Sitting around a wrestling ring, churchgoers roared as local hero Billy O’Keeffe body-slammed a fighter named Disciple. Beneath stained-glass windows, they whooped and cheered as burly, tattooed wresters tumbled into the aisle during a six-man tag-team battle.

This is Wrestling Church, which brings blood, sweat and tears — mostly sweat — to St. Peter’s Anglican church in the northern England town of Shipley. It’s the creation of Gareth Thompson, a charismatic 37-year-old who says he was saved by pro wrestling and Jesus — and wants others to have the same experience.

Thompson says the outsized characters and scripted morality battles of pro wrestling fit naturally with a Christian message.

“Boil it down to the basics, it’s good versus evil,” he said. “When I became Christian, I started seeing the wrestling world through a Christian lens. I started seeing David and Goliath. I started seeing Cain and Abel. I started seeing Esau having his heritage stolen from him. And I’m like

A pro-wrestler is aiming to convert a former chapel in Glasgow into a dedicated wrestling venue.

David McCallum, known by the ring name Ravie Davey, has launched a fundraiser to help support the renovation of the building in the city’s Linthouse area into a “Church of Wrestling”.

The GoFundMe page has so far raised £2,305 of a £10,000 target.

McCallum, who has been involved in the sport for over ten years – taking part in events across Europe and the UK – founded the Glasgow School of Wrestling with his partner Georgia Nesbit.

The school offers 19 weekly training sessions for kids as young as five to practise WWE-style wrestling, which is a mix of sport and theatre.

The couple also runs Community Pro-Wrestling, which brings family-friendly shows to local communities.

They recently acquired the old church and aim to renovate it into a permanent base for the school and a venue for future events.

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You can donate to the fundraiser here: [Fundraiser by David

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is not giving up on bringing the biggest WWE show of the year to the city despite the recent updates that have angered some fans in the United Kingdom.

In July 2024, WWE President Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer Triple H met with the Mayor to discuss a potential UK WrestleMania, which would also be the first time that the Show of Shows would be held outside of North America.

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With WrestleMania 41 confirmed for Las Vegas in April 2025, the earliest show that could take place would be in 2026 as no official announcement has been made. However, with recent reports indicating that New Orleans will be the host city for WrestleMania 42 after previously hosting the event in 2014 and 2018 and Indianapolis is heavily rumoured to host the event in 2027, some fans in the UK have expressed their displeasure that they would have to wait even longer for the biggest show of the year to make its way across the pond. Despite this, according to a follow

Wrestling was in a state of flux in 1987 and Kendo Nagasaki had a slightly faulty vision for how All-Star Wrestling could compete with the glitz and glamour of the WWE.

If one word could describe Joint Promotions’s presentation, it might be ‘traditionalist’. Indeed, its conservative approach saw few real characters, white meat goodies take on black trunk baddies and a heavy focus on the grappling component.

With this in mind, the infamous All-Star Wrestling’s Disco Ladder match, the main event of their first TV slot in 1987, looked positively otherworldly!

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A first for British audiences, it is thought the ladder match was brought over by Nagasaki, who had wrestled in Canada’s Stampede Wrestling at the same time as the first-known ladder match.

In this sense, Britain outdid America, which did not have a nationally televised ladder match until WrestleMania X in 1994.

The ladder match in Britain was more limited, with the wrestlers using a one-sided step ladde

The UK government is being urged to act now to allow British wrestling fans to watch big WWE shows in bars and pubs. WWE's move to Netflix happens on January 1 which will signal an end to “watch parties” across the country, where wrestling lovers gather inside pubs and bars to watch WWE's big monthly Premium Live Events – or PPVs for the older crowd.

And with WWE launching all of its live content on Netflix on January 6, the parties at pubs and bars will end as they are not allowed to show Netflix-streamed content in the way they were allowed to show content on Sky Sports or TNT Sports Box Office in the past.

One of the main organisers of the watch parties, Hooked on Wrestling, announced that their last set of events took place on last month with the Survivor Series War Games event, which saw fans launch a petition in a bid to force WWE to act on the issue.

