At the infancy of the Internet, there existed tens of thousands of backyard wrestling groups across the planet. Many of these groups never gained the audience reach that they should have due to inferior Internet infrastructure of the day and non-existent high-definition options for their footage. Thus, it is our duty on 'Retro Rewind' to bring to light the forgotten backyard wrestling gems of the past. This week's company is the United Wrestling Organisation (UWO) from Hamilton, Ohio.
Late last year in 2022, YouTube member JC Digits started uploading classic backyard wrestling footage on his channel for the world to see. He began by uploading fifteen hours of raw footage to give us a taste of what the UWO was about. Since then we have witnessed dozens of uploads containing full-length UWO events, over a time-span ranging from 1999 until 2012.
Like many feds of that period, the UWO wrestled on a mattress set-up and employed hardcore wrestling in most of their work. To compliment the reckless antics of UWO we are also greeted with dual-commentators to provide play-by-play coverage of the event. Unlike some feds of the day, the UWO put emphasis from the start to develop characters and storylines in their events. It is unclear when UWO began, as some of their earliest released footage available speaks of 200 previous matches that we haven't seen. Perhaps by 1999, the UWO had years of experience behind their belts when it came to writing backyard wrestling shows.
The UWO wrestled in parks, basement dojo's and traditional backyard locations; like most feds of the day they sought to wrestle anywhere they could get away with it. Though their set-up included mattresses crudely put together, they make up for it with high-impact wrestling on the ground and adjacent environment. From watching the footage its clear the UWO practiced their wrestling regularly as most spots and moments are botch-free and the momentum of the match rarely slows down.
Despite not having a referee for the matches, the guys at UWO were able to put together well-though out matches consisting of detailed move repertoires. During the footage viewing there were many instances of dangerous high-angle Suplex's and DDT like drops that had me on the edge of my seat. Though lots of gimmicks were clear WWF rip-off's (such as Jesse Hardy and Chris Foley) the UWO didn't overly rely on these to get over. Instead, high-risk spots and wrestler chemistry kept the events entertaining and watch-able, years later in 2023.
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