PROGRESSION
When the PAA UK & IRELAND formed in 2019 there were a lot of novices & not many opportunities for them to progress. There were some established Pros who seemed untouchable by their opposition. A new system of competition was gradually established & the number of participants has since then at least tripled. A lot has changed in seven years & some of the systems put in place needed updating.
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The purpose of this association is to provide opportunities to progress. The new person enquiring how to join in is directed to a club to learn how to pull safely. The club will train them or if they are already competent from another country let us know that they are safe to pull. If they decide to compete there are many options. We have a programme of events in different locations to take those new people all the way to succeed in international competition if they have talent & dedication to persevere.
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We run a number of regional warzone tournaments with multiple chances for new pullers to learn from established armwrestlers & progress against each other. The experienced or more talented pullers win by beating everyone else & new talent is spotted quickly. Those coming for a day out to pull for fun can also get some value for money without the concern of being eliminated twice with nothing else to do. This integrated system gives many more opportunities than a standard double elimination tournament & more experience than the supermatch format. Losing a round is not catastrophic. The Warzone Page explains how it works in great detail.
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Here it is necessary to define some terms. In the past we have considered a Novice to be someone who has armwrestled for less than 5 years, won or placed a few times or not at all. What happens when they have a layoff? Compete abroad? Win dozens of supermatches? We had Novice Tournaments with mutliple problems - how to keep the cheats out to keep it fair? 2024 revealed a stark fact. Of the 106 Novice National entrants only 2 went to the Pro Nationals to compete. Over the next year some faded away never to be seen again. Others started to chase progression against the better pullers. Conversely the Pro Nationals had 60 entrants whilst many who were good enough to be contenders watched from the audience. 2025 had 160 pullers in the Novice Nationals. Half of them were new & hadn't competed in the PAA before. 12 people were refused entry either for misunderstanding the entry requirements or blatently trying to cheat. Of the 160 entrants 15 took part in the Pro Nationals. The Pro Nationals had 98 pullers in total.
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So from now on a novice is just someone who was new in 2025 or who arrives in 2026. That's it. The only benefit of being identified as a novice will be to identified as such at the safety briefing & then to be paired in the first round of a regional tournament to pull against another new person so one of you gets a win under referees instructions. Thereafter the draw is random. In 2027 all the ones we first saw in 2025 will no longer be novices. Are they pros? No. That has to be earned. The pullers have the chance to progress as far as their talent & dedication will take them. That is our aim.
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Now we need to define what pro status was & what it actually is. It's a historic term that is probably the wrong one in the circumstances we have had. Prize money is occasionally available so the term amateur would in some circumstances be unsuitable under those definitions, but we don't actually have any full time professional armwrestlers in the UK. It might be argued that globally there are only a handful that make their living as armwrestlers & they mostly rely on social media presence & the advertising revenue earned by the amount of their followers, rather than prize money or government grants. Some of the best pullers in the UK & IRELAND travel internationally, are reimbursed for their travel & accommodation expenses, whilst some are paid for attendance whether they win or lose. They are elite, but all have day jobs. So PRO STATUS is an acknowledgement of competence, experience & some success, a gift from the association which we make to those who have competed with us. In the past we have issued them to people we've identified as too good for the Novice Nationals. There will be no more novice nationals or specific novice competitions run by us.
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Instead the regional warzones will have more rounds. After the top 6 are found to contest the overall final - & that is determined by a winning ten pins against random opponents - the rounds will carry on until another 6 pullers get 10 pins each. They will contest what will be called the Tier Two Final. This provides more starts, & some definite progression for those outside the top 6.
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Medals will be available for top 3 places in:
Ladies, Masters, Overall Final, Tier 2 Final. Also a countback of pins & playoffs will determine who was top 3 in the light, middle & heavy classes outside of the Overall final. These count towards progression & recognition of pro status.
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We are affiliated to IFA (International Federation of Armwrestling) & our team has won medals at European & World Championships. We want more medallists & as IFA grows there are likely to be qualification criteria of who we can send as well as harder opposition from more competing countries.
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Pro status certificates will continue to be issued for:
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Winning two non national competitions (this includes outside of the UK)
Gaining three non nationals places (including outside of the UK)
Gaining two places in an overall warzone final
Gaining a place in the National championships.
Exceptional supermatch performance recommendation by Vice President or Ambasssador. ​​
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We're no longer rewarding people for procrastination, similarly we are not promoting casual armwrestlers outside of their comfort zone. We recognise results, provide opportunities to progress & celebrate those who succeed.
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These are the people who gained recognition since the scheme started in 2022.
