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Power Slam

Summary

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Power Slam was an independent non-kayfabe magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1991–2014 by SW Publishing, with co-founders Findlay Martin and former WCW Magazine owner Colin Bowman.[1] Power Slam was Europe's best-selling pro wrestling publication.[2]

Power Slam
EditorFindlay "Fin" Martin
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherSW Publishing
Founded1991
Final issue14 July 2014
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The magazine began life as Superstars of Wrestling in 1991 before altering its name after 30 issues in July 1994. It was released on a Thursday every five weeks, and provided recent results, colour photographs from live events, articles on historical and contemporary matters within the business, and exclusive interviews with prominent industry figures. Power Slam stopped offering subscriptions on 4 February 2014, in anticipation of the closure of the magazine, which occurred on 14 July with the release of issue 237.[3]

In September 2020, Power Slam's spiritual successor was launched, when Inside The Ropes Magazine debuted with its retro design, and used several of Power Slam's features, including "What's Going Down" and "Mat Musings". Findlay "Fin" Martin is a contributor and writer for the magazine.[4]

Columnists edit

  • Findlay "Fin" Martin, editor. He has an edition of the wrestling blooper web series, Botchamania, named for him. In 2014, Martin joined the Wrestle Talk TV podcast, WrestlePod.[5] As of 2017, he co-hosts the Power Slam Podcast with Inside the Ropes.
  • Mohammed Chatra, also known for presenting Pro Wrestling Noah on the UK's satellite sports channel TWC Fight! (formerly The Wrestling Channel).
  • Greg Lambert,[6] a British journalist, wrestling manager and promoter for the XWA.
  • Rob Butcher, UK tape trader and writer.
  • Patty Therre,[1] former executive editor of WCW Magazine.
  • Ernie "Stately Wayne Manor" Santilli, the only featured columnist to – as Stately Wayne Manor – maintain kayfabe, living up to his image as an ultra-conceited heel manager. As Manor, Santilli joined the staff halfway through the "Superstars of Wrestling" period.
  • Oliver Hurley, author of Wrestlings 101 Strangest Matches
  • Phil Jones (also a photographer)
  • Ant Evans, formerly editor of boxing news site SecondsOut and writer for Boxing Monthly magazine. Evans now works for the UFC in the UK.
  • Matthew Randazzo V, author of Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry
  • Alex Dale
  • Neil Docking, a journalist working in the North West of England, now the Daily Mirror's wrestling writer.

Content edit

The magazine was geared more to pro-wrestling than sports entertainment, covering promotions from all over the world (particularly Japanese puroresu), and has also on occasion covered MMA events. This was often partly to do with involvement of professional wrestling personalities, for example Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović appeared in the pages of Power Slam numerous times due to Japanese promoters (especially K-1) pitting him against wrestlers in legitimate shoot fights.

Power Slam took an impartial view on the wrestling world being non affiliated with any wrestling promotion or organization. Contributor Greg Lambert has been an on-screen talent and behind-the-scenes promoter/booker for Britain's Frontier Wrestling Alliance but the magazine never crossed the grounds of journalistic integrity by inviting/allowing him to promote his real-life business.

A 2009 Power Slam interview with Triple H was subject to scrutiny from the Pro Wrestling Torch, who criticized Triple H's comments within it.[7]

In 2012, Fin Martin defended CM Punk against ongoing rumours that Punk's "straight edge" lifestyle was a ruse. Martin wrote: "We have spoken to many people over the last eight years who have been to bars and nightclubs with Punk and/or traveled with him in Europe and the U.S. and Canada, and all report that Punk has invariably abstained from alcohol, illegal drugs and tobacco."[8]

Power Slam was used as a reference in the Jim Cornette, James Dixon, and Benjamin Richardson book, Titan Sinking: The decline of the WWF in 1995.[9]

PS 50 edit

Every year the magazine presented the PS 50 (akin to the PWI 500) listing the 50 wrestlers whom the writers believed to have had the most successful year, in terms of workrate and performance. 2012 winner Hiroshi Tanahashi was the first wrestler to be ranked number one in two consecutive PS 50s, followed by Austin Aries and CM Punk. There was also an annual reader's poll for various awards ('match of the year', etc.) similar to that carried out by RSPW.

