Wrestling in the United Kingdom and Germany

Amateur wrestling is so closely tied to Europe that its ties to professional wrestling and consequently the history of pro-wrestling in Europe are difficult to pin down. Many attribute the development of the sport that became modern professional wrestling to the career of George Hackenschmidt. His success in European pro-wrestling made him one of the biggest athletic celebrities of the day. Thanks to his contributions, pro-wrestling developed a reputation as a moneymaker and it remained viable. The sport has been popular throughout the continent for as long as their has been professional wrestling. Different countries had different stars, some different styles developed and some promoters had differing degrees of success, but it is suffice to say pro-wrestling in Europe has a rich history that definitely influenced the forms that appeared in the late nineteenth century. Many of the greatest talents and biggest stars of the early years of pro-wrestling were native-born Europeans or the sons of European immigrants. The ethnic flavor that has been essential to pro-wrestling since its birth was frequently provided by Europeans. From gritty Hungarians and fiery Irishmen to macho Italians and dangerous Germans, American pro-wrestling thrived off of grapplers from the old country that fans loved to cheer and jeer. Just as Europe influenced America, America influenced Europe. The showy brand of pro-wrestling that developed was imported back to Europe and it caught on. In the 1920s, pro-wrestling in Europe began to flourish. Over the next three decades, it went through its ups and downs just like its American counterpart. After the war, Americans returned home and the country boomed and so did pro-wrestling. In Britain, pro-wrestling was struggling to find its place. The gimmickry that made it popular in the 1920s, made it phony in the 1940s.

The change in England came when promoters banded together and formed Joint Promotions, their version of the National Wrestling Alliance. The major markets: Yorkshire, Liverpool, Manchester and Scotland were all on board, but the most significant member was the London affiliate, Dale Martin Promotions. The unification under Joint Promotions, led to some major changes in how pro-wrestling was presented in Britain and this became common through Europe. Seven distinct weight classes were established, rounds were installed (although their lengths varied), two-out-of-three falls became the norm (in the US, this was common in championship matches, but not most matches), a "public warning" system was established to keep the action legitimate as a variety of strikes and tactics were outlawed and strictly enforced. This new template set the stage for a new style of pro-wrestling that centered on technical skill as wrestlers displayed myriad submission holds, pinning cradles and slick counters. This style frequently ensured that the best workers rose quickly, but allowed room for novelty acts whose distinctions got them over.

Like in the United States, pro-wrestling in Britain experienced a new level of popularity when it found a spot on television. In 1955, pro-wrestling was first featured across the country and it immediately helped the live shows and Joint Promotions' operations expanded and grew. Saturday afternoon wrestling on TV became a fixture for the next thirty years. "World of Sports" was one of the biggest TV shows in the country, airing right before soccer on ITV (along with the BBC, the only national broadcaster) and it featured numerous sports, including pro-wrestling. Commentator Kent Walton's calm play-by-play helped validate the product, which did not feature angles. Matches tended to be isolated affairs with a simple story within them that Walton got over masterfully and the formula helped British wrestling to its peak. By the mid-1960s, "World of Sports" was being watched by a massive amount of the population comparable to the largest booms in Japan and Mexico. The TV show created numerous superstars, who would take their fame on the road for local promoters who were part of Joint Promotions.

The exposure from TV wrestling gave groups outside of Joint Promotions new opportunities. There had always been outlaw groups that ran on tight budgets, but now their were television stars who could draw significant crowds for local promoters. One promotion of note was Paul Lincoln's British Wrestling Federation, it used a different formula than Joint Promotions and may be considered one of the most notorious promotions in British wrestling's history. Another was the Wrestling Federation of Great Britain, which was an alliance of promoters that lasted for several years. Perhaps the most successful however was Brian Dixon's Merseyside-based All Star Promotions, which largely took over as the top group as Joint Promotions fell apart in the 1980s.

