British Lightweight Championship Explained

The British Lightweight Championship is a top British wrestling championship found throughout the country's circuit. The title's broken history dates back to the 1930s and it has most recently been claimed actively since 2021 under the auspices of Rumble Promotions who have named their version in honour of late referee Mal Mason. The official upper weight limit for the belt is 11 stone (154 pounds).^[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]}

This is a history of the title from its earliest recorded origins in 1933. As indicated in the table a few claimed reigns are of dubious provenance and, whilst these have been noted, they are not included as official reigns.

Title history

Key

Symbol	Meaning
No.	The overall championship reign
Reign	The reign number for the specific wrestler listed.
Event	The event in which the championship 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.|} width=0 data-sort-type="number" No. width=14% Champion width=0 Reign width=16% Date width=0 data-sort-type="number" Days held width=14% Location width=17% Event width=51% class="unsortable" Notes width=0 class="unsortable" Ref. 1 1 1933 ^[8] ^[9] Live event   ^[10] - Championship vacated after Relwyskow is injured during the Second World War. 2 1 1948 Live event   3 1 1948 Middlesbrough Live event   4 1 1948 Live event   5 1 1949 Live event   6 1 1950 Live event   7 1 30 April 1953 Middlesbrough Live event   8 2 9 March 1954 London Live event   9 1 before December 1958 Live event Legacy from Stead uncertain 10 1 16 October 1963 London Live event   11 1 15 February 1967 London Live event   12 2 17 December 1968 Leeds Live event   13 1 18 June 1969 Sheffield Live event 14 2 9 June 1970 Aberdeen Live event   15 2 4 August 1970 Aberdeen Live event 16 1 12 May 1971 Sheffield Live event   17 3 21 August 1971 Manchester Live event   ^[11] 18 1 18 May 1974 Hanley, Staffordshire Live event   19 4 15 June 1974 Hanley, Staffordshire Live event   20 Dynamite Kid 1 23 March 1977 Manchester Live event   Championship vacated after Dynamite Kid won the British Welterweight Championship 21 1 5 April 1978 Blackburn Live event Defeated Bobby Ryan in a tournament final. 22 8 6 April 1982 Wolverhampton Live event   23 3 25 May 1982 Croydon Live event   24 9 21 April 1983 Colne Live event   25 4 4 May 1983 Bradford Live event   26 Kid McCoy 1 7 May 1987 Adwick le Street Live event   After Championship vacated Kid McCoy leaves All Star Wrestling. 27 6 25 October 1990 Southampton Live event Defeated Boz Berry in the final of a tournament for the vacant championship 28 1 3 September 1991 Croydon Live event   29 2 18 September 1991 unknown Live event   30 1 17 July 1993 unknown Live event   31 7 October 1993 Live event Still defending championship as of 1 July 2002 Only relinquishes claim on retirement (see below) Championship vacated after Steve Grey retired. Rumble Promotions with Grey's approval, held a 2021 tournament for a new champion in memory of referee Mal Mason. 32 1 29 October 2021 + Sittingbourne, Kent Live event Defeated Lewis Mayhew in final of tournament for vacant title renamed Mal Mason British Lightweight Title. (Grey was originally due to be special referee for this match) See also Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom References

Notes and References

1. Peter Bills, Wrestling, David & Charles, 1983, p. 62
2. Web site: Jim Breaks capture of British Lightweight title from Steve Grey in Ardwick Le Street 21st April 1983 . World Of Sport - Wrestling . . 7 May 1983 . 23 May 2017.
3. News: Steve Grey capture of British Lightweight title from Jim Breaks in Bradford 4th May 1983 . World Of Sport - Wrestling . . 28 May 1983.
4. Web site: Kid McCoy capture of British Lightweight title from Steve Grey in Ardwick Le Street 7th May 1987, . Professional Wrestling . . 27 June 1987 . 23 May 2017.
5. Web site: British Lightweight Championship: Steve Grey v Jim Breaks . TVTimes . Saturday 7 May - Friday 13th May 1983 - Saturday listings page] . 23 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170923212903/http://www.johnlisterwriting.com/itvwrestling/83.html . 23 September 2017 . dead .
6. Web site: "British Lightweight Championship: Jim Breaks v Steve Grey" . TVTimes . Saturday 28 May - Friday 3rd June 1983 - Saturday listings page . 23 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170923212903/http://www.johnlisterwriting.com/itvwrestling/83.html . 23 September 2017 . dead .
7. Web site: "British Lightweight Championship: Steve Grey v Kid McCoy" . TVTimes . Saturday 27 June - Friday 3rd July 1987 - Saturday listings page . 23 May 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170509190004/http://www.johnlisterwriting.com/itvwrestling/87.html . 9 May 2017 . dead .
8. The length of the championship is too uncertain to calculate.
9. The location of the match was not captured as part of the documentation.
10. Book: Royal . Duncan . Gary . Will . Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present . Europe - Great Britain: British Lightweight Title. 402. Archeus Communications. Pennsylvania. 2000. 0-9698161-5-4.
11. Web site: British Lightweight Title . Wrestling-titles.com . 23 May 2017.