See also
- Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
- RBW British Tag Team Championship
- RQW/IPW:UK Unified British Tag Team Championship
| British Open Tag Team Championship | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||
| Promotion | Rumble Wrestling Promotions previously All Star Wrestling and The Wrestling Alliance | ||||||
| Date established | 1989 | ||||||
| Current champion(s) | Kieron Lacey and Mark Trew | ||||||
| Date won | 25 February 2006 | ||||||
| |||||||
The British (Open) Tag Team Championship is the top tag team championship contested for throughout the British wrestling circuit. For many years contested for in Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling. [1] It has recently been revived by Stephen Barker's Rumble Wrestling Promotions.
Although the title was created just after the end of regular wrestling coverage on ITV, nonetheless it has changed hands on national UK television, as footage of Steve Prince and Vic Powers' victory over Liverpool Lads Robbie Brookside and Doc Dean was included on Brookside's episode of Video Diaries on BBC2 in 1994. [2] Also, author Simon Garfield included a detailed description of Brookside and Dean regaining the titles in Liverpool on 31 March 1995 in his book The Wrestling published by Faber and Faber [3]
Many versions of the British Tag Team Titles exist in the independent circuit of the United Kingdom at any given time but the scene is usually dominated by one companies version. When another company becomes dominant the title often manages to unify itself or is brought into that company.
Kieron Lacey and Mark Trew won a tournament to determine new champions promoted by Rumble Promotions in Gillingham, Kent on 13 April 2024.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||||
| All Star Wrestling | ||||||||||
| 1 | King Ben and Kid McCoy | 1989 | ASW show | N/A | 1 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 2 | The Superflys (Ricky Knight and Jimmy Ocean) | 29 March 1990 | ASW show | Bristol | 1 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 3 | Liverpool Lads (Robbie Brookside and "Doc" Dean) | 23 January 1991 | ASW show | Bath | 1 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 4 | Task Force (Steve Prince and Vic Powers) | 23 January 1993 | ASW show | Norwich | 1 | N/A | Title changed screened on BBC2 in Robbie Brookside's Video Diary. Win awarded by technical knockout after Brookside and Dean clashed heads. | [2] [4] | ||
| 5 | The Superflys (Ricky Knight and Jimmy Ocean) | 13 March 1993 | ASW show | Norwich | 2 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 6 | Liverpool Lads (Robbie Brookside and "Doc" Dean) | 31 March 1995 | ASW show | Liverpool | 2 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 7 | The Superflys (Ricky Knight and Jimmy Ocean) | 1995 | ASW show | N/A | 3 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 8 | Power Rangers (Red and Blue) | 15 June 1995 | ASW show | Bristol | 1 | N/A | [4] | |||
| — | Vacated | N/A | — | — | — | — | Belts were vacated when the Power Rangers gimmick was dropped. | [4] | ||
| 9 | Marty Jones and Peter Collins | 1 February 1996 | N/A | Bristol | 1 | N/A | Defeated "Liverpool Lads" (Rob Brookside and "Doc" Dean) | [4] | ||
| — | Vacated | N/A | — | N/A | — | — | Belts were vacated sometime later that year. | [4] | ||
| 10 | The Superflys (Ricky Knight and Jimmy Ocean) | 1996 | N/A | N/A | 4 | N/A | [4] | |||
| 11 | Jimmy Ocean (5) and Canary Kid | August 1998 | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A | Ocean defeated Ricky Knight in a singles match for the titles and chooses Kid as his partner. | [4] | ||
| — | Deactivated | N/A | — | — | — | — | ||||
| The Wrestling Alliance | ||||||||||
| 12 | The New Superflys (Ricky Knight (5) and Roy Knight) | 2001 | TWA show | N/A | 1 | N/A | ||||
| 13 | Robbie Brookside (3) and Doug Williams | 2 February 2002 | TWA show | Margate | 1 | N/A | ||||
| — | Deactivated | N/A | — | — | — | — | ||||
| All Star Wrestling | ||||||||||
| 14 | UK Dream Team (Kid Cool and Dean "2 Xtreme" Allmark) | 7 June 2005 | ASW show | Croydon | 1 | 263 | Defeated "The Chippendales" Mikey Whiplash and Johnny Midnight to be recognized by All-Star. | |||
| 15 | Mikey Whiplash and Robbie Dynamite | 25 February 2006 | ASW show | Staffordshire | 1 | 6,625+ | ||||
| — | Deactivated | N/A | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Rumble Wrestling Promotions | ||||||||||
| 16 | Keiron Lacey and Mark Trew | 13 April 2024 | Rumble show | Gillingham, Kent | 1 | 263 | Won an eight team elimination tournament | |||
The history of professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years beginning in the 1920s, when it was popularised under the concept of "All in Wrestling", which emphasised an "anything goes" style and presentation. Following World War II, the style and presentation of professional wrestling in the UK underwent a dramatic shift, as the Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules were introduced to make British professional wrestling appear much closer to a legitimate sport. Professional wrestling entered the mainstream British culture when the newly-formed independent television network ITV began broadcasting it in 1955, firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late-night midweek slot. Domestically produced professional wrestling 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, Giant Haystacks, Jackie Pallo, Big Daddy, Steve Veidor, Dynamite Kid, and Kendo Nagasaki.
Martin Austin Ruane was a British professional wrestler of Irish parentage, best known by the ring name Giant Haystacks. He was one of the best-known wrestlers on the British wrestling scene in the 1970s and 1980s. He also worked in both Canada and the United States under the name Loch Ness Monster or simply Loch Ness.
