For my sins, I’ve long been a pro-wrestling fan (although I have to admit that my interest in the WWE has faded somewhat), and consider myself a huge Mick Foley mark. I actually had the good fortune to meet him at a taping of the American version of Robot Wars which was being recorded at Shepperton Studios. While the meeting may have been one of the low points in his career, it was certainly a highlight for me. He was even kind enough to give me his address… which I promptly lost.

That said, the WWE is by no means the be-all and end all of wrestling - there are plenty of independents out there, two of which I whole heartedly recommend. Firstly there is Ring of Honor - based out of Philadelphia and has featured an array of great workers such as Low-Ki, AJ Styles, Red and the amazing Christopher Daniels. Spanky, Paul London and The Masimo Brothers are all RoH talent that have appeared in WWE programming. They also have plenty of cross-federation talent, including some of the greats from the UK’s very own Frontier Wrestling Alliance.

Remember the god-awful wrestling on ITV’s World of Sport back in the ‘70s and ‘80s - well that’s long gone, thank goodness, to be replaced by the truly remarkable FWA. They may be relatively new and small, but what they lack in size they more than make up in pure talent and professionalism. For anybody who’s jaded with the ‘sports entertainment’ that the WWE foists on us, I can only recommend that you take the opportunity to see some of the great British talent on show in the FWA. People like Nikita, James Tighe, Jonny Storm, Alex Shane, Jodie Fleisch and, in particular Doug Williams and Paul Burchill. They even hold an irregular meet and greet at Pages Bar on Page Street (just off Horseferry Road)!