Joint Promotions were the biggest company in the history of British professional wrestling. This conglomeration of promotions created a monopoly in the UK that reigned for three decades.
Their underhanded tactics copied the National Wrestling Alliance from the US, creating a closed shop in British wrestling that few could live without.
In 1952, six promotions came together to formm Joint Promotions, which helped explode the popularity of wrestling in the UK throughout the 20th century.
The Stage Was Set For Joint Promotions To Form With The Mountevans Rules In
In the decades before Joint Promotions was founded, professional wrestling in the United Kingdom was a bit of a mess. All-In wrestling had taken over as the sport became an outlaw, free-for-all battle to see who could put on the most violent product.
You can read a more in-depth explanation of the violent All-In Wrestling by clicking the link.
Wrestling was even banned in London during the Second World War, as it became more bloody and violent with each passing show. It wouldn’t be until the creation of the Mountevans Committee that codified the rules of professional wrestling that it became a respected sport again.
These Mountevans Rules changed the way wrestling was seen forever, so click the link to find out more about how that came to be.
One of the most significant moments in British wrestling history was when, in 1948, Dale Martin Promotions became a limited company. Jack, Johnny and Billy Abbey, who wrestled under the surname “Dale”, joined forces with Les Martin to create the London-based wrestling company.
Once this was in place, the stage was set for the top promotions to join together to create the alliance known as Joint Promotions.
Joint Promotions Was Created In 1952
In 1952, Joint Promotions was created when a number of wrestling promoters decided to join forces, in order to thrive in business.
The alliance was based on the National Wrestling Alliance in the United States, following their incredible success into the 1950s. The alliance had six promoters all working together across England and Scotland. They represented different areas of the country, keeping a stranglehold over the wrestling business.
These six promotions were:
- Best/Wytron Promotions (Midlands/Lancashire)
- Dale Martin Promotions (London)
- Morrell/Beresford Promotions (North)
- Paul Lincoln Management (South)
- Relwyskow and Green Promotions (Scotland)
- Woodhouse/Jack Atherton Promotions (Midlands)
The goal of the six promoters was to keep the wrestlers in line and take away their bargaining power. They all agreed to not poach each other’s talent and not run a show within ten miles of each other.
This made sure there was no conflict of interest and kept the crowds excited to see their local promotion. The Joint Promotions gang also agreed that if a wrestler “no-showed” one of their shows, his booking would be cancelled for the rest of the promotions.
They even made sure to ban a wrestler from working for any of the promotions if he worked outside of the Joint Promotion bubble. This made sure that no other shows were able to use the stars to sell tickets and kept the six members strong.
Another crucial aspect of the alliance was controlling who the champions were. The Mountevans Rules stipulated that wrestling should be divided into weight classes. In turn, these weight classes had multiple champions of their own.
European, Commonwealth, Scottish, Welsh, and area championships made sure that there were no shortage of title bouts for the promoters. At its height, there were over 70 champions for Joint Promotions to manage, and it all got a bit much.
They Quickly Created A Monopoly In England & Scotland
Joint Promotions quickly hoovered up all the top talent in the country. The rules of the alliance dictated that promotions could share talents between themselves.
However, anyone who didn’t sign with one promotion was banned from appearing for the rest. As they forced more and more wrestlers to sign with Joint Promotions, or else be unable to feed their family, their influence grew.
Soon, Joint Promotions were effectively the only game in town. This was in big part due to the post-war tax on entertainment revenue. Companies were taxed 25% on their takings, which caused numerous wrestling promotions to go under.
Due to the tight-knit promotions, they were able to weather the storm by offering wrestlers less and less money in order to stay afloat. Wrestlers couldn’t afford to turn down Dale Martin and company, so were forced to work for Joint Promotions and keep them in business.
Adrian Street told Simon Garfield that he was originally paid £5 a match by Dale Martin’s, which soon dropped to £4 without notice. He even had to pay the promotion 10% back for a manager that he was forced to have.
If you think “That sounds an awful lot like a monopoly”, then you’re correct. However, they managed to get away with it for decades. While other monopolies had been broken up, Joint Promotions always managed to weather the storm.
“We were threatened by the Monopolies Commission a number of times.” Joint Promotions’ Bill Abbey said in The Wrestler.”But we always fought it off because it was never worth their while doing anything. It was probably illegal but we stuck to ut and that was that. Everyone hated us for it, especially the wrestlers.”
Soon, Joint Promotions were the only real game in town. The only other major promotion, the British Wrestling Alliance shut its doors in 1954, with the pioneering Sir Atholl Oakley leaving the business for good.
This meant that when the entertainment tax was abolished in 1957, Joint Promotions were the only ones left to take advantage of the immediate 25% bump in revenue. This set them up as the biggest game in town, with huge incomes and unparalleled control over the wrestling industry in the company.
There was even a wrestler’s strike, which created the Wrestlers’ Welfare Society for the workers. However, this did little to break up the monopoly that Joint Promotions had created.
