World of Sport Wrestling


World of Sport Wrestling was a British professional wrestling television series and occasional promotion. It was promoted as a re-launch 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 programme was launched on New Year's Eve 2016. It was formerly associated with the United States-based promotion, Impact Wrestling. A six-date live tour of the show's stars took place in January/February 2019.

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. Throughout World of Sport 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 to 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 was filmed at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon in 2013 but rejected by ITV. This was eventually posted to YouTube in mid-2015.
On 17 October 2016, ITV announced that they would be bringing back professional wrestling and would be recording another pilot episode on 1 November 2016, being filmed at dock10 studios in 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 commentate on the pilot episode. It aired on New Year's Eve on ITV. A storyline running through the show was Grado's quest for the WOS championship, falling short in his match with Dave Mastiff to become inaugural champion before eventually winning the belt in a rematch at the end of the broadcast.
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 for a ten-episode series. The show was announced to be scheduled for 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. The tapings were cancelled in April, and were eventually rescheduled for 2018.

Series 1

On 25 April 2018, ITV announced World of Sport would air as 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 until September 29 on ITV and STV. Jim Ross was not involved and neither was Impact Wrestling. Instead, the hosts were Alex Shane and SoCal Val. The main storyline was the championship reign of Rampage and his pursuit by challenger Justin Sysum, the third man in the ring in Rampage's Triple Threat title win from Grado and denied the title in a controversial countout loss in episode 3 before defeating the champion in a tag match in episode 7 and then, in the final two episodes, earning himself a title shot and finally winning the belt. Other storylines saw the establishment of a women's championship and a Tag Team Championship tournament spread over six episodes. Also an ongoing story was Grado's running battles with disapproving WOS executive Stu Bennett. Other repeated characters included masked monster heel Crater, treacherous heel Martin Kirby and his former partner, singing babyface Joe Hendry.

2019 live tour

At the conclusion of episode 6 a six-date live tour of the show's stars was announced for January/February 2019. The WOS Womens' Championship changed hands four times and Sysum made four defences of his WOS Championship against former champion Rampage. As Davey Boy Smith Jr. was not on the tour, the WOS Tag Team Championship was not defended.

Programme sales

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.
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.

Awards

The programme received a nomination for Digital Content for the Royal Television Society's East Awards 2019.

Episodes

New Year's Eve 2016 special

Series 1

Current champions

ChampionshipCurrent championReignDate wonDays
held		LocationNotes
WOS ChampionshipJustin Sysum1+Norwich, EnglandDefeated previous champion Rampage to win the title.
WOS Tag Team ChampionshipBritish Bulldog Jr. and Grado1+Norwich, EnglandDefeated the previous champions, Kip Sabian and Iestyn Rees to win the titles.
WOS Women's ChampionshipKaty Lees1+London, EnglandDefeated previous champion Viper and Bea Priestley in a 3-way match.

Championship reigns

WOS Championship

The current champion is Justin Sysum, who is in his first reign. Sysum defeated Rampage to win the title.
No.ChampionReignDateDays heldDays rec.LocationEventNotesRef.
1Dave Mastiff12 11 2016Manchester, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingDefeated Grado to become the inaugural champion. Aired on 31 December 2016
2Grado12 11 2016Manchester, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingAired on 31 December 2016
3Rampage110 5 2018Norwich, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingAired on 28 July 2018
4Justin Sysum112 5 2018++Norwich, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingAired on 29 September 2018

WOS Tag Team Championship

The current champions are Grado and British Bulldog Jr., who are in their first reign. They defeated the previous champions, Kip Sabian and Iestyn Rees to win the title in episode 10 of series 1.
No.ChampionReignDateDays heldDays rec.LocationEventNotesRef.
1Iestyn Rees and Kip Sabian111 5 2018Norwich, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingDefeated Nathan Cruz and Adam Maxted in a tournament final to win the title.
Aired on 1 September 2018
2British Bulldog Jr. and Grado112 5 2018++Norwich, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingAired on 29 September 2018

WOS Women's Championship

The current champion is Katy Lees, who is in her first reign.
No.ChampionReignDateDays heldDays rec.LocationEventNotesRef.
1Kay Lee Ray110 5 2018Norwich, EnglandWorld of Sport WrestlingDefeated Viper and Bea Priestley to win the title
Aired on 4 August 2018
2Viper118 1 2019Southampton, EnglandWOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019This was a 3-way match also including Bea Priestley
3Bea Priestley119 1 2019Newport, WalesWOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019
4Viper226 1 2019Blackpool, EnglandWOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019
5Katy Lees13 2 2019++London, EnglandWOS Wrestling UK Tour 2019This was a 3-way match also including Bea Priestley

Roster

Male wrestlers

Female wrestlers

Other on-air personnel

Off screen personnel

Music department

Ring nameReal nameNotes
Paul FarrerComposer

Alumni