Defiant Wrestling

Defiant Wrestling is a British professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2016 by the members of WhatCulture Wrestling, a YouTube subsidiary of WhatCulture.com. The promotion was originally called What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW); following the departures of several on air talents from WCPW, the new on-screen general manager, Stu Bennett, announced that the promotion was going to rebrand as Defiant Wrestling.

History

The promotion was founded on 26 May 2016 by members of What Culture Wrestling, a YouTube subsidiary of WhatCulture.com, as a result of the channel's burgeoning popularity. The promotion held its first shows in June 2016. On July 19, 2016, it was announced that the weekly WCPW wrestling shows would be named Loaded. During their first shows, WCPW announced the creation of their first title; the WCPW World Championship. On 3 September it was announced the creation of WCPW Women's Championship. On 4 October WCPW announced the creation of the WCPW Internet Championship, with the title matches could be watched free to watch on WCPW's YouTube Channel. On 22 October WCPW announced the creation of their fourth ACTIVE title; the WCPW Tag Team Championship. On 24 April 2017, it was announced a working partnership with Revolution Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, with WCPW and NJPW co-presenting the Japanese qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament. In February 2017, WCPW launched Pro Wrestling World Cup, as part of which they co-promoted shows in Canada and Germany with Smash Wrestling and the German Wrestling Federation, respectively. On 22 May, WCPW was forced to cancel the return of Loaded due to a YouTube policy that considered wrestling violent. WCPW then created a pay-per-view named Fight Back and made a petition to bring back Loaded. The petition was a success and this led to the return of Loaded on July 25. During Fight Back, WCPW created a new title; the WCPW Hardcore Championship.

Following the departures of former management, WCPW announced Stu Bennett as the new on-screen General Manager for the promotion. It was also announced that WCPW would rebrand as Defiant Wrestling in December, with Defiant holding their first pay-per-view "WeAreDefiant". Also in December 2017, Defiant Wrestling launched their on-demand service, Access Defiant, which includes the old WCPW events. After the relaunch, the company focused more on the feud with fellow promotion International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW:UK), promoting a exchange of talents between The Two promotions.

Championships

Other accomplishments

See also

• Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom
• Professional wrestling promotions in the United Kingdom