World of Sport Wrestling

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 midweek late evenings, midweek lunchtimes and Bank Holiday Monday afternoons were also utilized).^[4] 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 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 (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.^[5]

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, 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 commentate on the pilot episode. It aired on New Year's Eve on ITV.^[6] 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.^[7] The tapings were cancelled in April,^[8] 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.^[9] 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.

Tour

At the conclusion of Episode 6 (transmitted 1 September 2018) a nine date live tour of the show's stars was announced for January/February 2019.^[3]

New Year's Eve 2016 special

Series 1

WOS Championship

The current champion is Justin Sysum, who is in his first reign. Sysum defeated Rampage to win the title.

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.

WOS Women's Championship

The current champion is Kay Lee Ray, who is in her first reign.

Male wrestlers

Female wrestlers

Other on-air personnel

Off screen personnel

Male wrestlers

Female wrestlers