Brian W. Crabtree is an English retired

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 ...

, referee and master of ceremonies, known for working alongside his brothers

Shirley Crabtree Shirley Crabtree Jr. (14 November 1930 – 2 December 1997), better known as Big Daddy, was an English professional wrestler. He worked for Joint Promotions and the original British Wrestling Federation. Initially appearing on television as a he ...

, better known as Big Daddy, and promoter Max Crabtree in the British wrestling business.

Career

Crabtree, along with his brothers Shirley and Max, got into wrestling after completing his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

. It was during a match against a Hungarian wrestler that he sustained an injury and never wrestled again, causing him to become a referee. Before the mid-1970s, Brian and Max worked together in running 20th Century Promotions, an

independent wrestling In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

organisation outside of

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 ...

, the largest wrestling promotion in the United Kingdom. He later joined his brothers in Joint Promotions in the 1970s after Max took over as Joint's booker and Crabtree became a referee for Joint as a result. However, on one occasion due to the Crabtree brothers' closeness with each other,

Kendo Nagasaki Kendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling stage name, used as a Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick of that of a Japanese Samurai warrior with a mysterious past and even supernatural powers of hypnosis. The name derives from ...

refused to wrestle Big Daddy (Shirley) with Crabtree refereeing. Crabtree was a regular ring announcer on World of Sport. He would primarily do ring announcing on television however on occasion he would stand in for Max Ward as the referee for televised matches on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

. He did get involved in a match in 1979 between Big Daddy and

John Quinn John or Jack Quinn may refer to: Politicians and lawyers *John Quinn (advocate) (1954–2022), Attorney General of the Isle of Man *John Quinn (collector) (1870–1924), lawyer, collector of manuscripts and paintings, friend of T. S. Eliot and Ezr ...

where he was knocked out by Quinn after standing on the ring apron. Outside of wrestling, he has acted in a number of films, ('' No Blade of Grass'', ''

The Wild Bunch ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang ...

''), and held an Equity card.

Personal life

Brian is the brother of professional wrestler

, and promoter Max Crabtree. His nephew

Eorl Crabtree Eorl Crabtree (born 2 October 1982) is a British former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for England, and at club level in the Super League for the Huddersfield Giants, wh ...

is a retired professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crabtree, Brian Male actors from Halifax, West Yorkshire Crabtree family English male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestling announcers Professional wrestling referees Sportspeople from Halifax, West Yorkshire Year of birth missing (living people)