The first ever wrestling Atomic Champion has been crowned in Liverpool.

Tony Wright’s victory in a triple-threat elimination proved to be the highlight for the hundreds of fans, who flocked to the Azvex Brewery on King Edward Street.

Atomic Pro Wrestling hosted its fifth sell out. Other matches featured the likes of Joe Kessler, Rob Drake and Liverpool’s own Scott Oberman; all making their name in the indie wrestling circuit.

Chris Welsh, the showrunner of the event, said: “There’s three of us involved in the running of the show. We used to train at Fighting Spirit, but the trainers got too famous and moved to Florida to compete in WWE. Then the pandemic happened and by the time it finished the training school we went to had shut down.

“I realised I’m in my mid-30’s now and taking a bump just really hurts. So, we thought we’d give it a go and host our own promotion.”

Professional wrestling has always had a huge appeal in the UK, showcased by AEW hosting a sold-out event at Wembley Stadium in August, with another scheduled for 2024.

However, a gap in the market has seen Atomic Pro Wrestling hugely successful in its early days as a company.

Tony Wright crowned first ever Atomic Champion.

Welsh added: “We thought we’d see if there was an appeal for a wrestling show in Liverpool, so we started looking around and found the venue. We came up with ideas and after maybe 18 months of planning, our first show came together really quickly. That sold out and the second one sold out, and now it’s just rolling on nicely.

“We’ve had five shows, five sell outs. We’re doing pretty well.”

Atomic prides itself on showcasing the best wrestling talent from the Northwest, with Liverpool’s Lizzy Evo also featuring on the card after previously headlining WWE’s NXT UK.

Welsh said: “I haven’t got a clue how far this promotion can go. I would like it to carry on and maybe progress to bigger venues.

“The main goal of us is to show people that aren’t into wrestling that wrestling is a really good night out. It’s a fantastic performance when it’s done properly so we just want to do it properly and see how far that takes us.”

Tu Byt defeats Nathan Black.

Unlike boxing and MMA, professional wrestling prides itself on being an art form rather than a combat sport, with wrestlers enduring years of training to provide a high level of sports entertainment.

After five successful shows, it’s clear Atomic delivers a platform for local talent to showcase their skills in front of large audiences, with goals to get more fans into professional wrestling.

“If this takes us to selling out Wembley then great, if it takes us to complete bankruptcy and we get to show 10 and there’s nobody here, that’s fine as well.

“If in the process we put some people out there that don’t usually get the chances they deserve and put them on the map, then we’ve done our job.”

Atomic Pro Wrestling returns to the Azvex Brewery for it’s sixth event on February 21st, 2024, with tickets available at https://wrestleatomic.com/.

 

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