Ireland's Most Successful Wrestler - Fergal Devitt

Fozzy

I'm guessing that there are a lot of people on this forum who have never seen Fergal Devitt wrestle. There's probably a lot who have never even heard of him. I think he deserves a bit more attention, especially from his own country, so hopefully this thread can get a few more people interested in Fergal and his work

I said that Devitt is Ireland's most successful wrestler, and he is (if you exclude Northern Ireland, as Finlay's done pretty well for himself). He started wrestling 7 years ago in England, working for NWA UK Hammerlock. 5 years ago he helped set up NWA Ireland. I never actually got a chance to see Devitt in NWA Ireland, but there's probably some people here who have, maybe some people who actually know him personally. In late 2005 New Japan brought him to Los Angeles to train in their school there, as they had links with the NWA and saw potential in Devitt. He impressed New Japan during his time in America, so he was asked to come over to Japan to train in the New Japan dojo

He made his New Japan debut in April of last year as Prince Devitt, making him one of the few foreigners to graduate from their dojo in years. His gimmick at first was basically one of a talented young guy trying to make it in Japan (which was pretty much true to life). Around August of 2006 he turned heel and joined the CTU (Control Terrorism Unit) faction. He would go on a losing streak once he was in CTU, always trying to impress his teammates but constantly messing up. He reminded me a little of Stevie Richards in ECW during that time, Stevie was always trying to impress Raven but he just didn't get it


Only photo I could find of CTU at the moment. From left to right: Hirooki Goto, Jushin Liger, Fergal Devitt, Gedo, Jado and Minoru Tanaka. Other members of the group are Milano Collection AT (who joined recently), Black Tiger IV (not a member any more) and James Gibson (Jamie Noble, a member for a short time a few years ago)

Devitt was given a final chance in October and was told by CTU that if he impressed them he would become a full member, but if he messed up again he would be kicked out. So, teaming with Jushin Liger against Wataru Inoue and Ryusuke Taguchi, Devitt got the pinfall and became a full CTU member and dropped the goofy gimmick

In February of this year Fergal suffered a knee injury (I think it was a knee anyway). He was out until May, but he got injured again in June during New Japan's Best of the Super Junior's tournament. Luckily he made it back in time to defeat Mikey Nicholls in the NWA's title tournament, which means he will be wrestling Bryan Danielson (Best Wrestler In The World™) sometime soon, which I am very much looking forward to


Beautiful dropkick


So that's Devitt's story, I'll try explain his style a bit now. When he first started wrestling in Japan he worked for WRESTLE LAND, which is owned by New Japan. In that promotion he went as Pegasus Kid II, Chris Benoit being the original Pegasus Kid. In a lot of ways Fergal reminds me of Benoit, although that isn't really the sort of comparison you'd want these days. Devitt's style is a bit more athletic if anything. Good hard hitting, a lot of mat-based work, combined with some very athletic highspots

He wrestles in the junior heavyweight division in New Japan, which is booked by Jushin Liger. It's probably the most consistently good division there, with a lot of good characters and stories going on. It's more fast paced than the heavyweight division and has a lot of very good wrestlers

From the matches I've seen, Fergal has improved a lot this year. Hanging around with the likes of Liger, Jado, Gedo and Minoru can't have done him any bad. Jado and Gedo were rumoured to be getting signed by WWE earlier this year, they're a very fast and intense tag team, very exciting to watch. Liger is just a legend, he's in his 40's and can still put on excellent matches, although he's not as high-flying as he used to be. Minoru is a tough tough guy, himself and Goto were in TNA as part of Team Japan last year

New Japan are currently doing a CTU farewell tour as Liger announced recently that the stable are to disband. He wanted to do it before they got stale, which most fans think they were far away from becoming, which is a rarity in wrestling it seems. In the two shows they've had so far on this tour (there are 4 planned), Devitt has scored the pinfall in both matches he's been in, including a tag match which was Jado's first match back after some time out. It really looks like New Japan have a lot of faith in him and things are really looking up for him. He's booked on the 4th anniversary show of PWG (one of the top American indy promotions) later this month against Davey Richards, there's a lot of very good wrestlers on that card


Fergal after killing some poor lad


Well done to you if you managed to read through that! Now here's the good part, the matches. I spent a bit of time trying to track down some of these. The matches I've found can be seen in the video thread here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=53553861&postcount=200

