British Middleweight Championship Explained
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
See 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.
- 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)
| width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | No. | width=14% scope="col" | Champion | width=0 scope="col" | Reign | width=16% scope="col" | Date | width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | Days held | width=14% scope="col" | Location | width=17% scope="col" | Event | width=51% class="unsortable" scope="col" | Notes | width=0 class="unsortable" scope="col" | |
|---|
| 1 | | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | live event | First recorded champion | [5] |
|---|
| 2 | | 1 | N/A | N/A | Wigan | live event | | |
|---|
| 3 | | 1 | | N/A | London | live event | Won a tournament for the title. | |
|---|
| 4 | | 1 | | N/A | London | live event | Atholl Oakeley promotions show | | |
|---|
Joint Promotions (1952-?)
The Wrestling Alliance (2000-2003)
| width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | No. | width=14% scope="col" | Champion | width=0 scope="col" | Reign | width=16% scope="col" | Date | width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | Days held | width=14% scope="col" | Location | width=17% scope="col" | Event | width=51% class="unsortable" scope="col" | Notes | width=0 class="unsortable" scope="col" | |
|---|
| 1 | | 1 | | N/A | N/A | live event | Won the revived title in a tournament | |
|---|
| Vacated | — | | | | | Championship vacated after Mason failed to make weight. | | | 2 | | 1 | | | 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 | | 1 | | N/A | Southampton | live event | | |
|---|
| Vacated | — | | | | | Championship vacated when the TWA closed.
(Grey, in any case, was also British Lightweight Champion at the time.) | | |
RBW (2004-2005)
| width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | No. | width=14% scope="col" | Champion | width=0 scope="col" | Reign | width=16% scope="col" | Date | width=0 data-sort-type="number" scope="col" | Days held | width=14% scope="col" | Location | width=17% scope="col" | Event | width=51% class="unsortable" scope="col" | Notes | width=0 class="unsortable" scope="col" | |
|---|
| 1 | | 1 | | | Enfield, London | live event | Defeated Cameron Knite in a match to be crowned first champion | |
|---|
| 2 | | 1 | | + | 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
External links
|
Notes and References
- Web site: British Middleweight Title . May 26, 2017 . Wrestling-Titles.com.
- Web site: Ray Thunder vs. Brian Maxine . World of Sport wrestling . 3 March 1979 . 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) . May 26, 2017.
- Web site: These are the champions . side panel to George Kidd interview - lists Brian Maxine as British Middleweight Champion . . 1977.
- Web site: PWF . 15 March 2003 . May 26, 2017 . CageMatcg.
- 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 Middleweight Title. 402–403. Archeus Communications. Pennsylvania. 2000. 0-9698161-5-4.
- Web site: 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 . June 1, 2015 . February 11, 2017 . Brian . Hoops . Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
