What's the story?
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the resurrection of the ITV World Of Sport Wrestling is still at a stand still, even with their GFW partnership.
In case you didn't know...
ITV's World Of Sport Wrestling was an extremely popular wrestling program in the UK that aired from 1968 to 1985. It eventually became defunct after the wrestling audience in the UK died down.
ITV announced in 2016 that they would be bringing back World Of Sport Wrestling. The pilot aired in 2017 New Year, drawing 1.25 million viewers.
Due to the timing and the fact that ITV is seen around millions of homes in the UK, it would obviously be a huge competition for WWE, which airs live at early morning hours in the UK.
Coincidentally, around the time of ITV's announcement, WWE announced the United Kingdom tournament. They haven't done much with the UK show so far either.
The heart of the matter
WON stated that several production issues were the reason behind the delay of the projects. ITV is reportedly trying to get the show to start by the end of the year.
The report further states that the talents signed are trying to get out of their contracts with ITV so that they can find work at other places if the project remains at a standstill.
Despite GFW's partnership with them, things really haven't moved much.
What's next?
ITV World Of Sport should hopefully sort out their production deals and get things going soon.
Competition is always a good thing, and ITV has a chance to not only compete but outdo WWE in terms of UK viewership.
Author's Take
It would be wonderful if ITV WOS Wrestling gets their things together soon and starts airing their show. Competition would help push WWE as well and we would get two good products.
The partnership with GFW can only help ITV WOSW, as they can have talent excursions and GFW talent on their programming, which should make for very interesting television.
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