World of Sport Wrestling
World of Sport Wrestling | |
---|---|
Genre | Sports entertainment Professional wrestling |
Developed by | ITV, Anthem Sports & Entertainment[1] |
Directed by | Simon Staffurth |
Starring | WOS Wrestling roster |
Narrated by | Alex Shane SoCal Val |
Theme music composer | Paul Farrer |
Composer | Paul Farrer |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 2 (as of August 1, 2018(list of episodes) | )
Production | |
Executive producers | Simon Marsh Tom McClennan |
Production location | Media City Salford (2016) Norwich (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 | December 31, 2016 present | –
World of Sport Wrestling (frequently shortened to WOS Wrestling) is a British professional wrestling television series. It is promoted as a relaunch 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 present programme was launched on New Year's Eve 2016. It was formerly associated with the United States-based promotion, Impact Wrestling.
History
Background
ITV transmitted British 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 late evenings, midweek lunchtimes and Bank Holiday Monday afternoons were also utilized.)[3] 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.
Despite the cancellation, professional wrestling in the distinct British style has continued in the United Kingdom to the present day. Additionally, since the early 1990s, a second strand of wrestling promotions has emerged, producing more American-styled shows. 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. Over the years, numerous attempts were made to relaunch televised British wrestling, with various promotions covered on local television or satellite/digital channels and often touted as the "revival" of British Wrestling. Although ITV screened WCW in the early hours and from 1992-1995 in British wrestling's old Saturday afternoon slot, no homegrown promotion ever received regular syndicated coverage on the network.
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.
Development and pilots
The mid 2010s saw an increasing drive to return British Wrestling to ITV. A pilot for World Of Sport Wrestling (branding itself as a direct revival of the old slot on the World Of Sport programme) was filmed at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon in 2013 but rejected by ITV. This was eventually posted to YouTube in mid 2015.[4]
On 17 October 2016 ITV announced that they would be bringing back professional wrestling, arguably World of Sport's most popular segment. They announced they would be recording a pilot episode on 1 November 2016, being filmed at MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester. The show featured independent wrestlers such as El Ligero, Grado and Sha Samuels. ITV also announced that former WWE commentator Jim Ross would call the pilot episode. It aired on New Year's Eve on ITV.[5]
The following year, on 23 March, Impact Wrestling announced that they would be teaming with ITV to yet again bring back the show with Jeff Jarrett as an executive producer as a ten episode series. The show was announced to be taping at Preston Guild Hall on 25 and 26 May. Impact Wrestling talents such as Grado, Rockstar Spud, and Magnus along with independent wrestlers such as El Ligero, Dave Mastiff and Sha Samuels, were confirmed to be part of the roster.[6] The tapings were cancelled in April [7] and were eventually rescheduled for 2018.
Series 1
In April 2018 ITV announced World of Sport would air a ten part series later in the year on Saturday afternoons. The shows were taped in Norwich, on May 10, 11 and 12 and broadcast from July 28, only on ITV and STV.[8] Jim Ross is not involved and neither is Impact Wrestling. Instead, the hosts are Alex Shane and SoCal Val.
Episodes
New Years Eve 2016 special
No. | Recording date | Recording location | Transmission date | Matches |
1 | 1 November 2016 | Media City, Salford, Greater Manchester | 31 December 2016 |
|
Series 1
No. | Recording date | Recording location | Transmission date | Matches |
1 | 10-12 May 2018 | Norwich | 28 July 2018 |
|
2 | 4 August 2018 |
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3 | 11 August 2018 |
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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 |
Championships
WOS Championship
WOS Championship | |||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||
Promotion | World of Sport | ||||||||||
Date established | 2 November 2016 | ||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Rampage | ||||||||||
Date won | 10 May 2018 (aired 28 July 2018) | ||||||||||
|
The current champion is Rampage, who is in his first reign. Rampage defeated Grado win the title.
