Watching World of Sport on TWC and noting material on ITV website I have been reminded that each Saturday the first and third matches on ITV tended to be 1 fall contests.
I know that single fall matches today tend to be the rule, probably due to the influence of American wrestling.
My memories of attending live shows during the World of Sport era was that two fall contests were the standard, with one fall matches the exception.
I can see that one fall matches were very useful on televised bills as a way of fitting matches into the 12 - 15 mins allocated to each match on TV.
Were one fall matches mainly a TV device or did they have a wider history and usage during the 1970's and 1980's?

Watching World of Sport on TWC and noting material on ITV website I have been reminded that each Saturday the first and third matches on ITV tended to be 1 fall contests.
I know that single fall matches today tend to be the rule, probably due to the influence of American wrestling.
My memories of attending live shows during the World of Sport era was that two fall contests were the standard, with one fall matches the exception.
I can see that one fall matches were very useful on televised bills as a way of fitting matches into the 12 - 15 mins allocated to each match on TV.
Were one fall matches mainly a TV device or did they have a wider history and usage during the 1970's and 1980's?

Like a lot of things in British Wrestling culture, it was a throwback to how things were in America pre-WW2.

Serious matches were best-of-three falls, quickie warmups were one fall to a finish. That's how it was in America in the 20s/30s and that's how it was in World Of Sport-era British wrestling.

Even in the 50s/60s/70s major NWA World _title_ matches were often best of three falls. Indeed the case for the WWWF/WWF/WWE _title_ rested on the claim that Rogers vs Thesz 24-Jan-63 @ Toronto was, or should have been, a best of three falls bout and that Thesz, after securing the opeining fall, illegally laid claim to the _title_ and left the ring with the backing of all officials present. Ironically, every subsequent WWF _title_ change until the Royal Rumble in Jan '92 was in a one-fall match.

The pattern of the 3 bouts in the 70s is one thing that also surprised me having seen WOS from 1981 on originally by which time most contests were 2 falls and the bouts of 6x5 minute and 8x5 minute rounds were now mixed with 8x3 minutes round contests and ones with say 20 minutes time duaration.

I had wondered about the reason for the change from somewhere late 70s/early 80s. We've also seen _title_ bouts like the Breaks v Faulkner one from 1977 that was over 5 minute rounds

Thanks guys.
On the connected point which Martin raised, I quite liked the 3 minute rounds when it it was in _title_ matches over 12 or 15 rounds. It seemed to give an extra edge to the match when the competitors only had 3 minutes to swing things their way and get the all important fall or submission. Often they seemed to be battling the clock as well as their opponent.
I have never understood the idea of 4 x 10 minute rounds, but I haven't actually seen many, if any, matches in that format. I don't recall if any of the matches on TWC have been 4 x 10 minute rounds?

Hello Kid
No TWC has never shown andy 4 x 10 min rounds and in fact since I started watching TV wrestling (1972) I ave never seen a 4 x 10 min round bout...
They seemed common down south in the 70's and before.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, ten-minute rounds were the usual format on all Dale Martin live shows around the halls. We all hated them and nobody has yet explained the promoter’s logic in giving us this format.

One fall matches were only shown on live shows where they had a “Big Show” with more than the usual 4 matches. At halls like the RAH, Fairfield Hall Croydon, and Colston Hall Bristol, etc. Where they had a five match (or more) format the lesser match(s) were usually decided by the single fall.