British Wrestling

Sitting around a wrestling ring, churchgoers roared as local hero Billy O’Keeffe body-slammed a fighter named Disciple. Beneath stained-glass windows, they whooped and cheered as burly, tattooed wresters tumbled into the aisle during a six-man tag-team battle.

This is Wrestling Church, which brings blood, sweat and tears — mostly sweat — to St. Peter’s Anglican church in the northern England town of Shipley. It’s the creation of Gareth Thompson, a charismatic 37-year-old who says he was saved by pro wrestling and Jesus — and wants others to have the same experience.

Thompson says the outsized characters and scripted morality battles of pro wrestling fit naturally with a Christian message.

“Boil it down to the basics, it’s good versus evil,” he said. “When I became Christian, I started seeing the wrestling world through a Christian lens. I started seeing David and Goliath. I started seeing Cain and Abel. I started seeing Esau having his heritage stolen from him. And I’m like, ‘We could tell these stories.’”

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At a recent Wrestling Church evening, almost 200 people — older couples, teenagers, pierced and tattooed wrestling fans, parents with excited young children — packed into chairs around a ring erected under the vaulted ceiling of the century-old church.

After a short homily and prayer from Thomas, it was time for two hours of smackdowns, body slams and flying headbutts. The atmosphere grew cheerfully raucous, as fans waved giant foam fingers and hollered “knock him out!” at participants.

Some longtime churchgoers have welcomed the infusion of energy.

“I think it’s absolutely wonderful,” said Chris Moss, who married her husband Mike in St. Peter’s almost 50 years ago.

“You can look at some of the wrestlers and think” — she scrunched her face in distaste. But talking to them made her realize “you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”

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Only a handful of people have gone from watching the wrestling to attending Sunday-morning services at St. Peter’s, but Wrestling Church baptized 30 people in its first year. Thompson, whose brand of born-again Christianity is more muscular than many traditional Anglicans’, plans to expand to other British cities. One day, he says, he may start his own church.

A pro-wrestler is aiming to convert a former chapel in Glasgow into a dedicated wrestling venue.

David McCallum, known by the ring name Ravie Davey, has launched a fundraiser to help support the renovation of the building in the city’s Linthouse area into a “Church of Wrestling”.

The GoFundMe page has so far raised £2,305 of a £10,000 target.

McCallum, who has been involved in the sport for over ten years – taking part in events across Europe and the UK – founded the Glasgow School of Wrestling with his partner Georgia Nesbit.

The school offers 19 weekly training sessions for kids as young as five to practise WWE-style wrestling, which is a mix of sport and theatre.

The couple also runs Community Pro-Wrestling, which brings family-friendly shows to local communities.

They recently acquired the old church and aim to renovate it into a permanent base for the school and a venue for future events.

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You can donate to the fundraiser here: Fundraiser by David McCallum : The Church of Wrstling!

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is not giving up on bringing the biggest WWE show of the year to the city despite the recent updates that have angered some fans in the United Kingdom.

In July 2024, WWE President Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer Triple H met with the Mayor to discuss a potential UK WrestleMania, which would also be the first time that the Show of Shows would be held outside of North America.

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With WrestleMania 41 confirmed for Las Vegas in April 2025, the earliest show that could take place would be in 2026 as no official announcement has been made. However, with recent reports indicating that New Orleans will be the host city for WrestleMania 42 after previously hosting the event in 2014 and 2018 and Indianapolis is heavily rumoured to host the event in 2027, some fans in the UK have expressed their displeasure that they would have to wait even longer for the biggest show of the year to make its way across the pond. Despite this, according to a follow-up statement, there is still hope that one day the show will come to the city.

In a statement issued by a spokesperson for Sadiq Khan to The Daily Star, The Mayor of London is still looking to bring some of the biggest sporting events to the capital:

“London has great pedigree in hosting the biggest international sporting events from around the globe. The Mayor remains determined to bring even more sports from around the world to London, including the first international WrestleMania hosted by the UK, and continues to discuss future opportunities. The Mayor wants to cement London’s reputation as the undisputed sporting capital of the world, as we work together to build a better London for everyone.”

