Black Country wrestling show where 'anything can happen' goes from strength to strength
A Black Country Wrestling promotion started by a group of friends with a passion for the business is getting ready for its next big show.
Black Country Championship Wrestling (BCCW) will be putting on a night of wrestling action on Friday, February 10 at Allens' Sports Bar in Tipton, featuring a mixture of home-grown talent and international starts.
The show, entitled King of the Division 2, will see the King of the Division Championship defended in a six-person scramble match, while the 0121 team of Man Like DeReiss and Dan Moloney will face off against LJ Cleary and Tipton's own Lee Hunter.
For promoters and owners Tom Priest and Rob Campbell, the event is the latest in a line of shows that allowed them to bring a new and refreshing wrestling promotion to the region.
Tom said: "Black Country Championship Wrestling came from a small group of friends who have been in and around the wrestling business for a long time and have a passion for wrestling.
"That brought us to bring this new promotion to the Black Country area and proudly wear its name and we've gone from strength to strength, bringing in faces people might not be familiar with and mixing with local talent.
"The Black Country name is in the title because we're extremely proud of where we come from and we're keen to put it on the map."
Rob said: "When we first discussed it, it was at the back end of lockdown and we all have the idea of taking wrestling around the Black Country.
"I'm originally from Birmingham, but I've spent many years wrestling here, working here and I have had a daughter here, so the Black Country is very important for me."
The pair said that what made BCCW special was that everyone put their heart and soul into the promotion and into the shows, with a motto of "Anything can happen in Black Country Championship Wrestling".
Tom said the team, which also included Martin Holland and Daniel Cornfield, had learnt as they had gone along since the first show in October 2021 and were always keen to make adjustments.
He said: "It's a constant learning curve and we listen to our audience, we read comments and messages and we watch back our shows and have regular meetings between us to see how we can tweak things.
"We always have an idea of what's going on going forwards, but at the same time, we're never scared to change things off the cuff to improve the show and keep the crowd on their toes."
For Rob, the show on February 10 was a great opportunity to continue to honour the legacy of young Cam Wellington, who the King of the Division Championship was created in honour of.
The 19-year-old died of Covid-19 in 2020 and Rob said everyone involved with BCCW still thought about him every day and wanted to honour him through the show and the championship.
He said: "Cam's gimmick was being the King of the Division and we didn't have anything we could honour him with at the time.
"However, having known him and been on shows with him as Martin and I did, we felt in this capacity, it was a great way to honour him by naming the BCCW championship as that and presenting it to his family at the first show.
"It'll be a great show with the scramble match and the other big matches on the card and we'll keep putting on big shows and finding new and innovative ways to keep entertaining people."
To find out more about BCCW and to buy tickets to future events, go to bccw2021.com
