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We have multiple entries under the name Wordwide Promotions
Worldwide Promotions (Northern Ireland)
Promoting in Northern Ireland from 1946 until 1957, using a combination of Irish and British wrestlers. In October 1949 the Derry Journal reported that the man behind Worldwide Promotions was Jack McClelland, who wrestled professionally as Jack Raymond. Worldwide Promotions worked in conjunction with the main British promoters, the B.W.P.A. .up to 1952, and from 1952 Joint Promotions (which were effectively the same group)
Read our tribute to Jack Raymond
Worldwide Promotions (Birmingham)
Gordon Corbett is another of those often overlooked important men of British wrestling. He was a mainstay of the independent circuit of the 1960s, and did work for Joint Promotions at times. Gordon, ably assisted by wife and business partner, Elaine, went on to promote under the Worldwide Promotions banner from his Birmingham base. Elaine would often officiate as Master of Ceremonies on their wrestling shows.
Heritage member Graham Brook remembers:
“I recall hiring a ring from Gordon and Elaine back in 1981 when was staging a show at Hilltop British Legion. Elaine was very businesslike and quietly spoken so it was a real surprise when I saw her again a couple of weeks later, at a Max Crabtree promotion, just down the road at The Gala Baths, West Bromwich, as Barrington with Gordon Corbett bonneted up as The Exorcist. She was the total extrovert and gained tremendous crowd heat.”
Read our tribute to Gordon Corbett
Worldwide Promotions (Gillingham)
1970s promoter who was a member of the British Wrestling Alliance.
See also British Wrestling Alliance
Worldwide Promotions (St Annes)
Dave Shillitoe was Bobby Barron, a charismatic Blackpool heavyweight. He is another of those rarely applauded heroes to whom so many wrestlers have acknowledged their gratitude. In the 1970s Barron took over from where Dominic Pye had left off, training and promoting young professionals throughout the North. He held the contract for Pontin’s holiday camps.
Apart from running regular tournaments Bobby was one of the last in the country to stage challenge matches. Wrestler Tony Francis takes up the story:
“I think it was 1978, Bobby Barron and I were partners in promoting wrestling shows at Blackpool Pleasure beach every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. These were regular wrestling shows, and it was a struggle to get enough customers in to cover the expenses. Then one day Bobby booked Abe Ginsberg to wrestle and from then on everything changed! Ginsy more or less took over, and turned the show into a wrestling booth with himself doing the spieling.I remember the very first time, the Horseshoe Bar, which held about 500, was full within 30 minutes. The atmosphere was electric, that’s how it all started.
Many stars of the future would pay their dues, week in week, week out,and soon we were running two or three shows a day. Just imagine the parade of wrestlers standing awaiting challengers: Quasimodo (Dave Duran), The Monster (Jim Green), Apache Pricess (Mrs Barron), Pedro the Gypsy, Harry the Dwarf, Masked Destroyer (me, Tony Francis) and various other midgets freaks and clowns. All introduced to the hundreds in the crowd by Abe Ginsberg, resplendent in white slacks, scarlet shirt and straw boater, cane in hand enticing the challengers and filling the hall. Halcyon days indeed!”
The list of wrestlers with kind words to say about Bobby is a long one…Steve Regal, Steve Fury, Klondyke Kate, Steve Peacock, Dave Duran and more. Bobby Barron made a huge contribution to British wrestling, largely unrecognised by those who only had eyes for the Joint Promotion shows.
Read our tribute to Bobby Barron
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