| British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||
| Promotion | Joint Promotions British Wrestling Federation All Star Wrestling | ||||||
| |||||||
The British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship was one of the first Heavyweight professional wrestling championships in the United Kingdom and Australia [1] [2]
The championship was recognised and defended on matches screened by UK national television network ITV as part of the professional wrestling slot on World of Sport as well as standalone broadcasts. [3] Pre-publicity for these championship match broadcasts was given in ITV's nationally published listings magazine TVTimes [4] The retirement of final champion Count Bartelli in 1986 received coverage from sources such as ITN. [5]
| Wrestler: | Times: | Date won: | Location: | Notes: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotty McDougall | 1 | 29/07/20 | Newcastle, New South Wales | |
| Billy Meeske | 1 | 1931 | New South Wales | |
| Douglas Clark | 1 | 1936 | ||
| Tom Lurich | 1 | 36/05/30 | Sydney | |
| George Pencheff | 1 | 37/07/22 | Melbourne | |
| Alan Muir | 1 | 38/02/24 | Holds both British and British Empire Titles as of 38/02/24 | |
| Earl McCready | 1 | 38/08/23 | Melbourne | George Clark vs George Pencheff on 38/12/13 in Castleford, GBR (champion unknown) |
| Bill Verna | 1 | Melbourne | ||
| Geoff Portz | 1 | 1959 | Newcastle, New South Wales | |
| Vic Stewart | 1 | Brisbane, Queensland | ||
| Ray Hunter | 2 | Brisbane, Queensland | ||
| Allen Garfield | 1 | New South Wales | ||
| Ray Hunter | 3 | Sydney | ||
| Don Steadman | 1 | 64/03/04 | London | |
| Ray Hunter | 3 | 64/10/14 | London | |
| Laurie Boyd | 1 | New South Wales | ||
| Count Bartelli | 1 | 1969 | Adelaide, South Australia | |
| George Gordienko | 1 | 1971 | Newcastle, New South Wales | |
| Albert Wall | 1 | 72/01/08 | Hanley, Staffordshire | |
| Count Bartelli | 2 | 72/09/02 | Hanley, Staffordshire | |
| Hans Streiger | 1 | 1981 | Liverpool | |
| Count Bartelli | 3 | 1981 | Melbourne | Title retired on 86/01/18 when Bartelli retires |
Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years but became popular when the then new independent television network ITV began showing it in 1955, firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late-night midweek slot. It was at its peak of popularity when the television show World of Sport was launched in the mid-1960s, making household names out of Adrian Street, Mick McManus, Count Bartelli, Giant Haystacks, Jackie Pallo, Big Daddy, Steve Veidor, Dynamite Kid, and Kendo Nagasaki.
Alexander Daniel Spilling is a British professional wrestler and professional wrestling commentator who is best known by his ring name "The Showstealer" Alex Shane. Spilling also works as a promoter, wrestling coach and television producer.
Peter William Thornley is an English retired professional wrestler who was best known for the ring character Kendo Nagasaki. The character of Nagasaki was a Japanese samurai with a mysterious past and reputed powers of healing and hypnosis. He was one of the biggest draws of all time in British wrestling, especially in the mid-1970s and the turn of the 1980s/1990s.
World of Sport is a British television sport programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 and 28 September 1985 in competition with the BBC's Grandstand. Like Grandstand, the programme ran for several hours every Saturday afternoon.
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The British Heavyweight Championship is a top British wrestling championship found throughout the country's circuit. The championship was recognised and defended on matches screened by UK national television network ITV as part of the professional wrestling slot on World of Sport as well as standalone broadcasts. Pre-publicity for these championship match broadcasts was given in ITV's nationally published listings magazine TVTimes.
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World of Sport Wrestling was a British professional wrestling television series and occasional promotion. It was promoted as a re-launch of the popular wrestling segment of the World of Sport sports programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 and 28 September 1985. The programme was launched on New Year's Eve 2016. It was formerly associated with the United States-based promotion, Impact Wrestling. A six-date live tour of the show's stars took place in January/February 2019.
William Woodbridge known professionally as Wayne Bridges was a British professional wrestler who was most well known for wrestling for Joint Promotions in the 1960s-80 and All Star Wrestling in the 1980s. He held the British wrestling version of the World Heavyweight Championship for most of the period 1979–1989, winning either of two branches of the title a total of three times. One of his championship wins, both of his championship defeats and several defences of his title were broadcast on ITV, on either standalone wrestling programmes or as part of the World of Sport package show. These bouts were publicised in the nationally distributed TVTimes magazine.
