This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2024) |
World of Sport Wrestling | |
---|---|
Genre | Sports entertainment Professional wrestling |
Developed by | ITV |
Directed by | Simon Staffurth |
Starring | WOS Wrestling roster |
Narrated by | Alex Shane SoCal Val |
Theme music composer | Paul Farrer |
Opening theme | "ITV World of Sport Wrestling 2018 - Main Theme" |
Composer | Paul Farrer |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Simon Marsh Tom McClennan |
Production locations | Dock10 studios (2016) [1] Epic Studios (2018) |
Editors | Nikki Chang Matthew East-Jones Phillip Lindsey-Cooke |
Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
Running time | 60 minutes [2] |
Production companies | ITV Top Rope Sports |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 31 December 2016 – November 29, 2018 |
WOS Wrestling (originally an acronym for World of Sport Wrestling) is a British professional wrestling television series and promotion. It was marketed as a relaunch of the wrestling segment from the ITV sports programme World of Sport , which ran between 2 January 1965 and 28 September 1985.
WOS Wrestling debuted on 31 December 2016 with a two-hour special on ITV. This was followed by a ten-episode series in 2018, and a six-date live tour between January and February 2019. [3] [4] The promotion would go on a five-year hiatus before announcing its return on 28 June 2024, with a TV taping to take place later that year on 14 September. [5]
ITV transmitted professional wrestling for over 33 years from November 1955 to December 1988. The bulk of this was screened on Saturday afternoons or lunchtimes (although other slots including midweek late evenings, midweek lunchtimes and bank holiday Monday afternoons were also used). [6] Throughout World of Sport's lifetime, the Saturday afternoon coverage was generally incorporated into the package show as a slot. Joint Promotions held exclusive rights to ITV television coverage until the end of 1986, when they rotated with tapings of All Star Wrestling and occasional WWF special editions.[ citation needed ]
The distinct British wrestling style of Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules has persisted in the United Kingdom to the present day.[ citation needed ] Since the early 1990s, an additional strand of wrestling promotions has emerged that were producing more American-styled shows.[ citation needed ] The two genres have become known commonly as "Old School" and "New School", respectively, after the names used in an invasion angle run by the FWA promotion around 2001.[ citation needed ] Over the years, numerous attempts were made to relaunch professional wrestling on British television, with various promotions covered on a single local ITV franchise or satellite/digital channels; often touted as the "revival" of British Wrestling.[ citation needed ] ITV screened World Championship Wrestling (WCW) programming in the early hours and from 1992 to 1995 in their old Saturday afternoon slot, but no homegrown promotion ever received regular syndicated coverage.[ citation needed ]
In the 21st century, vintage ITV coverage was repeated as World of Sport on digital channels such as The Wrestling Channel and Men and Movies, resulting in the name "World of Sport" becoming a frequent retronym for the traditional, old-school style of British wrestling.[ citation needed ]
A pilot for a television series called World of Sport Wrestling was filmed at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon in November 2013.[ citation needed ] Branding itself as a direct revival of World of Sport on its old slot, WOS Wrestling was hosted by veteran ring announcer Lee Bamber.[ citation needed ] After it was rejected by ITV, the pilot was eventually uploaded to YouTube on 12 June 2015 by creator John Chapman. [7] It would later be reuploaded in 2023. [8]
On 19 October 2016, ITV commissioned a two-hour, one-off, World of Sport Wrestling special. The show would featured independent wrestlers such as Grado and Sha Samuels, and commentary from former WWE announcer Jim Ross. [9]
The special was taped on 1 November 2016 from dock10 studios in Greater Manchester.[ citation needed ], and would premiere on 31 December 2016. The main storyline running through the show focused on Grado's quest to become WOS champion. He would lose to Dave Mastiff in a match to become inaugural champion before eventually winning the belt in a rematch at the end of the broadcast.[ citation needed ]
