A Year in the Spotlight - Why 2017 has been a momentous year for British Wrestling

By Kieran Moran

Any British wrestling fan will have noticed that the business is going through somewhat of a silver age at the moment. The number of promotions has grown rapidly since 2012 and British talent are representing the nation across the globe in a number of different promotions, as-well as becoming mega stars on home soil. Not since the Golden age of British wrestling in the 1970's and 80's, when Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks ruled the roost every Saturday afternoon on ITV's legendary World of Sport, has British wrestling enjoyed such a successful and productive time. 

British wrestling Icons - Big Daddy & The Giant Haystacks

After what can only describe as a less than prosperous time for British Professional Wrestling in the 1990's and early 2000's, a number of promoters started to put our boys first over international talent, and a revolution was started. As of right now there are over 110 promotions in the UK with god knows how many excellent training schools, meaning it is quite possibly easier than ever to produce and showcase top talent. Needless to say, it was only a matter of time before higher powers started to take notice.

Business is about to pick up.

It was mid-October 2016, everyone starting to gear up for the festive holidays coming our way (and ICW's first crack at hosting a show at The Hydro). Then seemingly (much like a well placed RKO) out of no where came a huge announcement out of ITV, that they would be bringing World of Sport wrestling back for a one off show on New Years Eve. Cue the internet blowing up. The roster was filled to the brim with recognisable faces from around the country, with the likes of ICW's Grado and Kenny Williams and PROGRESS's Dave Mastiff, El Ligero and Zack Gibson, just some of the faces to be picked out from the stacked roster of experienced British talent.

World of Sport's updated roster

The whispers then started to grow. The whispers became rumours. The rumours then became reality in Mid-December as the WWE COO Paul Levesque (Triple H to you and me) announced in London, that a tournament would be held in Blackpool, in January 2017, to crown the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion. Cue internet going into meltdown. It seemed obvious that the WWE was trying steal some of the spotlight that World of Sport (WOS) had initially garnered, but from a fans perspective, who cares? We were guaranteed 3 shows (with the WWE UK tourney going on over two nights) showcasing the very best of British wrestling talent. WWE's roster selection consisted of 16 men, who seemed to adhere to the profile of 'British Strong Style' with BSS stable members, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven taking centre stage in the tournament, with the likes of Wolfgang, Joesph Conners, Mark Andrews and Jordan Devlin, adding to the mix. 

5 of the 16 WWE UK Superstars

When comparing the two rosters side by side, it becomes obvious that WOS went with more colourful and flamboyantly gimmicked wrestlers, but ultimately, those who would be the more appealing to a family friendly audience. WWE's talent selection seamed to follow a much different route, with more down to earth characters and gimmicks. Of course this comes down to the presentation of the two products, because I am by no means saying that Zack Gibson, Dave Mastiff and CJ Banks (for example) would not fit, in the WWE (because the absolutely would), and vice versa for the likes of (again, for example) T-Bone, Mark Andrews and Wolfgang. But while WOS looked to appeal to the family-friendly wrestling show goers, WWE appealed to the grown-up indy supporters, creating two very different shows, but both equally as entertaining. 

Greetings Grapple Fans... Once again.

World of Sport were first up. New Years Eve 2016. With the enlisted help of WWE Hall of Famer (Good Ol') Jim Ross on commentary, the show went down like a treat... to existing wrestling fans. The show reached a TV rating of 1.25 millions viewers, which is pretty darn good given wrestling had been off main stream TV to 3 decades. However, losing half of your viewers once the show stars and gaining them back after its finished, isn't the best of signs. Not even the crowning of the first ever World of Sport Champion in Dave Mastiff, and the second WOS champion, Grado, in the same night was enough to entice the masses into watching the revival show.

Then it was WWE's turn to make an impression on the British wrestling fans. Masters of their craft, the WWE showcased the high-flying, technical and hard-hitting British wrestling style that many fans are familiar with, and what this generation of British wrestlers have become known for. The two nights in Blackpool introduced new the 'Superstars' to the WWE Universe (I say it like that cause most British fans will have known these guys previously), gave us some beautiful storytelling and the apparent second coming of Jesus (here's to you, Saxon Huxley). The first night was an introduction to the competitors with not many matches standing out as classics but that wasn't the purpose of night one. The time to shine was on night two. And my word did our boys shine. Tyler Bate was crowned the first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion after a gruelling match with Pete Dunne, who arguably stole the show with the match of the night against Mark Andrews.

The beautiful venue for the WWE United Kingdom Tournament

So, in comparison it's easy to see that the WWE got the better reception of the two shows, but you'd expect that from WWE. They've been in this game so long they've probably forgotten more about putting on a wrestling show than most would ever know (Yes, I know it's a cliche but it's also true). But if World of Sport had an equally talented roster as the WWE UK tournament did, and it had roughly the same amount of money behind it, why was one better received than the other?

