# Fighting Spirit Magazine

Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM) was a monthly professional wrestling and mixed martial arts magazine published in the United Kingdom by Uncooked Media. The publication launched in 2006, becoming the UK's largest professional wrestling magazine. It folded in 2019, being merged into Wrestle Talk magazine.

## Staff

Sportswriter Brian Elliott was the editor of Fighting Spirit Magazine, having previously worked for the Belfast Telegraph in Northern Ireland. FSM feature columnists included professional wrestlers Stone Cold Steve Austin and Nick Aldis as well as Ring of Honor's former executive producer Jim Cornette. Guest columns were provided by Bret Hart, Mick Foley and Chris Jericho. Regular feature writers included Michael Campbell, Will Cooling, Justin Henry, John Lister, David Bixenspan and Richard Luck. Former Pro Wrestling Illustrated editor Bill Apter, who had a regular column before being replaced by Cornette, worked on the magazine in an administrative role.
In April 2012, FSM announced that Cornette and Austin would be joining the magazine staff as columnists beginning with issue 79. The additions coincided with changes recently made to the magazine's editorial style, aiming to take a more formal and analytical attitude to reporting. In April 2014, editor Brian Elliott penned an article on the recently-passed Ultimate Warrior, which was re-published on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter site.

## 2008 dispute with WWE

In September 2008, Fighting Spirit published a private memo sent by WWE to the gaming press covering the upcoming WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009. The memo instructed the press not to publish screenshots of any characters bleeding or using weapons. Specifically, the memo declared that no screenshots of wrestler Triple H could be used showing his character "in a defenseless or vulnerable position." In an article titled "Digital Politics" in issue #32, the magazine refused the WWE's demand and published a screenshot of Triple H being dominated by wrestler Kane. The magazine Power Slam later corroborated the memo.

## FSM Reader Awards

At the end of each year, FSM ran both a poll for readers to determine the winners of their annual FSM Reader Awards. These awards would be won by the likes of Drew Galloway, Kris Travis, Andy Wild, Insane Championship Wrestling and numerous others.

## FSM 50

The FSM 50 listed the 50 best pro wrestlers in the world, as per the views of the magazine's staff. The FSM 50 first ran in 2014.
Légende :
| ( +X) | Gained X place(s) in comparison to the previous year's list. |
| ( 0) | Placed identically to the previous year's list |
| ( -X) | Dropped X place(s) in comparison to the previous year's list. |
| (N) | New entry, as did not place in the previous year's list. |
| | Female wrestler in the rankings. |
| | Tag team in the rankings. |
Year-by-year placements in the FSM 50: :
| Place | 2014 | 2015 |
| 1 | A.J. Styles | A.J. Styles ( 0) |
| 2 | Kazuchika Okada | Kevin Owens (N) |
| 3 | Shinsuke Nakamura | Kazuchika Okada ( -1) |
| 4 | Seth Rollins | Hiroshi Tanahashi ( +8) |
| 5 | Tomohiro Ishii | John Cena ( +20) |
| 6 | Ricochet | Sasha Banks (N) |
| 7 | The Young Bucks | Roderick Strong (N) |
| 8 | Sami Zayn | Zack Sabre Jr. ( +6) |
| 9 | Masaaki Mochizuki | Kota Ibushi ( +25) |
| 10 | Akira Tozawa | Matt Sydal (N) |
| 11 | Tetsuya Naito | Brock Lesnar (N) |
| 12 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | Chris Hero (N) |
| 13 | Cesaro | Shinsuke Nakamura ( -10) |
| 14 | Zack Sabre Jr. | Seth Rollins ( -10) |
| 15 | Kyle O'Reilly | Yuji Okabayashi (N) |
| 16 | Katsuyori Shibata | Tomohiro Ishii ( -11) |
| 17 | Adam Cole | Cesaro ( -4) |
| 18 | Luke Harper | Daisuke Sekimoto ( +4) |
| 19 | Dean Ambrose | Masato Yoshino (N) |
| 20 | T-Hawk | Will Osprey ( +30) |
| 21 | The Usos | Finn Balor (N) |
| 22 | Daisuke Sekimoto | Akira Tozawa ( -12) |
| 23 | Sheamus | The Young Bucks ( -16) |
| 24 | Tomoaki Honma | Kushida ( +8) |
| 25 | John Cena | Timothy Thatcher (N) |
| 26 | El Barbaro Cavernario | Shingo Takagi (N) |
| 27 | CIMA | Ricochet ( -21) |
| 28 | Daniel Bryan | Kyle O'Reilly ( -13) |
| 29 | Neville | Tommy End (N) |
| 30 | Minoru Suzuki | Neville ( -1) |
| 31 | Dolph Ziggler | Pentagon Jr. (N) |
| 32 | Austin Aries | Hirooki Goto ( +3) |
| 33 | Jay Briscoe | Fénix (N) |
| 34 | Kota Ibushi | Harashima (N) |
| 35 | Hirooki Goto | Katsuyori Shibata ( -19) |
| 36 | Randy Orton | Michael Elgin (N) |
| 37 | Kushida | Drew Galloway (N) |
| 38 | Yamato | Roman Reigns ( +7) |
| 39 | Masato Yoshino | La Sombra (N) |
| 40 | Johnny Gargano | Meiko Satomura (N) |
| 41 | Tommy End | Mike Bailey (N) |
| 42 | Rush | Tomoaki Honma ( -18) |
| 43 | Big Daddy Walter | Jay Lethal (N) |
| 44 | Eita | Jun Akiyama ( +4) |
| 45 | Roman Reigns | Bayley (N) |
| 46 | Mark Andrews | Jay Briscoe ( -13) |
| 47 | Rey Hechicero | Marty Scurll (N) |
| 48 | Jun Akiyama | Dragon Lee (N) |
| 49 | Rusev | Mark Haskins (N) |
| 50 | Will Ospreay | Volador Jr. (N) |