Good evening FWA readers. I would like to think that if you are reading this you have inevitably already amused yourself with Dave's "shoot". The, not at all copycat, reveal of Dave's disillusionment with Alex Shane, and the seemingly bitter pill he has swallowed in his line of duty. If Dave Bradshaw is stepping away maybe it is because he is jumping, maybe he was being pushed. Maybe this is just a work to bring in a new face? However, I have written this response and will send it to the FWA to at least counter Dave's extremely narrow perspective.

My name is Drew and I commentate for Futureshock Wrestling, a company Alex set up in 2004 before leaving to Dave Rayne for free. He then returned many years later when the company had hit a sticking point and once again worked for free for the whole of last year to help improve the product and hand it back over to the trainees and Rayne, revived and refreshed. Despite many in Futureshock Wrestling at the time claiming similar things to what Dave is now, Alex was good to his word and you only have to look at his performances on line against Sam Bailey and Reynaldo, not to mention FSW's personal record box office success in recent months to see that it worked!

At Futureshock, I am known as the Dr. I am the first person to receive an MSc in the wrestling business in the UK, and I am currently embarking on a journey through rough terrain to help wrestling become academically accepted. I have written papers, a thesis and have started a PhD in the industry I hold dear. I have won awards for my business plans, given money to those that need it to help them progress and will continue to be a bastion of light to help return this once great industry, pioneered on our home soil, to its former glory and beyond. Anything I can do to help the industry I shall, and not through want or gain. If I am fortunate enough to be involved with the FWA one day I will dedicate all I can to help them exceed where they used to be, and I will be privileged to do so. I wish to help the FWA, in particular, advance beyond where they are right now, that being still the most recognised British Wrestling Company in the world. That is because I see them as one of the few companies in the country that wish to present British Wrestling in the best light to the masses at large. However, that is not why I am writing this. If Dave wants to go on a rant based solely on HIS point of view of Alex Shane, then I feel that it is only fair to deliver the same from my perspective of him.

Several things struck me immediately about Dave's tirade. He is obviously upset, and must right now feel the world is against him. Coming from a corporate background some people would see Dave's words as libel, at worst, and biting the very hand that fed him at best. People have been sued over much less. Joey Barton recently got fined two weeks’ wages and was offered to other teams for free for suggesting the management was foolish for selling its player of the year, for example. Aside from the very notion of being so disrespectful to someone who has bestowed upon you great privilege (need I mention ungrateful?!) what Dave is saying is obviously up for debate at the very least. Let us look at the facts.

If Alex had such control, why would he allow Dave's statement to be posted in the first place, let alone on the FWA's main site without asking Tony Simpson to take it down? Why would he allow a soon to be former employee such freedom to make such scathing remarks? I certainly would not, nor would anyone else so prominently in the public light.

Alex does not own the FWA. Nor is it managed by Alex. The board is clearly visible on the FWA website, and Alex makes no secret of his FWA roles. He is frank about the role he plays behind the curtain and in front of it. A role that he has stepped down from since the period Dave seems most angry about. Alex has recently been involved in a social enterprise company aimed at creating jobs and opportunities within the media for disadvantaged youths, see www.alexshane.org. This is not a fictitious website; these are wonderful opportunities for people who would normally never be able to access them. It has received support by institutions like the Old Vic, who have worked with Alex and had great experiences in doing so. He has been funding this by brokering outside merchandise deals, as it is a skill of his, to fund these projects. The profits are split between here and the BWC, a not for profit 'council' here for the betterment of the UK wrestling industry. These are not the workings of a selfish, power-hungry monster. On a further note why, given his draw, pull and ability both in ring and on the mic has Alex chosen not to ply his trade overseas? It is not through lack of opportunity. If he was truly interested in himself and not the UK Wrestling Industry why not take the massive pay cheque from the E? Why sacrifice time, money, effort and relationships to develop a syllabus to keep training safe? On top of which, what self-obsessed egomaniac would create tremendous opportunities for consistently brilliant performers with other larger worldwide organisation? Would RJ Singh, Katie Lea, Jody Fleisch, Jonny Storm, Doug Williams, Magnus, and Nigel McGuiness be berating him as a man only interested in himself?

I would like to make a contextualised point here. I am not in Alex's "inner circle". He refused me an interview for my masters, although Colt Cabana (as we're name dropping here) did. He has been decidedly absent when I have tried to contact him on numerous occasions through paranoia, and he has been happy to tell me so. Alex does not trust me, and has been very clear that he will not return my calls when prompted for this exact reason. Dave was entirely accurate in his "conspiracy theories", from what I know Alex keeps a lot to himself, despite talking more than any man I know. After just a short time in the industry, I can only imagine the distrust in people that can occur the longer you are in it, and Alex has been in it for almost twice as long as Dave and I combined. Almost twenty out of thirty-one years. Think about that. Anyway, I am an easy guy to get along with, and attentive to detail, so when someone is off with me it’s not unnoticed. This does not mean, however, that a man should be defined by his mood or his mind. He should be judged on what he does and does not do. To that end, I am a man of principle. I will defend people because it’s right to do, not because I am their friend or we share the same thought processes, mood swings or even paranoid ideas. I will not back down from a situation and this has led to me refusing to work for people in the past, and inevitably, it will in the future. I am nobody’s yes man. I am an intelligent, educated, often controversial Northerner with more balls than brains, who often talks before the thoughts are fully formed. I am not defending Alex Shane from Dave’s verbal attack because I am a moron, a sycophant or a hypocrite. I do it because for the most part it is distorted beyond recognition, and partly to introduce myself to you even if it is to play the "Devil's advocate". As insular as it may sound you simply don't go out of your way to bury someone who's helped you receive tremendous opportunities and it is a slur on your own character to go against your employer with such venom when he pays your bills and keeps you in the job you want. I would be embarrassed.

