Brian Maxine (13 August 1938 – 13 November 2024), known as Goldbelt, was an English

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

artist. He held the

British Welterweight Championship The British Welterweight Championship is the welterweight professional wrestling championship competed for throughout the Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom, British wrestling circuit. The championship was recognised and defended on m ...

from 1969 to 1971. He won the British middleweight championship in 1971 and by briefly holding the two belts simultaneously he became the first champion at two weights since the post-war reorganisation of British titles. Maxine, who was known for his regular and flamboyant appearances in the 1970s on World of Sport, officially held the title (which was inactive) until a new version was established by The Wrestling Alliance (TWA) in 2000, won by James Mason. After this, Maxine claimed only the gold belt as a trophy, not disputing the new championship. A match for Premier Promotions against Johnny Kidd in 2002 was promoted as for only the belt, not the title. Maxine also recorded country and western albums, backed by

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

. In preparation for her role in the musical ''Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap'', Maxine trained

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

from Blondie how to wrestle. In her memoirs, she wrote: "We had a wrestling coach named Brian Maxine who had a massive, muscular, no neck upper body and a perfectly busted up nose. Brian had been a British Champion for years and he was very serious about his job as a coach. For weeks he taught us how to do the holds, make the jumps, take the falls, and do all the different wrestling moves that we did in the show." Maxine died on 13 November 2024, at the age of 86.

Championships and accomplishments

Joint Promotions The history of professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years. After a brief spell of popularity for Greco Roman wrestling, Greco Roman professional wrestling during the Edwardian era, the first catch-as-catch-can base ...

** British Middleweight Championship (1 time) **

(1 time)

References

External Links

* * 1938 births 2024 deaths 20th-century male professional wrestlers English male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Ellesmere Port {{UK-sport-bio-stub