British Middleweight Championship

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

The title was recognised as official by national TV network ITV for the purposes of their coverage of the UK wrestling scene[2] and by its listings magazine TVTimes in accompanying magazine feature coverage.[3]

History

Joint Promotions
Main article: Brian Maxine

Joint Promotions established a British Middleweight title in 1952 in compliance with the resolutions of the Mountevans Committee. By 1971, this title was in the possession of Brian Maxine who continued to claim the title without dispute in an unbroken reign until 2000. Also a successful musician, Maxine wore his championship belt on the cover of record releases.

TWA

A new version of the championship was created in 2000 for TWA which became the focus of a feud between Mal Sanders and James Mason.

Meanwhile, Maxine, wrestling for Premier Promotions, continued to wear his old championship belt but no longer laid claim to the title. A contest for the belt between Maxine and Johnny Kidd on 15 March 2003 in Midhurst was strictly billed as being only for the championship belt as a possession.[4] Maxine would still be wearing the belt for appearances with LDN in 2007.

RBW

A new version of the championship was created out of a four-man tournament which saw "Golden Boy" Cameron Knite qualify over "Sadistic" Jack Storm during December 2003 in Sheffield while Johnny Kidd overcame "The Gift" Ross Jordan in Nottingham during December as well to qualify.

The final was held in Enfield, London on 24 January 2004 and saw Johnny Kidd defeat Knite, two falls to one, to be crowned first champion.

On 22 May 2004 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, "Misfit" Jorge Castano defeated Johnny Kidd for the Championship, in his third attempt, following previous contests between the two in Chingford and Nottingham, and would hold the belt up to RBW's eventual closer in late 2005. Until and unless steps are taken to reorganise this championship, Castano remains as dormant champion for the rest of his professional career.

List of champions

This is a history of all combined versions of the British Middleweight title.[1]

Key
Symbol Meaning
# The overall championship reign
Reign The reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
Event The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title changed hands
N/A The specific information is not known
— Used for vacated reigns in order to not count it as an official reign
[Note #] Indicates that the exact length of the title reign is unknown, with a note providing more details.

British independent circuit (1938-1952)
No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref(s)
1 Jack Moores 1 N/A N/A N/A live event First recorded champion [5]
2 Billy Reilly 1 N/A N/A Wigan live event   [5]
3 Jack Dale 1 1935 N/A London live event Won a tournament for the title. [5]
4 Robert H Cook 1 1950 N/A London live event Atholl Oakeley promotions show [5]

Joint Promotions (1952-?)
No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref(s)
1 Tommy Mann 1 1952 N/A N/A live event   [5]
2 Harry Fields 1 1952 N/A N/A live event   [5]
3 Cyril Knowles 1 1954 N/A N/A live event   [5]
4 Les Stent 1 1954 N/A N/A live event   [5]
5 Guido Ronga 1 1956 N/A N/A live event   [5]
6 Tommy Mann 2 1956 N/A N/A live event   [5]
7 Harry Fields 2 1958 N/A N/A live event   [5]
8 Bobby Steele 1 1958 N/A N/A live event   [5]
9 Harry Fields 3 1958 N/A N/A live event   [5]
10 Alan Colbeck 1 1961 N/A N/A live event   [5]
11 Tommy Mann 3 May 1961 184 Leeds live event   [5]
12 Chic Purvey 1 December 1961 N/A N/A live event   [5]
13 Tommy Mann 4 N/A N/A N/A live event   [5]
14 Chic Purvey 2 N/A N/A N/A live event   [5]
15 Tommy Mann 5 N/A N/A N/A live event   [5]
16 Chic Purvey 3 N/A N/A N/A live event   [5]
17 Tommy Mann 6 May 1963 123 N/A live event   [5]
18 Bobby Steele 2 October 1963 N/A N/A live event   [5]
19 Tommy Mann 7 N/A N/A N/A live event   [5]
20 Bert Royal 1 26 October 1963 N/A Manchester live event   [5]
21 Tommy Mann 8 1963 N/A N/A live event   [5]
— Vacated — 1963 N/A N/A N/A Championship vacated upon Tommy Mann's retirement. [5]
22 Bert Royal 2 26 October 1966 33 Sheffield live event Defeated Peter Preston for the vacant championship [5]
23 Clayton Thomson 1 28 November 1966 350 Nottingham live event   [5]
24 Mick McManus 1 13 November 1967 72 London live event   [5]
25 Clayton Thomson 2 24 January 1968 1,224 London live event   [5]
26 Brian Maxine 1 1 June 1971 10,076 (at least) Croydon live event Maxine also held the British Welterweight championship at the start of his reign. [5][6]
Maxine continued to claim the title until 1999[5] and last wore the belt in public at a wrestling show in 2007.

The Wrestling Alliance (2000-2003)
No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref(s)
1 James Mason 1 2000 N/A N/A live event Won the revived title in a tournament  
— Vacated — 15 June 2002 N/A N/A N/A Championship vacated after Mason failed to make weight.  
2 Mal Sanders 1 18 June 2002 279 Southampton live event During this reign, Maxine wrestled Johnny Kidd on a Premier Promotions show but only for his old belt, not the championship  
3 Steve Grey 1 24 March 2003 N/A Southampton live event    
— Vacated — 2003 N/A N/A N/A Championship vacated when the TWA closed.
(Grey, in any case, was also British Lightweight Champion at the time.)		  

RBW (2004-2005)
No. Champion Reign Date Days held Location Event Notes Ref(s)
1 Johnny Kidd 1 24 January 2004 119 Enfield, London live event Defeated Cameron Knite in a match to be crowned first champion  
2 Jorge Castano 1 22 May 2004 7,095+ Hitchin, Hertfordshire live event    
Under Mountevans Rules, Castano is considered a dormant champion and will remain so until he retires or the championship is reactivated.

See also

References
  1. "British Middleweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  2. "Ray Thunder vs. Brian Maxine". World of Sport wrestling. 3 March 1979. Retrieved May 26, 2017. Brian Maxine acknowledged as British Middleweight Champion] by anchorman Dickie Davies (Event occurs at 0:09) and by commentator Kent Walton (Event occurs at 11:14)
  3. "These are the champions". TVTimes. 1977. side panel to George Kidd interview - lists Brian Maxine as British Middleweight Champion
  4. "PWF". CageMatcg. 15 March 2003. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  5. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Europe - Great Britain: British Middleweight Title". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 402–403. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. Hoops, Brian (June 1, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (June 1): Rogers beats Gomez, Gordman & Goliath, Baba loses PWF Title, Flair Vs. KVE, Lawler Vs. Son, Undertaker Vs. Edge". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
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