NWA UK Hammerlock

Last updated
NWA UK Hammerlock
AcronymNWA UK
Founded1993 [1]
Defunct2012 [2]
Style British Wrestling
with modern influences
Headquarters Ashford, Kent, England, United Kingdom [3]
Founder(s)Andre Baker
Owner(s)Andre Baker [4]

NWA UK Hammerlock was a British professional wrestling promotion based in Kent.

United Kingdom Country in Europe

The United Kingdom (UK), officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and sometimes referred to as Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within the convention of the show, the company is a sports governing body which sanctions wrestling matches and gives authority to the championships and is responsible for determining the divisions, rankings, etc. of wrestlers. In truth, the company serves as a touring theatre troupe, as well as event promotion body for its own events.

Kent County of England

Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west. The county also shares borders with Essex along the estuary of the River Thames, and with the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. The county town is Maidstone.

Contents

History

UK Hammerlock was established in 1993 by Andre "Sledgehammer" Baker. For many years the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) had shunned Europe because it recognized a rival World Heavyweight Championship based in the UK (recognized by All Star Promotions), but in the late 1990s, UK Hammerlock became a member of the NWA, opening Europe to its influence.

National Wrestling Alliance Professional wrestling organization

The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling organization. Formed in 1948, it was for a time the most-recognized brand and largest governing body in professional wrestling. Under the control of the NWA Board of Directors, the organization acted as a governing body for the NWA's national territory system which recognized one world champion, participated in talent exchanges and collectively protected the territorial integrity of member promotions.

Europe Continent in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere

Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Asia to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.

NWA-UK Hammerlock generally ran shows around the Kent area, but have also put shows on around the Essex area, Wales, and Cumbria.

The promotion also branched out after the turn of the century, setting up a sister operation, known as NWA Ireland as well as gain a working relationship with the Scottish Wrestling Alliance.

The promotion stopped running events in 2007 and officially folded in 2009. In 2010, Hammerlock Wrestling founder Andre Baker committed suicide, aged 45.

In June 2011 NWA UK Hammerlock officially reopened its doors with a memorial show to its late founder Andre Baker, run by Hammerlock graduates Tony McMillan and Dean Champion. They ran primarily in Essex and in Tonbridge, Kent. In 2012 Hammerlock Wrestling left the NWA and the promotion ceased operations in the same year.

Training school

The Hammerlock wrestling school has locations in Kent, Coventry, Scotland and Dublin. It has trained many wrestlers including Gary Steele, Doug Williams, Fergal Devitt, Rebecca Knox, Katie Lea, and Zack Sabre Jr.

Gary Harvey is a British retired professional wrestler better known as Gary Steele, who has competed in European, North American and Japanese promotions and has been a popular longtime mainstay of NWA UK Hammerlock since the mid-1990s. A former Southern UK Champion, Steele was involved in a series of strap matches with rival Guy Thunder during the late 1990s and has occasionally teamed with Jake "the Snake" Roberts. A trained submission wrestler and martial artist, Steele also appeared at the Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE PPV supercards "Fighting Athlete" in March 2001 and True Century Creation II in March 2002.

Doug Williams (wrestler) British professional wrestler

Douglas Clayton Durdle is an English retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Doug Williams. He is best known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was a one–time Television Champion, two–time TNA X Division Champion and a two-time tag team champion, having held the TNA World Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship once each as part of The British Invasion. He also worked as a trainer for TNA's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he was a one-time OVW Heavyweight Champion. Throughout his career, Williams has also worked in various independent promotions in the United Kingdom and abroad, including the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA), One Pro Wrestling (1PW), Pro Wrestling Noah and Ring of Honor (ROH).

Championships

Championship:Last champion(s):Previous champion(s):Date won:Location:
NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship Pat GuenetteStew KorvusJuly 09, 2016Rivier du Loup, QC
NWA United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship Phil BoydDanny GarnellNovember 10, 2012Tonbridge, Kent
NWA United Kingdom Junior Heavyweight Championship Beau "The Show" JacksApril 4, 2009
NWA Ireland Heavyweight ChampionshipPaul Tracey
NWA Ireland Junior Heavyweight Championship Jordan Devlin May 28, 2006
NWA Ireland Tag Team ChampionshipAdam Abz & Ross Browne
NWA Scottish Heavyweight Championship Eric CanyonFebruary 26th 2011

See also

Related Research Articles

Giant Baba Japanese professional wrestler

Shohei Baba, best known by his ring name Giant Baba, was a Japanese professional wrestler. Baba is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota and Yoshihiro Momota, the sons of Rikidōzan. Along with being the top star of All Japan its first ten years of existence, Baba served as the booker, promoter, head trainer and president of the promotion from its inception in 1972 to his death in 1999. Baba was also responsible for recruiting much of the talent for All Japan, and was the public face of the promotion for much of his lifetime.

Kevin Northcutt is a retired American professional wrestler.

The NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship that formerly served as the major title in the NWA UK Hammerlock promotion. The title is currently owned by Dru Onyx's Torture Chamber Pro Wrestling Dojo, along with the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship.