And now MP Mike Reader – who has taken part in wrestling training in the past and is a diehard wrestling fan – has back

The mysterious masked wrestler wowed fans during the heyday of British wrestling. He was a consistent draw for Joint Promotions and All Star Wrestling and was a mainstay on World of Sport on ITV for decades.

His matches against stars like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks made him a household name, as did his infamous unmasking ceremony on TV in 1977. Millions up and down the country clamoured to see the man behind the mask, although Kendo Nagasaki later put it back on a few years later.

The British legend retired from wrestling numerous times over the years, most recently in 2008. However, he announced later this year that he was returning to the ring one final time to make sixty years since his debut in wrestling, all the way back in 1964.

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Last night at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls, Kendo Nagasaki set foot in the wrestling ring for one final time. Adorned in his traditional cape and carrying the sword gifted to him by Kenshiro Abbe, he wrestled in a six-man tag team match

The rise of All-In Wrestling in the 1930s was the reason for wrestling’s scrutiny in this decade. The sport became increasingly violent as more holds were introduced and fewer restrictions were placed on the wrestlers.

However, due to a lack of a governing body, different promoters saw the “All-In” style as a free-for-all, discarding any restrictions and giving them a license to do whatever they wanted, no matter how brutal and bloody.

This led do weapons being used in professional wrestling for the first in Britain. The matches became less of a sport and more of a spectacle, with less emphasis on the physical skill and talent of the performers. Fans would chant “We Want Blood!”, and objects like stools and water buckets were regularly used. Matches were more like the hardcore-style bouts from ECW than what you’d imagine from the early-20th century.

This change actually caused a boom in the wrestling business, with it becoming more popular than ever. That included women’s w

Our sixth show from 21st February 2024!

now on YouTube for absolutely free.

matches:

• LIZZY EVO v SCOTT OBERMAN
• JACK CRITCHLOW aka CRITCHY v KEMPER
• McCARTHY & MAGINNIS v MADE TO LAST
• ALEXXIS FALCON v HARLEY HUDSON
• SAM BAILEY v MAX BROOKER v TEDDY REAY v ETHAN KELLY
• TROY RYAN v NATHAN BLACK
• LANA AUSTIN v LILY WINTER
• ROB DRAKE v TONY WRIGHT

all filmed and edited by Ant Jones - AJ MEDIA

Saturday 28th December @ Indigo at O2.

Lucha Britannia is a comedy cabaret wrestling show set in an Orwellian near future called the RetroFutureVerse.

“Risqué, Outrageous, and Downright Dangerous!”

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Legendary TV wrestling villain Kendo Nagasaki is planning to sell off his £1.5million, 50-room mansion to fund new LGBTQ+ Zen Buddhism classes - as he also plots a return to the ring aged 82.

The World of Sport superstar - whose real name is Peter Thornley, from Stoke - was famous for his signature 'Kamikaze Crash' slam, and appeared in the ring under the guise of a masked 'Japanese samurai' and mystical sensei.

But decades after his heyday on the nation's screens, he now wants to downsize from his huge Stoke-on-Trent home to Blackpool - where he owns a men-only hotel.

He hopes to teach the Lancashire LGBTQ+ community the art of Zen Buddhism at the seaside town, famed for its illuminations.

And he is even training to return to the sport as a pensioner on the 60th anniversary of his first showing - which would make him the oldest professional wrestler.

Archive (as the original is on the Daily Fail)

I am also legally obliged to include this:

Ahead of AEW All In in London, several fans noticed that local advertisements had also circled the city of London as the destination for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025. This was later confirmed to be the case on the All In pre-show, with a commercial outlining August 24 as the date for the next year's Forbidden Door pay-per-view, and London as the host location.

The specific venue from which Forbidden Door 2025 will emanate was not disclosed, although a few possibilities have emerged. Such possibilities include the O2 Arena, Wembley Arena, and Craven Cottage, home to the Fulham Football Club. The latter building is notably owned by Shahid Khan, the father of AEW President Tony Khan. Ahead of All In, several AEW representatives, including Tony Khan, made a visit to Craven Cottage for Fulham's game against Leicester City.

