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Ireland's Most Successful Wrestler - Fergal Devitt



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:



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 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 workI 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 dojoHe 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 itOnly 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 gimmickIn 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 toBeautiful dropkickSo 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 highspotsHe 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 wrestlersFrom 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 yearNew 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 cardFergal after killing some poor ladWell 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/showp...&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 momentPersonally, 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 nowhereI 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