British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship

The British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship was one of the first Heavyweight professional wrestling championships in the United Kingdom and Australia[1][2]

British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship
Details
PromotionJoint Promotions
British Wrestling Federation
All Star Wrestling
Statistics
First champion(s)Scotty McDougall
Final champion(s)Count Bartelli

The championship was recognised and defended on matches screened by UK national television network ITV as part of the professional wrestling slot on World of Sport as well as standalone broadcasts.[3] Pre-publicity for these championship match broadcasts was given in ITV's nationally published listings magazine TVTimes[4] The retirement of final champion Count Bartelli in 1986 received coverage from sources such as ITN.[5]

Title history

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Wrestler: Times: Date won: Location: Notes:
Scotty McDougall 1 29/07/20 Newcastle, New South Wales
Billy Meeske 1 1931 New South Wales
Douglas Clark 1 1936
Tom Lurich 1 36/05/30 Sydney
George Pencheff 1 37/07/22 Melbourne
Alan Muir 1 38/02/24 Holds both British and British Empire Titles as of 38/02/24
Earl McCready 1 38/08/23 Melbourne George Clark vs George Pencheff on 38/12/13 in Castleford, GBR (champion unknown)
Bill Verna 1 Melbourne
Geoff Portz 1 1959 Newcastle, New South Wales
Vic Stewart 1 Brisbane, Queensland
Ray Hunter 2 Brisbane, Queensland
Allen Garfield 1 New South Wales
Ray Hunter 3 Sydney
Don Steadman 1 64/03/04 London
Ray Hunter 3 64/10/14 London
Laurie Boyd 1 New South Wales
Count Bartelli 1 1969 Adelaide, South Australia
George Gordienko 1 1971 Newcastle, New South Wales
Albert Wall 1 72/01/08 Hanley, Staffordshire
Count Bartelli 2 72/09/02 Hanley, Staffordshire
Hans Streiger 1 1981 Liverpool
Count Bartelli 3 1981 Melbourne Title retired on 86/01/18 when Bartelli retires

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "British Empire Heavyweight Title".
  2. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Title". Wrestlingdata.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Count Bartelli successful defence of Commonwealth Heavyweight title against Pete Roberts in Solihull 10 February 1976". World Of Sport – Wrestling. ITV. 10 March 1976.
  4. ^ "Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship: Count Bartelli v Pete Roberts". Saturday 10 March – Friday 16 March 1976 – Saturday listings page. TVTimes. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Image collections | Getty Images UK".
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