Samson Kutsuwada Japanese professional wrestler

Tomotsugu Kutsuwada was a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Samson Kutsuwada.

Damien Wayne Kostyal, better known by his ring name Damien Wayne, is an American professional wrestler. He is a 3-time holder of the NWA National Heavyweight Championship and former holder of the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship. He is a former AIWF World Heavyweight Champion.

Darren Benedick is an English retired British-American professional wrestler who worked for many independent promotions throughout the United Kingdom, mostly using a phony American character called Tex Benedict. He is a former holder of the historic British Welterweight Championship.

Sendai Girls Pro Wrestling

Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling, often called Senjo, is a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. It is based in the city of Sendai, Miyagi in the Tohoku region.

The Scottish Heavyweight Championship is the primary singles title in the Scottish Wrestling Alliance. It was first won by Conscience who defeated Eric Canyon, Adam Shane, and Hatred in Scotland on July 17, 2004. The title has generally been defended in Scotland, particularly in Bellshill, Bellahouston, Clydebank and Glasgow. It was originally created for British National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated promotion NWA UK Hammerlock. The title was first defended outside of Scotland at the NWA 56th Anniversary Show in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 2004. Following the closure of NWA UK Hammerlock, the title was taken on by the Scottish Wrestling Alliance and the "NWA" was dropped from the name, resulting in the title simply being called the Scottish Heavyweight Championship. The current champion is Timm Wylie, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Joe Coffey at SWA's Live in Paisley event in Paisley, Renfrewshire on 3 March 2018.

Joseph Cabibbo is an American professional wrestler who is wrestling under the ring names Josef, Josef Samael and The Almighty Sheik. He is a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and (Zero1) World Heavyweight Champion. He currently wrestles in Major League Wrestling (MLW) as a member of Contra Unit with Jacob Fatu and Simon Gotch.

Zak Bevis is an English professional wrestler. He mainly competes under the name Zak Zodiac in World Association of Wrestling, which is owned and operated by his family.

Kahagas Japanese-American professional wrestler

Tokyo Monster is a Japanese-American professional wrestler best known as Kahagas. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit and is a former NWA National champion, NWA North American Champion and NWA Heavyweight Champion.

Masanori Toguchi or Kim Duk is a semi-retired Zainichi-Korean professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Kim Duk (キム・ドク). He was also known by the name Tiger Chung Lee in the World Wrestling Federation.

Lee Greig is a Scottish professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jack Jester He wrestles for numerous promotions in the British independent wrestling circuit, but is best known for his work in Insane Championship wrestling where he is a former ICW Heavyweight Champion. Greig is a Wrestling Coach at GPWA Glasgow Asylum.

Michael John Gilbert is an English professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Mikey Whiplash. He currently resides in Glasgow, Scotland and wrestles for numerous promotions in the British Independent circuit, most notably Insane Championship Wrestling where he is a former ICW Heavyweight Champion and Zero-G Champion. Between 2002 and 2012 he was a full-time regular for All Star Wrestling. Gilbert has also wrestled for London-based promotion PROGRESS Wrestling. In 2009 he defeated France's Thomas La Ruffa for the World Heavy Middleweight title

Wolfgang (wrestler) Scottish professional wrestler

Barry Young is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE performing for their NXT UK brand, using the name Wolfgang. He resides in Ayr, Scotland and wrestles for numerous promotions in the British Independent circuit, most notably Insane Championship Wrestling where he is a former member of the New Age Kliq (NAK) stable and is a former ICW World Heavyweight Champion and ICW Zero-G Champion. Wolfgang is a Wrestling Coach at GPWA Glasgow Asylum.

Tim Storm American professional wrestler

Timothy Scoggins, better known by his ring name Tim Storm, is an American professional wrestler. He wrestles on the independent circuit and is a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Bad Bones German professional wrestler

John Klinger is a German professional wrestler better known by his ring name Bad Bones. Klinger has worked internationally across various independent promotions ranging from Europe, England, Japan, Israel and the United States.

Jake Logan (wrestler) American professional wrestler

Jake Logan is an American professional wrestler on the independent circuit. He is a former NWA National Heavyweight Champion.

Jonathan Gresham is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Ring of Honor (ROH).

Over the Top Wrestling Irish professional wrestling promotion

Over the Top Wrestling, commonly abbreviated to OTT, is an Irish wrestling promotion based in Dublin, Ireland and founded in 2014. The promotion mixes elements of traditional pro wrestling, comedy and sports entertainment. Over the Top Wrestling showcases the best Irish talent and also brings in renowned stars from overseas. Shows typically take place in Dublin's Tivoli Theatre, "The Arena" at Good Counsel GAA club on Suir Road and at Mandela Hall near Queen's University, or the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Special 'Supershows' occur at the National Stadium periodically. 'Contenders' billed shows featuring up and coming local talent are run from the National Stadium's Ringside Club. From February 2019 OTT wrestling will host regular shows from the National Basketball Arena.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/uk/nwa-uk/
  2. ↑ http://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/uk/nwa-uk/
  3. ↑ https://www.cagematch.net/?id=8&nr=210
  4. ↑ https://www.cagematch.net/?id=8&nr=210
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.