Brian W. Crabtree is an English retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, referee and master of ceremonies, known for working alongside his brothers

Shirley Crabtree Shirley Crabtree (14 November 1930 – 2 December 1997), better known as Big Daddy, was an English professional wrestler with a record-breaking 64-inch chest. He worked for Joint Promotions and the original British Wrestling Federation. Initia ...

, better known as Big Daddy, and promoter

Max Crabtree Max Gerald Crabtree (born 1933) is an English retired professional wrestler and promoter, known for working alongside his brother Shirley Crabtree, better known as Big Daddy. Career Crabtree got into wrestling after completing his National ...

in the British wrestling business.

Career

Crabtree, along with his brothers Shirley and Max, got into wrestling after completing his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

. It was during a match against a Hungarian wrestler that he sustained an injury and never wrestled again, causing him to become a referee. Before the mid-1970s, Brian and Max worked together in running 20th Century Promotions, an

independent wrestling In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wres ...

organisation outside of

Joint Promotions Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years but became popular when the then new independent television network ITV began showing it in 1955, firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late-night midweek slot. I ...

, the largest wrestling promotion in the United Kingdom. He later joined his brothers in Joint Promotions in the 1970s after Max took over as Joint's booker and Crabtree became a referee for Joint as a result. However, on one occasion due to the Crabtree brothers' closeness with each other,

Kendo Nagasaki Kendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling stage name, used as a gimmick of that of a Japanese Samurai warrior with a mysterious past and even supernatural powers of hypnosis. The name derives from the modern martial art of Japanese fencing ( K ...

refused to wrestle Big Daddy (Shirley) with Crabtree refereeing. Crabtree was a regular ring announcer on World of Sport. He would primarily do ring announcing on television however on occasion he would stand in for Max Ward as the referee for televised matches on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

. He did get involved in a match in 1979 between Big Daddy and John Quinn where he was knocked out by Quinn after standing on the ring apron. Outside of wrestling, he has acted in a number of films, ('' No Blade of Grass'', ''

The Wild Bunch ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on th ...

''), and held an

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

card.

Personal life

Brian is the brother of professional wrestler

, and promoter

. His nephew

Eorl Crabtree Eorl Crabtree (born 2 October 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for England, and at club level in the Super League for the Huddersfield Giants, w ...

is a retired professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crabtree, Brian Actors from Halifax, West Yorkshire Crabtree family English male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestling announcers Professional wrestling referees Sportspeople from Halifax, West Yorkshire Year of birth missing (living people)