On 23 March 2017, ITV announced that they had commissioned a ten-episode series of WOS Wrestling in partnership with Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling (then known as Impact Wrestling). Then-Impact CCO Jeff Jarrett would serve as an executive producer, along with Tom McLennan and Simon Marsh. A TV taping was scheduled to take place at Preston Guild Hall on 25 and 26 May. [10] On 28 April, Pro Wrestling Insider reported that the WOS tapings had been postponed. [11]
In April 2018, ITV announced the return of WOS Wrestling as a ten-part series. The series was taped at Epic Studios in Norwich, on May 10, 11, and 12. [12]
WOS's first series was broadcast from July 28 until September 29, and was hosted by Alex Shane and SoCal Val.[ citation needed ] Its main storyline focused on the championship reign of Rampage, and his pursuit by challenger Justin Sysum. Sysum competed in Rampage's Triple Threat title match with Grado.[ citation needed ] After a controversial countout loss in episode 3, Sysum defeated the champion in a tag match in episode 7.[ citation needed ] In the final two episodes, Sysum earned himself a title shot and ultimately defeated Rampage to win the title.[ citation needed ] Other storylines saw the establishment of a women's championship, a Tag Team Championship tournament, and Grado's running battles with disapproving WOS executive Stu Bennett.[ citation needed ] Recurring characters have included masked monster heel Crater, treacherous heel Martin Kirby and his former partner, singing babyface Joe Hendry.[ citation needed ]
At the conclusion of episode 6 (transmitted 1 September 2018) a six-date live tour was announced for January 2019. [3] The WOS Women's Championship changed hands four times, while Sysum made four defences of his WOS Championship against former champion Rampage. The WOS Tag Team Championship were not defended, however, as Davey Boy Smith Jr. was not on the tour. [4]
The TV programme received a nomination for Digital Content for the Royal Television Society's East Awards 2019. [13]
On May 8, 2019, upstart American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) reached a media rights deal with ITV. [14] When asked about this on Twitter in-regards to ITV, Wrestling Observer 's Dave Meltzer responded in a tweet on 28 May 2019 that WOS Wrestling had been cancelled. [15]
On 13 December 2019, the WOS Twitter account uploaded a teaser video. [16]
At 09:00 BST on 28 June 2024, a short teaser video was posted announcing the promotion's return with a TV taping event called "WOS: The Return". The event will be held on 14 September. Narrated by Sha Samuels, the video showed the WOS Heavyweight Championship, and the WOS logo with "The Return" written underneath. [5] [17] Advertised as appearing are Adam Maxted, Iestyn Rees, Joel Redman, Eddie Ryan, Sheikh El Sham, Niwa Niwa, Nathan Angel, Jake McCluskey, Ashton Smith, Session Moth Martina, Nightshade and SoCal Val advertised as appearing. [18]
Fightful reported that, due to trademark issues with ITV, the official name of the promotion would be shortened to WOS Wrestling. It was also announced by WOS that the promotion's programming would be broadcast through online platforms, rather than on ITV's television networks. [19] Talent announced for the event included Grado, Sha Samuels, L.A. Taylor. On 2 August 2024, it was announced that NORTH Wrestling and Progress Wrestling announcer Tom Campbell would be providing commentary. [20]
Broadcasting rights to the series were licensed in India to Discovery Communications-branded channel DSport. Series 1 was transmitted on Tuesday nights at 9pm from 26 February 2019. [21]
In the United States, Series 1 was screened on Stadium on Sunday nights 7pm EST, starting 12 May 2019, the first ever purchase of a UK wrestling programme by a US television channel. [22]
No. | Recording date | Recording location | Transmission date | Matches |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | November 2013 | Fairfield Hall, Croydon | unbroadcast |
|
No. | Recording date | Recording location | Transmission date | Matches |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 November 2016 | dock10 studios, Salford Quays | 31 December 2016 |
|
No. | Recording date | Recording location | Transmission date | Matches |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10–12 May 2018 | Epic Studios, Norwich | 28 July 2018 |
|
2 | 4 August 2018 |
| ||
3 | 11 August 2018 |
| ||
4 | 18 August 2018 |
| ||
5 | 25 August 2018 |
| ||
6 | 1 September 2018 |
| ||
7 | 8 September 2018 |
| ||
8 | 15 September 2018 |
| ||
9 | 22 September 2018 |
| ||
10 | 29 September 2018 |
| ||
WOS Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | World of Sport Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date established | 2 November 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date retired | 3 February 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
