Chris Pilkington speaks with one of Preston City Wrestling’s top talents to find out more about PCW’s forthcoming show and how the promotion is trying to help one very special boy…
Callum meets hero John Cena
On April 21st, PCW will hold their latest grappling extravaganza entitled Never Give Up. The cream of the British wrestling scene are set to appear, including names such as Kris Travis, Mad Man Manson, Dave Rayne and Noam Dar. Already scheduled is a huge 30 man Royal Rumble match, as well as a twelve man tag match between Team PCW and Team PBW. Make no mistake about it: this show will continue the streak of great shows that PCW has produced in the last year. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this show will be their biggest yet. Not because of the wrestlers, the organisers or the venue, as great as they all are. It’s because of a ten-year-old boy named Callum.
Callum is a huge wrestling fan. He’s a regular at PCW shows, attends any wrestling events he can get to, and I speak from personal experience when I say he has a wrestling t-shirt collection to rival anyone’s! What you might not realise if you have ever seen his face beaming at the action from the front row is that Callum suffers from a rare brain condition. It’s a condition that has led to the young man undergoing over 30 brain operations so far, and one that requires further treatment still.
But there is hope. Hope in the form of pioneering treatment in America that could be the key to unlocking the root cause of the condition. Unfortunately, as with most things in life, the treatment costs a lot of money, and this is where PCW steps in. Preston City Wrestling has vowed to give any profit from Never Give Up to Callum’s family, to help them reach their target and get Callum the treatment he needs.
And so many talented wrestlers have jumped at the chance to be involved with the show that it really is a great advert for the camaraderie and togetherness that one senses when they attend a British wrestling event.
One man in particular has promoted the event more than most. A man who loves Callum almost as much as he loves alcohol and beating the living tar out of anyone who stands in his way. A man who took the time to talk to CollarAndElbow.com about his involvement with the show and how much it means to him to be a part of it. That man is none other than Keith ‘Ruffneck’ Colwill:
How did you get involved with being a part of this show?
I met Callum’s family last year and heard about his story and wanted to put on a wrestling show for him in order to raise as much money as possible for them. I was going to do it with my company but there were too many factors at the time that put it on hold. I had a load of top names from the UK involved who were more than happy to give up their time too, but the stars did not align to make it doable.
I mentioned to Steven Fludder (the owner of PCW) and we were going to get it sorted, but it’s now taken on a life of its own and Steven has done an absolutely awesome job in getting this off the ground and under the PCW banner. In the meantime I have been doing what I can to promote the show to the best of my ability, and helping as and when needed.
What is your relationship with Callum and his family?
I’m just a wrestler who heard of Callum’s issues and spoke to the family to try and help anyway I could in order to try and raise awareness, and also the money to help out. As a father myself I guess I know what it’s like to have a family, but I put myself in their shoes and then thought what I would do in their situation and what could I do to help. I knew that BWP had done a charity show but I thought if we could do a show on a bigger scale how many people we could get to the show and how much more we could raise.
BWP did a great job but I felt that if we had some of the top names from around the country then maybe we could raise more money and that’s the goal we now have today.
Callum with PCW Champion T-Bone and Dave Rayne
How important is it for him to receive this treatment?
Again it’s a case of putting yourself in the parents’ shoes. If you had a child who was ill and had a potentially life-threatening illness, then you would want the best medical care available in order to find out what could be done.
Though the hospitals like Alder Hey have done the best they can, there is only so much they can do simply on the basis that it is a very rare condition. This is the reason why we have to get Callum and his family to the States to get the best they can offer, to find answers to questions that cannot be answered here in the UK, and to treat this condition the best it can.
If it was my child I would do whatever I could, but there is only so much that Sharon and Rob can do which is why they need our help. It’s as simple as that.
With regards to the show, how do you think it will compare to other Preston City Wrestling shows?
Though this says charity show in the title, it’s far from what you would expect as we’re treating this like any other show – the only difference is that the money we make will be going to a worthy cause. There is absolutely nobody on that card who would know how to give anything less than 110%, so there will be no dialled-in performances at all. The card is absolutely stacked from start to finish and some of the best names in the UK will be there, along with some names that you may not have heard of at this point but who will have the opportunity to showcase their talent, especially from PBW.
PCW do not know how to do average shows; it’s simply not in PCW’s make up to create half-assed events, which is why the promotion has great crowds at EVERY show and are the fastest-growing promotion in the UK. I honestly feel that as a promotion we have gone past the point of being the best in the North West and now have our sights in being one of the best promotions in the UK. I believe that this is achievable based on the ongoing growth of the promotion.
I hope that does not sound disrespectful to the likes of GPW and XWA because they are long standing promotions that have been around for a considerable amount of time and do deliver great shows. I just feel that given the quality of the names PCW bring in, the unique setting, the awesome production values and the ever growing fan base we have, that we are not just the must-see promotion in the NW but one of the must-see promotions in the UK right now.
Who of the PBW team are you most looking forward to beating the crap out of?!
I’m a big believer in equal opportunities so I try not to discriminate as to who I would like to bust up, so with that being said I’m looking forward to kicking the piss out of any member of the PBW team. They are all top guys for making themselves available and to make time for a worthy cause, but the bottom line is that when you’re in that ring, you’re just someone who was daft enough to get in my way, so you’ve got a beating coming your way, regardless of your level of nobility. They are very tough guys, just maybe not tough enough.
Is there anything else you would like to add about Never Give Up?
There are a lot of upcoming shows around this time and they will offer truly great wrestling events so there is a lot of choice. What I would say is though this is the only one that not only offers you the best all-round show, but at PCW Never Give Up you also have the opportunity as a paying customer to walk out and say not only did I have one hell of a night but I also helped a young boy get the best chance of getting the best medical treatment available with my hard earned cash.
I’m urging all people who read this to make the effort to travel to Preston and get to this show. If you do, I can guarantee that you will walk away with a smile on your face. Make the effort and all the guys on that show will give you an event you will not forget!
Never Give Up promises to be a great night. I have attended the last two PCW shows and personally consider them to be the best nights of entertainment I have had in a long time. I’ll be there for this show too, probably propping up the bar, and I hope to see you all there too.
Preston City Wrestling: Never Give Up takes place on April 21st at Lava Ignite in Preston City Center. Advance tickets are available here. For more information follow @PCW_UK on Twitter and like Preston City Wrestling on Facebook.
This article was written by Chris Pilkingon.
Find out more about Chris here – and don’t forget to follow him on Twitter.
