#starting a contest with myself for Worst Post and already this is a good contender

[hazbincalifornia]

Blitzo, parting Stolas’s legs:

[grapsandclaps]

GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS THE BEST AND WORST OF 2017.

Hello Everyone! Welcome to this issue of Graps and Claps reviewing what was 2017 - one that has been full of highs, lows and middle of the road going on's in general.

Having only started these memoirs of 2017 in late March it looks like it has proved popular amongst the masses on Twitter, even to the effect that I have met new people at shows due to them reading this blog.

I'm happy to admit that at the start of this year, I never had any intention of pursuing a writing/blogging career, but due to some advice from a couple of people and also due to the fact I had a really bad day at work it took me to the decision - what had I got to lose from writing about something I guess I avidly follow around the country?.

The original #80showyear which at the start of the year looked a reachable target after I had done 76 the year before. But as soon as the realisation that 80 was going to be surpassed, the silly side in me thought 100 was the more likely target and even now it has been surpassed and now ended on a total of 104 for the year.

By the looks of the greater world, another half a dozen people have gone past the 100 and beyond marker including two lads I have met a lot this year at shows - Martin and Davey.

Davey I first met at GPW early this year and was a relative stranger to me at that time, but has become a part of the furniture at nearly all the local shows I am at now. For the life of me I don't know how Davey keeps awake at shows, must be something they put in the Pepsi Max nowadays - but it has been great to meet someone who has been doing a similar thing to myself (Top lad).

When I look back on this year and forward to next year I will say one of my problems was once I knew I could make a certain figure, the numbers took over my head and I would book tickets to shows that were on my doorstep or about an hour away.

Never has their been a year where I have ever gone to shows in Todmorden, Middleton and Halifax, but this year was the year, I mean if there was a show in a back garden somewhere I would have probably turned up clapping away and reviewing the spread of sarnies No.10 had put on.

With doing 104 shows it all comes to a very high cost. From trains, tickets, drink, food and hotels the cost all mounts up and it has been one thing that has hit me hard this year.

As mentioned before in an earlier edition, I talked about the over £300 I spent on a trip to London on the August Bank Holiday to watch what was basically a Progress 'Go Home Raw' show which left me cursing my own head on spending that amount of money on what was a very missable 4 hour show.

Ever since then, there has been many times (Fight Club Pro Project Mayhem Night 2, WXW London & PCW Blackpool) to name specific ones where I have had the 'face of worry' due to my own stupidity of trying to afford going to shows, going to gigs and football plus other things - trying to live the Champagne lifestyle on lemonade pockets.

This is something I have already i've said to myself, it won't happen in 2018. Cutting out the number of London trips and going to Wolverhampton instead, which is a cheaper option all around and some might say the better wrestling product.

Also not going to some shows just for the sake of it, even though it is great going to shows meeting friends, the 4 and 5 show weekenders can become a bit tiring on the body.

There has been many a Monday morning where I have literally felt worn out and wanting to stop under my duvet and sleep but hey these shows don't pay for themselves.

One exception to the rule next year will be a trip to WXW 16 Carat Gold which is an event I have always wanted to go to after hearing so many great things from people who have gone in the past years.

So as with any year end review, I would like to give out some thoughts on the best of 2017 awards for Show of the Year, Match of the Year, Chant of the Year, Pub of the Year, Promotion of the Year, Comedy moment of the year.

LET'S BEGIN!!

UK Show of the Year:

1. Fight Club Pro DTTI Night 1

2. WXW London (January)

3. Chikara King of Trios Night 2

4. PCW Tribute to the Troops Night 2

5. Progress SSS16 Night 3

Fight Club Pro DTTI gets the verdict in a close contest due to the fact of it's ridiculous card of riches headlined by The Elite vs British Strong Style but with also an exceedingly strong undercard only featuring one downpoint which was The Hunter Brothers vs The LDRS. The venue might as well have won an award for itself for the 'Hotter than the sun' Award, the whiff of wrestling fans was certainly bottled up on that night.

Match of the Year:

1. Matt Riddle vs WALTER (Progress Birmingham in July).

2. Travis Banks vs Soner Durson II (Futureshock Wrestling).

3. David Starr vs WALTER (WXW London October).

4. Daisuke Sekimoto vs Keith Lee (XWA Bethnal Green)

5. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Angelico (FCP DTTI Night 2).

The Atlas title clash between Matt Riddle vs WALTER wins a hotly contested award thanks to its believability of two men hitting each other really hard, the chops to Riddles chest were some of the most vicious chops I have seen all year. When a match leaves you with goosebumps they have certainly got you by the short and curlys and this delivered that.

A close contender to the No.1 spot was Travis Banks vs Soner Durson II from Futureshock Wrestling which left a 200 strong Stockport crowd in awe and amazement after a breathtaking 20 minute contest. The literal buzz after this contest was something that had to be seen to be believed, a star making match for Durson and a belt making match for the Adrenaline Title.

