People often cite the loss of TV exposure for the demise of British Wrestling , whilst this may be true, another nail in the coffin , was British Wrestling being hi-jacked by the middle class ( and thier love for all things American)

To my mind , Wrestling was always a working class sport, a poor man's boxing.Think about it, the wrestlers came to the ring in robes accompanied by seconds and fought over rounds , but instead of paying £10 or £20 a ticket that the boxing fraternity would pay , we got in for a tanner ( 21/2p new money) and a shilling (5p) would get you ring side.

Another point that backs up my working class theory is the lack of West Indian and African wrestlers and fans nowadays. The West Indian and African immigrants to this country in the 50's and 60's lived amongst the working class and adopted a lot of our entertainment. It was not uncommon to hear "Mash 'im up" when Myers , Kwango etc. took to the ring.

Nowadays you hardly ever see any West Indian or African workers and even less in the crowd. The young Asian guys have taken to wrestling but that just backs up my argument that it has now become middle class.

I never bought into that story about the Royal Family being fans---sure Prince Philip attended a show at the Royal Albert Hall, but I never saw him and Liz at the Stretford Baths or Lewisham Town Hall. And I just can't begin to believe that they settled down on a saturday afternoon with a cup of tea and a sausage and onion sandwich , waiting for Kent to introduce thier favourite 'bounder' . And if they were such fans , how come no one from the wrestling industry ended up on the birthday honours list.? Why? it was working class thats why.

You want more proof? just read any of the wrestling forums " I cant get to the show as I'm studying for my A levels " Blimey we left school without O levels, A levels , we didn't even have a spirit level. We were in the work place at 15. " I hope while I'm at UNI I'll be able to carry on wrestling"----Now I'm not saying the old school were thick but I dont recall to many degrees --because the working calss didn't go to UNI .

Things have changed, the working man is not always working class , attitudes and expectations have changed, and that is a good thing. But along the way British Wrestling's audience simply outgrew it and the middle class filled the void. But of course it wouldn't want to be asscotiated with the 'old school' and sad to say anything British is like a disease to the middle class ---so the American product was embraced with open arms.

But this 'ole boy can feel a change coming-----why? A lot of the Immigrants settling in this country come from countrys were wrestling is , in some cases , a 'national' sport and with thier help I believe we can rest the Grapple game from the clutch's of the middle class .

I hope I have got my point across without offending anyone---except the Americans who are living proof that Natives to that continent made love to buffalo's.( Mods; I cleaned that up)

I for one wouldn't care if I never saw another Lakers t-shirt, another gangsta rap video, another backward facing _base_ball cap or another american wrestling match.

Keep the Faith, Dusty.

Most will agree that with any sport (or indeed live entertainment) being there is so much better than watching it on TV. Being there somehow makes you feel "involved", whereas watching it in TV detaches you from it. You're sat in your armchair. If you need another drink, the kitchen's only a 20 second trip away. If the phone rings, you can turn the sound down a bit so you can still watch while you chat. When ringside, even with the infernal mobiles, you can't hold a decent conversation. If you're thirsty you grin and bare it until the end of the match, because you don't know what your going to miss.
Without the atmosphere, watching a flickering box in the corner is never going to generate the same enthusiasm as making it a social event. TV means you're looking at a 16"x20" flat picture. A show means it's there, living and breathing in front, and if you're close enough, all around you.

Perhaps taking TV coverage for granted did the damage?

I for one wouldn't care if I never saw another Lakers t-shirt, another gangsta rap video, another backward facing _base_ball cap or another american wrestling match.

Keep the Faith, Dusty.

So old boy i take it you dont want 2 come with me to philly in september.
Hang out in the ghetto playing rap music having a game of bball then after all is done we can sit down and have a nice cup of tea. :drinking:

I never bought into that story about the Royal Family being fans---sure Prince Philip attended a show at the Royal Albert Hall, but I never saw him and Liz at the Stretford Baths or Lewisham Town Hall. And I just can't begin to believe that they settled down on a saturday afternoon with a cup of tea and a sausage and onion sandwich , waiting for Kent to introduce their favourite 'bounder'

Why ever not??? British Wrestling actually attracted quite a wide social spread of fans - unlike the USA where it was seen as declassé dumbcore entertainment for the Great American Unwashed.)

Athol Oakley, who helped set up the UK wrestling biz in the 30s, came from an aristocratic upbringing.

I, for one, come from a very nice background (both parents senior doctors, my mum's parents a barrister & schoolteacher, dad's parents owned tailoring business, nice detached house in Chigwell, Essex and later Dulwich, South London) and not so long ago inherited enough funds from my grandmother to cash-purchase a really gorgeous house in Coundon, a nice leafy suburb of Coventry. But that never stopped me from being a dedicated fan of the sport from as soon as I was old enough to make sense of what appeared on a TV screen (about age 2 - circa '76.)

Anyway, the industrial working class as the traditional Left knew and loved it, has largely ceased to exist in the UK and has been largely been replaced by an underclass either grimly dependent on state handouts or else ekeing out a minimum wage living in the service sector.

To my mind , Wrestling was always a working class sport, a poor man's boxing.Think about it, the wrestlers came to the ring in robes accompanied by seconds and fought over rounds , but instead of paying £10 or £20 a ticket that the boxing fraternity would pay , we got in for a tanner ( 21/2p new money) and a shilling (5p) would get you ring side.

Though then, and even now, boxing is more a sport attended by the working-class-made-good.

Another point that backs up my working class theory is the lack of West Indian and African wrestlers and fans nowadays. The West Indian and African immigrants to this country in the 50's and 60's lived amongst the working class and adopted a lot of our entertainment. It was not uncommon to hear "Mash 'im up" when Myers , Kwango etc. took to the ring.

The country is far more cosmopolitan and interbred now; there are plenty of non-caucasion wrestlers (including Jodie Fleish, who is one of the top draws in the country), it's just not so split down into 'country of origin', as they are now born British.

You want more proof? just read any of the wrestling forums " I cant get to the show as I'm studying for my A levels " Blimey we left school without O levels, A levels , we didn't even have a spirit level. We were in the work place at 15. " I hope while I'm at UNI I'll be able to carry on wrestling"----Now I'm not saying the old school were thick but I dont recall to many degrees --because the working calss didn't go to UNI .

Though that study is fundamentally skewed as it focuses not on the typical wrestling fan, but the typical wrestling fan with internet access.

On a related note, when I went to visit my parents recently, I took some old British tapes I got from traders and watched some with my Dad. We got through Adrian Street, Les Kellet and Kendo Nagasaki, accepting it for the theatre it was, until we got to a bout between Johnny South and Ray Steele, in which neither man played to the crowd, broke the rules or did anything other than solid, fundamental mat wrestling. As we watched the bout unfold my Dad, who is as cynical as they come and definitely middle class, refused to believe that that particular match was as worked and predetermined as the others. Perhaps I'll show him some Japanese shoot-_style_ next time I'm down there, see what he makes of that.

As for the Americans, wrestling was traditionally marketed to white trash lower class elements, the sort who were easier to 'program' into believing the storylines, characters and actions were real; check out tapes of any old-school American Indie to get the point. I recently found an old mid-south IWA tape in a charity shop, the words 'utter' and 'bilge' I think sums it up nicely. But it does provide a good insight into the sweatbox idiot targetting that was the norm, and why Dave Meltzer, Paul Heyman, ECW and the birth of the Smart Mark HAD to happen.