Post by Justin Sanity on May 13, 2018 11:29:59 GMT -5
Part 1 - Swirling Rumors
Rumor - noun; a currently circulating story or report of the uncertain or doubtful truth
verb; be circulated of an unverified account.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated put out an article on the history and inevitable death of 2FW.
THE CONSTANT RISE AND FALL AND EVENTUAL END OF 2FW
Full Force Wrestling (2FW) was a promotion based out of New Jersey that presented itself as a hybrid promotion that had something for everyone. Technical masterpieces, death matches, hardcore brawls that sprawled through venues, high flying, strong style bouts. You can name any style of wrestling, and it was guaranteed to be presented by 2FW at some point in its lifespan. After years of constantly being in an out of the spotlight, a loss of a deal with Showtime, it's no surprise that 2FW eventually lost its force on the world of wrestling.
Owner Johnny Albright invested his own savings into starting a wrestling promotion, this to him was one of the greatest goals he wanted to accomplish in life. Once he laid out the foundations by acquiring a ring, sound system, and a small group of wrestlers willing to work with him; he set out to make an impact and it all started with the name "Full Force Wrestling."
Albright was inspired to start his own promotion after watching wrestling and working shows from the time he was 7 years old. His father worked on websites for promoters while his mother took tickets at the door, wrestling was in his blood, it was his life.
2FW would start out like any other promotion, running small shows locally using local talent in VFW halls and Elks lodges. As time went on, bigger names like Chris Hero, Delirious, Colt Cabana, and The Briscoe Brothers would start working for Albright and his small promotion. Word was starting to get out that 2FW was the place to be on a Saturday night. The roster expanded and so did the venues, no longer was 2FW being held in VFW halls with low ceilings, now they expanded to concert halls, not a gigantic step up but a step up nonetheless. It only snowballed from there once international flavors were coming over to 2FW. Pro Wrestling NOAH stars like Takeshi Morishima and KENTA were coming over, capturing titles, and putting on 5-star matches with the likes of Samoa Joe and Mike Quackenbush for what felt like every other weekend, or at the very least every month. Around this time is when Albright was shopping out 2FW to TV executives, but not just any executives, he was shopping it out to premium TV channel executives of HBO and Showtime. Albright ended up with monthly show deals with both TV companies.
With a solid roster under its belt, 2FW would start branching out into states like Georgia, Louisianna, and even as far as California; HBO was broadcasting the shows live on location, things were starting to look great in 2FW. However, that's how it was on the surface. Underneath, Albright was struggling to keep 2FW afloat. Having to fly champions and workers from Mexico and Japan was costly, and some of the talents he acquired weren't planning on taking pay cuts. No longer did he have the local talent willing to work for dirt cheap, he had big names with wallets to fill, which later proved to be not only difficult but impossible.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Albright but 2FW on a short hiatus. When it came back it wasn't the same, Albright told an interviewer in a shoot interview "fans were really upset that I put the company on hiatus without putting out some sort of official release. I took the product they loved away from them as if I were a parent taking a toy when the child did nothing wrong." He went on to say that ticket sales for the return weren't great but were enough to put on another show.
Albright was looking to win back his die-hard fanbase, he spent whatever money he could to put on a show at the hammerstein ballroom in new york city to host a Battle of Los Angeles-like tournament. So similar in fact that it took the name and just replaced it with new york. Some of the names announced were seasoned vets Steve Corino and Jinsei "Hakushi" Shinsaki, as well as hot indy talents such as Facade, Sonjay Dutt, Canada's Franky the Mobster; as well as California's Quicksilver and Ronin. More names were scheduled to announce but those announcements never came. 2FW had passed on before it could get back on its feet again.
So what happened? Why did the battle of NYC never happen? According to Dave Meltzer, Albright cracked under the stresses of financing the show, the money well had dried out. Since then, Albright has disappeared from wrestling and hasn't been heard from since.
if you're interested in more 2FW you can check out their catalog on smartmarkvideo.com
Pro Wrestling Illustrated followed up with a short article several months later that had rumors regarding 2FW returning under a different name.
2FW BACK IN FULL FORCE?
A few months ago, we took you through the history of Full Force Wrestling, now it seems that they're coming back...again.
According to some sources, Albright came across our article and it inspired him to bring back the lost promotion, but taking a smarter approach. We heard a rumor saying that the brand will no longer be called Full Force Wrestling; he will now name it "BattlARTS USA" named after the Japanese promotion "BattlARTS." The reason? Albright is rumored to be a huge fan of early Pancrase, Fighting Network RINGS, and BattlARTS, and wants to bring the brands of shoot-style/hybrid wrestling to the states. BattlARTS was home of stars like Mohammad Yone, Sho Funaki, TAKA Michinoku, and Minoru Fujita to name a few. Battlarts hosted it's last show in 2011 and the time feels right to introduce the style to a new audience. At this time we have heard nothing about a show coming up or who Mr. Albright decides to bring into the fold, however we feel that current indy talents like Tracy Williams, Matt Riddle, Dominic Garrini, Kennedi Copeland, and Tony Deppen would all be great fits for the promotion, based on some of their prior mixed martial arts backgrounds alone.
