2016 was a stellar year for British wrestling, and it was perfectly capped off with the WORLD OF SPORT Wrestling special airing on ITV on New Year’s Eve. Grapple fans hoped it would mean a return to British TV  as a regular fixture in 2017, and we are pleased to report that the family friendly wrestling special received enough interest for an initial 10-part series to be commissioned, coming later this year on ITV!

The other exciting new development is that to bring WOS Wrestling back to our screens, ITV has teamed up with IMPACT Wrestling (a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp). UK wrestling fans will be familiar with the well-known American wrestling company seen on the TV channel Challenge in the past, and soon IMPACT Wrestling can be seen on its new home of Spike from April 21st in the UK.

This partnership holds intriguing possibilities, and Jeff Jarrett (Chief Creative Officer for IMPACT Wrestling) brings decades of wrestling and promoting experience to the project, and should meld well with the UK talent to deliver the perfect mix of what modern viewers expect from sports entertainment shows nowadays. Hopefully pleasing audiences of all ages; from young children and their parents, young adults, and people who remembered wrestling on WORLD OF SPORT the first time round, when it was shown between 1965-1985 with stars such as; Big Daddy, Mick McManus, Rollerball Rocco and Giant Haystacks.

On the January 31st WOS TV special, the wrestlers competed in a mix of match types including singles matches, tag matches, a ladies match, a ladder match, and a multi-man battle royale! ITV viewers were introduced to a roster of some of the best of British talent today including; Sha Samuels, Dave Mastiff, Johnny Moss, Viper, ‘Liverpool’s Number 1’ Zack Gibson, Kenny Williams, ‘The Mexican Sensation’ El Ligero, Grado, Sam Bailey, Danny Hope, Alexis Rose, The Coffey Brothers, CJ Banks, Ashton Smith, and Rampage Brown. 

All of the WOS wrestlers delight fans up and down the country on the thriving scene on a weekly basis, many of them are also known the world over due to the rise of wrestling on-demand platforms which they can be seen on, and are highly sought after to compete in other countries. Several of the roster have performed on IMPACT in America, as well as on their UK tours, and Grado is a regular for them over there in the States.

It may not have been on TV for 30 years, but British wrestling has prevailed, especially over the last few years it has been on a massive rise with different promotions around the UK attracting hundreds of fans every weekend. Despite its popularity, a lot of people still aren’t aware how many shows are going on within a short distance of them, so it’s brilliant a wider audience will now get to enjoy it on national television again, just like the good ol’ days! 

If you would like to attend these historic WORLD OF SPORT Wrestling tapings, they will take place at Preston Guild Hall on the evenings of Thursday 25th and Friday 26th May. Tickets go on sale at 9 am on Friday 7th April at Gigsandtours.com, Ticketmaster.co.uk, and prestonguildhall.co.uk. There was GREAT demand to attend the WOS Wrestling Special taping at the end of last year in Manchester, so don’t delay in ordering tickets, you won’t want to miss out on these shows, and you never know, you maybe even be seen (or heard if your boo’s/cheers are loud enough!) on TV!

Follow WORLD OF SPORT Wrestling on Twitter for all the latest updates – @WOSWrestlingITV

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