Wrestling was in a state of flux in 1987 and Kendo Nagasaki had a slightly faulty vision for how All-Star Wrestling could compete with the glitz and glamour of the WWE.

If one word could describe Joint Promotions’s presentation, it might be ‘traditionalist’. Indeed, its conservative approach saw few real characters, white meat goodies take on black trunk baddies and a heavy focus on the grappling component.

With this in mind, the infamous All-Star Wrestling’s Disco Ladder match, the main event of their first TV slot in 1987, looked positively otherworldly!

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A first for British audiences, it is thought the ladder match was brought over by Nagasaki, who had wrestled in Canada’s Stampede Wrestling at the same time as the first-known ladder match.

In this sense, Britain outdid America, which did not have a nationally televised ladder match until WrestleMania X in 1994.

The ladder match in Britain was more limited, with the wrestlers using a one-sided step ladder and thus ruling out fights atop of the ladder. Both men would try to retrieve a charity golden record.

As it was Christmas time, the golden record was secured with gold tinsel. Notably, the match would not air until January 3rd – well after Christmas Day – and was recorded on the 27th.

An addition to the ladder concept was the disco element in which a light and music show would accompany the action in the ring.

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Elsewhere, respected wrestling journalist David Bixenspan added: “I’m not sure if anyone knows how Brian Dixon’s brain decided to book this, but it’s one of the strangest matches in the history of wrestling and a lot of fun to watch.”

The match

The UK government is being urged to act now to allow British wrestling fans to watch big WWE shows in bars and pubs. WWE's move to Netflix happens on January 1 which will signal an end to “watch parties” across the country, where wrestling lovers gather inside pubs and bars to watch WWE's big monthly Premium Live Events – or PPVs for the older crowd.

And with WWE launching all of its live content on Netflix on January 6, the parties at pubs and bars will end as they are not allowed to show Netflix-streamed content in the way they were allowed to show content on Sky Sports or TNT Sports Box Office in the past.

One of the main organisers of the watch parties, Hooked on Wrestling, announced that their last set of events took place on last month with the Survivor Series War Games event, which saw fans launch a petition in a bid to force WWE to act on the issue.

And now MP Mike Reader – who has taken part in wrestling training in the past and is a diehard wrestling fan – has backed calls for WWE to make a deal with Netflix and the UK's pub industry.

Speaking to the Daily Star, he said: “ Watching wrestling with friends and fellow fans can be inspiring. It isn't only a social good but economically important too.

“I support the campaign to ensure wrestling watch events can continue. I know the issue is being looked at by government officials, and will keep a close eye on this.”

The mysterious masked wrestler wowed fans during the heyday of British wrestling. He was a consistent draw for Joint Promotions and All Star Wrestling and was a mainstay on World of Sport on ITV for decades.

His matches against stars like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks made him a household name, as did his infamous unmasking ceremony on TV in 1977. Millions up and down the country clamoured to see the man behind the mask, although Kendo Nagasaki later put it back on a few years later.

The British legend retired from wrestling numerous times over the years, most recently in 2008. However, he announced later this year that he was returning to the ring one final time to make sixty years since his debut in wrestling, all the way back in 1964.

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Last night at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls, Kendo Nagasaki set foot in the wrestling ring for one final time. Adorned in his traditional cape and carrying the sword gifted to him by Kenshiro Abbe, he wrestled in a six-man tag team match for the fans of the LDN promotion.

Kendo Nagasaki teamed up with Dead Gorgeous (Ben Nelson & Jordan Nelson) to defeat the trio of DD Crooks, Sanjay Bagga & Stevie Fee. We’re still waiting on specific details for this match, but we do know that Kendo Nagasaki and his team picked up the victory in his final outing.

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His appearance in the match broke one record. Kendo Nagasaki became the oldest masked wrestler ever, beating Mil Mascaras who wrestled his last match in 2019 at the age of 76. He also has the honour of being the second-oldest male wrestler ever, only beaten by Dory Funk Jr who wrestled in a Double Hell Current Explosion Death Match earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Mae Young’s match against LayCool on Raw in 2010 made her the oldest wrestler ever at the age of 87.

The rise of All-In Wrestling in the 1930s was the reason for wrestling’s scrutiny in this decade. The sport became increasingly violent as more holds were introduced and fewer restrictions were placed on the wrestlers.

