TV wrestling returns after 30-year break
WRESTLING will return to British prime-time television after more than 30 years, ITV has announced.
World of Sport (WoS) made household names of stars such as Big Daddy, Mick McManus and Rollerball Rocco when it kept audiences hooked on Saturday afternoons from 1965 to 1985.
A 10-part series will be filmed before a live audience, and will be aired on Saturday evenings starting in late spring or early summer. It follows a one-off special on ITV on New Year’s Eve. ITV said that the new show, World of Sport Wrestling, “will feature the very best of today’s wrestlers from the current red-hot UK wrestling scene”.
Wrestlers expected to take part include “The East End Butcher” Sha Samuels, Dave Mastiff, and “Viper” Kimberly Benson. The commentary will be done by former WWE commentator Jim Ross, known as Good ol’ JR.
ITV Studios Manchester’s director of entertainment, Tom McLennan, said: “Britain’s wrestling scene is thriving and there has never been a better time to bring it back to ITV.”