Andrew Simmons, better known by his ring name Andy Boy Simmonz, is a British professional wrestler. He is worked on the independent circuit in the United Kingdom for several promotions. Simmons' most high-profile work in the UK came in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance under the face gimmick of Simmons the Butler. Simmons later returned to the FWA under the ring name Andy Boy Simmons but remained face.
All Star Wrestling (ASW), also known as Super Slam Wrestling (SSW), is a British professional wrestling promotion founded by Brian Dixon in 1970 and based in Birkenhead, England. Founded as Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead in October 1970, it has also been known over the years as All Star Promotions and Big Time Wrestling. ASW tours theatres, leisure centres, town halls, holiday camps, and similar venues, many of which are the same locations that were used for televised wrestling in the UK from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Robert Edward Brooks, better known by his ring name Robbie Brookside, is a retired English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he works as a trainer/producer for the NXT brand. He has toured all over the world during his career, wrestling in the United States, Japan, Germany, and Mexico. He was a regular tag partner of Steve Regal in the United Kingdom and has competed in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling's annual tournament, the Super J Cup, in 1997, where he picked up a victory over Chris Jericho.
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.
Joel Pettyfer, is an English professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Joel Redman. Pettyfer is best known for his work on the independent circuit in the United Kingdom, where he is a former Unified British Tag Team Champion alongside Mark Haskins in International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom and Real Quality Wrestling and was a regular competitor in the Frontier Wrestling Alliance. He is also known for working in WWE's developmental territory NXT under the ring name Oliver Grey, where he was one half of the inaugural NXT Tag Team Champions along with Adrian Neville, often collectively known as British Ambition.
Ian Dean was an English professional wrestler, best known as Doc Dean. He worked for All Star Wrestling, often teaming with Robbie Brookside as The Liverpool Lads. In 1997, he participated on New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, defeating Jushin Thunder Liger. He also worked televised matches for World Championship Wrestling in the late 1990s.
Paul Neu is an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his stints in World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the ring name P. N. News.
Dean Allmark, is an English professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in All Star Wrestling and his appearance in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and a performance in Pro Wrestling Live (PWL). Allmark, who often goes by the nicknames "Xtreme", or "2-Xtreme", is one half of the UK Dream Team with Kid Cool. He has received press coverage in the Chester Standard, East Anglian Daily Times and Sutton & Croydon Guardian.
Marty Jones is an English retired professional wrestler best known for his work in Joint Promotions and All Star Wrestling throughout the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, he was the predominant holder of the Mountevans World Mid Heavyweight title. Jones was also responsible for training William Regal.
Mark Hussey was an English professional wrestler who competed for Joint Promotions, All Star Wrestling and the second BWF as Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and as the original masked Black Tiger in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) during the 1970s and 1980s. A fourth-generation wrestler, he was the son of British wrestler "Jumping" Jim Hussey and the father of boxer Jono "Rocco" Hussey.
Robbie Dynamite is a British professional wrestler. He is the current and five-time British Mid-Heavyweight champion and has also held the British Open Tag Team Championship and Unified British Tag Team Championship with Mikey Whiplash. He had a one day reign with the British Heavyweight Championship in August 2016.
XWA was a British professional wrestling promotion, based in the English southeast town of Sudbury, Suffolk. The XWA was formed in March 2007, following the demise of the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, and acted as a spiritual successor. XWA initially ran quarterly events in Morecambe using FWA titles and some former FWA talent. XWA had an extended hiatus between 2012 and 2014. After resuming operations in 2014, the promotion ran its final events in September 2018.
Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules were a set of professional wrestling rules mainly used in the United Kingdom in the second half of the 20th century. Introduced in 1947, they were named after Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, who ordered a unified set of rules written up for professional wrestling in the British Isles in order to re-legitimise professional wrestling in the eyes of the public and the press. Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom had become discredited before World War II due to the prominence of the preceding "All In" style, which came to emphasise an "anything goes" style of presentation. Professional wrestling promoters in the United Kingdom rallied behind the Mountevans rules and radically altered how professional wrestling was presented in the United Kingdom thereafter. The style of wrestling under the Mountevans rules was advertised by promoters as Modern Freestyle Wrestling.
Tony St. Clair is an English retired professional wrestler. He is well known for his stints in Joint Promotions and All Star Wrestling in the United Kingdom, Catch Wrestling Association in Austria and Germany, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He is also known as a trainer, with his trainees including "Gentleman" Chris Adams and Osamu Nishimura.
Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport. As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling is organized by wrestling federations called promotions. Some promotions are exclusively for women, while others have separate divisions for women. Among the nations that have women's professional wrestling are Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Michael John Gilbert is a former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Mikey Whiplash. He currently resides in Glasgow, Scotland and wrestled for numerous promotions in the British Independent circuit.
Xia-Louise Brooks, known by her ring name Xia Brookside, is an English professional wrestler and valet. She is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). She was previously signed to World Wonder Ring Stardom, and was a member of Club Venus. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed on the NXT UK brand. She has also worked for All Star Wrestling.
Jayne Porter is an English female professional wrestler known by her ring name Klondyke Kate. She wrestled for All Star Wrestling, holding their British Women's Championship, which she won in a match featured in a BBC2 documentary. She also regularly wrestled on Welsh TV station S4C's Reslo wrestling show organised and presented by Orig Williams and managed male opponents of Big Daddy for wrestling shows screened on the two Scottish franchises of the ITV network in October 1990.