Inside The Ropes founder Kenny McIntosh is preparing to launch one of the most unique concepts British wrestling has seen in years: The National Wrestling League.
Combining football and wrestling, the inaugural season is scheduled to begin in summer 2026. Matches will take place in a ring featuring football-style markings, with a referee’s whistle replacing the traditional ring bell. Yellow and red cards may be issued, and each team will have its own distinct identity.
Six teams will take part in the league, featuring some of the biggest names in UK wrestling, along with athletes who have previously competed in WWE and AEW. Matches will be contested with a 15-minute time limit and will have a break at half-time. Similar to an Iron Man match, whichever wrestler scores the most falls within the time limit will win the match for their team and earn three points in the standings.
Thankfully, VAR will not be involved in The League, as was confirmed in another interview.
The six teams are the Yorkshire Titans, Midlands Destroyers, Manchester Manics, London Executioners, Northeast Outlaws, and the Glasgow Hitmen, who Kenny McIntosh will be the manager of. Much like the way that league football works, whichever team is at the bottom will be relegated at the end of the season, and a new team will debut for the second season.
“It Does Seem A Bit Nuts On The Surface”: Kenny McIntosh On Starting A New Wrestling Promotion
Fans of Inside The Ropes are very familiar with McIntosh’s work. With live shows, a monthly magazine, books and podcasts all under the company umbrella, what made McIntosh want to start a pro wrestling promotion?
“I mean, that is a good question, because it does seem a bit nuts on the surface, and I understand that. Obviously, I was involved with WCPW [WhatCulture Pro Wrestling] years ago, and I don’t think I truly kind of enjoyed it at the time, for what it was. So many people came through that, Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, when they were sort of rebuilding their image before they went back to WWE. People like Gabe Kidd, who was making his name, Joe Hendry, who look at now, he’s on Raw facing The Vision. So I kind of missed that a little bit, and then Dante Richardson and I had a conversation in February at For the Love of Wrestling, where I believe my exact words to him were, ‘We should start a wrestling promotion, that’d be a laugh.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’ve got this idea to sort of have a hybrid of football and wrestling, where it is wrestling, but there’s some football elements that are brought in that will make it feel quite different.’ So the idea was different enough that it felt like people would be intrigued by it, people would be interested, and that’s kind of the gem of how it came about.”
Continuing, McIntosh noted that things started to snowball to the point where they wanted to make sure they stood out, noting that some independent shows can be filled with good wrestling, but the stakes are lacking:
“I think when we started the idea of it, because one of the things, if you go to see an indie wrestling show, a lot of times there’s not really any stakes to going to see it. You’re going to see a show, there’s gonna be good wrestlers, they’re gonna put on a good performance, but that’s kind of where the experience ends. Whereas with this one, it’s like if you support your home team and we come there once a year. You can buy the kit of your team, there seems to be more in it. Then when that kind of happened, we thought go big or go home. So instead of trying to do this in front of 200 people, let’s book some basketball arenas and see if we can get 1,000 people, 1,500 people, 2,000 people, whatever the number may end up being.”
Early ticket sales suggest fans are already buying into the league:
“So, yeah, we’re taking a punt, but so far, without giving numbers away, it’s doing well. I don’t think we’re going to be playing to 20 people on the night. We just thought you’ve got to believe in the concept, and you’ve got to go for it, and I think that with all the stuff we’ve got in the intrigue, it’s worth a punt.”
With football-inspired rules and matches contested to the final whistle, the National Wrestling League aims to offer a viewing experience unlike anything currently on the UK wrestling scene. With this in mind, the league will be putting on a free-to-attend pre-season show on June 21 in Middlesbrough to give fans a taste of what to expect. McIntosh believes fans will share his enthusiasm for the format:
“I thought it was very intriguing. I thought it was very different from usual wrestling matches, and I think the idea of having these 15-minute Ironman matches, where you know you do seven minutes, you’ve got a minute half time essentially, then another seven minutes. There’s stakes to everything, and you can tell a lot of dramatic stories within that. So I think that that intrigued me. I think the red card and the yellow card is a fun twist. It’s not a gimmick that’s there for the sake of it. It’s there because I think it’s going to bring in the people who also like football and some of the experience of going to see a football match. So you’re going to get wrestling matches, but with a bunch of these football elements. The giant tunnel, which is going to look mental when people see it. It’s huge! We’re very aware of people going to shows and being disappointed by stuff, so we’re doing our best to make sure that when people do come along to the National Wrestling League, they’re not disappointed.
One of the things, our first show of the league is August 9, but we’re now putting on a free pre-season launch show in Middlesbrough, and that’s basically going to be to film content, so people can see what it’s going to be, and they’ll have more of an idea. I think once we’re able to show people some clips of what it’s actually going to look like, I think people are going to get more excited about it.”
Notable names from the world of football, such as Neil Ruddock and Keith Gillespie, will serve as guest coaches at select shows. While McIntosh stated that they would be on the sidelines and not getting involved in matches like wrestling managers would, he did joke that anything could happen in pro wrestling!
Inside The Ropes has garnered a reputation in the wrestling world for consistently putting out high-quality content. Live shows have been very well-received by fans in the UK and are often sold-out affairs for the spoken word shows, with many regularly coming to the show in their area no matter who the guest is. The team behind The League are hoping for a repeat with their latest project. Similar to any new venture, McIntosh admitted he was feeling the pressure, but in a good way:
“There’s definitely a pressure, because if you have people coming to the show, you want to deliver. But I think that we’re putting the people in place who are filming the show, who are lighting the show, who are rigging the show. Tom Campbell, who’s the ring announcer, and Joanna Rose, who’s the interviewer. We’re putting a team together that we believe is going to be able to deliver on every element of it. So yeah, there’s definitely pressure, but I wouldn’t be putting my name to it if I didn’t believe in it, and I’m a picky person, so I’ve got a lot riding on this, and I believe in it, which is why we’re doing it.”
