of masked Mexican luchador, El Ligero (or simply Ligero). He is most known for his time in WWE, on their NXT UK brand. Professional wre ...
*
Jody Fleisch Jerome Fleisch (born 2 April 1980) is an English professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jody Fleisch. He is best known for his work with the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, One Pro Wrestling and Real Quality Wrestling. He is current ...
* Sha Samuels *
Terry Frazier The Kartel was a professional wrestling tag team made up of Terry Frazier and Sha Samuels. They are best known their work on the independent circuit mainly within the United Kingdom. Professional wrestling career Frazier, and Samuels, The Eas ...
* Mark Haskins * Rockstar Spud * Bubblegum * Drew Galloway *
Jorge Castano Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος ('' Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...
*
CM Punk Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by the ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler, sports commentator, actor, and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Best known for ...
* Steve Corino * AJ Styles * Nikita


Championships


Current championships

11 days


Championships in other companies


Defunct championships


Defunct accomplishments


References


External links


FWA Official website
{{Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom British professional wrestling promotions 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom * it:Frontier Wrestling Alliance ja:フロンティア・レスリング・アソシエーション