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2025 ADDITIONS:
Gabriel Morse Brown
Adam Partyka
Levon Mahseredjian
Curtis Zuccotti
Caglayan Ari
Tom Hickman
Sebastian Slupinski
James Bradbury
Mal Cini
Peteris Eigams
Jack Hickman
Essa Torkman
Rob Heaven
Dawid Glogowski
Keelan Clark Price
Einarr Ulfhedinn
Hamza Mezouari
Daniel Gilly
Wil Brown
Emilio Pagliocchini
Mike Wisniewski
Robert Scott
Darran Nicholson
Michael Younis
Callum Rice
Juan Gilly
Przem Charkiewicz
Janek Purcha
Edgars Stalts
Hannah Steedman
Satin Violet
Agnieszka Koralewska
Candi Bailey
Fabrizio Treccarichi
Dan Sheppard
Mason Kuhlmann
Shazad Ata
Waleed Maqsood
Roland Caulfield (5 years)
Marc Sidney
Dean Carden
Chaz Dunn
Eddie Dunn
Joe Finnerty
Eriks Tauters
Luke Banks
Alwyn Jones
Gordon James
Oli Williams
Dave Allport
Jim Ayrton
​Tom Lymath​​
Paul Scott
Michael Taylor
Viktor Culan
Jake Hatcher
Simon Furze
Nathan Davey
Stefan Tomlin (5 years)
Dave Curry
Manuel Mackarel
Ion Tudorean
Deimantas Vispulskis
Bianca Lincoln
Ben Surgeoner
Alexandru Bugan
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2024 ADDITIONS:
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​Andy Matchett
Achoi (Sai) Ngo
Bence Pordi
Chris Lewis
Dylan Daybell
Daniel Cots Fernandez
Ewa Zarazynski
Jake Starling
Jamie Hill
Laurence Shahlaei
Luke Edmonds
Michael Antonia
Morgan Hennessy
Philippa Martin
Zbigniew Gorczynski
Alexander Perchik (5 years)
Andrei Ploae (5 years)
Brett Jones (5 years)
David Nagy (5 years)
Ghita Maier (5 years)
Jake Grose (5 years)
James Henry (5 years)
Lewis Alexander (5 years)
Lewis Claxton (5 years)
Loko Dejavu (5 years)
Matt Palk (5years)
Sergiu Gherman (5 years)
Stuart Maughan (5 years)
Ste Hurst (5 years)
Scott Galley (5 years)
Rudy Mlkvy (5 years)
Ochir Erkhembayer (5 years)
Lee Hellyer (5 years)
Ben Taylor (5 years)
Steve Anderson
Wayne Ashley (5 years)
Mick Hughes (5 years)
Bryan Young
Ethan Fisher (5 years)
Charlie Owen
Alan Riseborough
Graeme Shaw
Richard Cudmore (5 years)
Chris Cooper (5 years)
George Badea (5 years)
Darren Waring
Joseph Lawrence
Ervins Trubacs
Luke Guadagni
Anthony Sandall
Steven Taylor
Tara Liggett
Mindaugas Mackeviciuss
Petrich Andrusi
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2023 ADDITIONS:
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Neil Cass
Dylan Gosling
Thomas Lilley
Mindaugas Dumbra
Dom Crane
Dane Colvin
Harley Potter
Alexandru Necseriu
Noah Burton
Denis Lisicins
Sylwester Straczynkski
Curtis Reynolds
Damian Muka
Stefan Putter
Charlie Owen
Robbie Byrne
Vladislav Prikodko
Matt Smith
Dan Stone
Hasan - Al Hakim
Stefan Pantelic
Finbarr English
Diarmuid English
Mihai Gherman
James Murdock
James White
Mike Emery
Ryan Barbour
Dafydd Lewis
Chris Thomas
Rob Brown
Viswa Mavuri
Ivan Minev
Dan Earthquake
Cillian English
Andrei Porca
Omar Al Nuri
Nik Dodd
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2022 additions.
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Alex Hill
Andrew Jones
Arturas Sakutis
Ashley Harmsworth
Ben McGibbon
Billy Davies
Boiko Artem
Connor Zuccotti
Cormac English
Darren Stark
David Prokupek
Dawid Kucinski
Drew Holloway
Dwaine Rees
Ernestas Linius
Gary McKelvey
Joe Sirichas
Jonel Melmicic
Jon Murphy
Josh Powell
Kelvin Coogan
Kristiyan Iliev
Luke Bowers
Mark McGinley
Mark Waldon
Mitch Tutt
Nicolae Barbu
Reece Aldridge
Reuben Hughes
Sam Schofield
Scott James
Simon Wrigley
Stuart Acton
Zsolt Papp
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