Readers' comments on the closure of PS

AS WRITTEN IN my previous post, I would like to thank all readers for their messages regarding the closure of Power Slam magazine.

If you would like to add your thoughts to the many we have already received, please e-mail us at: powerslam@globalnet.co.uk. Also, if you have any general wrestling-related remarks you would like to share with us and the public, please send them to the same address for publication here in The Mail Extra . . .


Hi Fin

Just a quick message to wish you all the best. I was saddened to hear of the closing of Power Slam. I was a regular reader for years. I remember my first issue I bought covered Summerslam 1996. I was only 9 years old

I started buying the magazine consistently in 2000. I believe it was through your magazine I came to understand wrestling more. I knew it was scripted before that, but was clueless to the inner-workings, and terms like "face" and "heel".

Even when I stopped watching wrestling in 2010/201, I still bought the magazine for a good while. Many a Friday afternoon in my teenage years was spent reading your opinions on WWE or TNA. 

Even though I am not a wrestling viewer any more, I will be buying your E-Book. A retrospective of all the years of wrestling you covered should be great fun.

All the best,
Jim


The one enduring thing about PS? The fact that you guys were never ones to go with the popular consensus and you didn't pull your punches about anything. I will miss the lot: the articles, Second Thoughts, The PS 50.

Goodbye Power Slam. Doubt we will get another like you. As they would say in a certain company -- we wish you the best in your future endeavours.

Joel Penberthy


I'm still absolutely in shock. I've been reading PS since it was SOW. I remember my first copy of PS was from a John Menzies in Derby, when I was visiting family as an 11 year old kid; just after Owen Hart had won the KOTR 1994.


I read PS every single month without fail. As crazy as this sounds, because I was interested in wrestling, I found reading PS helped me as a kid develop my reading and writing skills. I genuinely mean that. And the way you discussed the behind the scenes business side of things between WWF, ECW and WCW in particular in the first 5 years really made me take an interest in business management. I'm now a HR professional, having recently finished my MCIPD.


For me, PS will be sadly missed; I used to look forward to the magazine going on sale in my local newsagents, etc and more recently when it arrived in the post each month. Thoroughly enjoyed relaxing to it. (You had better plan on making more than one eBook!!) Thanks again Fin and the team. 


Jon




Dear PS staff,


I'd like to thank you for all your years of service. Your magazine will be dearly missed. However, I will likely be collecting your back issues.


I hope this closure of the publication is only temporary.


Many thanks.


Paul McGuire



Fin Martin writes: The closure is permanent.




To Fin Martin/Power Slam
 
After having read your piece on psmag.co.uk, I just had to write to express my sadness and thanks to you and your magazine. 
 
I have collected Power Slam since I was 15 (I've just turned 33). You explained and described the parts of the wrestling business I was yearning to understand. And you will have opened the eyes to many (like mine when I was 15) that there are plenty of brilliant wrestling companies out there besides WWE.


Your interviews with wrestlers/personalities were always factual and relevant. It is a massive shame that PS will not continue.


Thank you for opening my eyes to a business I have studied and loved for so long. 
 
A big void will be left on the magazine shelves for wrestling fans!!!
 
I look forward greatly to reading your forthcoming book. 
 
Yours sincerely,
 
John Allen
 
Subscriber/Q+A - Letters writer




Hi Fin,


Very sorry to hear PS is shutting up shop. I always enjoyed it and, while we may have not agreed on a lot, it was one heck of a read and you've done a wonderful job with it.

Wishing you all the Very Best for the Future.

Stuart Henderson




Hello Findlay Martin and the Power Slam team. 


My issue of Power Slam seems to have an error printed in one of the articles, something about it being the last issue?!?


I'm sure by now your inbox is ready to explode with emails from well wishers and really nice emails with fans wanting to share their Power Slam memories, some of which I hope will be nice enough that you consider changing your mind about the closure of the magazine (as it's never too late to change your mind and we can put this whole sorry affair behind us, just like I hoped WWE would have changed its mind about ending the Streak a few days after WrestleMania XXX, and we could all pretend it didn't happen). I just wanted to very briefly share mine and say thank you. 


I picked up my first copy at issue 80 after not watching wrestling for a couple of years (missing the whole attitude and WCW/NWO era: I know, right, what a time period to miss) but catching a few WWF Heat episodes on channel 4 got my attention again, and walking through WH Smiths Power Slam caught my eye and opened up a world of Pro Wrestling I never knew existed. 