The company quickly grew. It began promoting matches on the day of the FA Cup Final, before getting a permanent spot at 4 pm on World of Sport on Saturdays, starting in 1965.
Big Daddy Helped Joint Promotions Become A Household Name
Shirley “Big Daddy” Crabtree came out of retirement to wrestle for Joint Promotions at the age of 42, joining his brother Max Crabtree’s promotion.
He originally came in as a villain (a heel), in a gigantic tag team alongside Giant Haystacks. However, his biggest success would be when he faced off against his long-time nemesis.
After turning on Giant Haystacks, he took on the persona of a “John Bull” character, as the archetypal British hero. Big Daddy walked to the ring in a top hat and Union Jack wrapped around his shoulders.
He was one of the few stars with their own entrance music, stomping to the ring surrounded by local children as The Titanic Survivors’ “We Shall Not Be Moved” blared through the wrestling halls.
A rumoured 20 million people saw his titanic clash with Giant Haystacks at Wembley Arena in 1981, which marked the absolute peak of British wrestling. He also feuded with Kendo Nagasaki during his career. Big Daddy unmasked Kendo Nagasaki for the first time in the faux-Japanese wrestler’s career.
Joint Promotions Went Into Decline After World of Sport Was Cancelled In 1985
Two cancellations caused the end to the boom period of British Wrestling. The first was in 1985, when World of Sport was cancelled, while the second was in 1988 when wrestling itself was thrown off the air by then-ITV boss Greg Dyke.
The writing had been on the wall since April that year. Despite regularly pulling in a reported 8 million viewers a week, ITV moved the wrestling slot on World of Sport.
It had been at 4 pm on the dot for the past 20 years. However, they decided to move it around the program, until settling at a lunchtime slot in August 1985. Max Crabtree also bought the promotion in 1986, but it was too late to save the company.
Most people in those days worked a half day on Saturday. The working-class men had no option but to miss the wrestling, which instantly cut their viewership in half overnight.
In October, World of Sport was axed. The wrestling would have its own program for another three years before finally being given the chop in 1988.
It is true that the product had issues. It was a tired old show and had changed very little since its debut 23 years ago. Big Daddy was still a huge star, and lumbered on as best he could. However, his health was declining, and he could barely move around the ring.
Coupled with big stars like Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith making it in America, there seemed little potential in the British wrestling scene any more.
The show was renamed Ring Wrestling Stars in 1991 but carried on business as usual. Big Daddy was still the star, and even into his sixties was promoted in main event bouts.
However, his matches got worse and worse. By the end he was barely mobile, only entering the ring to his his Big Daddy splash and get out of there. It was a sad state of affairs, and it was almost a mercy when he retired from wrestling in December 1993.
Following the loss of Britain’s biggest-ever wrestling star, Max Crabtree soldiered on. In Big Daddy’s place, he recruited Davey Boy Smith to be the new face of British wrestling.
Smith was better known as The British Bulldog. His work in the WWF made him a household name, and he was one of the world’s most famous wrestlers. He famously main evented Summerslam 1992, where 78,000 fans crammed into Wembley Stadium to watch him beat Bret Hart for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
This was around 70 times the amount of fans who attended Big Daddy’s final outing in Margate the following year.
Davey Boy Smith only became available in 1994 due to being fired by WCW. This didn’t tarnish his popularity too much, and he quickly embarked on a tour of the UK with Ring Wrestling Stars.
Joint Promotions Finally Closed Its Doors In 1995
After years of the business going down the tube, Joint Promotions (as Ring Wrestling Stars) finally closed their doors.
While British Bulldog had been a success in his role as the new Big Daddy, his run didn’t last long. Davey Boy Smith returned to the US in the summer of 1994, leaving RWS with no top star to hang their hat on.
The company also struggled to adapt to the changing market. Fans wanted more modern, American-style wrestling, growing tired of the old-fashioned British style.
They wanted something new and exciting, and Max Crabtree’s promotion just couldn’t bring that to them. The lack of television didn’t help either. Being cancelled in 1988 meant that they lost a huge chunk of the audience, one that British wrestling would never, ever get back.
It wasn’t just the former Joint Promotions that was struggling. WCW pulled out of the UK after their 1994 Hulkamania tour, not returning to TV until 1999.
The WWF was only shown on Sky, while Reslo on S4C was cancelled too. There was no wrestling on terrestrial television for the average punter, as interest in the sport waned.
In 1995, they called it a day. The company formerly known as Joint Promotions closed its doors for the final time.
Max Crabtree and company left the business in a far worse state than they found it. Wrestling was a dirty word in Britain, and no longer drew in the millions of fans who used to love it.
The monopoly killed off numerous budding promotions and ended the careers of countless talented wrestlers who could not afford to perform outside of the Joint Promotion bubble.
They took the business to new heights but never could have predicted the incredible lows it would leave it in. Was wrestling a better place for the creation of Joint Promotions? That is a complicated question, with an answer that is even more complicated.
