By Andrew Joyce, PWTorch Specialist

Welcome to UK World, an appreciation of the wonderful world of wrestling from over the water.

Wade has asked me to provide you with an appreciation of the world as it is now, and a retro of the world as it was here, back in the days of TV coverage, when wrestling was amazingly popular.

A brief history of wrestling in the UK shows that the modern era began about 1948, with the adoption of the Lord Mountevans rules which lifted wrestling out of the blood and gore years and made it a popular spectacle.

TV started showing wrestling in 1955, and, like Topsy, it grew.

And with TV came the stars. The names that everyone knew. Mick McManus, Jackie Pallo, Les Kellett. More on them in weeks to come.

But hard times were ahead. In the mid-to-late-'70s all the promoters cashed in their pension funds and sold out. Wrestling went corporate and lost its way. Enter Big Daddy. I am likely to write a lot on Big Daddy in times to come. Just know, he was, originally, about 20 stone. Early views show the wrestler he once was, but over the '80s he piled on weight, and just became a fat man with two moves. The "Belly Butt" and the "Splash."

So, let's do a "25 Years ago" retrospective.

I have chosen a card from Brighton in August 1983.

Mal Sanders defeated Andy Blair
Big Daddy & Pat Patton defeated Scrubber Daley & Lucky Gordon
Sid Cooper defeated Clive Myers
Steve Grey defeated Bobby Barnes
Sid Cooper defeated Steve Grey

Mal Sanders was the golden boy of the period. Given a European belt when just 19, he could do no wrong. Andy Blair was a welterweight jobber. Nuff said.

The usual Daddy match. Daddy with a plucky lightweight versus two big nasty guys. Lightweight gets beaten up for seven minutes and pinned. Enter Daddy. Belly Butt. Equalizer. Splash. Winner. Note this formula.

Sid Cooper was a class act as a heel. Known as Cyanide Sid he made people hate him just by walking to the ring. Clive Myers was a plucky welterweight, soon to be given a gimmick. Steve Grey was the class face. Wrestling since he was 16, he was everyone's favourite son. Bobby Barnes was Adrian Street's old tag partner, and was still doing the "pretty boy" image. Shock, horror, a heel wins the final. But Sid would have made it look sooooo good.

Wrestling lost the TV link in 1988, and we have been fighting back ever since...

And a quick look around at now.

Americans in town.

Billy Gunn, Daiviri, Scotty 2 Hotty.

Billy and Daiviri appeared for VPW, a promotion I have some involvement in.

Scotty did a minor tour a few weeks ago.

Brian Danielson did some work for Brian Dixon, but it's quiet at the min.

Otherwise it's fairly silent, Martin Stone continues to top bills, Robbie Brookside and Doug Williams are doing occasional appearances, and a whole slew of new faces have appeared in the North.

I will do an appreciation of the 2000s shortly.

I hope you have found this vaguely informative. If there are particular areas you want me to explore, let me know.

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