The British Heavyweight Championship is a top British wrestling championship found throughout the country's circuit. 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.[1][2] Pre-publicity for these championship match broadcasts was given in ITV's nationally published listings magazine TVTimes.[3][4]
Multiple versions of the British Heavyweight Championship may exist in the wrestling circuit of the United Kingdom at any given time, however some versions have been undisputed by dint of being the only active version during that period. The British Wrestling Association version was undisputed 1930-1934 and 1938-1950. The Joint Promotions version was undisputed 1952-1958, 1966-1974 and 1975-1982. This version was then transferred to All Star Wrestling where it remained undisputed until 1985 and became so again from 1989 until the late 1990s (as smaller, often American-style promotions increasingly set up their own versions).
This is the combined list of different versions of the British Heavyweight Titles, each of which was probably the most significant version at the time. Each version may or may not be connected to another. However, all title changes are either actual or "official" unless indicated otherwise.
On 10 July 2002 All-Star's Champion, Doug Williams along with other top title holding wrestlers entered into a tournament to be recognised as Universal British Heavyweight Champion by The Wrestling Alliance, Frontier Wrestling Alliance, World Association of Wrestling, All Star Wrestling, and Premier Promotions. Doug Williams would first defeat the then-TWA British Heavyweight Champion, Justin Starr (though Starr would continue to be recognised as champion), before going on to defeat The Zebra Kid in a tournament final to become the Universal British Heavyweight Champion.
The Universal version of this title would not last long with all the promotions splitting out their British Heavyweight titles, but Williams continued to be recognised as the Universal British Heavyweight Champion.
