5 Star Wrestling (stylised as 5★ Wrestling) was a

professional wrestling 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 ...

promotion based in

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. The company operated from 2015-2018 and promoted events throughout

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and

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. They also produced a television series which was broadcast on

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television for the

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channel. The company was established to focus on promoting live professional wrestling events, after sister company Serious Parody released the ''5 Star Wrestling'' game for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

Overview

5 Star Wrestling's first event in September 2015 was similarly titled to that of their later video game ''5 Star Wrestling: ReGenesis'' and saw John Morrison defeat

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

in a two out of three falls match in the main event. Morrison would then win the 5 Star Wrestling Championship defeating

AJ Styles Allen Neal Jones (born June 2, 1977), better known by his ring name AJ Styles (also stylized as A.J. Styles), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Regarded as one of the best ...

in Newcastle, and defending against Carlito, P. J. Black and retaining in a one-night 8-man tournament in the same month. The one-night 8-man tournament would be featured on Channel 5, under the name ''Dominant Wrestling: Live from Dundee''. After these events, 5 Star announced they would hold a 128-man tournament throughout 2017, and offered CM Punk $1 million (£770,000) to appear in the tournament, which he refused. The tournament would later be postponed until February 2018. Television channel

would pull out of a deal with

Preston City Wrestling Pro Championship Wrestling (PCW UK) is a British owned independent professional wrestling promotion established as Preston City Wrestling in 2011. It was re-branded as Pro Championship Wrestling in 2020, and is still stylised as PCW. PCW runs t ...

, to work with 5 Star to promote shows in 2018. In January 2018, 5 Star Wrestling held a press conference in

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, promoting new shows through 2018. On 1 February 2018, 5 Star's debut on

, a new championship was established known as the "Tap Or Snap Title", which was won by

Mark Haskins Mark Haskins (born 25 June 1988), is an English professional wrestler currently signed with Ring of Honor. He is known internationally for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, as well as his appearances in Progress Wrestling, Revolution ...

, winning a five-man elimination match for the championship. The event would also see Hager defeat Ryan, and John Morrison retain the 5* Championship over

Rob Van Dam Robert Alexander Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD). He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling ...

. A tag team title championship tournament was also established on this show, and later won by former '' Love Island'' contestant Adam Maxted, and partner Charlie Sterling. On 20 March 2018, 5 Star would announce on

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that they were to cancel upcoming shows; owing to the folding of their parent company "Pro Wrestling UK Ltd".

Other media

Video Games

Originally announced in 2013, ''5 Star Wrestling'' was released for

in 2015, developed and published by sister company Serious Parody. An updated version called ''5 Star Wrestling: ReGenesis'' was released on PlayStation 4 20 January 2016, exclusively on PlayStation Network. The game featured parodied versions of famous wrestlers, such as "HarVee Dee", as RVD. The game cites having "true ring

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

", " Heel and

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mechanics, a revolutionary Limb Damage System and Rivalries that impact gameplay." The game features a 40-hour Challenge campaign with 128 challenges, over 400 objectives, and "more moves-per-wrestler than any other game." The game also features a unique "finisher-to-finisher" reversal system, which allows finishers to be countered immediately into a finisher for the opponent under certain circumstances. As well as featuring parodies on many wrestlers, the game also featured many parodies of music, arenas and tropes of professional wrestling games.

Reception

The original ''5 Star Wrestling'' game received mixed reception from critics. APG Nation gave the game 8/10 stating that "The damage system deserves praise on so many levels."

Push Square Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and oth ...

gave the game 3/10, refuting the game by saying "As it stands, without any online functionality, no creation suite, a litigious gaggle of performers, and dodgy mechanics, this game is all but impossible to recommend to anyone." The Official PlayStation magazine was even harsher, giving the game only 20%. PlayStation Universe were less harsh, however, rating the game 60% saying "5 Star Wrestling delivers a clever and refreshing take on the genre in the ring, but is massively hampered by its mountain of drawbacks and flaws outside of it. Fight your way through that and there's a satisfying depiction of how wrestling works waiting to be discovered." The improved version ''5 Star Wrestling: ReGenesis'', received better critical response.

Bonus Stage A bonus stage (also known as a bonus level, bonus round, or special stage) is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups. Bonus stage eithe ...

reviewed the PS4 game and gave the game 7/10, saying: "despite issues... 5 Star Wrestling remains very difficult to dislike". however, they acknowledge the amount of bugs citing "despite some obvious visual improvements and ironing out of many of its forebear's more prominent bugs, 5 Star Wrestling is still an inherently ugly video game."

Championships

5 Star Wrestling Championship

5 Star Tap or Snap Championship

5 Star Tag Team Championship

Real Wrestling Championship

References

External links

5 Star Wrestling Twitter

Official Website

5 Star Wrestling Facebook
{{Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom British professional wrestling promotions 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom 2018 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Professional wrestling games Entertainment companies established in 2015 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2018 Recurring sporting events established in 2015 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2018