Rumor - noun; a currently circulating story or report of the uncertain or doubtful truth
verb; be circulated of an unverified account.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated put out an article on the history and inevitable death of 2FW.
THE CONSTANT RISE AND FALL AND EVENTUAL END OF 2FW
Full Force Wrestling (2FW) was a promotion based out of New Jersey that presented itself as a hybrid promotion that had something for everyone. Technical masterpieces, death matches, hardcore brawls that sprawled through venues, high flying, strong style bouts. You can name any style of wrestling, and it was guaranteed to be presented by 2FW at some point in its lifespan. After years of constantly being in an out of the spotlight, a loss of a deal with Showtime, it's no surprise that 2FW eventually lost its force on the world of wrestling.
Owner Johnny Albright invested his own savings into starting a wrestling promotion, this to him was one of the greatest goals he wanted to accomplish in life. Once he laid out the foundations by acquiring a ring, sound system, and a small group of wrestlers willing to work with him; he set out to make an impact and it all started with the name "Full Force Wrestling."
Albright was inspired to start his own promotion after watching wrestling and working shows from the time he was 7 years old. His father worked on websites for promoters while his mother took tickets at the door, wrestling was in his blood, it was his life.
2FW would start out like any other promotion, running small shows locally using local talent in VFW halls and Elks lodges. As time went on, bigger names like Chris Hero, Delirious, Colt Cabana, and The Briscoe Brothers would start working for Albright and his small promotion. Word was starting to get out that 2FW was the place to be on a Saturday night. The roster expanded and so did the venues, no longer was 2FW being held in VFW halls with low ceilings, now they expanded to concert halls, not a gigantic step up but a step up nonetheless. It only snowballed from there once international flavors were coming over to 2FW. Pro Wrestling NOAH stars like Takeshi Morishima and KENTA were coming over, capturing titles, and putting on 5-star matches with the likes of Samoa Joe and Mike Quackenbush for what felt like every other weekend, or at the very least every month. Around this time is when Albright was shopping out 2FW to TV executives, but not just any executives, he was shopping it out to premium TV channel executives of HBO and Showtime. Albright ended up with monthly show deals with both TV companies.
With a solid roster under its belt, 2FW would start branching out into states like Georgia, Louisianna, and even as far as California; HBO was broadcasting the shows live on location, things were starting to look great in 2FW. However, that's how it was on the surface. Underneath, Albright was struggling to keep 2FW afloat. Having to fly champions and workers from Mexico and Japan was costly, and some of the talents he acquired weren't planning on taking pay cuts. No longer did he have the local talent willing to work for dirt cheap, he had big names with wallets to fill, which later proved to be not only difficult but impossible.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Albright but 2FW on a short hiatus. When it came back it wasn't the same, Albright told an interviewer in a shoot interview "fans were really upset that I put the company on hiatus without putting out some sort of official release. I took the product they loved away from them as if I were a parent taking a toy when the child did nothing wrong." He went on to say that ticket sales for the return weren't great but were enough to put on another show.
Albright was looking to win back his die-hard fanbase, he spent whatever money he could to put on a show at the hammerstein ballroom in new york city to host a Battle of Los Angeles-like tournament. So similar in fact that it took the name and just replaced it with new york. Some of the names announced were seasoned vets Steve Corino and Jinsei "Hakushi" Shinsaki, as well as hot indy talents such as Facade, Sonjay Dutt, Canada's Franky the Mobster; as well as California's Quicksilver and Ronin. More names were scheduled to announce but those announcements never came. 2FW had passed on before it could get back on its feet again.
So what happened? Why did the battle of NYC never happen? According to Dave Meltzer, Albright cracked under the stresses of financing the show, the money well had dried out. Since then, Albright has disappeared from wrestling and hasn't been heard from since.
if you're interested in more 2FW you can check out their catalog on smartmarkvideo.com
Pro Wrestling Illustrated followed up with a short article several months later that had rumors regarding 2FW returning under a different name.
2FW BACK IN FULL FORCE?
A few months ago, we took you through the history of Full Force Wrestling, now it seems that they're coming back...again.
According to some sources, Albright came across our article and it inspired him to bring back the lost promotion, but taking a smarter approach. We heard a rumor saying that the brand will no longer be called Full Force Wrestling; he will now name it "BattlARTS USA" named after the Japanese promotion "BattlARTS." The reason? Albright is rumored to be a huge fan of early Pancrase, Fighting Network RINGS, and BattlARTS, and wants to bring the brands of shoot-style/hybrid wrestling to the states. BattlARTS was home of stars like Mohammad Yone, Sho Funaki, TAKA Michinoku, and Minoru Fujita to name a few. Battlarts hosted it's last show in 2011 and the time feels right to introduce the style to a new audience. At this time we have heard nothing about a show coming up or who Mr. Albright decides to bring into the fold, however we feel that current indy talents like Tracy Williams, Matt Riddle, Dominic Garrini, Kennedi Copeland, and Tony Deppen would all be great fits for the promotion, based on some of their prior mixed martial arts backgrounds alone.
ing thing man.