Max Gerald Crabtree (born 1933) 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 ...

and promoter, known for working alongside his brother

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.

Career

Crabtree 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 ...

along with his brothers Shirley and Brian. After an injury in a match to Brian and Shirley retiring, Crabtree moved into booking. Initially he booked independently for 20th Century Promotions and worked on bringing in foreign talent to wrestle in the UK, such as Sammy Lee (who later wrestled as

Tiger Mask is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodansha's ''Bokura Magazine'' from 1968 to 1970 and was later published in ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1970 to ...

) after a recommendation from

Karl Gotch Charles Istaz (August 3, 1924 – July 28, 2007) was a Belgian-born German-American professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name Karl Gotch. In Japan, Gotch was known as the "God of Wrestling" due to his influence in shaping the ...

. He was due to join

Jackie Pallo Jackie "Mr TV" Pallo (born Jack Ernest Gutteridge; 12 January 1926 – 11 February 2006) was an English professional wrestler, a star of British televised wrestling in its 1960s and 1970s heyday, when the sport had a regular 40-minute slot be ...

and Johnny Dale to set up a rival wrestling organisation to

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 ...

. However, Dale died and Crabtree was headhunted to join Joint Promotions as he was the most experienced booker in the UK at the time. During the 1970s, Max was appointed Northern area booker with Joint Promotions, where he is credited for bringing Shirley out of retirement and inventing the Big Daddy persona and gimmick for his brother. Crabtree helped to promote a number of wrestlers including

Dynamite Kid Thomas Billington (5 December 1958 – 5 December 2018), best known by the ring name the Dynamite Kid, was a British professional wrestler. Trained by former wrestler "Dr Death" Ted Betley, he competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), ...

Davey Boy Smith David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Lancashire, Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Bo ...

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his ti ...

and George Kidd. He spent forty years as a wrestling promoter. He was highly regarded in the British wrestling industry for his booking skills. Crabtree came under criticism for building Joint Promotions around Big Daddy, leading to allegations of nepotism. He offered £30 fight purses for main events with Big Daddy as opposed to £25 for all other bouts. This came to light following the death of King Kong Kirk in the ring after a match with Big Daddy (though the subsequent autopsy found for a death from natural causes and cleared the Crabtrees of any wrongdoing). Former WWF and

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

World champion

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling backgr ...

would later comment in his autobiography that Max Crabtree would also "wave a few extra quid in a wrestler's face" to entice them to take Daddy's "double elbow" backdrop move.

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 ...

removed wrestling from television in 1988. Crabtree criticised American wrestling such as the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

calling it "over the top and a load of ballyhoo". Crabtree continued to promote wrestling under the banner Ring Wrestling Stars from 1991 until his retirement in February 1995. Big Daddy continued to headline his shows until his own retirement in December 1993, thereafter Max Crabtree employed

in a similar headline role for several months in 1994.

Personal life

As well as Shirley Crabtree, Max was also the brother of

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

and MC

Brian Crabtree Brian W. Crabtree is an English retired professional wrestler, referee and master of ceremonies, known for working alongside his brothers Shirley Crabtree, better known as Big Daddy, and promoter Max Crabtree in the British wrestling business. ...

. in the 1960s, Max and Brian were themselves wrestlers in the middleweight and lightweight divisions respectively. 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

{{Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom 1933 births 20th-century professional wrestlers English male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Halifax, West Yorkshire Living people Professional wrestling promoters Crabtree family