Since that first copy I waited anxiously for that Thursday to arrive. I looked forward to the in depth articles teaching me about the other promotions around the world, the history of different promotions and wrestlers careers. The annual readers awards and PS opinions on the greatest matches where always a highlight. Seeing my face in Power Slam whilst I was in attendance at FWA British Uprising (my first British wrestling show) was a great buzz. The articles and the in depth knowledge that the Power Slam team showed was what helped kept me hooked in Wrestling for the past 13 and a half years. 


I recently moved to a new apartment and my girlfriend asked, "Do you really need all these boxes of magazines? When will you read them again?" My answer was to pick out 5 random copies and sit on the sofa reading them as she decided which photo frame should go where in what room and what furniture from Ikea we now "needed" to buy. I felt my day was far more productive. 


I received issue 237 on my iPhone on Monday on a day off from work that I was meant to be using to paint in the new home, but the issue came a little earlier then usual so the painting wasn't quite finished (and in some rooms not started). Randomly, the first article I read was the one with the biggest bombshell (no, not the article where you almost praised Brie Bella): Power Slam was to be no more. 


So we are at the end of a great ride. A ride that I am very grateful for experiencing. Thank you Power Slam for the last 13 and a half years of great coverage of something we all love. 


I am glad that you are moving on to a new wrestling-related project and something that you seem passionate and eager to do, and look forward to reading the ebook. It has also made a 28 year old wrestling fan decide that he must give Pro Wresting at least one shot before he is officially too old. Will I be headlining WrestleMania any time soon? Nope. Will I be in the opening match on a local Manchester show one day? I hope so.


Thank you Power Slam. It's been a blast!


Best wishes


Mark


P.s. Is it wrong to wish you well in your future endeavours? 


Sent from my iPhone



Fin, I am very disappointed to hear about Power Slam's closure. I was a big fan the past 3 years. Going to miss it. I wanted to know, after its closure, can I still order back issues on the website? I would be interested in doing so.


On a completely different topic, remember when Titus O'Neil incorrectly said that he knew RVD would be the next world champion on the superstar panel at last year's Battleground PPV? That's how much he and WWE cared about the PPV. That said, I am really looking forward to the Fatal Four Way match and the two-out-of-three-falls match at this year's event. At least the show has a reason to exist this year.

Liam Sheehan

F.M. writes: Yes. You can order back issues of Power Slam from psmag.co.uk. The site will continue, and feature more original content. For instance, I will post a review of the new Paul Heyman Blu-ray on July 31. Meanwhile, SW Publishing LTD -- parent company of Power Slam -- will continue to trade. It will publish Pro Wrestling Through The Power Slam Years: 1994-2014. I will retain full editorial control of the book.




Dear Findlay


Like many others I am extremely saddened to hear of the closure of Power Slam magazine. As a reader from Issue 1 with Owen Hart in King of the Ring garb on the cover, I have many fond memories of the magazine over the last 20 years. From the New Generation, the nWo, ECW's highs and lows, the Attitude era, the birth of TNA and unparalleled international coverage PS has been an intelligent and reliable source for opinions and news on the business we all love and care for.

In particular I will remember the great interviews with so many stars over the years, the obituaries which while often sad were always a great chronicle of the performer's career, the PS 50 which provided great debate on that years top stars and, personally, the bizarre sight of Al Snow on the cover of issue 53!

After 237 great issues I would just like to say thank you for being a publication which I always looked forward to receiving each month and best of luck in all your work in the future.

Thanks a million for 20 great years.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Stamp

F.M. writes: Quite right. Al Snow was on the cover of Issue 53, which went on sale in November 1998. I remember that issue well. Al was over at the time, and it didn't seem like a risk to place him on the cover. From a magazine standpoint, one of the most disheartening changes in wrestling in recent years was the reduction in viable cover stars.



Dear Fin Martin,


I am very sad to no longer have my monthly highlight to enjoy. I was 14 years old when I purchased my first issue of PS, and I bought every issue thereafter. During the height of the Monday Night Wars, I fondly remember calling the PS Hotline as well: "Grrr-eetings! Fin Martin here with a message dated..."


I understand and respect your reasons for bringing PS to a close, and look forward to your upcoming ebook.


A true end of an era.


Kind regards,


James Baker


Sent from my iPhone


Back to News Archive