Ultimately though, the only thing that could end Joint Promotions was its infrastructure crumbling. It started when aging promoters began to look for an out. In the early 1970s, Jarvis Astair began buying up the pieces of Joint Promotions, mostly notably Dale Martin Promotions, but also British Wrestling Federation. Unfortunately, he could not keep up and sold his assets and things were juggled around. One of the top stars from the boom, Jackie Pallo, began planning a new group with the Crabtree brothers and Johnny Dale (the "Dale" of "Dale Martin Promotions"). Unfortunately, Dale died and Joint Promotions hired Max Crabtree to book their company, thus undermined Pallo's project before it got off the ground. With Crabtree at the helm, Joint Promotions took on a new look. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, "World of Sports" featured amazing talent, however the biggest draw was an amazingly popular blue collar hero named Big Daddy. The third Crabtree brother was an aging, balding fat man, but his feud with Giant Haystacks, partnerships with the best young talent of the day and entrance to "We Shall Not Be Moved" alongside an army of children in his outlandish costumes made him a national celebrity. In the 1980s, British wrestling began to change as the top talents began seeking work elsewhere. The glass ceiling the Crabtrees had created led some to relocate to Canada or the US, focus on overseas tours of Japan, South Africa or continental Europe or just to focus on working the independent shows, specifically All Star Promotions. Then in 1988, British wrestling was given a vicious one-two punch. First, they were moved to Saturday, which cut their viewing audience significantly (due to people typically working a half-day on Saturday) and the low rating led to the second and final blow - being taken off ITV completely. It deevastated the industry in Britain. Several years later, the WWF ran Wembley Stadium, had one of the biggest shows ever and Britain was immediately targetted by both the WWF and WCW as a hot market. This drastically changed the role of British-style wrestling, further harming the domestic market for native products. The local market was further damaged by Orig Williams and Shane Stevens' "Tribute" shows, which featured fake WWF stars. Although they drew impressive crowds, they killed the market for other local promotions. Since then, there have been attempts to resurrect mainstream British wrestling, but nothing has succeeded.

Pro-wrestling on the continent has never seen the success of British wrestling. Although their have been long-running companies, popular native stars and tours by foreign companies have done well financially, there have not been many notable companies. One, however, Otto Wanz's Catch Wrestling Association, ran successfully for over twenty-five years. Its ties to the American Wrestling Association and New Japan Pro-Wrestling gave it international flavor that made it an impressive entity. As it developed contacts, the CWA became a breeding ground for some of the best talent in the world. Then when the bottom dropped out in Britain, they were able to attract a new core of talent. As time passed and WWF and WCW began encroaching on their territory, CWA began losing steam before closing its doors in 2000.


Joint Promotions (1952-1988)
After pro-wrestling had fallen out of public favor, there were attempts to reorganize and regulate the "sport." A group of promoters banded together to form "Joint Promotions," a British version of the NWA. Like the NWA, they were able survive the hard times by sticking together, starve out any competition, blackball any troublemakers and control the prestigious championships. When television became popular, they made sure to secure the only TV deals doled out and it spelled huge financial success for the promoters. They had an iron grip over the industry spare a few independents for over thirty years. As the promoters aged and left, Joint Promotions' power structure began to crumble. Promoter Max Crabtree took over and helped British wrestling to another boom period with his brother Big Daddy as the massive star that people loved to see. This formula worked for a surprising number of years before it began to slowly kill Joint Promotions. It allowed for indy promoter Brian Dixon to gain some footing and he began luring away the best talent that did not leave out of frustration with the glass ceiling. Although pro-wrestling was still had a large viewing audience, ITV's Greg Tyke decided to cancel "World of Sport" and he began shuffling things around before British pro-wrestling was effectively taken off television. It was the deathblow to the weakened Joint Promotions and seriously harmed Joint's competitors as well.
"Judo" Chris Adams

Bert Assirati
Big Daddy [35%]
Bobby Barnes
Dave "Butcher" Bond
"Crybaby" Jim Breaks [56%]
Wayne Bridges
"Wildcat" Robbie Brookside
Danny Boy Collins [64%]
"Cyanide" Syd Cooper
Jon Cortez
Chic Cullen
Dynamite Kid [81%]
Vic Faulker
Dave Finlay [71%]
Giant Haystacks [43%]
Marty Jones [68%]
Mike "Flash" Jordan
Peter "Tally Ho" Kaye
Johnny Kidd
George Kidd
Alan Kilby
Sammy Lee [86%]
Steve Logan
Kid McCoy
Mick McManus
Rocky Moran
Skull Murphy
Clive Myers
Kendo Nagasaki
"Mighty" John Quinn
"Bomber" Pat Roach [57%]
Billy Robinson
Mark "Rollerball" Rocco [68%]
Johnny Saint [72%]
"Dynamite" Johnny Smith
"Exotic" Adrian Street
Tony St. Clair
David Taylor
Jack Taylor
Tony "Banger" Walsh
"Bull Blitzer" Steven Wright [68%]
Young David (Davey Boy Smith)

