The spread of UK wrestling

England has blown up in the past five years. Talented men and women have come out of this small island country with massive success. Though we're flush with guys like Walter and Zack Saber Jr and women like Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley, and Paige. This wasn't a thing in the 1980's or even before that. Sure we had guys like Davey Boy Smith and Fit Finley who brought that tough British flair but they didn't achieve large scale success like others at the time. This begs the question, why? I think it had to do with timing and with the WWE not seeing what we see now.

To put this into perspective I want to tell a short story about Sir Atholl Oakeley. If you don't know who this is its totally fine, but he is important to UK wrestling. Sir Atholl Oakeley was born in 1900 and the second born out of four. He was bullied as a child and began to learn amateur wrestling at a young age. Before long he was looking into general strength and body building. He would go to a royal military academy and by 1930 he was out of school and had an idea. He wanted to bring wrestling back to the UK in a big way. He started a company called All-In Pro Wrestling with a fellow friend Henri Irslinger. They would preform and book the shows and some matches would be "work" matches. Atholl wanted it to be seen as a legitimate sport and so put his body on the line to make that happen.

In that same year, he would book for another promotion The British Wrestling Association or BWA. This would be the biggest promotion in the country. He won the British Lightweight Championship from 1930 to 1932.  Also in 1930, he would go on to win the British Heavyweight Championship and would hold that title until 1935. This would be enough for most wrestlers, however he traveled Europe as the British Champion. He had a short run as the European Champion in 1932 losing it the following year to Heinrich Froehner in 1933.

By 1935 Atholl Oakeley handed over his titles and retired from the sport.  He had changed UK wrestling forever. He started two promotions, held the top belts in the country, traveled with the belts all across Europe, and was leading both companies into the mid 20th century on a high note. He had made himself into a folk hero, rumors of him drinking 11 gallons of milk a day, his over 2000 matches over a 5 year period, the rumor that he wrestled a 9'0 tall opponent while traveling. He was a brand all his own, and he knew it. He brought BWA attendance way up and by 1935 they were wrestling in 40 different venues and sold out shows on a weekly basis. However, thing would change and before world war two pro wrestling was banned in the country. It was said to be a more violent and hard hitting sport at the time and it was seen as unwanted. This would change after the war however, but the damage was done and most companies couldn't get over that social stigma.

The country would eventually life that ban and in 1964 world of sports would start showing wrestling matches on TV's all around the UK. This would keep the sport alive and stable. The sport would have its ups and down but for the most part the US audience was unaware of what was going on. This was fine until around 2013 when a small Youtube channel would start to put shows out for free. WCPW was the first time I had watched or seen UK wrestling since the '06 ECW matches with Finlay. It was very fast, loud, aggresive, and most of all unique. This was something that I was unaware of in the US and I think most who watched WCPW can agree that it was awesome. The talent was fresh, the characters were different from any other characters we'd see in WWE. Guys like Matt Riddle, Will Osprey, Rampage, Killian Dain the list goes on. The UK had stars and the world took notice. However, Japan was ahead of the ball and would take the best UK has to offer way before anyone was aware of what was going on. 

Finn Balor was considered one of the best wrestlers NJPW has ever had in its organization. His list of accomplishment are long but the one that stands out is the Bullet Club. He was the founder of the club and it made him a house hold name in Japan. WWE saw him and snatched him up. He was one of the first big stars to come out of NXT. He is also the guy who started NWA Ireland which is where Becky Lynch learned how to wrestle along with Finn. When the WWE got him and saw what he could do along with WCPW success online they say gold. This is what leads us into today. The trend we have now didn't come from nowhere. Sir Atholl Oakeley was the gold standard for guys that Finn would later look to as his inspiration. He would do what Atholl Oakeley did, start a promotion, train new talent, win gold, and travel as a star with Japan. He picked up where Atholl left off and because of timing and his own talent this would cause the world to look at a small island and wonder who else lives there and can they wrestle?