Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
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Private 1969–1995 Cartel 1952–1969 |
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| Industry | Professional wrestling, Sports entertainment |
| Fate | Retirement of final owner |
| Founded | 1952 (cartel formed as Joint Promotions) 1969 (merged into single company after buyout) 1991 (rebrand as Ring Wrestling Stars) |
| Defunct | 1995 |
| Headquarters | London, Bradford, Halifax |
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Key people
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Max Crabtree (Owner 1986–1995) Jarvis Astaire (Owner 1969– early 1970s) Jack & John Dale, Les Martin, Billy Best, Arthur Wryton, Norman Morrell, Ted Beresford, George de Relwyskow, Arthur Green (partners in cartel 1952–1969) |
Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years but became popular when the then new independent television network ITV began showing it in 1955, firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late-night midweek slot. It was at its peak of popularity when the television show World of Sport was launched in the mid-1960s, making household names out of Adrian Street, Mick McManus, Count Bartelli, Giant Haystacks, Jackie Pallo, Big Daddy, Steve Veidor, Dynamite Kid, and Kendo Nagasaki.
The sport remained a mainstay of British culture until World of Sport's cancellation and then finally as a stand-alone programme until 1988. Despite the end of ITV coverage, a largely untelevised live circuit – with some promotions featuring the traditional British style of professional wrestling and others more fashioned after the contemporary American independent scene – survives and indeed thrives in this territory to the present day.
At the start of the 20th century, wrestling was introduced to the public as part of a variety act to spice up the limited action involved in the bodybuilder strongman attractions. One of its earliest stars was a Cornish–American ex–miner named Jack Carkeek, who would challenge audience members to last ten minutes with him in the ring.
The development of wrestling within the UK brought legitimate Greco–Roman grappler Georg Hackenschmidt who was born in the Russian Empire to the country, where he would quickly associate himself with promoter and entrepreneur Charles B. Cochran. Cochran took Hackenschmidt under his wing and booked him into a match in which Hackenschmidt defeated another top British wrestler, Tom Cannon, for the European Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship. This win gave Hackenschmidt a credible claim to the world title, cemented in 1905 with a win over American Heavyweight Champion Tom Jenkins in the United States. Hackenschmidt took a series of bookings in Manchester for a then impressive £150 a week. Noting Hackenschmidt's legitimately dominant style of wrestling threatened to kill crowd interest, Cochran persuaded Hackenschmidt to learn showmanship from Cannon and wrestle many of his matches for entertainment rather than sport; this displayed the future elements of "sports entertainment".
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