I would absolutely recommend you check out some of these matches. Maybe you won't enjoy them, maybe you'll love them, but I think it would be nice if you at least got a flavour for the top Irish wrestler out there at the moment

Personally, I enjoyed the Devitt, Liger and Minoru vs Kanemoto, Samurai and Yujiro match the most. There's some vicious moves by Devitt there. He has an excellent overhead kick he does, comes out of nowhere

I think the last match listed is very good too, that's from a couple of months ago. Have a look anyway, post your thoughts. I think it would be worth it to watch someone who could very well become a big name in wrestling, and it just so happens that he's Irish

estebancambias

That is very cool. I hold my hands up and said I never heard of him.

bombidol

More of these type of threads. Very good, good man Fozzy! Actual Content! unknown of on here!

Tricity Bendix

bombidol wrote:

More of these type of threads. Very good, good man Fozzy! Actual Content! unknown of on here!

If you want people to contribute more, slagging them off probably isn't the best idea.

bombidol

Point out where I was slagging please?

rizzla

I had the pleasure to watch him wrestle in NWA Ireland up in Bray. He was amazing, went hell for leather. The guy was unbelieveable. He did this sick suicide senton to the outside, he had so much pace on it that he took his opponent into the first 2 rows and took out a few fans, and broke some of them plastic chairs.

Ever since I've been singing his praise on other forums. Thanks for the heads up about his PWG appearence I'll be sure to check it. Also, cannot wait to see his match against Bryan Danielson in the NWA Title Tournament.

I can see him adding to an already brilliant career. He's not just the most successful Irish wrester (Apart from Finlay), but is also Irelands most talented.

gimmick

Seen him wrestle for IWW a few years ago, and was very impressed. I am still surprised though to see how well he has actually done in Japan. I know some people will say "well if he is doing so well, why isn't he in the WWE", but that only highlights ignorance.

Ive not seen any of his NJPW stuff, but I have been meaning to correct that for some time now.

ShawnRaven

gimmick wrote:

I know some people will say "well if he is doing so well, why isn't he in the WWE", but that only highlights ignorance.

Agreed there, as if everyone jumps at the chance to go to WWE. There's been quite a number of people over the past five years alone who have turned down the opportunity to work for WWE. Sting and AJ Styles spring to mind right away.

VR!

ShawnRaven

bombidol wrote:

Point out where I was slagging please?

Not so much slagging, but more insinuating that nobody posts anything of note on the forums, and if that is the case you can count yourself guilty on that count.

As the old saying goes, if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

VR!

The Sparrow

I admit I hadn`t heard of this guy... pretty cool all right and fair play to him.

Although if SOS makes it to the main roster of WWE I think he will have the crown as Irelands most succesful wrestler. Until that, this dude looks like the man!

(Oh and obviously if N. Ireland is counted both of them are blown out of the water!!)

gimmick

SOS wont make the main WWE roster. He isnt actually that good. Ive seen him wrestle a few times, and have never been overly impressed. He has a decent look, and obviously a hard worker, but cant see him being picked up full time by the E.

ShawnRaven

gimmick wrote:

SOS wont make the main WWE roster. He isnt actually that good. Ive seen him wrestle a few times, and have never been overly impressed. He has a decent look, and obviously a hard worker, but cant see him being picked up full time by the E.

He's too generic. He's got the build, the height but he falls down on promo skills and moveset.

Of course, that can change over time, but then, hasn't stopped WWE pushing this kind down our throats before... Gene Snitsky anyone?

And then a further three years later, you can take away his first name all you want but he still sucks and yet they give him vignettes to make us believe he's a main eventer

VR!

Double C

Good write up man, I've still not seen him in action yet, though I've heard plenty of good stuff about him. Ill check out these matches and post my thoughts later!

rossie1977

i am friends with one of the lads working full-time with IWW and he says that the WWE are signing up guys all over europe at the moment with the only requirement being that you are over 6'2 tall and well built.

Brow

I have heard his name but never knew how successful he was. Good post Fozzy. I'll be looking this guy up on videos later.

the flananator

I've had the pleasure of wathcing Devitt wrestle on numerous occasions through the years; always knew he was going places. His bout against Adam Abz from NLW earlier this year is probably my favorite match I've ever seen live.

dlofnep

Cool, fair play to him. He should stay in japan - he will get mat skills there by some legit catch wrestlers.

the flananator

Enjoying the videos; thanks fozzy.