British Wrestling Federation (195?-19??)
Paul Lincoln is a celebrated figure in British wrestling history. He was a successful rock promoter, but his love of pro-wrestling kept him involved and for the betterment of the business. In the developmental days, Lincoln secured some of the best talent and was not hindered by the attempted monopolization of Joint Promotions. Initially, he based his promotion around infamous tough guy Bert Assirati. Throughout the 1950s, Assirati was their legitimate star and when injuries slowed him they moved toward a new direction. Also affiliated with group was Shirley Crabtree, who they made into a top star. The former bodybuilder developed a blonde heel persona and worked on top before leaving due to frustration over payoffs. Although Lincoln was never able to crack the TV market (he came close), he was able to successfully take his show on the road to Italy, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malta as well as Africa.
Bert Assirati

Wayne Bridges
Tony Charles
Jon Cortez
Shirley Crabtree (Big Daddy) [35%]
Al Hayes
Mike Marino
Ricky Starr

Wrestling Federation of Great Britain (196?-197?)
Joint Promotions was dominating the pro-wrestling scene and local promoters and talent were struggling to deal with the trust they had set up. An alliance was made between wrestling stars George Kidd and Jack Taylor and 20th Century Promotions' heads Max and Brian Crabtree. It was a successful group and they were able to succeed, but remained a distant second to Joint Promotions.
George Kidd

Jack Taylor

All Star Promotions (197?-)
Promoter Brian Dixon was one of several independent promoters who ran when "World of Sport" and Joint Promotions were the driving forces in British wrestling. Dixon had a great formula, running seasonal holiday sites and bringing in stars with ample TV exposure. The politics associated with the Crabtrees drove many of the workers away and "All Star" became one of the best alternatives. In 1986, ITV cancelled "World of Sport" and began playing with pro-wrestling's on their television. Eventually, All Star became part of a rotation with the established, but often pathetic Joint Promotions and the big budget blockbuster WWF from America. When that relationship ended and Joint died, the scene remained strong enough that All Star took over many of the noteworthy titles and champions (that it had not already lured away) and quickly solidified itself as the top company in Britain. Although the domestic product has never fully recovered and many argue Dixon is stuck in the past, All Star continues to be the most successful promotion in the country in that it runs regularly, runs frequently and draws several big crowds from time to time.
Wayne Bridges

Robbie Brookside
Danny Boy Collins [64%]
Chic Cullen
David Finlay [71%]
Steve Grey
Marty Jones [68%]
Alan Kilby
Kid McCoy
Drew McDonald
"Mighty" John Quinn
Mark Rocco [68%]
Johnny Saint [72%]
Mal Sanders
Tony St. Clair
Dave Taylor

Catch Wrestling Association (1973-2000)
When it started in the late 70s, Wanz was a strongman with limited in-ring ability. So, he regularly featured strongman feats and competitions. The promotion targetted Germany and Austria, but ran in South Africa as well. They attracted an excellent mix of seasoned veterans from Britain and the United States, young talent from Japan and North America and they had some decent native talent as well. The CWA was inarguably the promotion of Otto Wanz for many years, but it transformed in the late 1980s. The company began spreading the focus in correlation to Wanz's 1990 retirement. The new CWA was a great environment for talent to grow and develop. An influx of talent gave them a shot in the arm in the early 1990s. However, its talent pool eventually began departing, it became increasingly difficult to replenish and the CWA finally dried up in 2000.
"Wildcat" Robbie Brookside

Bull Power (Vader)
Dave Finlay [71%]
Tatsumi Fujinami
Don Leo Jonathan
Marty Jones [68%]
Bob Orton Jr.
Rambo
Road Warrior Hawk
Mark Rocco [68%]
Tony St. Clair
Lance Storm
David Taylor
Otto Wanz
Steve Wright [68%]

Non-Europeans who toured Europe
Spiros Arion

Bull Power (Vader)
Ted DiBiase
Terry Funk
Stan Hansen
"Cowboy" Bret Hart
Owen Hart
Kwik Kick Lee (Akira Maeda)
Peter Maivia
Mississippi Mauler (Kamala)
Butch Reed
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Mike Rotundo
Dick Slater
"Texas" Scott Hall
Lou Thesz
Greg Valentine
Ultimate Warrior

I'd like to thank John Lister, Dean Ayass, Dave Meltzer, Darren Matthews (Steven Regal/William Regal) and britishwrestlersreunion.co.uk as my main resources. And, of course Royal Duncun and Gary Will's contributions to wrestling-titles.com