However, due to a lack of a governing body, different promoters saw the “All-In” style as a free-for-all, discarding any restrictions and giving them a license to do whatever they wanted, no matter how brutal and bloody.

This led do weapons being used in professional wrestling for the first in Britain. The matches became less of a sport and more of a spectacle, with less emphasis on the physical skill and talent of the performers. Fans would chant “We Want Blood!”, and objects like stools and water buckets were regularly used. Matches were more like the hardcore-style bouts from ECW than what you’d imagine from the early-20th century.

This change actually caused a boom in the wrestling business, with it becoming more popular than ever. That included women’s wrestling, which the British public first saw in a tour of German lady wrestlers in 1867.

Women’s wrestling soon became a draw, although there were much fewer all-woman matches than their male counterparts. The first intergender bout was in 1880, while Ivy “Blonde Tigress” Russell vs Peggy “Brunette Bearcat” Parnell drew thousands of fans in 1934.

However, the scene would take a huge hit in 1938 when the Entertainments Committee of the London County Council banned women from wrestling in public matches in London, while “All-In” wrestling wasn’t banned until 1944.

While other cities in the country didn’t stop the women wrestling, losing out on the biggest market was a huge detriment, not to mention the effect the outbreak of the Second World War had on the scene just a year later. Wrestling continued during the war in cities like Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool, but the business took a huge hit due to a large number of the population leaving for war.

After the Allies achieved victory over Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the Axis Powers, there would be a new world of professional wrestling built in Britain, although one that did not welcome women. The British Wrestling Board of Control was formed in 1946, with Admiral Lord Mountevens and company creating the rules that would govern the sport for decades.

These Mountevans Rules codified what wrestling should be and took the sport away from the lawless world that the All-In rules had descended it into.

This change created a more sanitised and professional sport, with the creation of Joint Promotions in 1952 starting a boom period never seen before. However, Joint Promotions didn’t see the value in women’s wrestling.

Max Crabtree, who took over booking for Joint Promotions in the 1970s, perfectly encapsulated the higher-up’s view on women’s wrestling with this quote from his chat with Simon Garfield.

“I never promoted them I’m a male chauvinistic pig,” Crabtree said. “But no matter who they were, and I say this respectfully,” he said, disrespectfully, “there was never a place for them in the history of British wrestling. I think that if I had attempted to put them on television, ITV would have instantly taken it off [the air].”

Our sixth show from 21st February 2024!

now on YouTube for absolutely free.

matches:

• LIZZY EVO v SCOTT OBERMAN
• JACK CRITCHLOW aka CRITCHY v KEMPER
• McCARTHY & MAGINNIS v MADE TO LAST
• ALEXXIS FALCON v HARLEY HUDSON
• SAM BAILEY v MAX BROOKER v TEDDY REAY v ETHAN KELLY
• TROY RYAN v NATHAN BLACK
• LANA AUSTIN v LILY WINTER
• ROB DRAKE v TONY WRIGHT

all filmed and edited by Ant Jones - AJ MEDIA

Saturday 28th December @ Indigo at O2.

Lucha Britannia is a comedy cabaret wrestling show set in an Orwellian near future called the RetroFutureVerse.

“Risqué, Outrageous, and Downright Dangerous!”

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Legendary TV wrestling villain Kendo Nagasaki is planning to sell off his £1.5million, 50-room mansion to fund new LGBTQ+ Zen Buddhism classes - as he also plots a return to the ring aged 82.

The World of Sport superstar - whose real name is Peter Thornley, from Stoke - was famous for his signature 'Kamikaze Crash' slam, and appeared in the ring under the guise of a masked 'Japanese samurai' and mystical sensei.

But decades after his heyday on the nation's screens, he now wants to downsize from his huge Stoke-on-Trent home to Blackpool - where he owns a men-only hotel.

He hopes to teach the Lancashire LGBTQ+ community the art of Zen Buddhism at the seaside town, famed for its illuminations.

And he is even training to return to the sport as a pensioner on the 60th anniversary of his first showing - which would make him the oldest professional wrestler.

