, under the All In rules, had been popular in the 1930s. However, as a result of a shift in focus away from technical skill and towards violence including usage of weapons, it was banned towards the end of the decade by the London County Council. After a failed attempt to relaunch the sport with a show at Harringay Arena, Middlesex in 1947 was condemned by journalists as being "fake", Admiral-Lord Mountevans along with radio personalityCommander Archibald Bruce Campbell, Maurice WebbMP and Norman Morell, an Amateur wrestling champion and professional wrestling promoter, formed a committee to formalise professional wrestling in the United Kingdom and write up a set of unified rules. Once the rules were written, they were almost universally accepted with 95% of promotions in the United Kingdom adopting them. In 1952, the rules were adopted by the newly formed Joint Promotions, officially as a way to uphold the committee's ideology but was also considered to be a way for Joint Promotions to effectively control British wrestling. In London, the new rules led to the ban on professional wrestling being lifted however a by-law authorised by the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police kept female wrestling banned within the Greater London area until 1987.
Weight divisions
The rules set out seven weight divisions with maximum weight limits and called for champions to be crowned of each limit : Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, Heavy Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Mid-Heavyweight and Heavyweight for all weights above. In the early days, the champions of these weight divisions were also known as Mountevans Champions as the Championships also included Mountevans in their official names.
Rules
The Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules defined what holds were legal and how a fall could be scored: A fall could be awarded by the following means:
Pinfall
Submission
Knockout - failing to answer the referee's 10 count when thrown or knocked to the canvas or outside the ring.
Technical Knockout - If the opponent is ruled unfit to continue by the referee.
Disqualification - generally applicable upon a wrestler receiving the third of three "Public Warnings" given by the referee for serious or persistent offences.
In singles matches for the best of three falls, a win was immediately awarded in the event of a knockout or disqualification, regardless of whether or not falls had previously been scored. Later when Tag Team wrestling was introduced to Britain, generally the disqualified or knocked-out wrestler was eliminated and a single fall awarded to the opposing team. The partner of the eliminated wrestler would then continue the match for any remaining falls under handicap tag conditions.
