It's 3:55 on a wet Saturday afternoon in 1980. Your mother is plating up your early evening meal as you get yourself set up in front of the TV ready for World of Sports 4 pm edition of UK Wrestling. The whole family gathers round to watch as the 6 ft, 6 inch, 26 Stone Big Daddy make his way to the ring to face off against his unbelievably colossal opponent Giant Haystacks who was billed at a height of 6 ft 11 inches and staggering weight of 48 stone 13 lbs.
When speaking to any regular member of the public about UK wrestling that is the lingering memory. All that is left from a time when UK wrestling took pride of place among a much less varied television schedule than we have today.
Sure there were also great technical wrestlers in the business at that point, Dynamite Kidd and Kendo Nagasaki for example, but when asked about those shows in the 80’s, Shirley Crabtree’s Big Daddy character is the most easily recalled, as well as the almost certain recollection of a little old lady in the front row trying to hit the wrestlers with her hand bag.
Now the World of Pro Wrestling is ruled by a monster, and that monster is World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) formerly known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Having outlasted its only real competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW), eventually buying its fiercest rival from Billionaire Ted Turner in 2001. Since then it has been the only show in town in terms of being able to offer wrestlers the biggest global platform to showcase their talents.
There are other global wrestling organisations to be found, such as Total Non-stop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH). Alternatively, there are successful companies who work with in specific markets, for example a Luchador style wrestler may be able to make a career in Mexico. Asia also has a strong wrestling history and has promotions that with the growth of social media has been able to enjoy a growing market for people viewing its content with the like of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
There is though, a resurgence within the UK Wrestling scene, and it is making waves globally.
Jim Smallman is the co-owner, executive producer and ring announcer of PROGRESS Wrestling; one of the biggest UK wrestling promotions today and he thinks that it has changed so much from those days in the 80's saying: "I first watched it when I was four years old, watching World of Sport with my Gran, then I really got into wrestling when I was a student, trading tapes with other fans around the world.
“The biggest difference between UK wrestling in the 80’s and now, is the American influence. We’ve got a faster paced, glitzier product now because we have a whole generation of wrestlers that were influenced by WWE in the 1990s, myself included."
Falling Star Wrestling performer and internet promoter Matt Newton-Walters agrees that the change in style from the 80's is clear, but states the ultimate goal of UK promotions remains the same, saying: "Back in the 80's there was (usually) a standard match structure with a rounds format and the wrestlers had to be creative within that boundary. Now wrestling is much more of an open book in terms of match types, characters, moves etc. I think the thing that remains consistent is that great wrestlers know how to entertain people no matter what the format or situation. In the 80's guys like Mick McManus could wrestle a plastic bag and still be entertaining, same goes nowadays for someone like Marty Scurll. Today wrestlers have much more scope and tools available to them."
The UK currently has more than 100 active wrestling promotions, of course not all of these have huge followings, but only a few are really making enough to be classed as being successful as a business.
One thing that the large number of promotions is doing however is giving UK wrestling talent places to hone and master their characters, in-ring style and build a name for themselves in front of audiences.
GOOD Wrestling is a new promotion based in the Milton Keynes area and started as recently as January of this year. The promotion, which is run by brothers Adam and Chris East, hope that as a new start up in the UK pro wrestling industry that they have a place within what they see as a successful market.
When asked about their aspirations for GOOD within the UK industry Adam said: "We have quite a clear goal for GOOD Wrestling, we don't ever think it could be a full time endeavour but we certainly feel it has some legs and will be a very central part of our lives.
"It's a very strong industry right now, you can have a few small promotions running large towns regularly and a few large promotions out there, it's very, very healthy. I think there is a ceiling and it's being closed in on, but I don't think it will implode off the back of it.”
With the increase in the use of social media across not only pro wrestling but social activities in general it gives these promotions and wrestlers more chances to build a following to aid their long term aspirations.
Over recent years UK talent that has made it to WWE have usually had to tour throughout Europe as well as extended stints with promotions in Japan first. This was the case with arguably two of the brightest talents signed by the WWE from the UK in recent years.
Fergal Devitt, who wrestles under the ring name Finn Balor, and Benjamin Satterly, known in WWE as Adrian Neville. Both won the WWE NXT World Heavyweight Title and have gained great popularity with the fans in what is referred to as the WWE Universe.
New Generation Wrestling is one UK promotion that are regularly featured on British free-view channel Challenge TV's WrestleTalk show as well as having matches aired on the British Wrestling Weekly shows that are broadcast on a number of regional based TV channels.
They are also in the process of looking to find even more UK talent with academies being open in the UK.
Despite the very positive appearance of the UK wrestling industry within the UK itself, after talking to owners of some promotions of a similar size out in the US, the success of the UK market is not yet being felt out there.
Jeff Akin is Director of Operations, a management position in two promotions, Paragon Pro Wrestling and The West Coast Wrestling Connection in California, USA.
When asked about how much he is hearing about the UK industry he said: "Honestly, very little. I see some tapes, well video now, from UWA and a few other promotions but that's more due to the fact that talent send me links in the hopes of being booked than because news travels over here."
His response could be seen as an example of the distance still ahead for UK pro wrestling to really make its mark on the global stage.