Archive (as the original is on the Daily Fail)

I am also legally obliged to include this: "Everything's AOR" by Half Man Half Biscuit.

Ahead of AEW All In in London, several fans noticed that local advertisements had also circled the city of London as the destination for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025. This was later confirmed to be the case on the All In pre-show, with a commercial outlining August 24 as the date for the next year's Forbidden Door pay-per-view, and London as the host location.

The specific venue from which Forbidden Door 2025 will emanate was not disclosed, although a few possibilities have emerged. Such possibilities include the O2 Arena, Wembley Arena, and Craven Cottage, home to the Fulham Football Club. The latter building is notably owned by Shahid Khan, the father of AEW President Tony Khan. Ahead of All In, several AEW representatives, including Tony Khan, made a visit to Craven Cottage for Fulham's game against Leicester City.

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With London hosting Forbidden Door next year, the All In pay-per-view series will be momentarily moving away from the United Kingdom and to the city of Arlington, Texas on July 12, 2025. AEW All In 2026 will then return to London.

A teenager who weighed nearly 30 stones has turned his life around and lost more than a third of his bodyweight thanks to ­professional wrestling.

Kayden Fraser, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was one of Scotland’s most obese children after gaining weight due to bullying which saw him reach 29st.

But the 15-year-old has shed 11st and is healthier and happier since joining Glasgow School of Wrestling in October 2022.

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At Accies’ Stadium show Kayden’s journey reached a pinnacle when he shared the ring with Hornswoggle.

Kayden wrestled in front of 400 people in an eight-man tag-team match.

He has drawn huge ­inspiration from Hornswoggle, who, at just 4ft 4in, spent about 10 years in the WWE as a ­leprechaun-style ­character and overcame his own physical hurdles to achieve success in the ring.

A Liverpool brewery was transformed this week as Atomic Wrestling returned. The independent professional wrestling company has built up a huge following in the city since it staged its very first show at Azvex Brewery last year.

The electrifying sports entertainment action from the best of the North West means the show regularly sells out. Fans once again packed into the taproom on Gibraltar Row on Wednesday to watch the heroes and villains in spandex settle their scores in the most thrilling way imaginable.

"Back to Formula" marked Atomic's return to Azvex after they hosted Snailmania at Futureyard in June. Atomic has now staged nine events and continues to go from strength-to-strength. One of the showrunners spoke to the ECHO last year about why the wrestling has struck a chord with fans.

Chris Welsh said: "Our ethos is to present the best of the North West. A lot of local talent. It all started a few years ago; there was a training school in Maghull, Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling, but it was closed down after the two owners joined WWE and moved to Florida.

Afterwards we knew there was a lot of talent in the area that was being overlooked. There's a lot of wrestlers being flown in from overseas, but we wanted to show what we have got. The reaction we have had from fans has been really positive. It's very much a gig atmosphere."

"AEW Collision" talent "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington almost didn't adopt the moniker of his late uncle, the original Dynamite Kid, until a WWE Hall of Famer convinced him. 

On an episode of "AEW Unrestricted," Billington explained it was Bret Hart who convinced him to use the name. He said he had been struggling with the decision before taking Hart's advice, as he didn't want to be perceived as "leeching" off the name. He explained he didn't adopt the "Dynamite Kid" moniker until about two weeks before his AEW debut.

"I always thought, 'I want to make a name for myself,' so for the longest time, I just went by Tom Billington," he explained. "Two weeks before my AEW debut, I was in Bret's house, he told me, 'I really think you should use that 'Dynamite Kid' name as your name, too, because you look so much like him. You talk like him. You even walk like him.' I remind him so much of him. He said it scares him a little bit. At first, I was like, 'I get where you're coming from, Bret, but I really don't want to.'"

Billington said that after two shows when he agreed with Hart to give the name a shot, it went over with the fans. He said he had people telling him how much he looks like his late uncle, which he gets every day.

Previously: New 'Dynamite Kid' from Wigan sparkles on his All Elite Wrestling debut stateside

The world of professional wrestling has its newest superstar - a young lad from Wigan with a very familiar name!

And if fans were watching 'Dynamite Kid' Tommy Billington's debut on All Elite Wrestling - the major rival for WWF/WWE - thinking they were seeing double, it was for very reason.

