Over the Top Wrestling
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Over the Top Wrestling

Over the Top Wrestling (OTT) is an Irish professional wrestling promotion founded by Joe Carberry in 2014. It is headquartered in Dublin and opened a UK base in Wolverhampton in 2022, in addition to hosting events throughout Ireland, the UK, Italy, and Spain.

Shows originally took place in Dublin's Tivoli Theatre until its closure in 2019. Events now take place at The Complex in Dublin, the Europa Hotel in Belfast, or The Hangar in Wolverhampton. OTT also hosts shows in areas of Ireland such as Derry, Enniskillen, Limerick, and Wexford. Special "Supershows" periodically occur at Dublin's National Stadium, where shows featuring up-and-coming local talent are also hosted at the venue's Ringside Club.

Known for mixing traditional wrestling with elements of sports entertainment, OTT primarily showcases local wrestlers but has also garnered a reputation for featuring famous wrestlers from all over the world such as The Young Bucks, Mick Foley, Drew McIntyre, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, and Cody Rhodes.

Founded by Irish wrestler Joe Cabray in 2014 as an alternative to the more family-friendly offerings on the Irish professional wrestling scene at the time, OTT was aimed at an adult audience. Shows initially focused mainly on Irish talent, with gimmicks based on Irish culture such as the Traveller-influenced Luther Ward (portrayed by Cabray) and his stable the Ward Family, Session Moth Martina, the working-class Lads from the Flats, and the elitist "Lord of the Manor" Paul Tracey. The shows were at first composed of wrestlers trained by Main Stage Wrestling and Fight Factory Pro Wrestling; as the promotion evolved, it began featuring famous wrestlers from all over the world such as The Young Bucks, Mick Foley, Drew McIntyre, Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, and Cody Rhodes.

After 17 months without a show due to the COVID-19 pandemic, OTT returned in Belfast on 18 July 2021 with "Welcome Back to the Second Half". The show featured predominantly Irish mainstays from the pre-pandemic OTT era as well as a number of imports based in the UK such as Omari, Emersyn Jayne, Jamie Hayter and Mark Haskins. This show saw the unification of the GN Title held by Adam Maxted and the vacated OTT World Title in a match won by Mark Haskins to become double champion. A Tag tournament eliminator was also held due to Moustache Mountain vacating their titles . The tournament finals saw The Kings of The North (Bonesaw & Damien Corvin) beat The Lads From the Flats (Paddy M & Session Moth Martina) win to the belts for the fourth time.

The following shows saw the promotion of a number of the contenders roster including Justin Daniels, and Danny Cross (simply known as "Jay") who won the OTT Tag Team Titles with B.Cool on his main roster. Liamo also became a regular on the shows as a manager for Paddy M and Martina, and later made his in-ring debut on Contenders 18, the first such show in the post-pandemic era. This card also introduced Fabio to OTT. Sammy D defeated Scotty Davis for the OTT No Limits Title at the 2021 Wexford Spiegeltent Festival live event, becoming the first unrecorded title change in company history.

In 2022, OTT announced that it had expanded operations into the UK with a second base in Wolverhampton, where shows take place at The Hangar. The rest of the year saw a double header of Saturday and Sunday shows "OTT Live at the Ringside". Early in the year, Terry Thatcher turned heel after being unable to beat Session Moth Martina for the GN Championship. He also headed up his own stable called The DeThatchment. Mark Haskins was unable to make The Road to Scrappermania show in Dublin due to travel issues, as a result an impromptu main event was made for the OTT Tag Team Championships which saw Aussie Open overcome B.Cool and Jay to win the titles for the first time. This show also set up a number of matches for the Scrappermania 6 stadium show.

On St. Patrick's Day Weekend 2023, three titles changed hands on three consecutive nights in three different cities. Wolverhampton saw its first championship switch when local wrestler Trent Seven captured the OTT No Limits Championship. The next night in Dublin, Sammy D won the OTT World Championship in the main event of ScrapperMania VII. The Kings of the North then began their record fifth reign as OTT Tag Team Champions in Belfast the next day. Towards the end of 2023, OTT held an event in Milan, marking its first show outside of Ireland and the UK. The following months saw a soft relaunch of OTT in Dublin as they took up residence in The Complex, a venue in Dublin's city centre for their first show in the capital city since the Tivoli days. At this event dubbed "Poetry Slam", a returning Omari overcame Mark Haskins to become the OTT World Champion. The following months saw the retirement of B Cool in a career v title match against Sammy D, The formation of "The Draw" (Sammy D, Charlie Sterling and Adam Maxted) and a heel turn by babyface Jay to join the Draw. 2022 ended with the Draw holding the Tag Team Titles, NLW & GN Championships.[citation needed]

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