| 1 | 02.12.2022 | steviecw | 7.0 | An alliance of European promotions with Heavyweight, Cruiserweight and (lesser featured) Tag Team titles which can be defended throughout the participating territories. It's similar to the pre-Billy Corgan NWA model in that sense. UEWA has had members in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland and consequently their championships have actually been defended internationally (if not Intercontinentally) more than some PWI recognised World Heavyweight Championships. The Heavyweight champions have hailed from Scotland, Norway, Germany, England, Denmark and Ireland and the Cruiserweights have originated from Italy, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Germany and Denmark. Understandably, the titles do occasionally rest on participating promoters but it's a good list of names. Drew Galloway (McIntyre) only held UEWA gold for two days but is by far the best known name of the bunch while Rampage Brown, Bad Bones, James Mason, Chaos, Lionheart and Andy Wild known stars and champions in their region's scene and beyond. The title has also been defended outside of its alliance in recent years with collaborations with ICW and others. The UEWA offers something a little bigger than your standard indie title but it's hard to really generate much from fragmented indies without especially big audiences. These shows can sell-out which is fantastic but typically there's not a high quality TV/PPV product to go along with it so there's pretty limited momentum. UEWA provides good wrestlers very attractive title belts and sometimes increased access to bookings (they recently announced a new slew of members) but I don't know that the fans in Italy have a keen eye on the results in Fife, Scotland for example. Personally I'm from the UK and a big fan of Andy Wild so I'm excited about his reign but when he drops the title to someone I'm unfamiliar with in Spain or Norway without video to watch, the title will likely fall back off my radar for a while. UEWA deserves credit for making something happen though, it's a lot cooler than it isn't. |
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