Simple answer. One word. Audience. As mentioned before WOS were trying to appeal to the family, who would all sit round the TV together and watch 'the wrestling'. But times have changed. You only have to look at the audiences of the two biggest companies in the UK right now (ICW & PROGRESS), and see who's watching their shows and how big the shows are becoming. British wrestling's biggest companies offer a hardcore, hard-hitting element by their very nature. It's kind of like the coolness of the Attitude Era, only with more respect for female wrestler and less run-ins, coupled with solid wrestling ability that Britain is known for. It's a great time for all. WOS missed the mark with their programme, but you can see what they were going for and it's a shame it wasn't as big as it probably deserved to be. 

Make a Name for Yourself...

The World of Sport wrestling special was advertised as a "one off", but I think everyone saw through that from the moment it was said. However, it appeared that these plans might have been scuppered due to the poor ratings return after the Pilot episode on New Years Eve. You could see the sense in that but still 1.25 million viewers is very impressive, and ITV commissioned a full season of WOS Wrestling for the Summer of 2017. But, yet here we are in the tail-end of 2017 and no such show has formed. TV tapings that were set to take place in May at Preston were postponed. No official reason was given apart from "contract negotiations". Make of that what you will but fingers have been pointed a Jeff Jarrett and Impact wrestling. That's all I'll say on that matter.

While WOS struggled to get their feet off the ground, the WWE UK Division is finding its feet, quite nicely, in the company. After two stellar night's at the Blackpool tower the WWE UK superstars had proved to the world that the WWE was right to put it's trust in those 16 men to show off what UK wrestling is all about. Speculation started growing of a weekly WWE UK on the WWE Network to showcase the newest additions to the WWE Roster. And so we waited... and waited... and waited... and nothing seamed to develop. And then we got a special on the WWE Network, that in all honesty, appeared to just be an experiment. JR and Nigel McGuinness weren't even ringside and you could barely hear whoever was on the microphone. Not what you'd expect from a WWE production. The show had a few good matches but will probably be remembered as the show that crowned Pete Dunne the number one contender to Bate's UK Championship, at NXT TakeOver Chicago.

Bate flies through the air at NXT TakeOver: Chicago

Hopes were high for this match in Chicago. Expectations were high for this match. Then the match happened, and both, hopes and expectations, got smashed out of the f*cking park. Rated 4.75 stars by Dave Meltzer, the match blew up the Internet and safe to say made every wrestling fan on home soil feel very, very proud. Only two other matches in WWE have matched this rating in 2017, those being the Main Event of Summer Slam, Brock Lesnar V Braun Strowman V Roman Reigns V Samoa Joe for the Universal Title, and AJ Styles against John Cena at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Title. After this Dunne has defended his UK title numerous times, including the first ever WWE title defence outside of the company at an ICW show this summer. Bate and Seven have appeared in NXT a handful of times as British Strong Style, as has ICW original Wolfgang.

It seems the WWE UK Division is being kept within the confines of NXT for the moment, which is fine. It was Triple H's idea and if keeping the lads in Florida for now pays off in the long run, then I'm okay with that.

*A few weeks after I wrote this article, the WWE UK division appeared on 205 Live, Main event and Pete Dunne made his debut on RAW as part of the WWE's UK tour in November. Big moments all round. Congrats lads!

After the Bell

As it stands World of Sport seems a world away from developing into a full television show and the WWE UK division is sitting comfortably within the confines of NXT. But I want to ask, is this not a good thing? For one, every wrestler who appeared on each show respectively, can now say they are a WOS/WWE wrestler, which is a huge draw to any promotion, and that's just a start. The wrestlers who wrestled for the two companies are now big, fucking, deals. Having a WOS wrestler or WWE superstar on your show can almost guarantee an increase in ticket sales, not to mention the money from those cheeky photo-ops in the ring during the interval. 

The moment in the spotlight for British Professional Wrestling has done our scene the world of good. This is without mentioning Neville and Jack Gallagher doing their thing on WWE 205 live, and Zack Sabre Jr, Marty Scurll and Will Osprey tearing it up in New Japan. 

Recently, the WWE sent out a questionnaire to it's network subscribers, asking about various content ideas and future services they would like to see offered on the WWE Network. One of these questions hinted at the possibility of ICW and PROGRESS Wrestling content appearing on the network. If this means that the WWE are putting a little bit of cash in the back pockets of Mark Dallas and Jim Smallman (& Co.) respectively, and funding those two promotions to continue to put on the great shows that they are, then I'm okay with that.

PROGRESS wrestling at The Electric Ballroom in Camden

So, where do we stand at the moment? Many UK promotions now have their own networks with hours of content from their own companies and others from around the globe. This would appear to be the way to go, and swerve television altogether. The exposure given to the wrestlers who competed on World of Sport and in the WWE UK Tournament, has boosted their careers ten fold and has done the entire British scene a world of good. It has done exactly what it should have done, which is give the real British scene the much deserved exposure it has earned. With ICW having just had a second crack at the Hydro in Glasgow and PROGRESS set to tackle Wembley next year, British wrestling is reaching its biggest high for almost 40 years, and it's still got room to grow.

Kieran is the host of our weekly podcast 'A Few Good Marks' and is one of our founding members. He can often be found discussing various topics, ranging from why WWE creative sucks, to which UK wrestler he'd rather manage and why. This is currently the only job he has.