APPG On Wrestling Looking To Take The First Step Towards Establishing An Independent Governing Body

Just after midnight last night, the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Professional Wrestling in Great Britain Report was released by the APPG on Wrestling.

The group outlined 30 recommendations within the 103-page report, one of which was "the establishment of trade bodies to more effectively promote British wrestling." An initial suggestion would be to establish two trade bodies, one for independent wrestling promotions and another for touring promotions.

The APPG report noted there is "broad support across the industry" for some sort of governance, but the idea "has always felt impossible" in practice for multiple reasons, such as the differences between promotions, the potential damage to smaller companies and the lack of trust within the industry in Britain.

Cultaholic Wrestling's Aidan Gibbons had the chance to ask the APPG on Wrestling in today's press conference what they can do to help make an independent governing body a reality. The group's Danny Stone admitted "no one is going to deliver an independent governing body overnight" but he feels the APPG can help facilitate discussions and bring people together.

"There are two parts on that. One is the schools. As you see in the report, it separates out the schools from the events promotions. The APPG report suggests there will be a school summit to try and bring people together and that's something we're hoping to put in place fairly soon to try and bring the schools together. I'm not sure there's actually a list of all the schools that exist in the UK, so that would be a starting point," Stone said.

"And then separately on this idea of a trade body or two trade bodies, that I think is the place where an APPG can facilitate things, can bring people together. Now, not every promotion is gonna want to be involved, we can but try. But I think coming in to sit with MPs and say, 'Is there a first step that a group of promotions together could take that would help build confidence?' No one is going to deliver an independent governing body overnight, but at the start can they do one thing together? Can they buy in together on a case management system? Can they agree a minimum principle set of standards in a particular area?

"It's more about that. It's more about getting people in the room and having those conversations. That is the starting point and I do think the APPG is the group that can facilitate this because in the past there has been limited trust and hopefully the APPG can build that trust."

You can read the full All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Professional Wrestling in Great Britain Report and find out more about the APPG on Wrestling here.