''Celebrity Wrestling'' is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in 2005. It involved two teams of celebrities, competing against each other in

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

style events. The series was presented by

Kate Thornton Kate Thornton (born 7 February 1973) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known as the first presenter of ''The X Factor'' (2004–2006) and for presenting daytime shows including ''Loose Women'' (2009–2011) and '' This Morning'' (20 ...

and

Rowdy Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his ...

. British

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

fighter Ian Freeman was the show's referee. The aftershow programme on ITV2, called ''Celebrity Wrestling: Bring It On'' was presented by

Jack Osbourne Jack Joseph Osbourne (born 8 November 1985) is an English media personality with dual American and British citizenship. The son of heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, he starred on MTV's reality series '' The Osbournes'' (2002–2005), along w ...

and

Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2009–present) and '' Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 2018–present) alongsi ...

. The winning team was ''The Warriors'' and the winning wrestlers were

Annabel Croft Annabel Nicola Croft (born 12 July 1966) is a former professional British female tennis player and current radio and television presenter. As a tennis player she won the WTA Tour event Virginia Slims of San Diego and represented Great Britain i ...

(''Solitaire'') and

Iwan Thomas Iwan Gwyn Thomas (born 5 January 1974) is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and Wo ...

(''The Dragon''). After five weeks the show was moved from its primetime Saturday evening slot to a graveyard Sunday morning slot due to its extremely poor ratings and being comprehensively beaten in audience share by '' Doctor Who'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. It was received with a feeling of derision by

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 ...

fans, due to the lack of actual wrestling content. The show featured heavily upon games which involved grappling and the real life interactions of team members in training (and usually not the training process itself). After suffering in the ratings against ''Doctor Who'' on

, ''Celebrity Wrestling'' was burned off in a Sunday morning timeslot, and later cancelled.

Teams

Bold indicates that the celebrity won their gender championship

Crusaders

This team was trained by wrestler

D'Lo Brown Accie Julius Connor (born October 22, 1970), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also formatted as D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling and WWE. Brown is also known for h ...

Warriors

This team was trained by wrestler Joe Legend

Masked Celebrity

Each week there was a "mystery celebrity" who joined in the wrestling. The celebrities included: *

Fatima Whitbread Fatima Whitbread (' Vedad; 3 March 1961) is a British retired javelin thrower. She broke the world record with a throw of in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, and became the first British athle ...

John Fashanu John Fashanu (, born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. In his former career, he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he w ...

Neil Ruddock Neil "Razor" Ruddock (born 9 May 1968) is an English former professional footballer and television personality who is a club director at Enfield. As a player he was a central defender from 1986 to 2003, and was voted the 17th "hardest football ...

Antonia Okonma Antonia Okonma (born 24 July 1982) is a British actress. She is best known for playing the role of Darlene Cake in the ITV series ''Bad Girls'' from 2004–2006. Early life Okonma was born and raised in London. She was born into a Nigerian ...

Terri Dwyer Teresa "Terri" Dwyer (born 31 July 1973) is a British television presenter and actress, best known for her role as Ruth Osborne in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. She has also presented the ITV home makeover show 60 Minute Makeover. Care ...

* Fran Cosgrave

Other participants

*Model

Emma B Emma Louise Boughton (born 27 November 1970), better known as Emma B, is a radio presenter in the UK. Early career Boughton's childhood was spent in Canada before she moved to Birmingham, England as a teenager. She graduated from the Univers ...

took part in one episode as a replacement for

Victoria Silvstedt Karin Victoria Silvstedt (born 19 September 1974)''Expressen'', 29 October 2004. is a Swedish model, actress, singer, and television personality.Victoria Silvstedt Official Homepage, victoriasilvstedt.com, 8 May 2010. Early life Born in Skellef ...

using the character name ''Queen Bee''. *Radio DJ

Toby Anstis Toby Anstis (born 14 December 1970) is an English radio and television presenter. He is a presenter on Heart (radio network), Heart and spin-off station Heart Dance. Early life Originally from Northampton, Anstis was educated at Desborough Co ...

was set to appear in the series, but had to pull out when he broke two of his fingers. *The

UK Pitbulls The UK Pitbulls are a professional wrestling tag team that consists of brothers Bulk (Mike Waters, born 1978) and Big Dave (Dave Waters, born 1971). They previously held a number of titles in the United Kingdom, United States, as well as 11 coun ...

tag team appeared on the follow-up show with Jack Osbourne, but serious wrestlers declined to appear.

References

External links

*{{UKGameshow, Celebrity_Wrestling, Celebrity Wrestling 2005 British television series debuts 2005 British television series endings British reality television series ITV game shows Television series by ITV Studios Professional wrestling television series