The United Kingdom has a long association with wrestling, which dates back the old World of Sport days where the likes of Giant Haystacks, Big Daddy, Mick McManus, Kendo Nagasaki and Rollerball Rocco turned out and entertained fans up and down the country.
The buzz was huge, so much so that for a period, wrestling was an integral part of the FA Cup final coverage. But as times have changed, American wrestling took centre stage and the British scene was left behind.
That is until now, where the British wrestling scene has been revitalised with the presence of a host of great in-ring performers and characters as well as excellent platforms from various promotions. theSPORTBible caught up with three of British wrestling's most promising talents: Dan Moloney, 19, Tyler Bate, 19 and Pete Dunne, 22.
The trio, all hailing from the Midlands, are currently featured on Pennsylvania-based promotion CHIKARA's 2016 UK tour having served as the opening acts in last year's tour. 19-year old grappler Dan Moloney believes that the British scene has come on leaps and bounds in recent times, prompting CHIKARA to give wrestlers like him such a platform.
He said:
"It's been on its way up for a couple of years now but I think between last year and this year people have made a lot of strides, there's a lot more focus on the British wrestling scene. I think they [CHIKARA] would miss a trick not having us [British wrestlers] integrated into their main shows. I don't think there's been a boom period like this, I've been watching British wrestling now for about ten years and I don't think the scene has been healthier than it is now for as long as I've been aware of it."
CHIKARA has a reputation for being lucha-based with cartoon elements, whereas the British performers are known for their hard-hitting style in the ring. Pete Dunne, nicknamed "The Brummie Bruiserweight" enjoys both the dynamic it brings, as well as the chance to do something so different. The 22-year old echoed the thoughts of his compatriot Dan when talking about British wrestling.
"I'm really enjoying my time on the CHIKARA tour, it's always great to be a part of such a unique product. I'm a huge fan of the style and it was always a goal of mine to eventually be a part of it - which I've been lucky enough to do on quite a few occasions now both abroad and at home. I love all forms of wrestling, any chance to do something out of the ordinary I'll always jump at as no matter how much you love something the more often you do it you'll settle in to routine.
There are more eyes on British wrestling now than ever and I'd go as far as to say in terms of independent wrestling there's more eyes on British wrestling than the states or at least it's heading in that direction. It's amazing that a little place like the UK is being held in such high regard. I completely understand why as the talent pool is so strong here right now."
The third man in the mix is 19-year old Tyler Bate, who has been wrestling full-time since the back end of September. He says the rise of British wrestling has led to huge improvements in attendances at shows.
"I think it [The British wrestling scene] has improved a lot in the past few years. I remember even when got into it, which wasn't very long ago, shows were only drawing maybe fifty people - a regular show anyway. But now most shows are drawing anywhere from one-hundred to three-thousand maybe. I think wrestling is becoming more of a hipster trend now more than anything, I think it's just becoming sort of like a pop culture whereas it used to be really uncool to like wrestling."
Fight Club PRO, one of the UK's most prominent promotions had three of their wrestlers turn out at CHIKARA's 2015 King of Trios tournament. Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn, Neville, Asuka, Luke Harper, AJ Styles, Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann have all wrestled for the company. Dan Moloney is also on that list and he acknowledges just how big an achievement that is.
"I'd still class it as the biggest achievement in my career up to now, I'd never even left the country before, I'd never been on a plane so to go over there and for that purpose, it was great and to do as well as we did - we didn't expect to get the reaction we got. On night one, I think of all the teams there no-one really knew who we were, there was maybe one per cent of people in the crowd who were privy to us and had a clue who we were but after night one we picked up and we were a pretty over team, especially by the third night where we got to wrestle the Bullet Club. I think we did ourselves justice and it's still my biggest accomplishment in wrestling."
22-year old Dunne hit the headlines recently having been featured on WWE.com following a qualifying match in the inagrual Cruiserweight Classic tournament, with Brits Zack Sabre Jr, Jack Gallagher and Noam Dar part of the 32-man tournament. Dunne's match with fellow Gallagher amassed nearly 200,000 views on WWE's Youtube channel.
