The Wrestling Furnace Picture Gallery

1. I'd like to know the whereabouts and wellbeing of one of the featured wrestlers. If he's still around, how is he, what is he doing now, and how can I contact him?

As explained on the home page, the webmaster runs this site purely as a hobby. He has attended wrestlers' reunions for the past five years, and has been privileged to be introduced to and chat with some of the wrestlers, but he is not from a wrestling background himself, and is not in regular contact with the wrestlers. The website is a purely unofficial tribute site.

For 'recent' information on some wrestlers, see the Where Are They Now? section of this site.

For more up-to-date information on the wrestlers, see the British Wrestlers Reunion website. There, you will also find an obituary list "The Great Dressing Room in the Sky".

The excellent Wrestling Heritage website is updated regularly with news and discussion forums.

2. Where can I buy DVDs of 'classic' British Professional Wrestling?

Videos and DVDs (supplied by others) used to be listed on this website. These suppliers were independent of The Wrestling Furnace Picture Gallery. Over the years, feedback to this site suggested that the suppliers had become unreliable, possibly due to a lack of interest in purchasing their material because of the greater availability of film clips on the internet (see "Clips" section). The Video/DVD section has therefore now been withdrawn from this site.

3. I am a former professional wrestler, or am related to one. How can I (or my relative) be featured on this site?

Wrestlers and their families are very welcome, and indeed very much encouraged, to contribute to the site. Photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, anecdotes, programmes, posters or any other memorabilia, which will be of interest to readers, can be sent in.

Please contact the webmaster if you have any of this material, even if it is currently only in 'hard copy' form. Some arrangement can usually be made to enable it to be scanned or photographed.

email: furnacehot@aol.com

4. Can I attend the annual Wrestlers' Reunions?

Currently, there are two types of reunions held.

The Northern Reunion (the last one of which was held in Ellesmere Port in June 2010) was for the wrestlers, their families and invited guests only.

In June 2009, a similar reunion was held in Leeds. This proved a great success, and was repeated in March 2010, preceded by a "World of Sport" style wrestling show for the general public the previous evening. More such reunions are planned.

The Southern Reunion (held near Dartford on the second Sunday every August) is open to everybody, wrestlers, families and fans alike.

For further information on reunions, see the Wrestling Fraternity section of this site.

5. I'd like to see if other wrestling enthusiasts can answer my questions or share experiences or reminiscences with me. How do I post such a request?

The Classifieds section gives you the chance to contact other wrestling enthusiasts. This section has been 'automated' so you can post your own advertisement instead of having to email a request to the webmaster.

There are British Wrestling discussion forums on the British Wrestlers Reunion and Wrestling Heritage websites.

6. Can 'classic' British Professional Wrestling still be seen today?

Many classic British Professional Wrestling bouts seen on ITV's "World of Sport" on Saturday afternoons in the 1970s and 80s, were re-run for subscribers to satellite television in the UK on Sky TV's "The Wrestling Channel" until around 2008, when the channel suddenly disappeared. Therefore, we know the footage still exists, and can only hope the TV channels decide to show it again.

Several wrestling promotions regularly put on live shows throughout the UK, heavily influenced by the American WWE style and attire. There are, however, efforts to revive the traditional British style, and the British Wrestlers Reunion website is making a big effort to involve participants in current British wrestling promotions.

7. I have some pictures of British professional wrestlers. Can I send them in to be posted on the site?

Posed and action photographs of British professional wrestlers are always welcome for inclusion on the site. An acknowledgement will be given to all contributors, unless requested otherwise.

Photographs should be in as large a filesize as can be comfortably emailed, as they can always be 'scaled down' by the webmaster, but cannot be easily 'scaled up', without losing quality.

email: furnacehot@aol.com

For the technically minded; ideally, pictures should be at least 1067 pixels wide or 800 pixels high, but this is by no means essential, and should not put you off sending anything in.

8. Who owns the copyright for the pictures on this site?

Many of the photographs on this site have been scanned from the now defunct "The Wrestler" magazine. Other pictures were gathered from the internet, or sent in by the wrestlers themselves, or by their families.

The Wrestling Furnace Picture Gallery is a free-to-view, non profit-making site. Its aim is to revive memories of the spectacle of 'classic' British Professional wrestling for as wide a readership as possible. This site neither claims nor reserves copyright on any of its pictures. As far as the webmaster is concerned, they may be freely distributed, but please be aware if you are planning to use the photographs for commercial purposes, that someone, somewhere may claim ownership of copyright.