Ranking the first ever champions in BritWres
FOR A new promotion crowning a new champion is always a big deal, but there can only ever been one first! The first champion at a promotion sets the standard and gives you an idea where the company is heading.
I know I'll get A LOT of heat for this list but I'll be attempting to rank the very first champ at some of the best promotions in BritWres. If I leave your promotion out I'm sorry!
It’s also important that I mention that everyone on this list is incredible and no champion is ever a bad champion - they’re all ace!
Note: this list will rank purely the first title reign of the person involved and not any other part of their time with the company.
Second note: Some companies, like Wrestle Carnival, have not been included because they have only just crowned champions and thus it would be unfair to judge them just yet.
Third Note: Some companies have not made this list, it would be unfair to name names, due to the fact their first champ was named during Speaking Out and I don't think it would be right to publish their names. This is not necessarily anything against the promotions themselves.
Fourth Note: A lot of info on these title reigns has been taken from Cagematch so do let me know if I've forgotten anything.
11. Discovery Wrestling - Chris Sabin
Credit: Discovery Wrestling
It's such a shame that I'm not able to put Sabin higher on this list, because let's face it he's had quite a run in the business.
However, his Discovery title run, while historic, was not as incredible. He won the belt in a cracking match at DW Superkick Party. However, he vacated the belt without every defending it.
It means that while his reign was over 200 days he didn't get to defend the belt once.
10. TNT Extreme Division Championship - Chris Ridgeway
Credit: TNT Extreme Wrestling
TNT have lots of titles but given they are the home of extreme wrestling in BritWres we've opted to go for their Extreme Championship.
He defeated Liam Slater, Flash Morgan Webster and Robbie X in a brutal contest to be the first to hold up the title.
Chris Ridgeway was the first holder of the belt and carried it for just over 100 days. Unfortunately he dropped it in his first defence to Danny Hope.
9. EVE - Britani Knight
Credit: Pro Wrestling EVE
The title reign of the first ever EVE champ may not have been that impressive in terms of defences etc - but given where she's gone in her career it has cult classic status.
The now Paige beat Nikki Storm (currently Nikki A.S.H in WWE) in the finale of a 21-person tournament to capture the belt.
Her reign only lasted 57 days before she dropped the belt to Jenny Sjodin.
8. Tidal Championship Wrestling - Violet O'Hara
Twitter: @lil_missviolet
We've opted to include the Tidal women's title in this list and Violet was a strong first champ for the company to have - back in 2016.
She won the belt in a great triple threat with Ruby Radley and Toni Storm and defended the belt successfully twice.
She, like Chris Sabin earlier on this list, had to vacate the belt.
7. Progress Wrestling - Nathan Cruz
Credit: Progress Wrestling
Way back when Proggy was a meagre start up and not one of the biggest promotions in the country they started off their first show with a bang.
Some of the best in the industry took part in their title tournament and Cruz ended up on top. I can't and won't talk too much about the match itself as it involved some redacted performers.
But Cruz held the belt sternly for more than 200 days, but only defended the belt at Proggy twice. He lost it in November 2012 against another redacted performer
6. GOOD Wrestling - Beano
2019 was the year of Beano in GOOD, not the famous comic strip but the wrestler.
The first GOOD champ had some great defences of the belt over the course of his 245 day reign.
Taking on names like Wild Boar, Chuck Mambo and Brendan White, Beano eventually lost the belt to Chris Brookes towards the back end of the year.
5. BWR - Joseph Conners
Credit: British Wrestling Revolution
In case you didn't know, the reason Conners got such a huge pop when he returned to BWR a few months ago is because he's synonymous with the company - being their first champ.
Conners has a decent reign at the top of the Grimsby-based company. Some excellent bouts followed over the course of nearly 300 days.
He eventually dropped the belt to a wrestler that won't be named on this list.
4. Catch Pro-Wrestling - Lizzy Evo
Credit: Catch Pro-Wrestling
One of the only people on this list to still hold the title that we're writing about.
Lizzy has been one of the best and brightest BritWres stars of the post-lockdown era and kicked that off in style by beating Alexxis Falcon, Clementine and Rhio to become the first ever Catch champion.
Since then she's defended the belt in some entertaining clashes (five in total at the time of writing), most recently against Emilia McKenzie.
Who knows how long her title run will last, but she's definitely started the belt's lineage off strongly.
3. Progress Women's - Toni Storm
Credit: Progress Wrestling
It took Proggy a little while to bring a women's title into the mix - five years to be precise. But when they did, boy did they have some incredible talent to battle for it.
Storm took on Jinny and Laura Di Matteo in the final of the Natural Progression Series at the 2017 Super Strong Style weekend.
It was an all out war - see our interview with Big T Justice where he talks about it - and Storm came out on top to a huge pop.
She held the belt for nearly a year, defending it 12 times and against some huge names like Candice LeRae, Kay Lee Ray and Charli Evans.
She eventually lost it to Jinny at Chapter 69.
2. NORTH Wrestling - Rory Coyle
Credit: Rory Coyle - Facebook
Coyle has been a hell of a champ at NORTH and the pairing of the wrestler and the promotion has helped put both on the BirtWres map.
Coyle is actually the current holder of the NORTH belt, but for this list we're only looking at his first reign.
And what a reign it was! Six cracking title defences, the highlight of which was a St Paddy's Day Massacre match vs the likes of Amir Jordan, Little Miss Roxxy, Gabriel Kidd, Chris Brookes, Conor Renshaw, HT Drake and Jack Jester.
1. Kamikaze Pro - Ryan Smile
Credit: Kamikaze Pro
This was a tough one to write, Smile's championship run at Kamikaze was iconic and, like Coyle who we've just mentioned, helped put the company on the map with his historic reign.
Over a year with the belt and some incredible matches to go along with that, including battles with Kay Lee Ray, Juventud Guerrera, Pete Dunne and his final one against Doug Williams. The variety of those opponents shows just what a versatile performer Smile was.
He lost the belt to Hardcore Holly in October 2014, following 490 days with the belt. What a way to lose it, right!
We love you Ryan.