"That was something I'm extremely proud and grateful to be a part of. For a British company to be featured on WWE.com is a testament to how much the scene has changed in the last few years and massive props to Rev Pro and Progress for making it happen. It's very humbling to be chosen to represent Progress and the UK in general in front of such a huge worldwide audience.
I think regardless of the result it will be huge for British wrestling. That kind of exposure is invaluable to those guys and the scene in general. I think wins and losses are generally less important now but having a large variety of different wrestlers and styles is what will draw new eyes in. With that said obviously I'd love to see one of the three of them win the whole thing of course!"
In addition, Tyler Bate at 19 has over 200 matches under his belt. Hailing from Dudley in England, he started wrestling close to home but as his stock began to rise, branched out to the big British promotions before wrestling internationally in countries such as Germany and Australia.
"I took my first steps into wrestling when I was 14, I started training at the AWW academy with a man called Kevin O'Neil. They were running a training centre maybe a mile from my house, which is really ideal. So that's where I started out, but then I started branching out to other promotions and talking to different people; getting their ideas and views on wrestling as a whole. I went to as many different training seminars with as many different bigger names that knew what they were doing and that's how I began to really progress with wrestling."
All three prodigies have been wrestling fans from an early age, which is often the case for anyone who gets into the business.
"I actually can't remember a time in my life where I wasn't a wrestling fan." Said Dan.
"I can't remember anything before that. But I can tell you the wrestler that properly got my interest and it was Kane. I was a huge fan of Kane because back then he had his mask and his follow body suit - I liked the fact that he was like a horror movie character and that just appealed to me. I always used to watch it with my uncle and my grandad and most of the time I'd just stick and watch Kane's match and then I'd leave and I'd just drift in and out of the room. I think Kane is what got me properly hooked on it."
Dan's friend but sometimes foe Tyler Bate was also captivated by the big red machine in his younger days.
"I actually got into wrestling from playing the Playstation games, I had no idea that wrestling was a real thing that existed and then I played the games. I actually fell in love with Kane, of all people. Kane was the guy that got me into wrestling the most, which is weird because I don't resemble Kane in any way with my wrestling. But he was just a larger than life character that I'd never seen before."
However Pete Dunne had a slightly different route, starting with WWE but his obsession quickly turning elsewhere.
"I was the world's biggest wrestling fan growing up, I started with WWE like most kids do but by the age of ten I knew everything about independent wrestling, Japanese wrestling etc. I'd say my biggest influences came from ROH and the X-division in the early days of TNA. AJ Styles, Low-Ki, Amazing Red - I was hooked on that style of wrestling."
The beauty of wrestling is that there are so many types of characters and as a wrestler, it's important to find your identity and stand out from the crowd, while being wary about over-doing it. That's what "The Superbeast" Dan Moloney, an avid grime fan, has done.
"I've been wrestling on the British scene for about three years and I think only now I'm starting to discover a little niche for myself and it comes to some quicker than others. Someone like Tyler Bate picked up pretty quickly something they could establish and run with and he's done well with it. For me it was just a case of finding out what works and not making it too over-the-top and gimmicky, but I started coming out to 'Pow' by Lethal Bizzle at Fight Club. I'm a big fan of the grime scene, I grew up in more of a council estate area where all the kids were listening to grime and a lot of the gyms we go to play grime. It's quite a big thing where I'm from."
Tyler Bate's entrance is very different, instead he comes out to the crowd-pleasing Peter Gabriel hit "Sledgehammer". He also has another entrance up his sleeve, when teaming up with regular partner Trent Seven - entering the fray as if they were characters from the Peaky Blinders show. He explains the thinking behind both entrances.
"It's quite an infectious song - I've always been into music like that. I actually chose it because I'm a big Antonio Cesaro fan and he used to use Sledghammer before he got signed to the WWE, when he used it on the Indies and that was more the inspiration towards it.
"Me and Trent look like characters from Peaky Blinders show, it was his idea and we just rolled with it. People seem to enjoy it but personally I've never watched Peaky Blinders."
It took longer for Pete Dunne to find his true character, as solid as his in-ring work was. But he has gone that extra mile to get the audience engaged and that has a lot to do with his choice of haircut, with regular "top knot w**ker" chants.
