Lucha Britannia
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Acronym | LB |
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Founded | 2006 |
Style | Lucha libre Vaudeville |
Headquarters | Bethnal Green |
Founder(s) | Garry Vanderhorne |
Owner(s) | Garry Vanderhorne, Greg Burridge |
Website | http://www.luchabritannia.com/ |
Lucha Britannia is an English lucha libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Bethnal Green, London since 2006.
History
Lucha Britannia was created by Garry Vanderhorne in 2006 from Rock & Metal Wrestling Action (RAMWA), as an alternative form of physical theatre, music, cabaret, comedy and professional wrestling. In 2007, Lucha Britannia held the first of its six sell-out shows at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. By November 2007 The promotion had outgrown the Working Men's Club and moved to SeOne, a large nightclub beneath London Bridge station. In December that year they were listed by Time Out in their (London) top five Best alternative nightlife of 2007.[1]
In the summer of 2008 Lucha Britannia featured on the BBC's coverage of the Reading and Leeds festivals and in October that year they co-hosted the inaugural Bizarre Ball in conjunction with Bizarre Magazine.[2] In 2009, Lucha Britannia became the first UK based wrestling promotion to feature on live British television in twenty-five years when they featured in their coverage of the Brit Awards after-party at Earls Court hosted by Rufus Hound. Later that year they returned to co-produce and host the second Bizarre Ball again for Bizarre Magazine.[3]
During 2011, Lucha Britannia put on seventeen events in London and around the UK. In 2016 the promotion increased to hosting semi-monthly shows called Lucha Underground at the Resistance Gallery in Bethnal Green, East London on Friday nights.
Style
Lucha Britannia combines the Lucha Libre style of wrestling that is characterized by the wearing of colourful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvres, tag-teams and "high-flying" with the traditional British technical style, North American and Japanese Puroresu wrestling format. Aside from wrestling, Lucha Britannia events also include risqué cabaret performances, comedic interludes and side acts.[4]
All the characters and performers in Lucha Britannia loosely fit into a fantastical narrative called the "RetroFutureVerse" wherein a fractious band of outlawed prize-fighters (known as the "United Resistance Movement") battle for justice and dignity against the dastardly representatives of tyrannical rulers (known either as "The State" or "The Yankee Boche") in an ornately cruel, futuristic dystopia.[5]
The promotion runs regular monthly shows called The Lucha Underground from the Resistance Gallery – a venue in Bethnal Green in London's East End. The Resistance Gallery is home to the London School of Lucha Libre, Lucha Britannia's own professional-wrestling training academy,[6][7] as well as hosting a variety of other events.
Lucha Britannia has also been an attraction on television and at major UK festivals including the Glastonbury Festival, Download Festival, Reading Festival, Leeds Festival and The Brit Awards.[8][9]
List of Lucha Britannia World Champions
# | Order in reign history |
Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the titles were won |
— | Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign |
As only months are known, each reign is listed as beginning on the first of the month although this may not be true.
As of August 26, 2024.# | Wrestlers | Reign | Date | Days held |
Location | Event | Notes |
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1 | Leon Brittannico | 1 | January 1, 2012 | 274 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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2 | Santeria | 1 | October 1, 2012 | 151 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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3 | Metallico, King of the Scrap Heap | 1 | March 1, 2013 | 92 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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4 | Dark Brittanico | 1 | June 1, 2013 | 126 | Bankside vaults, London, England
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5 | Santeria | 2 | October 1, 2013 | 31 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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6 | Antaios, Son of Poseidon | 1 | November 1, 2013 | 61 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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7 | The Bengal Tiger | 1 | January 1, 2014 | 120 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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8 | Dark Britannico | 2 | May 1, 2014 | 31 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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9 | Glamsexico | 1 | June 1, 2014 | 61 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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10 | Leon Britannico | 2 | August 1, 2014 | 31 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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11 | Santeria | 3 | September 1, 2014 | 122 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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12 | Freddie Mercurio | 1 | January 1, 2015 | 90 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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13 | Santeria | 4 | April 1, 2015 | 61 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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14 | Cassius | 1 | June 1, 2015 | 153 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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15 | Fug | 1 | November 1, 2015 | 30 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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16 | Cassius | 2 | December 1, 2015 | 31 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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17 | Freddie Mercurio | 2 | January 1, 2016 | 0 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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18 | Cassius | 3 | January 1, 2016 | 60 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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19 | La Diablesa Rosa | 1 | March 18, 2016 | 154 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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20 | Lord Reginald Windsor | 1 | August 19, 2016 | 63 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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21 | Jerry Bakewell | 1 | October 21, 2016 | 28 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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[10] | |
22 | Malik | 1 | November 18, 2016 | 28 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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[11] | |
23 | Cassius | 4 | December 16, 2016 | 35 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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[12] | |
24 | La Diablesa Rosa | 2 | January 20, 2017 | 91 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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25 | Hombre Del Rocka | 1 | April 21, 2017 | 56 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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26 | La Diablesa Rosa | 3 | June 16, 2017 | 63 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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27 | Pavo Real | 1 | August 18, 2017 | 154 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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28 | La Diablesa Rosa | 4 | January 19, 2018 | 182 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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29 | Jerry Bakewell | 2 | July 20, 2018 | 63 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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30 | Fug | 2 | September 21, 2018 | 147 | Bethnal Green, London, England
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31 | Triffidos | 1 | February 15, 2019 | 2,019+ | Bethnal Green, London, England
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See also
- Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
- List of professional wrestling promotions in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ Time Out (London), Clubs: Best alternative nightlife of 2007, 19 December 2007 Archived 12 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bizarre Magazine (online), Bizarre Ball: 2008 Archived 2012-05-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bizarre Magazine (online), Bizarre Ball: 2009 Archived 2012-06-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hutchinson, Kate (29 October 2007). "Clubs: Mexican Wrestling". Time Out (London). Archived from the original on 23 January 2012.
- ^ "Lucha Britannia's United Resistance Movement". Lucha Britannia!. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
- ^ The Prisma (Online), Lucha Libre in London, 3 July 2011 Archived 11 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ BBC News, Mexican Wrestling takes hold in UK, 21 May 2011 Archived 2 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ BBC News (Derby), Photos: Download Festival 2010, 14 June 2010 Archived 19 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Download Festival 2009 (Online), The Village: Events Listing Archived 2011-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Jerry Bakewell is our new Lucha Britannia world champion!". Twitter. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Last night marked the start of a new era in @luchabritannia..." Instagram. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ "Cassius the neon explosion is the new and now 4 time @LuchaBritannia world champion #". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.