As the year comes to a close, we can’t help but look back on SWA’s year with a little bit of pride. Throughout 2011 the various branches of SWA have grown and evolved and have helped to continue to honour the company as a whole. With many different twists and turns both in and outside the ring, it’s been a hell of a ride for all involved!

As we heard in the interview with Peter Murphy that was uploaded on Christmas Day, he made his return to the company behind the scenes after two years off and has interjected himself within the core of the company once again. Although his reasoning may be dubious, he told us all he’d come back to make things better for the talent in SWA. Something which, if true, has had a positive effect with younger stars such as Andy Anderson gaining fresh opportunities, but it’#s certainly had it;s down sides.

On one hand we end the year with the Canyon Administration in pieces. Canyon has not only lost both the Scottish and tag titles in 2001 – with Andy Anderson cashing in his title shot at Clan Wars to gain the Scottish belt and WMD taking the tag titles in Motherwell in November – but he’s lost his status and control within the company. There are fresh new champions in place and it looks like they’ll all have successful reigns. However on the flip side, the Canyon administration still has two titles under it’s control as the year ended with Glen Dunbar winning the T-Division title, and CJ Hunter using outside interference from Chris Renfrew to gain the T-Division title.

But whats really surprised us is the transition of Scott Renwick. He started the year at the Gathering with the Scottish title in his grasp and a solid fans favorite. He was the heart and soul of SWA. But after Murphy’s fiddling and manipulating for the better, we’ve seen Renwick crack up and have somewhat of a breakdown in recent months.

Now with 2012 rolling forward SWA will be back in Paisley this coming February for Rebirth. With power taken away from Canyon and the rise of new stars, will February signal another new era for Scottish Wrestling?

Sister-promotions Source Wrestling and After hourshave also had a resurgence this year for the better.

Switching from SWA: Source to Source Wrestling, the company began to take it’s own identity with thew new Source-exclusive Pride Championship being a huge step forward to independence. With special guests coming in from SWA including James Scott, Wolfgang and Paul Tracey, the regulars have had a lot to challenge them!

Thanks to the wok done through the Source Wrestling School, a lot of new talents have been breaking into the ranks of Source and have already began to make an impact. Including Kirsty Love who made her debut in March 2001 only to end the year as a regular in the acclaimed all-womens wrestling promotion, Eve.

And Love was only one of many who broke out this year as we saw several SWA and Source talents find success across the UK!

With more shows than any other year, Source has delivered some stellar moments and brought local talent back to their home towns to grab the spotlight!

After Hours also had a wonderful year, reintroducing itself to wrestling fans after a hiatus and, much like Source Wrestling, gained it’s own management team and direction. Working closely with student venues and nightclubs, the over-18′s product not only brought back the ‘hardcore’ wrestling that it was known for, but evolved to bring the best of everything from tag team, pure wrestling and high flying action!

And those changes are only a few of many, many highlights from wrestling lays at the Arches, to community events, to working with the wonderful team at Universal Connections and everything in between!

After a jam packed year that’s been hard to keep track of at times, we’re proud to say that SWA and all it’s sub-divisions are on the rise and in 2012 – we expect the teams at SWA, Source Wrestling and After Hours to keep us snowed under with keeping track of them all, and to continue delivering the best of Scottish wrestling from local breakouts to established favorites to every single one of you.

So to end the year, those of us at SWA Online would like to give a massive thanks to all the fans who have supported every part of SWA and made sure we were all kept on our toes! We’ve heard a lot of good feedback as well as a lot of cheers so we hope next year it only gets bigger and better thanks to your support!

Have a happy new year, folks!

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Tags: 2011, after hours, new year, source, swa, sws

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 31st, 2011 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.