1 | Dave Mastiff | 2 November 2016 | World Of Sport Wrestling | Manchester, England | 1 | <1 | <1 | Defeated Grado to become the inaugural champion. Aired on 31 December 2016 | [23] |
2 | Grado | 2 November 2016 | World Of Sport Wrestling | Manchester, England | 1 | 554 | 574 | Aired on 31 December 2016 | [23] |
3 | Rampage | 10 May 2018 | World Of Sport Wrestling | Norwich, England | 1 | 2 | 63 | This was a 3-Way match also involving Justin Sysum. Aired on 28 July 2018 | [24] |
4 | Justin Sysum | 12 May 2018 | World Of Sport Wrestling | Norwich, England | 1 | 267 | 127 | Aired on 29 September 2018 | [25] |
— | Deactivated | 3 February 2019 | WOS Live Tour Tag 6 | Norwich, England | — | — | — | The Title became deactivated when WOS held their last event. | [26] |
5 | Sha Samuels | 14 September 2024 | WOS - Evening Show | Norwich, England | 1 | 72+ | 72+ | Defeated Adam Maxted for the vacant belt | [27] |
WOS Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | World of Sport Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date established | 10 May 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Date retired | 3 February 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
1 | Iestyn Rees and Kip Sabian | 11 May 2018 | World Of Sport Wrestling | Norwich, England | 1 | 1 | 28 | Defeated Nathan Cruz and Adam Maxted in a tournament final to win the title. Aired on 1 September 2018 | [28] |
2 | British Bulldog Jr. and Grado | 12 May 2018 | World Of Sport Wrestling | Norwich, England | 1 | 267 | 127 | Aired on 29 September 2018 | [25] [29] |
— | Deactivated | 3 February 2019 | WOS Live Tour Tag 6 | Norwich, England | — | — | — | The Title became deactivated when WOS held their last event. | [26] |
3 | UK Pitbulls (Big Dave & Bulk) | 14 September 2024 | WOS - Evening Show | Norwich, England | 1 | 72+ | 72+ | Defeated CW Davies & Jack Landers for the vacant belts | [27] |
WOS Women's Championship | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||||||
Promotion | World of Sport Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||
Date established | 10 May 2018 | ||||||||||||||||
Date retired | 3 February 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
|
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
+ | Current reign is changing daily |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
1 | Kay Lee Ray | 10 May 2018 | World of Sport Wrestling | Norwich, Norfolk | 1 | 253 | 167 | Defeated Viper and Bea Priestley to win the title. Aired on 4 August 2018 | [30] |
2 | Viper | 18 January 2019 | WOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019 | Southampton, Hampshire | 1 | 1 | 1 | This was a 3-way match also including Bea Priestley | [31] |
3 | Bea Priestley | 19 January 2019 | WOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019 | Newport, Gwent | 1 | 7 | 7 | [32] | |
4 | Viper | 26 January 2019 | WOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019 | Blackpool, Lancashire | 2 | 8 | 8 | [33] | |
5 | Katy Lees | 3 February 2019 | WOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019 | Bethnal Green, Greater London | 1 | <1 | <1 | This was a 3-way match also including Bea Priestley | [34] |
— | Deactivated | 3 February 2019 | WOS Live Tour Tag 6 | Norwich, England | — | — | — | The Title became deactivated when WOS held their last event. | [26] |
6 | Alex Windsor | 14 September 2024 | WOS - Evening Show | Norwich, England | 1 | 72+ | 72+ | Defeated LA Taylor for the vacant belt in the finals of the WOS Women's Title Tournament | [27] |
Terrance Michael "Terry" Brunk is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Sabu. He is known for his trademark style of hardcore wrestling, which he pioneered in his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1995 to 2000. He is a three-time World Heavyweight Champion having held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once.
Shaaheen Hosseinpour, better known by the ring name Sha Samuels, is an English professional wrestler, currently performing for Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro). He is also known for his time in WWE where he performed on the NXT UK brand.
Martin Harris is an English professional wrestler best known for his time with WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Danny Burch. He is a former one time NXT Tag Team Champion with Oney Lorcan. He has worked in the British independent circuit under the ring name Martin Stone with promotions such as Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA), and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW:UK).
