Europe

After years of Europe being home only to short-lived indy feds, Louis Figo Manico set up **Ultimate Combat Ring i**n 1998. The Pain From Spain was a beloved babyface with a surprisingly good mind for the business and, initially, had some success with the new federation, partly because he heavily pushed himself as the figurehead of the promotion. Manico's biggest issue was that he couldn't decide on the overall vision of UCR - when the SWF and HGC became by far the biggest companies in the Western world, he followed in their footsteps and moved to sports entertainment, with DAVE on the ascendancy he moved to a hardcore style, and as Europeans got more interested in puro, he shifted to a more old-school approach. The constant changes in product left fans bewildered and unhappy, and in 2007 Manico shut the fed down and left the business.

From the ashes of UCR came not one but two phoenixes. With wrestlers split on which direction had been the right one to take, English egomaniac Byron decided that what the European countries really needed was the same sports entertainment approach which UCR had originally utilised, but with an incredibly handsome and charismatic main eventer winning as often as possible. No prizes for guessing who he had in mind for that role in **European Wrestling All-Stars**. Despite other wrestlers side-eyeing the super push he gave himself, it worked, getting him over as a massive babyface and while he'd struggle in a fed aimed more at in-ring action, for the soap opera style product he's promoting his undoubted star quality makes him the perfect lead. Rumour has it that he may finally have decided he's found a worthy successor, in the shape of Bret Heartbreak - his son. Aged only 21, Bret is a decent enough brawler and while it's hard to claim he completely deserves the strong push he's had early on, he's at least not been immediately catapulted into the title picture. The main heels in the promotion are massive Norwegian strong men Bam Bam Johansson and his younger brother Hercules, who like Byron aren't the best in the ring but whose ability to hurl opponents around like rag dolls makes them perfectly suited to EWA.

Ali Bloxsome created **Ultimate European Wrestling**, a Madrid-based organisation which went even harder on old-school style than UCR had at the end of its existence. Promoting respectful competition, great high-flying and technical matches, and an overwhelming focus on the in-ring action, the federation hasn't been an instant success but has grown steadily, if slowly. Englishman Joey 'The Breeze' Beauchamp has been a key reason for that - initially joining as a main event wrestler, he quickly coupled that role with that of head booker, and - never shy to self-promote - had four runs as World champion. While even he can finally see that at the age of 42 he's no longer the person to headline many cards, he's built up some great stars. Ivorian powerhouse Kalu Owusu, who learnt his trade as a midcarder in Japan's short-lived INSPIRE, moved to EWA to become a major star, and headed to UEW after a falling out with Byron, is the lead babyface, although he's the same age as Beauchamp. Rising fast though are Italian giant-killer Marcello Ricci - who shockingly took the World belt a few months ago, becoming one of the few men with a clean pin over monster heel Menace - and 'Stone Cold Killer' Konrad Makinen, an incredible natural athlete who comes up with a stunning variety of innovative moves.

**Victory Wrestling Association**, having just had their 10th anniversary, are the newest fed on the block. While Manico confused fans by shifting styles as the years went on, VWA decided to just throw all of them in there right from the very first show. You'll see brawls, technical mathes, high-flying contests, storylines, hot angles - pretty much everyone will find something to enjoy on their shows, while by the same logic, there'll almost certainly be at least one or two segments that DON'T appeal to each individual fan. After ten years of promoting singles action exclusively, Swiss signing Fabian Schwarz caused them a problem as he was too green to push hard but too popular with the fans and athletic to ignore. To help him improve, VWA teamed him with compatriot Hans Piccard, who'd exploded onto the scene despite a terrible win-loss record by pushing established stars to the limit. The pair are the first ever tag champions and VWA are building a small division around them. Of course, they're still heavily focused on singles action, with South African Landon Mallory having been a massive draw for the past 10 years and still at the top of the card, a five-time European champion. His main rival is former ally Walker Van Cleer, who snapped 18 months ago after years of being seen as the number 2 babyface behind first Sebastian Koller, then Mallory himself. Van Cleer has just begun his 4th European title reign, trading it back and forth with Mallory late last year, but Landon has made it very clear he's aiming to regain the belt soon.