THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
When I first heard that ITV were planning a show called Celebrity Wrestling, I was very intrigued by the idea. I first heard of this from Ricky Knight, after the show’s producers contacted WAW asking Ricky and Saraya if they were interested in taking part in the show.
As you can imagine, Ricky & Saraya were very interested in the show, and when they told me of the show, and what they knew of the format – two wrestlers training two teams of celebrities as they competed against each other – I had visions of a British version of the WWE’s Tough Enough series, with Ricky & Saraya training their respective teams in the skills of professional wrestling, with the winner of the contest competing in a proper professional wrestling match against a proper professional wrestler, perhaps even working on the circuit for a while. But then Ricky & Saraya were given more details about the format of the show, and decided to give it a wide berth.
Eventually, WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper, D’Lo Brown and Joe Legend were announced for the show, as were the celebrities. Even after this announcement, I still had visions of Tough Enough. But then I began to hear reports from people who attended the television tapings, of how the studio audiences had to sit in their seats for up to six hours, watching games that seemed to have little to do with professional wrestling.
Then, ITV began a massive promotional campaign. The celebrities were given new ring personas, and their new likeness’ were plastered all over television screens, magazines, newspapers and billboards all over Britain. Then, just three weeks ago, the first show aired. Replacing the ITV darlings Ant & Dec, and going up against the BBC’s returning Dr. Who. Presented by Kate Thornton, last seen on shows such as Pop Idol, the show gained a respectable 3.8 million viewers.
But as far as many of the viewers were concerned, this wasn’t what they were promised. The show’s title, Celebrity Wrestling, is misleading for a start. The celebrities on the show aren’t really what I would call celebrities. Twenty years ago, for me, a celebrity was a famous pop star, an actor, a comedian, a sports star, or a television presenter. These days, celebrities are people who win reality shows like Big Brother, or people who have extramarital affairs with other celebrities, or fat kids from New Jersey who mime to Romanian boy band songs on a web cam. Using this criteria, I could be considered a celebrity because I once shouted abuse at a British sitcom star as I drove past him. The celebrities on this show feature a former Big Brother winner, a man who had an affair with the wife of the future King of England, and actors and former sportsmen who can’t get any form of publicity anywhere else.
And then there’s the wrestling part of the title. Well, there isn’t any. Instead of the so-called celebrities competing against each other in actual wrestling matches, or even shoot fights, they compete against each other in games that would be better suited to a show like Gladiators or It’s A Knock Out.
Three weeks into it’s run, and Celebrity Wrestling’s viewing figures are down 1.2. Million, to 2.6 million. It’s rival show on BBC1, Dr. Who, drew 7.5 million last weekend, the sort of numbers that ITV darlings Ant & Dec drew in the same time slot.
I get the feeling that those fans who brought into the idea of Celebrity Wrestling when it was first announced now feel that they’ve been cheated. The sort of audience they were hoping to draw feel insulted by the show’s very concept, and they are now turning over in droves, preferring to watch a Time Lord on his travels than a bunch of Z-list celebrities play silly beggars.
The show has been panned by television critics, it has been panned by wrestlers, and it’s been panned by wrestling fans. Now just three weeks into it’s run, Celebrity Wrestling has been beaten into submission. This Saturday’s show will be the last, with the fate of the four unaired shows still to be decided upon.
Looking at the long term picture, instead of helping the British wrestling industry, it may already have done untold damage. TV executives, having seen how badly a celebrity wrestling show has done in the ratings, may be reluctant to give a real professional wrestling another chance on British terrestrial television. After all, if a bunch of celebrities wrestling couldn’t pull in the viewers, what chance do the real ones have?