If Dave lost the trust of other companies then surely he should not have done something to warrant it in the first place. Trust is hard to earn, why squander it? If he turned down a (potentially) lucrative job offer it was not because he was forced to do so and if it was why did he not walk away then. Murray Walker was associated with all motor racing on different channels in his early career, that is how you become a household name, become established. J-Lo would not turn down a movie because she is a singer Dave, get a grip. You were a free man to report how you see fit with FSM. Alex, from what I've been told, is friends with one writer there... not the whole editorial team. He did not force you to badly review other shows, nor did he bully you into burning your bridges. If he was putting words into your mouth, then why let it happen right up until you decide to leave? Some people take responsibility for their own actions, and I think Dave Bradshaw should stop blaming Alex Shane for his own failings. If his job was not good enough, if he pissed off too many people to be able to work in the UK Wrestling Industry, the only person he can blame is himself. However, I have come to notice that Alex Shane makes a GREAT fall guy for all the issues in British Wrestling. It's interesting to note that since the 1PW fiasco, the heat towards Alex has died down slightly. It appears as though many who know that they could be doing more themselves to improve the overall state of the business here, would rather throw rocks at someone else than look in the mirror and take their own portion of the blame.

Reaction in live commentary should be real. You cannot overdub genuine surprise, which is why trainee commentators are given pre-recorded shows to go over. Great commentary moments come from genuine shock, if you want someone to believe something is real, make it real! It was the first thing I really learnt about the wrestling industry. Your job as a commentator is to tell a story, to help the audience understand what is going on, and to do so with passion and emotion. This is best recorded live and real, as it is in every other entertainment and sports event in the world. People want you to help them feel what is going on live and not just show them that you are in knowledge of something they are not Dave "Stats" Bradshaw. The best things in life are surprises. Enjoy them and do not be bitter about not knowing them.

Let me ask you a candid question Dave. Did you get into the business to be Alex Shane's fake friend and later on, just another in the long line of unofficial judges of his actions, emotions and character? Or did you come to the FWA to be part of something that would get on TV, in newspapers, magazine and radio and do so in some of the biggest buildings in the country? If the answer is the former then you only have yourself to blame. If, as I suspect, it is the latter then what the hell are you complaining about? Have you not seen the mainstream exposure the new FWA has gained in the last 24 months? Is it really because Alex booked one angle at European Uprising and didn't clue you in on it? Arguably one of the best talkers and most recognisable main eventers in the UK, not to mention the most decorated Champions in the last 20 years of the British Industry, who has just had the best matches of his career for far smaller promotions and has already been a proven headliner for the XWA, wants to take over as the lead heel after Martin Stone gets signed to the WWE and you think that somehow this was a bad choice? Who else would you have booked to take that role then Dave? A role, by the way, that means ANY member of the Agenda can take the headline spot in the main event no less. How many matches has Alex wrestled in the FWA since "pushing himself as Champion"? You sound to me like a man who has just realised that you were on the wrong side of the guard rail all along. Instead of getting the opportunities that you'd always dreamed of, perhaps you'd be better off fantasy booking and knowing better than everyone else on a fan forum! IWC rules!

And seriously... if the part about personal secrets is true, which I doubt, but if it is, what makes you any better than Randy Savage, Matt and Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair, Adam Copeland, Vince McMahon himself (the list is endless) all of whom lived in the ring and had their personal lives recounted there. Is it right? Maybe morally a little dubious, but very much in-keeping with modern culture. People want to know REAL. People want the inside leg measurement of your dog. They want your wife’s bra size and what colour shoes your kids like. When you are the voice of a company that is in the entertainment industry, your personal life gets displayed in the window like your towel dropping as your elderly next door neighbour walks by. You take that as part and parcel and enjoy the perks and the crap. Besides, you lost your right to have a valid argument on this matter when you went on a personal, not professional, rant about Alex Shane and aired far more than was needed just to validate your own point and get your way. This also makes you a hypocrite. Whinge all you like, you had an amazing opportunity in a position every aspiring commentator in the country would kill for, and every wrestling fan dreams of. The Dave Bradshaw tirade is an ungrateful, selfish, shit-slinging exercise by someone deeply frustrated by their own failures and inability to control their own destiny. There is no occult, no "real - agenda", no "inner circle" of power, just a bitter, twisted little man who has jumped before he was pushed. I am sorry Dave, truly, that you cannot see where real blame lays.

I speak my mind, I report the truth, I deliver the passion and I will not ever disparage my employer in public as I have too much pride.

The Dr.