The History Pro-Wrestling in the UK

Professional wrestling as it is today originated in the United States of America and took its time to make its way to the United Kingdom. It started in the USA in the late 1800s and took until the turn of the 20th century to make its way across the world to the UK. It made its way to the UK when an American called Jack Carceek came over to the UK to wrestle in his parents homeland. It began when he started touring England with a shoot(unscripted/real) wrestling challenge where they would have to last 10 minutes in the ring with him, obviously all-comers failed due to his stature and experience. He was eventually answered by a real competitor in a Russian grappler who was also attempting to make a name for himself in Europe, “The Russian Lion” George Hackenschmidt. Carkeek tried to pull out by changing the provision to “Englishmen only” after realising that the Russian was a real contender to beat him, but the promoter James B. Cochran saw much potential in promoting the Russian in 1902. Cochran agreed a match between his new client and the “top wrestler from England” Tom Cannon of which was won by the Russian and in the process winning the European Greco-Roman Championship. He three years later unified the title with another title the American Heavyweight Championship, after beating former champion Tom Jenkins. This made Hachenschmidt the first true World Heavyweight Champion. As a result of all of this wrestling began to become a viable entertainment attraction to many British people, however it still was very reliant on foreign talent like Hachenschmidt, Stanislaus Zbyszko and others. But this popularity wouldn’t long and by the mid 1910s the amateur form of wrestling overtook pro wrestling as the preferred source of entertainment.

In the US they realised that pro wrestling needed to adapt and change the way in which it was presented. This was done three individuals collectively known as The Gold Dust Trio. The trio was made up of promoters Ed “Strangler” Lewis, Toots Mondt and Billy Sandow. The creation of this new diversified style, which incorporated many styles of wrestling, soon made its way to Britain and many promoters and wrestlers welcomed this new style and adapted to it. The most influential change of which came with British grappler, Atholl Oakley and fellow wrestler, Henry Irslinger, who created the first major wrestling promotion in Britain, the British Wrestling Association in the late 1930s. This use of a variety of wrestling styles led to it being coined “All In” wrestling, Oakely would become the first British Heavyweight Champion. For the early stages the BWA was thriving, some cards drawing 14, 000 people in London. However like previously popularity waned(this like the first time it began to falter coincided with a World War). This time UK promotions tried to counteract this with attempting new ideas like the first uses of weapons, e. g. Chairs etc, and the addition of women’s matches. All this effort came to no avail and by the end of the Second World War had returned to being just a form of pub entertainment.

The Uk scene would once again take inspiration for America in order to cause a resurgence in pro-wrestling after the end of the Second World War. American promoters formed the National Wrestling Alliance(NWA) in 1948, this would see a unified alliance between regions/territories. This saw the US wrestling scene begin flourish, especially with the advent of television. Wrestling began to become prime content on these new channels and wrestlers were becoming household names in the USA as a result of this. In 1952 UK promoters Jack, Johnny and Billy Dale along with Les Martin banded to form the UK equivalent of the NWA, Joint Promotions. This also took in promoter Norman Morell and Ted Beresford from the Yorkshire area, Billy Best in Liverpool, George de Relywyskow from Scotland and Arthur Wright in Manchester. JP ruled the British wrestling scene and with the introduction of television into the UK by 1955 Joint Promotions had a show on ATV and became part of the wrestling segments for ITV’s World of Sports show. Over the next decade this became the most watched segments of the show. Stars such as Giant Haystacks, Billy Robinson, Big Daddy, Mick Mcmanus, Dave “Fit” Finlay, Johnny Kidd, Jackie Pollo, Johnny Saint and many more became household names in the UK. The popularity of Big Daddy in the 1970s was only rivalled by that of Hulk Hogan and Hulkamania in the US during the 1980s.

This success would be tested however in in 1986, when World of Sport was cancelled and although the BBC tried its hardest to keep the wrestling show going, inconsistent time slots and the introduction of a new American broadcast of World Wrestling Federation(better known as the WWF and later years WWE). In 1988 JP was axed completely from ITV. By 1992 the territories of the NWA in the United States collapsed along with its UK counterpart Joint Promotions, who also had to close its doors. British TV was dominated by the WWF(and later on WCW) forcing British promotions to focus more on its live events than television contracts.

In 1993 the UK’s first NWA territory was opened by UK grappler Andre Baker. This was named NWA UK Hammerlock and was located in the Kent area of England. NWA UK Hammerlock would become an integral part of the wrestling boom that is currently happening in the UK. as their schools were instrumental to current mega stars like current WWE wrestlers Finn Balor and Becky Lynch, and Zack Sabre Jr who currently plies his style of wrestling all over the world mostly recognisably New Japan Pro-Wrestling(NJPW). While UK wrestling struggled to make its way onto television throughout the 1990s it was still securing regional strongholds and created wrestling systems that have created the wrestlers of today. As the promotions made their way through the 1990s beneath the shadows of The Monday Night Wars between WCW and WWF. During the 2000s the UK wrestling scene underwent major changes. The biggest of which was the creation of International Pro Wrestling United Kingdom (aka IPW:UK) in 2004 and this became the first British true super indie promotion, this came around the same time as promotions like Pro Wrestling Guerilla(PWG), CHIKARA, Ring of Honour(ROH) and Total Nonstop Action(TNA)/ Impact Wrestling were starting up in the US. (These are all also super indie promotions today). With all these new promotions beginning to be created all the time, the demand for pro wrestling featuring homegrown pro wrestlers increased, this was at the same time that WWE’s popularity began to decline. By the end of the 2000s wrestlers and fans alike were all increasing hungry for a return to the glory days of World of Sport.

As the 2010s began: the UK independent scene has taken a massive rise and foothold in the collective conscience of wrestling fans across the British Isles. As I sit here at the end of the 2010s Britsih wrestling has risen astronomically and now the entire world is taking note of what British Wrestling has to offer. This has gotten to the point that the largest wrestling organisation in the world the WWE has opened a Performance Center/Wrestling School and started a sub promotion in the UK called NXT:UK showcasing the best of what britain has to offer.