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WIRRAL BUSINESSMEN AND TRANMERE ROVERS ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ACQUIRE UK ’ S LEADING PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING PROMOTION
Not content with playing a good role in the resurgence of Tranmere Rovers , Lee McAteer and Martyn Best , long standing Associate Directors of our local football club have recently become the new owners of PROGRESS Wrestling .
You may all remember Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy and have fond Saturday memories of World of Sport – and now welcome to the 21st century version with Cara Noir , Gisele Shaw and Smokin ’ Aces .
PROGRESS Wrestling is the world ’ s leading independent professional wrestling company and as well as the change of ownership they will be returning to live shows in 2022 after 22 months of Covid , and Lee and Martyn are hoping to bring the promotion to Liverpool next year – perhaps at Prenton Park .
Their first live event PROGRESS Chapter 127 : “ … and the word was PROGRESS ” will take place at the spiritual home of PROGRESS , The Electric Ballroom in Camden , London on Sunday 23rd January 2022 . The show will be main-evented by PROGRESS World Champion , Cara Noir defending his coveted title against Liverpool ’ s Chris Ridgeway in a first-tothree falls bout .
Lee McAteer and Martyn Best have become well-known businessmen across Liverpool and the north-west and beyond in recent years .
Lee , previously dubbed as “ Britain ’ s Best Boss ” by mainstream media is already well regarded by wrestling fans as the founder and former CEO of Wrestling Travel which became a much-loved presence among wrestling fan culture , growing enormously since being founded in 2017 . He was also founder and CEO of AmeriCamp and Invasion Camp Group , one of the largest student travel companies in the world . He was also a former production editor for Max Power magazine and worked really closely with other well-known “ Lad ” based titles . Martyn ’ s other sporting involvement was as the chairman of Everton Tigers , one of the most successful professional clubs in British basketball history during his 5 year involvement , with his final game as owner being the BBL playoff victory .
He is also the founder and CEO of Document Direct and Legal RSS which provide typing , digital dictation services and news content services to the legal , health and wider professional sectors . Martyn is also trustee of the National Youth Advocacy Service ( NYAS ) and the Royal Court Theatre Liverpool , and to cap it off is a Past President of the Liverpool Society of Chartered Accountants and Editor of CharteredONE .
Lee said : “ We are really thrilled to have acquired PROGRESS Wrestling and Besty and I are very excited with the opportunity that we now have as the world hopefully returns to normality to re-establish PROGRESS at the position it deserves , as the leading name in British professional wrestling and beyond .
“ Our intention is to reaffirm the word professional into professional wrestling for what is literally a new chapter for not only PROGRESS , but the entire British Wrestling scene .
Martyn ( aka Besty ) added , “ I am hugely looking forward to continuing the story of PROGRESS Wrestling with Lee . We have been directors of Tranmere Rovers for a number of years and our collective experience within UK sport and business generally will bring an added dimension to the promotion that will enable it to scale new heights in the coming years .
“ We would also like to place on record our thanks to the PROGRESS team who have helped keep the show on the road over the past 18 months and to our talent who have continued
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