Despite their criticisms, their readers polls always crowned WWE as the top promotion of the year until 2005, where TNA overtook the company for the first time. TNA would follow up that victory with another in the 2006 reader awards, although in 2007 the percentage of votes for TNA dropped considerably.

PS 50 podium edit

# Name Country 1 2 3 4-50 Total First appearance Last appearance Federation
1 Kurt Angle   USA 3 3 0 5 11 1994 2012 WWE, TNA
2 Shawn Michaels   USA 3 1 2 4 10 1994 2008 WWE
3 Chris Benoit   Canada 2 1 1 5 9 1995 2006 WWE, WCW, NJPW
4 Stone Cold Steve Austin   USA 2 0 0 3 5 1996 2001 WWE, WCW
5 Kenta Kobashi   Japan 1 2 1 6 10 1994 2005 AJPW, NOAH
6 A.J. Styles   USA 1 0 1 4 6 2003 2012 TNA
7 Mitsuharu Misawa   Japan 1 0 0 9 10 1994 2005 AJPW, NOAH
8 Triple H   USA 1 0 0 9 10 1995 2008 WWE, WCW
9 Edge   Canada 1 0 0 8 9 1999 2007 WWE
10 Bret Hart   Canada 1 0 0 5 6 1994 1999 WWE, WCW
11 Keiji Mutoh   Japan 0 2 0 6 8 1994 2008 NJPW, AJPW, WCW
12 Kenta   Japan 0 1 2 3 6 2003 2012 NOAH
13 Nigel McGuinness   England 0 1 1 1 3 2006 2008 ROH
14 Jushin Thunder Liger   Japan 0 1 0 10 11 1994 2005 NJPW
15 Koji Kanemoto   Japan 0 1 0 9 10 1995 2005 NJPW
16 Yuji Nagata   Japan 0 1 0 10 11 1994 2005 NJPW, WCW
17 Bryan Danielson   USA 0 1 0 5 6 2003 2012 ROH, WWE
18 Toshiaki Kawada   Japan 0 0 1 9 10 1994 2005 AJPW
19 Eddie Guerrero   USA 0 0 1 8 9 1994 2005 WWE, WCW, NJPW
20 Dean Malenko   USA 0 0 1 5 6 1995 2000 WWE, WCW
21 Mick Foley   USA 0 0 1 5 6 1994 2004 WWE, WCW, TNA
22 Samoa Joe   USA 0 0 1 5 6 2003 2012 TNA, ROH
23 The Rock   USA 0 0 1 4 5 1999 2002 WWE
24 Low Ki   USA 0 0 1 4 5 2001 2012 TNA, NJPW

Awards edit

Wrestler of the Year edit

Babyface of the Year edit

Heel of the Year edit

Match of the Year edit

Card Of The Year edit

Tag Team edit

Character of the Year edit

Most Abysmal Wrestler of the Year edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Rennie, Steve (March 28, 2005). "Patty was Therre". Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "Wrestler Doug Williams honoured as Morecambe celebrates its grappling history". The Yorkshire Post. April 10, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  3. ^ Martin, Findlay. Power Slam closes. psmag.co.uk. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Inside The Ropes Magazine". Inside The Ropes Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  5. ^ "Findlay Martin Joins WrestlePod!". Wrestle Talk TV. December 7, 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-06-20. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  6. ^ Lambert, Greg (2012). Holy Grail: The True Story of British Wrestling's Revival. p. 34.
  7. ^ Gardner, Richard (November 8, 2009). "WWE's Even-Steven booking isn't elevating younger stars, just benefiting Triple H". PWTorch. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  8. ^ Thomas, Jeremy (May 6, 2012). "Is CM Punk's Straight-Edge Gimmick Genuine?". 411Mania. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  9. ^ Dixon, James; Cornette, Jim; Richardson, Benjamin (2014). Titan Sinking: The decline of the WWF in 1995. Lulu. ISBN 978-1291996371.