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THE FIRST wrestling event
in which matchmaker John Freemantle was involved was on December 14, 1987. It was a charity event held at Hove Town Hall.
The wrestlers appearing on the show were Big Daddy, Greg Valentine, Drew
McDonald, Rasputin, Steve Grey, Kid McCoy, Andy Blair, Sid Cooper, Ray
Steele, King Ben, Barry Cooper and Tony Grant.
Since then Premier Promotions have staged shows at nearly 100 venues
involving nearly 400 wrestlers, including top stars from America, Japan and Europe. A number of the shows have been watched
by 1,000-plus crowds.
More recent shows have included appearances by Paul Birchall, Ricky Marvin,
Suwa, Muhammad Yone, Takeshi Morishima, Christian Eckstein, Takashi Sugiura,
Go Shiozaki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Nigel McGuinness, Chris Hero and Tracy
Smothers, while leading British stars currently signed to appear include Doug
Williams, Robbie Brookside, The UK Pitbulls and Jonny Storm.
Other big names who have appeared on Premier Promotions shows include The
British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith, Giant Haystacks, Rollerball Rocco, Dave
Finlay, Pat Roach, Kendo Nagasaki, Steve Regal, The American Dragon, Colt
Cabana, Kendo Kashin, Dave Taylor, Tony St Clair, Danny Collins, Johnny
Saint, Marty Jones, Ross Hart, Greg Valentine, Cannonball Grizzly, Tiger
Steele, Chad Collyer and Kojima Satoshi.
Premier Promotions shows are traditionally British, similar to the ones shown
on TV on Saturday afternoons during the golden era for British wrestling.
Contests are decided by the best of three falls over six, eight or ten
five-minute rounds, with championship matches over 12 rounds.
Premier Promotions do not stage extreme bouts like hard-core matches, cage
matches, ladder matches or chain matches.
They do, however, often include rumbles and tag team contests and are
followed and enjoyed by a large number of fans.
John Freemantle has been connected with wrestling since the 1960's when he
wrote for the magazine, The Wrestler, interviewing the top wrestlers of the
day and covering the biggest show in British wrestling history attended by
the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Albert Hall in 1963.
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