Loved the Devitt & Sangre Azteca vs Jushin Liger & Jado match, especially when Devitt called for a brainbuster on Jado in a big Bray accent and the crowd popped. Quite funny

LanceStorm

wow, VERY impressed!! the guys got skills!!
how in the hell he's slipped through the net and isnt somewhat well known i dont know, did he not wrestle in the UK scene for long no??

one thing i note tho, is that alot of irish/english wrestlers have great talent, but they just dont look like wrestlers, this guys tall enough, built well and has a great look!! lets hope he goes far!!

estebancambias

He's in some tournament at the moment. I can't remember the name of it though. Is it Reclaiming the Glory?

gimmick

Thats for the NWA title. Not sure if thats actually still going or what. There is a big long thread on it from around the first week in June where the merits of the NWA are discussed at length.

Fozzy

LanceStorm wrote:

wow, VERY impressed!! the guys got skills!!
how in the hell he's slipped through the net and isnt somewhat well known i dont know, did he not wrestle in the UK scene for long no??

He first trained in NWA UK Hammerlock, then set up NWA Ireland here. He still worked shows for the NWA in the UK though, he was their heavyweight champ twice around 2004/2005. The UK indy scene isn't huge, it's only really if you go out of your way to look at it that you'll notice guys. And the Irish scene is even smaller. Maybe if he'd gone to America first and made the same sort of impact that he has in Japan, then people would have taken more notice

LanceStorm wrote:

one thing i note tho, is that alot of irish/english wrestlers have great talent, but they just dont look like wrestlers, this guys tall enough, built well and has a great look!! lets hope he goes far!!

That's something that bothers me slightly about wrestlers round these parts. I know there's the big steroid debate going on at the moment, and I don't think guys have to be huge, but I do think the majority should have some sort of muscle and athleticism to them. It can just be a little hard to suspend my disbelief sometimes when I'm at a show and I'm bigger than 90% of the guys. And it's not as if I'm huge myself! I'm mainly talkin about the real skinny and real pale guys, nothin that going to the gym and getting some sun wouldn't sort out!

The NWA title tournament is still going on, currently it's going to be Bryan Danielson vs Fergal Devitt, with the winner to face Adam Pearce (who won his quarter-final fight at the weekend) and Claudio Castagnoli vs Sicodelico Jr (next weekend at a CHIKARA event), with the winner to face Brent Albright

I'm not sure when Danielson vs Devitt is taking place, but it'll be sometime this month. The tournament sounds like it's been pretty good so far, I was looking at some matches of the guys I hadn't heard of who are in it, the guy that impressed me the most was Chad Parham. He reminds me of Christian, decent on the mic and in the ring

nwascorpion

NWA Empire proudly presents a second round match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship featuring Bryan Danielson vs. Fergal Devitt. Please follow the link to http:www.nwaempire.com for more details.

Saturday, July 21st, 2007
St. Johnsburg Firehall
North Tonawanda, NY

The DVD for this event will be available in late August.

Any questions, please use the contacts link on nwaempire.com

Thank you!

Fozzy

There's no news about the match on that website, but fair enough, I doubt too many from here will actually make the trip across the ocean at such short notice though. The NWA haven't announced anything yet either about the date or location of the match

I just noticed that if you search for Fergal Devitt on Google, this thread shows up in the top 20

estebancambias

Fozzy I agree but Bryan Danielson is as white as they come.

The Sparrow

estebancambias wrote:

Fozzy I agree but Bryan Danielson is as white as they come.

I probably missed something... but so what?

Fozzy

estebancambias wrote:

Fozzy I agree but Bryan Danielson is as white as they come.

He's also just about as good as they come! But he has a good body, you'd believe that he could kick someone's ass. That's really all I mean. It would be harder to take him seriously if he was as skinny as Spike Dudley and he was beating up guys like Nigel McGuinness and Morishima, which is what seems to happen sometimes in some UK and Irish promotions

nwascorpion

The website has been updated last night. I noticed that the NWA didn't have it up on thier site either, but it was just signed yesterday, so I'm sure it takes them quite a bit more time to update than it does nwaempire.com

I will post information here after the show so you guys will know what happened etc.