No. | Champion | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dave Mastiff | 1 | 2 November 2016 | 0 | Manchester, England | World of Sport Wrestling | Defeated Grado to become the inaugural champion. Aired on Saturday, 31 December 2016 | [9] |
2 | Grado | 1 | 2 November 2016 | 628 | Manchester, England | World of Sport Wrestling | Aired on Saturday, 31 December 2016 | [9] |
3 | Rampage | 1 | 10 May 2018 | 2,310+ | Norwich, England | World of Sport Wrestling | Aired on Saturday, 28 July 2018 | [9] |
WOS Tag Team Championship
A tournament was launched on Episode 1 of Series 1 to crown tag team champions.
WOS Womens' Championship
WOS Womens' Championship | |||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||
Promotion | World of Sport Wrestling | ||||||||||
Date established | 10 May 2018 | ||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Kay Lee Ray | ||||||||||
Date won | 10 May 2018 (aired 4 August 2018) | ||||||||||
|
No. | Champion | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kay Lee Ray | 1 | 10 May 2018 | 2,310+ | Norwich, England | World of Sport Wrestling | Aired on Saturday, 4 August 2018 | [9] |
The current champion is Kay Lee Ray, who is in her first reign. Kay Lee Ray defeated Viper and Bea Priestley win the title.
Roster
Male wrestlers
Ring name | Real name | Notes |
---|---|---|
Adam Maxted | Adam Maxted | |
Brad Slayer | Brad Ingram | |
British Bulldog Jr. | Harry Smith | |
BT Gunn | Thomas McGowan | |
CJ Banks | Unknown | |
Crater | Alexander Walmsley | |
Doug Williams | Douglas Durdle | |
Gabriel Kidd | Gabriel Kidd | |
Grado | Graeme Stevely | |
HT Drake | Howard Drake | |
Iestyn Rees | Iestyn Rees | |
Joe Hendry | Joseph Hendry | |
Justin Sysum | Unknown | |
Kip Sabian | Simon Kipper | |
Liam Slater | Liam Slater | |
Lionheart | Adrian McCallum | |
Martin Kirby | Martin Kirby | |
Nathan Cruz | Nathan Irwin | |
Rampage | Oliver Biney | WOS Champion |
Robbie X | Robert Bell | |
Sha Samuels | Shaaheen Hosseinpour | |
Stevie Boy | Unknown | |
Will Ospreay | William Ospreay |
Female wrestlers
Ring name | Real name | Notes |
---|---|---|
Ayesha | Ayesha-Michelle Ray | |
Bea Priestley | Beatrice Priestley | |
Kasey Owens | Kelly Robinson | |
Kay Lee Ray | Kayleigh Rae | WOS Women's Champion |
Viper | Kimberly Benson |
Other on-air personnel
Ring name | Real name | Notes |
---|---|---|
Alex Shane | Alexander Spilling | Commentator |
Phil Seymour | Phillip Seymour | Ring announcer |
SoCal Val | Paige Mayo | Commentator |
Steve Lynskey | Unknown | Referee |
Stu Bennett | Stuart Bennett | Commentator WOS executive |
Tom Scarborough | Unknown | Referee |
Off screen personnel
Music department
Ring name | Real name | Notes |
---|---|---|
Paul Farrer[10][11] | Paul Myles Farrer | Composer |
References
- ^ "- ITV WOS Wrestling". ITV WOS Wrestling.
- ^ "WOS Wrestling - Episode 1". www.itv.com. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
- ^ http://www.itvwrestling.co.uk
- ^ "411Mania - New Information on World of Sport Wrestling's Revival Pilot". New Information on World of Sport Wrestling’s Revival Pilot.
- ^ "World Of Sport Wrestling". "ITV Press Centre". Retrieved 2016-10-19.
- ^ "Iconic 'WOS' British Wrestling to Return to ITV". IMPACT Wrestling. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
- ^ "ITV World of Sport tapings postponed". 28 April 2017.
- ^ "Pro-wrestling to return to British TV". 25 April 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ a b c d Kreikenbohm, Philip. "CAGEMATCH » Events Database » World Of Sport Wrestling". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- ^ "Paul Farrer". www.imdb.com. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ "Clients - Paul Farrer". www.paulfarrer.com. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
See also
- Professional wrestling promotions in the United Kingdom
- List of professional wrestling television series