British Middleweight Championship

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The British Middleweight Championship is the Middleweight professional wrestling championship competed for throughout the British wrestling circuit. [1]

Contents

The title was recognised as official by national TV network ITV for the purposes of their coverage of the UK wrestling scene [2] and by its listings magazine TVTimes in accompanying magazine feature coverage. [3]

History

Joint Promotions

Joint Promotions established a British Middleweight title in 1952 in compliance with the resolutions of the Mountevans Committee. By 1971, this title was in the possession of Brian Maxine who continued to claim the title without dispute in an unbroken reign until 2000. Also a successful musician, Maxine wore his championship belt on the cover of record releases.

TWA

A new version of the championship was created in 2000 for TWA which became the focus of a feud between Mal Sanders and James Mason.

Meanwhile, Maxine, wrestling for Premier Promotions, continued to wear his old championship belt but no longer laid claim to the title. A contest for the belt between Maxine and Johnny Kidd on 15 March 2003 in Midhurst was strictly billed as being only for the championship belt as a possession. [4] Maxine would still be wearing the belt for appearances with LDN in 2007.

RBW

A new version of the championship was created out of a four-man tournament which saw "Golden Boy" Cameron Knite qualify over "Sadistic" Jack Storm during December 2003 in Sheffield while Johnny Kidd overcame "The Gift" Ross Jordan in Nottingham during December as well to qualify.

The final was held in Enfield, London on 24 January 2004 and saw Johnny Kidd defeat Knite, two falls to one, to be crowned first champion.

On 22 May 2004 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, "Misfit" Jorge Castano defeated Johnny Kidd for the Championship, in his third attempt, following previous contests between the two in Chingford and Nottingham, and would hold the belt up to RBW's eventual closer in late 2005. Until and unless steps are taken to reorganise this championship, Castano remains as dormant champion for the rest of his professional career.

List of champions

This is a history of all combined versions of the British Middleweight title. [1]

Key
SymbolMeaning
#The overall championship reign
ReignThe reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
EventThe event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
N/AThe specific information is not known
Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
[Note #]Indicates that the exact length of the title reign is unknown, with a note providing more details.

British independent circuit (1938-1952)

No.ChampionReignDateDays heldLocationEventNotesRef(s)
1Jack Moores1N/AN/AN/A live event First recorded champion [5]
2Billy Reilly1N/AN/A Wigan live event   [5]
3Jack Dale11935N/A London live event Won a tournament for the title. [5]
4Robert H Cook11950N/A London live event Atholl Oakeley promotions show [5]

Joint Promotions (1952-?)

No.ChampionReignDateDays heldLocationEventNotesRef(s)
1Tommy Mann11952N/AN/A live event   [5]
2Harry Fields11952N/AN/A live event   [5]
3Cyril Knowles11954N/AN/A live event   [5]
4Les Stent11954N/AN/A live event   [5]
5Guido Ronga11956N/AN/A live event   [5]
6Tommy Mann21956N/AN/A live event   [5]
7Harry Fields21958N/AN/A live event   [5]
8Bobby Steele11958N/AN/A live event   [5]
9Harry Fields31958N/AN/A live event   [5]
10Alan Colbeck11961N/AN/A live event   [5]
11Tommy Mann3May 1961184 Leeds live event   [5]
12Chic Purvey1December 1961N/AN/A live event   [5]
13Tommy Mann4N/AN/AN/A live event   [5]
14Chic Purvey2N/AN/AN/A live event   [5]
15Tommy Mann5N/AN/AN/A live event   [5]
16Chic Purvey3N/AN/AN/A live event   [5]
17Tommy Mann6May 1963123N/A live event   [5]
18Bobby Steele2October 1963N/AN/A live event   [5]
19Tommy Mann7N/AN/AN/A live event   [5]
20Bert Royal126 October 1963N/A Manchester live event   [5]
21Tommy Mann81963N/AN/A live event   [5]
Vacated 1963N/AN/AN/AChampionship vacated upon Tommy Mann's retirement. [5]
22Bert Royal226 October 196633 Sheffield live event Defeated Peter Preston for the vacant championship [5]
23Clayton Thomson128 November 1966350 Nottingham live event   [5]
24 Mick McManus 113 November 196772 London live event   [5]
25Clayton Thomson224 January 19681,224London live event   [5]
26 Brian Maxine 11 June 197110,076 (at least) Croydon live event Maxine also held the British Welterweight championship at the start of his reign. [5] [6]
Maxine continued to claim the title until 1999 [5] and last wore the belt in public at a wrestling show in 2007.

The Wrestling Alliance (2000-2003)

No.ChampionReignDateDays heldLocationEventNotesRef(s)
1 James Mason 12000N/AN/A live event Won the revived title in a tournament 
Vacated 15 June 2002N/AN/AN/AChampionship vacated after Mason failed to make weight. 
2Mal Sanders118 June 2002279Southampton live event During this reign, Maxine wrestled Johnny Kidd on a Premier Promotions show but only for his old belt, not the championship 
3Steve Grey124 March 2003N/ASouthampton live event   
Vacated 2003N/AN/AN/AChampionship vacated when the TWA closed.
(Grey, in any case, was also British Lightweight Champion at the time.)
 

RBW (2004-2005)

No.ChampionReignDateDays heldLocationEventNotesRef(s)
1 Johnny Kidd 124 January 2004119Enfield, London live event Defeated Cameron Knite in a match to be crowned first champion 
2 Jorge Castano 122 May 20047,394+Hitchin, Hertfordshire live event   
Under Mountevans Rules, Castano is considered a dormant champion and will remain so until he retires or the championship is reactivated.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "British Middleweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  2. "Ray Thunder vs. Brian Maxine". World of Sport wrestling. 3 March 1979. Retrieved May 26, 2017. Brian Maxine acknowledged as British Middleweight Champion] by anchorman Dickie Davies (Event occurs at 0:09) and by commentator Kent Walton (Event occurs at 11:14)
  3. "These are the champions". TVTimes. 1977. side panel to George Kidd interview - lists Brian Maxine as British Middleweight Champion
  4. "PWF". CageMatcg. 15 March 2003. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Europe - Great Britain: British Middleweight Title". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 402–403. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4.
  6. Hoops, Brian (June 1, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (June 1): Rogers beats Gomez, Gordman & Goliath, Baba loses PWF Title, Flair Vs. KVE, Lawler Vs. Son, Undertaker Vs. Edge". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.