Fozzy

nwascorpion wrote:

The website has been updated last night. I noticed that the NWA didn't have it up on thier site either, but it was just signed yesterday, so I'm sure it takes them quite a bit more time to update than it does nwaempire.com

I will post information here after the show so you guys will know what happened etc.

Cool, thanks. I know Devitt probably doesn't have much of a chance in this match, but I'd love it if he won!

AmericanLass

Fozzy...I hope you will be ok with me "borrowing" 2 of your photos from the very first message here and posting them on the NWA Empire Fanclub message board located here http://z6.invisionfree.com/nwaempirefanclub/index.php????

This is my way of trying to introduce our fans to Fergal before he makes the trek across to wrestle in the "Reclaiming the Glory" tournament this coming Sat July 21.

I am very much looking forward to seeing him wrestle for the first time and while I suspect he will probably not advance after this match, I aim to give a man far from home a cheering section so he feels very welcomed here.

Fozzy

AmericanLass wrote:

Fozzy...I hope you will be ok with me "borrowing" 2 of your photos from the very first message here and posting them on the NWA Empire Fanclub message board located here http://z6.invisionfree.com/nwaempirefanclub/index.php????

Ah yeah, go ahead, sure I "borrowed" them myself in the first place!

RebelRockChick

Great thread Fozzy. He is one of those wrestlers that I had always heard about but never knew much about. Will have to check out the vids when I get a chance.

Mushy

He went to my (now) old school. He was there just before my time, but my brother knew him. Whenever I saw posters for NWA around Bray, I'd always think how was he doing for himself. Or, for that matter, whenever I saw anything wrestling-related. Fair play to him, and OP, that was a good read.

nwascorpion

The "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson defeated Fergal Devitt to advance to the final 4 in the NWA World Championship Tournament last night at NWA Empire's Red, White & Bruised show. Danielson beat Devitt with a superplex off the second rope. The match was full of submissions, 2 counts, outside action and much more. More details to come in the near future along with video. Stay posted...

Furious-Red

nwascorpion wrote:

The "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson defeated Fergal Devitt to advance to the final 4 in the NWA World Championship Tournament last night at NWA Empire's Red, White & Bruised show. Danielson beat Devitt with a superplex off the second rope. The match was full of submissions, 2 counts, outside action and much more. More details to come in the near future along with video. Stay posted...

I'd say that was one hell of a match.

Fozzy

Some new videos of Devitt here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=53665701&postcount=227

I haven't watched the ladder match, but the match vs Milano is really fun, I liked it. He won't be winning any acting awards with his performance in the ad with Jado and Gedo, but sure the Japanese love him!

slicus ricus

Fozzy wrote:

He won't be winning any acting awards with his performance in the ad with Jado and Gedo, but sure the Japanese love him!

That's hillarious! The accent Devitt puts on is priceless.

the flananator

Devitt lost to Davey Richards at the last PWG show in what was said to be a very good match which the fans unfortunetly didn't react well to. I guess most of the fans in attendence wouldn't be familier with Devitt, but its still a pity he didn't get more heat, if the report I have read is accurate.

Fozzy

Yeah, I read four or five reports, sounded like Davey wasn't being as much of a heel as he usually would for some reason, but a good match nevertheless. And Bryan Danielson is the new PWG champ. That'll tempt some people to the European tour if he ends up on it

Cactus Col

Looks like Devitt will be wrestling in a match against Christian, AJ Styles, and Petey Williams at the Global Impact Special.

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007_/articles/1198070789.php

Fozzy

Yeah, there's a thread on it here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055203340

I find it funny the way TNA are going about advertising this as if it's their own show, when it's actually New Japan's biggest show of the year. TNA are claiming that Kurt is defending his TNA title, when New Japan have mentioned nothing about it. I can't wait for it though

Machismo Fan

I've only seen his match with Minoru against Daniels and Senshi. I was quite impressed with him, he looked nearly as good as Daniels and Senshi and not too far away from Minoru.

Fozzy

To be honest, when I first started watching him I was mainly interested in him because he's Irish and doin well for himself. But having watched as much as possible of him since then, I can honestly say that he's an incredibly talented wrestler who I'd look forward to seeing whether he was Irish or not. Like I mentioned in the Global Impact thread, he's got 75% of the votes on the Puroresufan.com forums for the best newcomer, so it's not just me singing his praises