Welcome ladies and gentlemen, my name is Daniel Peake and today I’ll be talking about the resurgence of British wrestling.In the present day the British wrestling scene is going through a remarkable rejuvenation as a result of the perfect culmination of many factors. These factors include the amazing wrestlers coming out of the UK as well as independent promotions who are doing their best to produce quality programming. Promotions such as WCPW, IPW, ICW, 5 Star, RevPro are amongst the largest in Britain and have became capable of putting on brilliant matches on a regular basis. So without further ado I will begin with my discussion as to why British Wrestling is growing in popularity.
Independent British Wrestlers
In 2016/17 British wrestlers have dominated the world of professional wrestling and this carries on today; travelling from country to country putting on countless great matches. Wrestlers such as Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr and Marty Scurll (just to name a few) have came on leaps and bounds in their careers and have truly discovered how to succeed in the world of professional wrestling. As a result of their astounding achievements across the globe many eyes have been attracted back to their native Britain where they still wrestle alongside more increasingly energetic guys in many promotions.Speaking of these promotions…..
British Promotions
2016/2017(so far) has been an amazing year for promotions in the U.K. most notability of them all is the newly formed WCPW, who, in a short period since it’s establishment has grown beyond belief and became the platform for British wrestling starlets such as Joseph Conners (now with WWE), Pete Dunne(now with WWE), Big Damo (now with WWE) and Noam Doar (you get the point by now). WCPW also has had a host of former WWE stars on their programming which attracts a large number of viewers and bring forth a fresh set of eyes who are able to fall in love with the magnificence of the British wrestlers on show along side well known names (i.e. Kurt Angle).
After all that WCPW have done you will probably be thinking that nothing could compare but you couldn’t be more wrong. 5 star wrestling is rapidly building to a powerhouse in the wrestling world and have reportedly been contacting CM Punk recently offering him 1 million dollars to appear in the promotion. This is only a positive sign for British Wrestling as they are able to compete financial with well established American and Japanese companies. Both 5 star and WCPW are set to hold a wrestling tournament containing 128 and 64 participants respectively. So far the whatculture tournament is going extremely well with the Mexican section containing Rey Mysterio and Alberto El Patron (Alberto Del Rio to you WWE fans), your probably thinking, what does Mexican wrestlers have to do with British Wrestling, well I’ll tell you. By bringing in such large names they can develop the popularity of their brand worldwide bringing in viewers who otherwise would never have discovered the promotions. ITV World of Sport- A classic brand built on the foundations of Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy who sold out shows up and down Britain in the 60s,70s and early 80s is now set to return on a regular basis in the foreseeable future. The New Year’s Day special went extremely well gaining a huge viewership using traditional British wrestlers like Davey Boy Smith jr and Grado.
Brilliant Matches
I know I probably sound repetitive by this point but I can’t understate just how astonishing some British matches have been this year. If you need evidence simply look once again to WCPW and look at the trilogy of matches between Will Ospreay and Martin Kirby which was a remarkable collection of matches between the pair which can be marvelled no matter what your opinions of both men are. Another example is the UK tournament held by WWE, both semifinals won by Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate was amazing; and that main event, oh that main event, it’s not pis for wrestling to get much better than that and seeing British strong style on such a large stage only warms my heart as I can just see the potential it has. As a result of countless extraordinary matches the British Wrestling scene is alight and people have once again began to flood to arenas to see their favourite stars in action only similar to the rise in British Wrestling during the 1970s.
The WWE UK Tournament/Division
Before getting into the nitty gritty of this tournament I have to say one thing and it’s my opinion so don’t slate me for it. The UK tournament was better than the Cruiserweight classic. I know, I know, shocking. But honestly it was, every single competitor wrestled wonderfully on the show from the jobbers to potential winners all had interesting and well developed characters that the audience could invest in.Since the popularity of this tournament the WWE holding many more UK specials in the future holding regular tapings in Norwich, England and airing them on the WWE network on Thursdays. The current champion and winner of the original tournament (Tyler Bate) is still only 19 years old and the runner up (Pete Dunne) is only in his early twenties and this just shows how prosperous the future of UK wrestling can be if they are booked correctly.
What’s in the Future for British Wrestling
Nobody knows what the future will hold but in my opinion it’s looking brighter than it has in a long time. From the return of ITVs World of Sport Wrestling to the UK championship tournament and the emergence of young and upcoming British wrestlers and promotions the future appears to contain purely the fruits of success which can raise British Wrestling once again to the pedestal that it once was in the late 1970s.
Thank You for Reading.
If you are interested in watching top quality British Wrestling simply visit the what culture wrestling channel and witness hours of British wrestling weekly as well as all previous WCPW tapings and their early pay per views.If after that you want even more just visit the WWE network watch the UK tournament or watch British wrestling weekly online for free. Once again thank you and until next time, Goodbye.
By Daniel Peake