Kenny McIntosh Looking To Lead Glasgow Hitmen To Glory In National Wrestling League
Along with the challenges of running the show and managing a team, McIntosh jokingly stated that one of his biggest tasks will be managing Grado. The charismatic former ICW Heavyweight Champion has already called out Yorkshire Titans manager D’Lo Brown in full panto costume, and is likely to continue to be unpredictable throughout. That being said, McIntosh is looking forward to the debut show as a whole:
“I’m looking forward the most to just being in Newcastle at the first show. I’m looking forward to people seeing it all unfold, and I’m looking forward to just what the reaction is going to be, because I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised by what it is. All the wrestlers that are on these shows, they are very into the idea. D’Lo Brown is not flying over multiple times in a two month period to manage the Yorkshire Titans if he doesn’t think this idea is good. I’m even sort of putting myself out there, I’m being on camera as a manager, which I’ve kind of avoided in that stuff in the past, and I think it’s going to be fun. Who better to sort of have a stake going for Glasgow than me? So I’ve got to try and control Grado, which is a job in itself!”
Keeping Things Affordable
Unfortunately, as is the case with everything these days, going to a wrestling show is generally not cheap. WWE has infamously raised ticket prices compared to the past few years, and many promotions have also followed suit due to rising costs. However, when The League was first announced, tickets were just £5. With the entry price being so low, less than a pint in just about every pub, McIntosh is hoping that fans will be gripped by the opening shows, and will want to come back for more, and maybe show support to their favourite team.
“The whole idea is that you want to get people in the door for this first season. You want to get them invested in the concept. If you want to be ringside at the shows, it’s £25, that’s what it’s going to be for those first couple of rows. But outside of that, it’s £5 a ticket, and if this takes off like we think it’s going to, it probably won’t be £5 a ticket the next time. Once you get people in the door, we’ll have loads of merch on the night. If you feel you’ve only paid £5 for a ticket, you might want to go and buy a T-shirt or buy a beanie hat or whatever. Not to slate AEW, because WWE are the same, but AEW play in the Hydro in August in Glasgow, and I think that the cheapest tickets are £70 or something. So if you’re a family of four, it’s 20 quid. We feel like it’s important to offer, and even when we get to season two, it’s going to be affordable, there’ll always be an affordable option for people, because people get ripped off enough with other stuff, so we don’t want to be part of that.”
Building The League’s Roster
When it comes to the roster, there are names that casual and more passionate fans will be familiar with. Along with the likes of D’Lo Brown, Luke Menzies [Ridge Holland] and Gallus being a part of the project, popular UK indie stars such as Grado, Rampage Brown and Sha Samuels will all be in action throughout the season. However, one of the more surprising additions is Jake Hager, who previously competed in WWE as Jack Swagger and won the World Heavyweight Championship. Following his departure from AEW, Hager appeared to have become disillusioned with wrestling. However, with The League being a fresh and entertaining concept, McIntosh has given Hager something more fun to get involved with:
“I think one of the funny elements of the league is that you can say, you know, a manager can sign a player that might only be on one show, and they’re in that team for one show, but that can be something that you know makes sense. I think Hager, you know, he made sense for us. We talked to him, he loved the concept, he loved the idea, the fact that he’s willing to come over and do it as a good sign. If somebody’s been jaded in wrestling, then why not bring them back to wrestling in an environment that we feel is going to un-jade them? There’s been a lot of chatter about him being the team, so I think that he’s gonna have fun, and the wrestlers so far just feel like it’s a lot of fun.”
In terms of the matches, McIntosh confirmed that it would be men’s singles and tag team matches. Season one will not have women’s matches, but women’s wrestling will hopefully be featured on future seasons. With this also being the first season, the team behind the league are looking to establish the concept and ensure it is a success. With this in mind, the teams will be well-known names for the inaugural year, but rising stars may feature in future seasons.
McIntosh said the first season will primarily focus on established talent, as the promotion wants to ensure the league format is presented as effectively as possible. However, he noted that injuries, storyline developments and future seasons could create opportunities for younger wrestlers to break into the project. As an example, McIntosh pointed to 405 lb Northeast Outlaws wrestler Tim Strange, whose size could create classic David vs. Goliath-style matchups throughout the season.
The National Wrestling League Taking Inspiration From Popular Football Highlights Show
While fans attending the shows live will have the best experience, those who are unable to attend the shows will have an opportunity to keep up with The League. Full shows will be available to purchase on a platform to be determined, along with a highlight package being produced. Much like the popular recap show Match of the Day, fans will be able to check out the best parts of the fixtures.
Closing out the conversation, Kenny McIntosh reiterated that fans will be in for a great night and will get their money’s worth:
“I think if you like wrestling or you like football or you like both, come along, see what we’ve got to offer. We are confident that you’ll enjoy what we’re going to put on. It’s a two and a half hour show, and I think it’s going to be good.”
With strong early ticket sales, recognisable talent and an unconventional format, the National Wrestling League is already generating curiosity ahead of its debut season.
The National Wrestling League will have a free pre-season show in Middlesbrough on June 21, with the full season kicking off in Newcastle on August 9. More information on the league and tickets for the shows can be found here.