Chant of the Year

1. WOOOAAAHHH HERE HE COMES, WATCH OUT BOYS HE'LL CHEW YOU UP, WOOAAAHHHH HERE HE COMES, HE'S A FLAMITA.

2. EVERY WOMAN EVERY MAN JOIN THE DONOVAN OF LOVE, STAND UP STAND UP!

3. PURPLE FACE PURPLE FACE, ONLY WANT TO SEE YOU WRESTLING WITH YOUR PURPLE FACE

4. CHICKEN IN A BIN IN A BIN CHICKEN IN A BIN!!

5. BALDY BALDY OVER THERE, WHATS IT LIKE TO HAVE NO HAIR, IS IT HOT, IS IT COLD, I DON'T KNOW COS I'M NOT BALD.

A runaway winner with the chant thought up on a Premier Inn Shitter by our Geoff. Inspired, had Flamita flummoxed and a crowd of 700 people in stitches.

2nd place goes to the ill-fated 'Donovan of Love' as much as the Progress Gestapo said it didn't work, it very much did with the crowd being offered a HouseMartins music lesson whilst watching a storming match between Donovan Dijak vs Pete Dunne.

3rd place went to the Purple Ronnie of BritWres - Robbie X, this wound him up rotten this chant haha!

4th & 5th place were inspired by the underated works of Damon Leigh in Futureshock Wrestling, who has got his Chicken antics that over, that a fight over a bin has become one of the most anticipated of the year.

Pub of the Year:

1. The Crown and Kettle (Manchester)

2. The Guild Ale House (Preston)

3. The Fenton (Leeds)

4. The Devonshire Cat (Sheffield)

5..The Giffard (Wolverhampton)

The Crown and Kettle gets the win here due to its status as the home to the Pre Show Tuesday Night Graps Lucha Lash. Great ale, good pies and great location to a venue.

The Guild Ale House was a close second due to its nice beer at a price under £3 and has took pride of place as the best pub in Preston.

The Giffard sneaks in at No.5 due to being a good aftershow venue for Fight Club Pro and the class tunes it has to offer. If based on toilets it would get nowhere near.

The Fenton makes an appearance thanks to the top afternoon a huge group of us had whilst on a trip to see TIDAL in Leeds. Seeing at least 20 of us enthralled by a game of Pool whilst all generally getting on with each other is still one of my favourite days of the year.

Promotion of the Year:

1. Fight Club Pro

2. Futureshock Wrestling

3. PCW

4. Lucha Forever

5. PROGRESS

Fight Club Pro gets the win here for me due to the fact it has got the right blend of great wrestling, fun atmosphere and reasonable ticket pricing - almost like what Progress had a couple of years ago.

Futureshock deserves its second place standing here - consistently good shows, fun audience and a focus on making the secondary title as important as the Heavyweight title has been a great feature of a promotion who has it right on point.

PCW is another that has had a great year thanks to consistent storylines which were a problem last year. Tribute to the Troops Night 2 is well deserving of a spot in Show of the Year categories. Also take into account the number of promising wrestlers soon to be making waves from the Academy - Philip Michael, Sheikh El-Sham, Rhio, Dave Birch and BIG T.

The shows that took place at both Blackpool Tower Circus and Ballroom have provided two of the most spectacular venues you could see wrestling in. 2018 could be a very big year for PCW and it is one i'm looking forward to.

Comedy Moment of the Year:

1. Eddie Dennis sending Chris Linay to the 02 Academy Sheffield Deck

2. Joey Janela vs The Invisible Man

3. Inflatable Kid Lykos, Sexy Travis & Chris Brookes vs Aussie Open & Millie Mckenzie

4. Our Geoff vs Athers for the BritWres Pool Title in the Fenton to the sounds of 'Candle in the Wind' by Elton John.

5. BANGARANG at the first Lucha Forever in Manchester.

THE 'GET IN THE BIN' AWARD

1. Social Media i.e. Twitter (great at times, but christ there is lots of tedium)

2. 02 venue prices

£4.40 for a coke at the venue in Liverpool had me reduced to tears.

3. Casio keyboard theme tunes

I have wrote about this at length this year, the entrance means everything to getting an act over, you only had to see the reaction to the return of Rampage Brown at Sheffield for the use of the real music at a show - that crowd came unglued.

4. 'BOTH THESE GUYS'

Get off the fence you arse-splintering fence sitters.

5. PROGRESS Fans Forum

'I spotted someone wearing a 'Choose Progress' shirt in Costa Coffee and I thought I would post it - Deary Deary me.

Worst Toilet of the Year:

1. The Giffard

Remember that scene out of Trainspotting, welcome to the Giffard bogs - wet bog roll, smell of stale piss- Hell on Earth.

2. The Corporation

See The Giffard but less 'Hell on Earth'

Best Toilet of the Year:

1. The Resistance Gallery

Comic Magazines plastered on the wall made for an interesting and thoughtful time on the toilet.

2. The Devonshire Cat

Nice designed piss stones which are actually beer barrells. Great idea and I commend them for it.

So there you go that's the review of 2017 and I hope you have enjoyed reading it, many have actually said it is the best wrestling related blog they have read this year 😊.

It has been a year where the group of people I now know at shows has grown to huge numbers, some who have made the trip to shows no matter how shit the shows or how down I have been, they have made it more bearable and to them I want to say Thank You.

Also thank you to Ben Corrigan and Matthew Pryor for their guest reviews this year for which they did great work.

So what of 2018, well GRAPS and CLAPS will return and even the odd review for other sites will be taking place (Indy Corner and WrestleRopes). #grapsandclaps