Leyland Wrestling Federation

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Revision as of 22:47, 3 January 2013

Leyland Wrestling Federation
Details
Acronym	LWF
Established	June 8, 2012
Creator	Steve Bibby and James Bruce
Style	Backyard wrestling
Surface(s)	Base
Location	Leyland, England
Current status	Active

The Leyland Wrestling Federation is a backyard wrestling organization based in Leyland, in the north of the England.

History

Founding

Initially set up as a stand-alone match between present competitors Steve Bibby and James Bruce to entertain friends on Facebook, The LWF was formed on June 8th 2012. Storylines, fueds and general banter were posted on the Facebook page which remains the place where wrestlers and fans can exchange views and often heated words in keeping with the current happenings.

Monday Night Mutiny Launch

Following the appointment of Daryl Snape as chairman of the federation and a long build up, The LWF announced its inaugural episode of Monday Night Mutiny to be broadcast on July 2nd from Bibby Towers, a backyard venue in Leyland and home of its own competitor, Steve Bibby. The show's Facebook post was seen by nearly 600 viewers and featured an opening promo by Daryl Snape welcoming the viewers to the LWF and to Mutiny. He announced that James Bruce and Steve Bibby would be involved in warm up matches to ready them for their long awaited No Holds Barred title match, now scheduled as main event at upcoming Pay Per View, Inception.

Daryl's promo was cut short by Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols and bizarre images as he stormed away. Bibby would take on Russian Vladimir Lugervoy in the first of the two matches but with help from an interfering Bruce, Lugervoy would pick up the win and after Bruce had damaged property in the house, Bibby would get revenge by assaulting him before Bruce's scheduled match with The Eclipse Alan Jones could get underway.

INCEPTION

The LWF launched its first Pay Per View on August 18th 2012 at Hunters Lodge Motel in Chorley, a few miles from Leyland. On the eve of Inception, The LWF fanpage reached 100 fans. After the first Mutiny, two more were broadcast and announcements were made as to who would indeed be supporting the main event. Also announced was the inclusion of Paul Bradley as special referee to the title match having admitted he had interrupted Daryl on the first show.

Having made a high impact debut on the second Mutiny, Daryl Snape's son, H.A Snape would battle Vladimir Lugervoy for the number one contendership to the LWF Championship after a fortnight of altercations.

The rest of the card consisted of debutants as Matt Chadwick and Liam Boardman took on The Johnson Brothers, Dan Mears faced Akitaka and a comedy boxing match was arranged between The Ballbreaker Biffo Bunker and The Slugger Stan Still. Inception marked a huge stepping stone for The LWF, gaining the most hits on Youtube, raising the bar and creating stories that would pan out for the rest of the year.

Publicity, The Donn and 'The Turncoats"

The end of October saw The LWF appear in Leyland's local newspaper The Leyland Guardian. Steve Bibby's interview in the paper attempted to correct those online that had attempted to suggest that The LWF were trying to portray professionalism beyond the backyard environment and imitate local profiting organisations. The article was well received and helped establish the federation as a positive representative of the town of Leyland. On broadcast, a story was being played out showing The LWF's threat from a mysterious Godfather-like character called "The Donn." Having appeared at Inception to view a match, The Donn continud to appear on Mutiny and posed scathing remarks on the Facebook page, criticizing the wrestling standard and threatening trouble. Over the weeks, The Donn would appear with a henchman who even attacked H.A Snape when confronted.

The Donn would remain simply a nuisance to Daryl Snape until the night of the LWF Championship yardfight between Steve Bibby and James Bruce -- a rematch from Inception. Paul Bradley strangely agreed to officiate the match despite turning the Inception bout down at the last minute (replaced by Dan Mears).

After a brutal and barbaric fight, Steve Bibby captured the title with Bradley counting the three. The next Mutiny would prove chaotic as Bibby was forced to hand back the belt after The Donn's revelation that Bradley's contract had been altered. Rather than a match official, Bradley was now the manager of Number one contender Vladimir Lugervoy and as the LWF title could not change hands unless called by an accredited official, the belt would return to James Bruce, consequently Bibby's title reign never officially happened. After the announcement, The Donn disappeared from LWF programming. Also leaving LWF programming in a shock departure was the champion, James Bruce, citing his disgust at the manner in which he lost his belt and the rules and regulations enforced by Daryl. Bruce walked off Mutiny after disposing of the LWF title in the trash.

The realisation that The Donn was taking LWF superstars under his wing caused Daryl, his son and Bibby to join forces in an attempt to rid the federation of what was described as "the poison". With the Johnson Brothers disbanding following personal and health reasons, attempts to gain control were largely unsuccessful due to the return of The Eclipse Alan Jones -- making his debut 5 months after his scheduled appearance on the pilot edition of Mutiny. With The Donn still AWOL, Jones joined Lugervoy in tearing apart LWF superstars on the following two Mutinys, taking out Matt Chadwick who had stepped forward to help the company and setting fire to The LWF logo. The Donn's henchman remained and upcoming superstar Matt Beesley also jumped ship to the alliance, strengthening the takeover.

Northern Warfare

The battle between The LWF and the turncoat alliance hit the heights at The LWF's second major show, the aptly named Northern Warfare, held at Shawbrook 48 in Euxton on November 25th 2012. Alan Jones made his match debut in a fatal fourway elimination match against three LWF loyalists Matt Chadwick, H.A Snape and Steve Bibby. The dominant Vladimir Lugervoy awaited the winner in the main event for the vacant title.

Although solidarity had been emphasised, the battle proved very much every man for themselves and although in the end, Bibby managed to claim the final fall over Jones, Jones retaliated by smashing Bibby's knee with a steel chair, hampering him badly in the main event.

After a bout between the hapless Akitaka and bizarre newcomer Chemical Man had entertained the audiences online, Steve Bibby returned to the scene for the title match. He had regained the strength to walk and though visibly disabled throughout, managed to use his brawling skills to mount an offense on the Russian. However, Paul Bradley made a difference at ringside and despite Bibby's efforts, Lugervoy finished Bibby off after seven minutes and took The LWF title to the Alliance.

In Da Shed and Reception

The Leyland Wrestling Federation was proving a hit on Facebook and subsequently received positive press from fans on the page from beyond the UK. At the end of October, a new show entitled "In Da Shed" was launched to give fans an insight into the superstars individually and would be hosted by ever present interviewer Matt Burnett. His interviews were often tongue in cheek with questions to taunt whoever was in the hot seat. The show's name derived from a comment on a wrestling forum by a local promoter who suggested that The LWF was simply "rolling around in your dads shed". In December 2012, the LWF caught the attention of the National Backyard Wrestling Alliance, and joined the community on December 15. The LWF continues to find success and along with Matt Burnett's programs, it has flourished into a source of entertainment for many.