British Welterweight Championship

The British Welterweight Championship is the welterweight professional wrestling championship competed for throughout the British wrestling circuit.[1]

The championship was recognised and defended on matches screened by UK national television network ITV as part of the professional wrestling slot on World of Sport as well as standalone broadcasts.[2][3][4] Pre-publicity for these championship match broadcasts was given in ITV's nationally published listings magazine TVTimes[5][6][7]

History

A British Welterweight Championship was first set up in 1938 under All-In rules and won by Harold Angus.[8] The Mountevans Committee in 1947 called for the establishment of a British Welterweight Title and so recognised the still-incumbent All In titleholder Angus as champion.[8] This lineage was recognised by Joint Promotions following its 1952 formation. The title would later be transplanted to All Star Wrestling following champion Danny Collins' defection in the late 1980s, where it would remain active until the mid-1990s.[8] In the 21st century, revivals of the title have been hosted by The Wrestling Alliance in 2000-2003 and Revolution British Wrestling in 2003-2005 before most recently being contested for in LDN's Academy/Spirit League since 2006.[1]

The title first became recognised by RBW in August 2003, when a decider contest was held between Spud and Jack Hazard which saw Spud crowned RBW's first British Welterweight Champion. The last RBW holder would be Kid Regis who would hold the belt at the time of RBW's eventual closedown in late 2005.[1]

Regis continued to defend the Welterweight Championship on the indy circuit, eventually losing it to Tex Benedict in 2006 in LDN, who in turn lost it to current champion Alan Travis in 2008.[1]

Title histories

This is the combined list of different versions of the British Welterweight Titles,[1] each of which was probably the most significant version at the time. Each version may or may not be connected to another. However, all title changes are either actual or "official" unless indicated otherwise.

British independent circuit (1938-1953)
Wrestler: Reign: Date: Place: Notes:
Harold Angus 1 1938 Champion under 'All-In' rules, granted recognition as incumbent champion by Mountevans Committee in 1947. Vacated in 1948 when Angus dies following a firearms-related accident.[8]
Mick McManus 1 1949 Defeated Eddie Capelli.[8]
Jack Dempsey 1 1951 [8]
Alan Colbeck 1 ??/05/1952 Defeated Les Stent.[8]

Joint Promotions (1953-1989)
Wrestler: Reign: Date: Place: Notes:
Tony Lawrence 1 1953 [8]
Jack Dempsey 2 1953 [8]
Mick McManus 2 05/01/1957 London [8]
Jack Dempsey 2 23/04/1958 London Vacated in October 1966 when Dempsey temporarily retired due to illness.[8]
Alan Sargeant 1 26/11/1966 Hemel Hempstead Defeats Alan Wood in tournament final.[8]
Jim Breaks 1 06/11/1967 Leeds [8]
Alan Sargeant 2 ??/09/1968 N/A [8]
Brian Maxine 1 30/09/1969 Croydon May have won the title earlier in the month and defend against Sarjeant on this day; vacates in June 1971 after winning the middleweight title.[8]
Vic Faulkner 1 20/07/1971 Croydon Defeats Adrian Street.[8]
Jim Breaks 2 31/05/1976 Bradford [8]
Vic Faulkner 2 28/08/1976 Manchester [8]
Jim Breaks 3 09/03/1977 Buxton [8]
Vic Faulkner 3 05/07/1977 Leicester Title immediately held up by Joint Promotions because of the interference by Bert Royal.[8]
Jim Breaks 4 30/11/1977 London Defeats Faulkner in rematch.[8]
Dynamite Kid 1 25/01/1978 Preston Vacant in 1979 when Kid left the country.[8]
Jim Breaks 5 27/06/1979 London Defeats Steve Grey in 8-man tournament final.[8]
Alan Dennison 1 11/06/1980 London [8]
Jim Breaks 6 29/03/1983 Croydon [8]
Steve Grey 1 25/05/1982 Croydon [8][9]
Alan Dennison 2 21/06/1982 N/A [8]
Jim Breaks 7 29/03/1983 Croydon May have won the title from Dennison before this date.[8]
Alan Dennison 3 29/04/1983 [8]
Jim Breaks 8 09/12/1983 Barnsley [8]
Danny Collins 1 21/03/1984 Croydon [8]
Steve Grey 2 21/06/1984 Malvern [8]
Danny Collins 2 22/06/1984 Bath [8]
Steve Grey 3 21/08/1984 Malvern [8]
Danny Collins 3 01/11/1984 Manchester [8]
Sid Cooper 1 23/05/1985 Bristol [8]
Danny Collins 4 26/08/1985 Takes title to All Star circa 1988[8]
Title vacated on 04/07/1989 when Collins wins the heavy middleweight title.[8]

All Star Wrestling (1989-1993)
Wrestler: Reign: Date: Place: Notes:
Mal Sanders 1 21/12/1989 Bristol Defeated Steve Grey.[8]
Doc Dean 1 25/10/1990 Southampton [8]
Blondie Barrett 1 17/12/1991 Chelmsford [8]
Doc Dean 2 18/07/1992 Norwich [8]
Steve Prince 1 09/10/1993 Croydon May have been in October.[8]

The Wrestling Alliance (2002-2003)
Wrestler: Reign: Date: Place: Notes:
Jonny Storm 1 17/01/2002 Southampton Defeated Jody Fleisch.
Jody Fleisch 1 03/10/2002 Southampton
Jonny Storm 2 27/11/2002 Plymouth
Title abandoned with TWA's closure in 2003.

Revolution British Wrestling (2003-2005)
Wrestler: Reign: Date: Place: Notes:
Spud 1 30/08/2003 Defeated Jack Hazard in a match to be crowned first champion
Ross Jordan 1 07/12/2003
Sammy Ray 1 27/03/2004
Ross Jordan 2 24/07/2004 Chingford, London
Kid Regis 1 05/02/2005 Chingford, London
RBW closes in late 2005, Regis continued to claim title (as detailed below).

LDN Wrestling (2006-present)
Wrestler: Reign: Date: Place: Notes:
Tex Benedict 1 04/06/2006 Walthamstow, London Defeats Kid Regis, thus keeping continuity with RBW version
Alan Travis 1 20/09/2008 Hanley, Staffordshire

See also

References
  1. "British Welterweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  2. "Vic Faulkener capture of British Welterweight title from Jim Breaks in Leicester 5th July 1977". World Of Sport - Wrestling. ITV. 16 July 1977. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  3. "Steve Grey capture of British Welterweight title from Danny Collins in Malvern 21st June 1984". World Of Sport - Wrestling. ITV. 22 September 1984. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  4. "Danny Collins capture of British Welterweight title from Steve Grey in Manchester 1 November 1984,". World Of Sport - Wrestling. ITV. 17 November 1984. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  5. "British Welterweight Championship: Jim Breaks v Vic Faulkener". Saturday 16 July - Friday 22 July 1977 - Saturday listings page]. TVTimes. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  6. ""British Welterwweight Championship: Danny Collins v Steve Grey"". Saturday 22 September - Friday 28 September 1984 - Saturday listings page. TVTimes. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  7. ""British Welterweight Championship: Steve Grey v Danny Collins"". Saturday 17 November - Friday 23 November 1984 - Saturday listings page. TVTimes. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Europe - Great Britain: British Welterweight Title". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 402. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  9. Hoops, Brian (25 May 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (May 25): Rockers last match in AWA, Tiger Mask wins NWA Jr. Heavyweight gold, Russian amateur wrestler beats Vader". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
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