NWA: All-Star Wrestling

NWA All Star Wrestling is a former Canadian professional wrestling promotion, based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

History

Early history

Although other wrestling promotions existed in Vancouver prior to the early 1960s (particularly a predecessor of All Star's called Big Time Wrestling), All Star (an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance for most of its existence) became the longest-lived and perhaps best-remembered of all promotions operating in the Vancouver area before or since. The promotion began coming into its own around the time CHAN-TV began broadcasting their TV program (also called All Star Wrestling) in 1962, when Gene Kiniski arrived in Vancouver and became a regular on the roster. At the time All Star began, the NWA British Empire Heavyweight title was the top singles title in the Vancouver territory, while the Pacific Coast Tag Team title initially served as the tag team championship (both titles were carried over from Big Time Wrestling); however, after the British Empire title was abandoned sometime after 1963 (when Kiniski last won it), All Star had no singles title of its own until 1970, when the Pacific Coast Heavyweight title (which was first introduced in 1948 in Big Time Wrestling, but became inactive around 1958) was reactivated.

All Star Wrestling

All Star Wrestling is a British Professional wrestling promotion also known as All Star Promotions, Superslam Wrestling and Big Time Wrestling and originally known as Wrestling Enterprises (of Birkenhead), run by Brian Dixon and based in Liverpool, England. Dixon's promotion tours theatres, leisure centres, town halls and similar venues, many of them old venues for televised wrestling in the UK in the 1950-1980s, as well as holiday camps. It is the oldest active wrestling promotion in the UK, and furthermore the longest-running UK wrestling promotion ever - a record it has held since September 2013, when it eclipsed the 42 years and 11 months lifespan of Joint Promotions/Ring Wrestling Stars (March 1952– February 1995).

All Star contributed to the final two years of ITV's regular televised wrestling programme in the UK in 1987-1988 and some of their matches were included on VHS and DVD compilations and repeated as part of the World of Sport programming on The Fight Network, formerly The Wrestling Channel, until it stopped transmission in 2008. These matches are currently being repeated on the Men & Movies channel.