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With London hosting Forbidden Door next year, the All In pay-per-view series will be momentarily moving away from the United Kingdom and to the city o

A teenager who weighed nearly 30 stones has turned his life around and lost more than a third of his bodyweight thanks to ­professional wrestling.

Kayden Fraser, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was one of Scotland’s most obese children after gaining weight due to bullying which saw him reach 29st.

But the 15-year-old has shed 11st and is healthier and happier since joining Glasgow School of Wrestling in October 2022.

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At Accies’ Stadium show Kayden’s journey reached a pinnacle when he shared the ring with Hornswoggle.

Kayden wrestled in front of 400 people in an eight-man tag-team match.

He has drawn huge ­inspiration from Hornswoggle, who, at just 4ft 4in, spent about 10 years in the WWE as a ­leprechaun-style ­character and overcame his own physical hurdles to achieve success in the ring.

A Liverpool brewery was transformed this week as Atomic Wrestling returned. The independent professional wrestling company has built up a huge following in the city since it staged its very first show at Azvex Brewery last year.

The electrifying sports entertainment action from the best of the North West means the show regularly sells out. Fans once again packed into the taproom on Gibraltar Row on Wednesday to watch the heroes and villains in spandex settle their scores in the most thrilling way imaginable.

"Back to Formula" marked Atomic's return to Azvex after they hosted Snailmania at Futureyard in June. Atomic has now staged nine events and continues to go from strength-to-strength. One of the showrunners spoke to the ECHO last year about why the wrestling has struck a chord with fans.

Chris Welsh said: "Our ethos is to present the best of the North West. A lot of local talent. It all started a few years ago; there was a training school in Maghull, Fighting Spirit Pr

"AEW Collision" talent "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington almost didn't adopt the moniker of his late uncle, the original Dynamite Kid, until a WWE Hall of Famer convinced him. 

On an episode of "AEW Unrestricted," Billington explained it was Bret Hart who convinced him to use the name. He said he had been struggling with the decision before taking Hart's advice, as he didn't want to be perceived as "leeching" off the name. He explained he didn't adopt the "Dynamite Kid" moniker until about two weeks before his AEW debut.

"I always thought, 'I want to make a name for myself,' so for the longest time, I just went by Tom Billington," he explained. "Two weeks before my AEW debut, I was in Bret's house, he told me, 'I really think you should use that 'Dynamite Kid' name as your name, too, because you look so much like him. You talk like him. You even walk like him.' I remind him so much of him. He said it scares him a little bit. At first, I was like, 'I get where you're coming from,

The world of professional wrestling has its newest superstar - a young lad from Wigan with a very familiar name!

And if fans were watching 'Dynamite Kid' Tommy Billington's debut on All Elite Wrestling - the major rival for WWF/WWE - thinking they were seeing double, it was for very reason.

Because Golborne-born Tommy has inherited the nickname from his famous uncle, the original 'Dynamite Kid' Tom Billington - who was one half of the famous ‘British Bulldogs’, alongside cousin Davey Boy Smith.

And 23-year-old Tommy quickly showed he has got to where he is on merit, with a sparkling performance in a fast-paced entertaining match against established star Dax Harwood.

Indeed, Harwood was so impressed with his opponent that, even after securing a narrow victory with a slingshot powerbomb, he left Billington alone in the ring so the live audience could show their appreciation.

Among the impressed fans watching on television was none other than Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart – ‘th

Do you believe in Joe Hendry? From a wrestler's entrance music to beating artists like Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Dasha, it seems yes, the public do believe in Joe Hendry.

The Scottish professional wrestler saw his song 'I Believe in Joe Hendry' reach number four in the official charts, in what he describes as a "series of fortunate random events".

Now the 36-year-old from Edinburgh is considering his next move - whether projecting his face on the Las Vegas Sphere or writing a song for the first minister of Scotland.

Hendry, who is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), was a musician for a decade before becoming a wrestler.

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Hendry not only has the support of the wrestling community, his family have his back too.

Drew Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, is his uncle.

He said: "It’s been cracking to see the wrestling community and the wider public get behind Joe, he’s absolutely deserving of the top spot.