The illustrious sport of Professional wrestling has dominated the four corners of the United Kingdom for over a century. From its early days as a carnival act, To the chaos and uncontrollable fights, To the new rule book brought in in the late nineteen forties to clean up the mess that the sport had become.
In its early days, The earliest links to Pro Wrestling in the UK was the stage act, Where people from the crowd would challenge a weightlifter to try and pin his shoulders to the mat for the three count, And by 1904, It became the most popular show on the entire card. The One, Two, and Three would never mean the same again...
Pro Wrestling would then be taken inside of the ring by the professionals. The First World Champion of the newly found sport would be George Hackenschmidt, Who made the claim that he was the worlds strongest man. The matches that were put on, were so short, Due to Hackenschmidt's amazing strength and skills. The fans were disappointed at the appalling excuse of a spectacle that was sometimes not even a minute long. So Hackenschmidt would bring in Charles B. Cochran, An English theatrical manager and impresario, to teach him showmanship. And from that day onwards, The matches were longer and more exciting to watch. The fans enjoyed it like never before, Thus Modern Professional Wrestling was born...
By the 1930's, Professional Wrestling was literally everywhere, It had made such a success all across the country, But sadly it would evolve into All in Wrestling. The holds were replaced with eye gauging, The takedowns were replaced by weapons, And the skill had turned into biting and vicious scrapping, Which in turn led to many an unhappy fan. Now the once family friendly sideshow act turned sport had become an all out fiasco that was literally uncontrollable.
During those days of Pro Wrestling, It was unlicensed and uncontrolled, Meaning that the rulebook was out of the window. The once calm and collected show had developed into brawls and fights that couldn't be stopped by anyone, Not even the referee could do a thing to gather order. Then eventually, And inevitably the Sport became so out of hand, It was to be cancelled by London county council in the late nineteen thirties just before the out break of World War Two. This decision led to the business tumbling to the ground in its burning and fragile condition from its poor shows and chaotic state, Which seemed like the nail in the coffin for the once beloved sport that the UK couldn't get enough of. When the glory of Hitlers demise plagued the world at the end of the War, The fans of Professional Wrestling would be shocked when Admiral-Lord Mountevans of the Navy, Would reprise the dying sport and give it the new lease of life with new rules and layout. These new rules would be named the Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules, And they defined what holds were and not legal and also how a fall could be scored.
A fall could be awarded by a pinfall, Submission, Knockout, Technical knockout, Or by disqualification. Another rule that would be added would be the Public Warnings given by the referee for serious or persistent offences, If the referee gave out three, The match would be over and end in disqualification.The Wrestling style that is still going strong today, Sometimes just known as Catch Wrestling, (Originally Catch as Catch Can Wrestling), Was developed in the UK by J. G. Chambers in 1870, Which then went on to be the formula of most pro wrestlers and even amateur wrestlers too. The United Kingdom has been a major place for Professional Wrestling since its origins, And always will be, even though its not televised as it used to be by ITV. Pro Wrestling in the United Kingdom reached it peak when it became a permanent fixture on ITV in 1955, Right through to its sad end in 1988. With nearly 33 years of Pro Wrestling dominating Saturday afternoons, The wrestling would become the main reason for the millions of viewers every week tuning in for ITV's World of Sport television program, The Wrestling would also garner a slot on late night midweek television.
When the television show World of Sport was launched in the mid 1960's, Wrestling would then feature the birth of household names such as Jackie Pallo, Kendo Nagasaki, Dynamite Kid, Catweazle, Mick McManus, Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy to name but a few of the legendary line up. Pro Wrestling in the UK would never have had been as big were it not for the Crabtree family, With One brother being a referee, Another Brother being the booker / promoter, And the other brother of course being Big Daddy! The two promotions that supplied the action was Joint Promotions, From the beginning right up to the end, And All Star Wrestling joining in the last few years, And continuing to do so to this day but untelevised as they were previously on ITV. These legends mentioned prior, Would be the stars of Joint Promotions for years to come, With the UK loving wrestling even up to the point of so called decline of ratings. The fall of the ratings led to ITV axing the wrestling after a solid 33 years of loyal service to the channel.
But during those 33 years, ITV would be bear witness to some of Professional Wrestling's greatest moments. From Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks' Infamous battles to the dastardly antics of Mick McManus, British Wrestling would supply Laughter, Triumph and iconic moments for decades to come. Despite the axing, The British wrestling would still continue and even thrive with out the mainstream media appeal due to the amount of supporters and loyal fans who followed the untelevised shows around the county's and the isles of the United Kingdom.
Professional Wrestling from the 1870's, Right through to today has, Is and always will be a mainstay and a tradition in British culture and art. Its a huge part of British heritage and it still gathers the masses to its shows to this day..
Through The Ropes Grand Slam Newsletter Issue #2
Written By Jack Williams / Contributions from Sid Jameson and Mark Connor
This Issue is dedicated to Toby Hollinshead
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