The AAA World Tag Team Championship is the main tag team title contested for in the Mexican lucha libre promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). In 1993, AAA created the first version of the AAA World Tag team championship, technically the AAA/IWC World Tag Team titles. The belts used for the AAA/IWC titles were the old NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship belts. The original version was abandoned upon Art Barr's death in 1994. In 2007, AAA created a new World tag team title to replace the Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. controlled Mexican National Tag Team Championship. The titles are listed here separately as they share names but not lineage.
Martin Scurll is an English professional wrestler. He is known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH) as the leader of the stable Villain Enterprises, where he was a one-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship and a one-time ROH World Television Champion, as well as being a former member of the Bullet Club stable.
Mark Haskins, is an English professional wrestler. He is known internationally for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, as well as his appearances in Ring of Honor, Progress Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Dragon Gate, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom.
Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro/RPW) is a British professional wrestling promotion founded on 26 August 2012 by Andy Quildan after separating from International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom.
Graeme Stevely, better known by the ring name Grado, is a Scottish professional wrestler and actor who plays Alan in Two Doors Down, PC Hugh McKirdy in Scot Squad and is currently signed to Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), where he is a former ICW World Heavyweight Champion.
Oliver Biney is an English professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE, performing under the ring name Rampage Brown. He is also known for his work throughout the European and British independent wrestling circuit. Biney also briefly worked for WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling in 2011 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in September 2014. He is currently a trainer for New Generation Wrestling in their North East School.
Mark Andrews is a Welsh professional wrestler and musician, currently performing on the British independent scene and for Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), where he and stablemate Flash Morgan Webster are former Undisputed British Tag Team Champions.
Adrian McCallum was a British professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter and actor, better known by his ring name Lionheart. He wrestled for numerous promotions in the British Independent wrestling circuit including Insane Championship Wrestling, in which he reigned as the ICW World Heavyweight Champion until his death, and Preston City Wrestling. He was also the owner of Ayrshire-based wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Elite.
Noam Dar is an Israeli-Scottish professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he works on the NXT brand. He is the leader of The Meta-Four stable and has held the NXT Heritage Cup a record-setting 3 times. He is also known for his time with Scottish promotion Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW),
The ICW Women's World Championship is a women's professional wrestling championship owned by Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. The current champion is Lana Austin, who is in her first reign. She won the title by defeating Rhio in a Steel Cage match at ICW Barred III in Glasgow, Scotland on September 1, 2024.
Joe Hendry is a Scottish professional wrestler and musician. He performs under his real name and is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), while also making appearances for partner promotion WWE on its NXT brand. In TNA, Hendry is a former one time and the longest-reigning TNA Digital Media Champion.
Adam Maxted is a Northern Irish professional wrestler and former contestant on ITV2 show Love Island. Having been a contestant on Series two of Love Island, having entered at day 11, Maxted paired up with Katie Salmon and finished the series in fourth position.
Tyler Bate is an English professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand, and is one half of the New Catch Republic with Pete Dunne. He is currently out of action due to a torn pectoral muscle.
Over the Top Wrestling, commonly abbreviated to OTT, is an Irish professional wrestling promotion based in Dublin, Ireland, that was founded in 2014. The promotion mixes elements of traditional pro wrestling, comedy and sports entertainment. Over the Top Wrestling showcases Irish wrestlers and also brings in wrestling talent from overseas. Shows typically took place in Dublin's Tivoli Theatre until its demise in 2019. Events now take place primarily in Dublin and in Belfast at the Europa Hotel. OTT also runs shows from Limerick, Derry, Wexford and Enniskillen. 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. In 2022, Over The Top Wrestling expanded into Wolverhampton, England.
The MLW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship which is owned by the Major League Wrestling (MLW) promotion. The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants usually execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition.
Kyle Fletcher is an Australian professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Don Callis Family stable. He also performs in its sister company Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former one-time ROH World Tag Team Champion and ROH World Television Championship. Fletcher was previously signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a former IWGP Tag Team Champion and inaugural and record-setting two-time Strong Openweight Tag Team Champion. He also made appearances for British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), where he was a two-time Undisputed British Tag Team Champion.
Ricky Bevis, better known by his ring name Ricky Knight Jr., is an English professional wrestler, working with Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), where he is a former Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)