Because Golborne-born Tommy has inherited the nickname from his famous uncle, the original 'Dynamite Kid' Tom Billington - who was one half of the famous ‘British Bulldogs’, alongside cousin Davey Boy Smith.

And 23-year-old Tommy quickly showed he has got to where he is on merit, with a sparkling performance in a fast-paced entertaining match against established star Dax Harwood.

Indeed, Harwood was so impressed with his opponent that, even after securing a narrow victory with a slingshot powerbomb, he left Billington alone in the ring so the live audience could show their appreciation.

Among the impressed fans watching on television was none other than Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart – ‘the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be’ – who is related to the Billington and Smith families through marriage.

And Tommy later posted a picture of him watching the bout with Bret, to gain some valuable feedback!

Do you believe in Joe Hendry? From a wrestler's entrance music to beating artists like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Dasha, it seems yes, the public do believe in Joe Hendry.

The Scottish professional wrestler saw his song 'I Believe in Joe Hendry' reach number four in the official charts, in what he describes as a "series of fortunate random events".

Now the 36-year-old from Edinburgh is considering his next move - whether projecting his face on the Las Vegas Sphere or writing a song for the first minister of Scotland.

Hendry, who is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), was a musician for a decade before becoming a wrestler.

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Hendry not only has the support of the wrestling community, his family have his back too.

Drew Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, is his uncle.

He said: "It’s been cracking to see the wrestling community and the wider public get behind Joe, he’s absolutely deserving of the top spot.

"I’ve always believed in him."

Joe has even offered his musical services to the new first minister.

"If John Swinney had given me enough notice, we could have done 'I Believe in John Swinney' for him, that would have been no problem," he said.

The song.

Wrestling fans have hit out at "extortionate" ticket prices for WWE's first ever Scottish pay-per-view show, Clash at the Castle.

The "premium live event" comes to Glasgow's OVO Hydro venue on 15 June.

The cheapest tickets cost £300, with premium tickets more than £2,000.

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A WWE spokesperson told BBC Scotland News that some tickets had been on sale at lower price point across two nights at the venue.

However, they declined to give details of how many of these tickets were available or how many had sold.

Journalist Ross Brady, who has followed WWE to events in London, Cardiff and New Orleans, said he was not able to find a ticket for less than £300.

He said: "The first prices that went up were for combo tickets of around £330, so I waited for the event on the Saturday and it was £303.50 for just the single ticket.

This September, Pro Wrestling NOAH will be heading over to the United Kingdom for a three-show tour. September 6th-8th are the dates listed.

Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk Is Jericho, Ospreay was asked why he decided to join AEW.

"Main thing was, I wanted to be in the UK. I know I'm not going to be exactly comfortable moving to another country. I moved to Japan in 2019, as much as I loved it, it wasn't home. I entered a new relationship with my new Mrs. who wrestles under the name Alex Windsor, I have a stepson now, she just started school. If you know her story and everything she's been through, the UK scene kind of knows it, but she lost her husband, and having to pick herself up from that and having to be a mom, a single mom, to losing her husband, it's going to have some tolls on you, so she needs to be around family and friends in her social circle. I couldn't bear the thought of moving her away from all of that and having her own on her own again. For me, the main priority was to stay in the UK, but also wanting to up the wrestling because I had done everything in New Japan. I completed it. The viable option was where was I happy and what was I doing? Every time I came (to AEW), Tony [Tony Khan] has given me nothing but trust and respect the moment I came in here. It was the right decision for me at this time. I'm happy here and looking forward to the challenges. It's the right decision," said Ospreay.

Asked if he talked to WWE, Ospreay replied, "Yeah, of course, but it was night and day. Even in differences of what they were offering and what AEW was offering, AEW was way better. The scheduling, everything about AEW was completely the right option for me. It was always, you can go be a superstar in WWE and famous, but it's not as good of pay and it's not as kind of a schedule. I respect everyone there doing it, but it's not for me."

Atomic Pro Wrestling stages fights in venue where viewers can enjoy craft beer and get close to the action

AKA that time Giant Haystacks came out of retirement for a brief, truncated run in American wrestling. It wasn't pretty. In more ways than one.