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20th Jul 2018

Get Your Own Back’s Dave Benson Phillips is becoming a pro wrestler

Wil Jones

We are living in the weirdest timeline

Remember Dave Benson Phillips? For any 1990s kids, he was a regular staple of your childhood. The CBBC presenter was best known for hosting gameshow Get Your Own Back  from 1991 to 2004, where kids competed to gunge a parent, teacher or another annoying adult in their lives. He was also on Playhouse Disney  on the Disney Channel, and Fun Song Factory on CITV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHT17_jebCo

He’s remained a nostalgic figure in recent years, taking Get Your Own Back on the road. And thousands of millennials breathed a collective sigh of relief after reports of his death in 2009 turned out to be a hoax.

Oh, and now, he’s becoming a professional wrestler.

https://twitter.com/RIPTIDEwres/status/1020021882798706688

Wait, what?

Well-regarded Brighton-based pro wrestling company Riptide Wrestling announced on Thursday that Benson Phillips would be making his debut for the promotion.

He’ll be teaming ‘Session Moth’ Martina, against the ‘No Fun Police’ tag team of Chief Deputy Dunne and Los Federales Santos Jr.

Irish wrestler Martina is one of the most entertaining wrestlers on the UK and Ireland scene, coming to the ring to “Sandstorm” by Darude, wearing leopard print, acting hungover and downing cans of Stella Artois.

The match takes place on August 3rd – we expect gunge, and maybe a Why Bird run-in.

It appears to be part of a trend for random British celebrities to get into wrestling at the moment. Former Norwich striker Grant Holt is currently training for a bout in 2019.

And even more ridiculously, former X-Factor comedy act Wagner did a run-in at RISE: Underground Pro Wrestling, where his son, RISE Champion Dr Leonardo Darwin was wrestling in a death match. It is complete insane, but warning: the clip is a bit gory.

British wrestling is in a boom period at the moment, and returns regularly to ITV this month for the first time in decades.