Brian Crabtree

Crabtree, along with his brothers Shirley and Max, got into wrestling after completing his National Service.[2] It was during a match against a Hungarian wrestler that he sustained an injury and never wrestled again, causing him to become a referee.[2][3] Before the mid-1970s, Brian and Max worked together in running 20th Century Promotions, an independent wrestling organisation outside of Joint Promotions, the largest wrestling promotion in the United Kingdom.[4]

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.[5] However, on one occasion due to the Crabtree brothers' closeness with each other, Kendo Nagasaki refused to wrestle Big Daddy (Shirley) with Crabtree refereeing.[6] Crabtree was a regular ring announcer on World of Sport.[7][8] 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.[9] He did get involved in a match in 1979 between Big Daddy and John Quinn where he was knocked out by Quinn after standing on the ring apron.[10] Outside of wrestling, he has acted in a number of films, (No Blade of Grass, The Wild Bunch), and held an Equity card.[6][11]

Brian is the brother of professional wrestler Shirley Crabtree, and promoter Max Crabtree. His nephew Eorl Crabtree is a retired professional rugby league player.[12]