"I always felt I didn't stand out or wasn't unique enough. I always had high praise from my peers about my in ring work but something just didn't click with a lot of audiences. Part of hitting my stride in the last six months was creating an image that worked. I wanted to create an image that when I walk out of the curtain people will instantly dislike. I completely changed my look and somewhere along the way adopted a top knot which apparently wrestling fans despise!"
Wrestlers always have their preferred opponents, the ones who bring the best out of them and help create magic in the squared circle. When asked about his favourite opponents, Dan picked someone close to home and also mentioned another man who will be competing in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic.
"I would say my favourite opponent is going to have to be Tyler Bate. We came up at the same time, we trained together, we debuted properly on the same day against each other and I don't think I have better chemistry with anyone other than Tyler. We've got a few heated feuds going on in the British scene but outside of it, we're pretty good friends. Another one who always brings it of me is Drew Gulak, who's on the tour at the minute. I like his intensity, if you don't step up your game with Drew he's going to leave you behind so I always like wrestling Drew because he makes me push that bit harder and perform that bit better."
Pete also put forward his fellow Midlander but also spoke highly of two of the world's very best high flyers.
"Will Ospreay is one of my favourite opponents. He and Mark Andrews are two of my favourites, it's the perfect clash of styles for me! Also a shout out to Tyler Bate who is ridiculously good, I feel we have great chemistry in the ring. The list goes on and on though, so many talented people around, no wonder the scene is flourishing!"
Tyler returned the favour though, as well as picking out respected indy veteran Chris Hero, with whom he had an Ironman match with in August 2015.
"I've enjoyed working with Doug Williams, he's one person. We've had two bouts, the later one was the better one because the first one was so early and I didn't really know much about wrestling. But another guy was Chris Hero, we did a thirty minute Ironman match which turned out to be more like forty minutes (laughs). I enjoy working with Chris Bookes and Pete Dunne also, they're both really fun to wrestle."
The ultimate goal for an independent wrestler is to get to the so-called "big leagues" and make it in the WWE. But there are alternatives. British aerial whizkid Will Ospreay has been tearing it up in Japan since signing with New Japan Pro Wrestling. A few years younger, Dan Moloney is enjoying the ride and though wrestling in the British scene is enjoyable, a contract is what he wants.
"I'm never content with just staying where I am, I always want to go somewhere better and do something better. My goal going into wrestling was always to get a big-time contract but I'm lucky I got into it at the age I did, I'm still pretty young; I'm 19, I've still got a good few years ahead of me to secure something like that . I'm still striving for it but it's still a case of just trying to have good matches and do the best in the spot I'm in until I get onto something bigger hopefully."
The aforementioned Will Ospreay has been one of many vocal supporters of Pete Dunne, even going as far as saying if Dunne isn't in New Japan's Best of Super Juniors tournament next year, he will "quit wrestling"
"First of all I am so grateful to have friends like Will in wrestling. He's going out of his way and publicly pushing my name forward after having only a few matches there himself which I'll always be so grateful for even if nothing ever comes of it. I don't know what the future holds but I will say that it's a huge goal of mine to get to New Japan. I love the Japanese style of wrestling and have first-hand experience with Michinoku Pro who I owe massively for teaching me the correct way to do things in the ring. It's been a goal of mine since then to return to Japan and I would jump at the opportunity. Revolution Pro have done an amazing job of building a relationship with New Japan and with the popularity of British wrestling rising I'd hope that it's a matter of time before we saw more Brits going abroad (both to Japan and state side)."
Tyler Bate possesses the same mindset, noting that while you can make a living from purely wrestling in the UK, it's difficult and the ideal scenario would be to sign a contract with any of the big companies.
"It's difficult for obvious reasons. It's not like a well-off living but you can making a living in the British scene, there are quite a few people that are doing it. The main goal is to be making a good living out of wrestling and Will Ospreay seems to be doing that right now. It would be great to be signed by any major company really: New Japan, TNA or WWE. For now I'm just enjoying the steady climb."
Words by Josh Lawless
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Featured Image Credit:Topics: Pete Dunne, Wrestling, WWE