The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling

[ohtani's jacket]

Johnny England vs. Kid Chocolate (8/2/78)

I like England as a performer, but he overdid the posing. He would have gotten more heat if he'd been more judicious with the flexing. The good thing about England being a lower midcard heel act was that Kid got to show his wares more than usual. KC was as much a jobber to the stars as Black Jack Mulligan, but since he was a face he wasn't afforded the chance to be very interesting aside from the odd flashy move or cracking headbutt. England was clearly going over here, but he was low enough down the totem pole that they worked this on an evening footing. KC submitted from a dislocated elbow, which he sold really well.

Kid Chocolate vs. Johnny England (4/3/79)

Shorter, less eventful bout notable only for the fact that England was now rocking a massive afro.

Alan Dennison vs. Johnny England (1/30/79)

This was pretty bad. Dennison at his worst, really. Strongman Dennison tried putting bodybuilder England in his place and his execution was crap.

Pete Ross vs. Johnny England (12/19/79)

Farmer's Boy Pete Ross got a surprise pinfall over England, but that was about all he was getting. Squash.

Alan Dennison vs. Johnny England (7/27/81)

One of the most boring bouts I can remember seeing. England worked Dennison's leg over for an eternity and it was tortuous to watch. Anyone who bangs on about targeted limbwork being outstanding psychology can do me a massive favour by extracting this from my memory banks and implanting it in theirs.

Ringo Rigby vs. King Ben (2/9/83)

This was pretty intense to start with as it seemed like Rigby was yet another guy who didn't particularly like King Ben, but it was a no falls, twenty minute contest and they couldn't keep up the intensity levels. Not a bad bout, though.

Sid Cooper vs. Ringo Rigby (9/1/83)

I read a cool story about Cooper the other day. Apparently, he had a match with referee Max Ward in the late 70s where he promised he'd shave his head if he lost. Ward won the bout and Cooper never grew his hair back. He was past it at this point and only really good against select opponents, but I've still got a lot of respect for him after that Ward story.

Bobby Barnes vs. Ringo Rigby (5/10/83)

Barnes looked like a gay Doink the Clown by this point. It's kind of sad to watch his decline as he was such a tremendous performer in his prime, but he still drew a massive amount of heat and some guy in the crowd had a real go at him when he used a closed fist on Rigby. I'm not sure what to make of Rigby. When I first started watching the 80s stuff he seemed pretty good, but he spent so much time in the States that he never really got back into the groove of British wrestling and at times came across as a bit of a hybrid worker.

John Naylor vs. Johnny Apollon (3/21/83)

We only got a fall or so of this, but what a tremendous contest. Apollon looked like he was trying to prove himself against a Wigan guy and Naylor actually looked badass for a chance. If Naylor had worked snug like this instead of trying to be the "Golden Boy" he might have been a top worker. Great uncooperative bout with Naylor grinning like a maniac and schooling Apollon, who still managed to look game. Cool bout.

[ohtani's jacket]

Here are some miscellaneous matches I ordered. A few of them turned out to be pretty damn good.

 

Alan Kilby vs. Saxon Brooks (5/28/83)

 

Saxon Brooks was a heavyweight prospect with a judo background who'd been on television once before. Nothing really came of him in terms of his on-screen career, but he couldn't have asked for a better carry from Kilby. Walton was a bit critical of Brooks, continually pointing out how deliberate he was with his moves and how telegraphed they looked. Brooks looked awkward coming off the ropes, and I think it bugged Walton a bit. I kind of liked him, though. He had that amateur-turned-pro charm to him where all he really knew how to do was adapt his judo background to the ring. Some of his throws were a bit rough looking as he didn't really know how to cooperate yet, but he gave Kilby a workout and I honestly thought this was one of the better Kilby matches on tape.

 

Dave Finlay vs. Johnny Kincaid (9/3/85)

Man, I always thought Kincaid was washed up by this point, but this was awesome. He was super aggressive and Finlay responded by working stiff. Great contest. I usually hate the Princess Paula shtick with Finlay playing the whipped husband, but I kind of liked it here. Paula gave him a dressing down after he dropped a fall and wouldn't give him the kiss he needed to wrestle, so he took his frustrations out on Kincaid by beating the shit out of him and Kincaid responded in kind. Weird narrative if you think about it for too long, but it was a cracking match and hands down one of the better Princess Paula era matches. I need to rewatch the Kincaid/Marty Jones match, as I always thought Kincaid wasn't much chop past '78-79.

Ray Steele vs. Black Salem (1/9/86)

Black Salem, jeez what a name. He was the dark skinned West Indian wrestler Jamaica George. Some kind in the crowd kept making mildly racist jokes. I say mildly as I couldn't quite make them out but they had something to do with the difference in skin colour. This was a good bout, but Steele won two-zip and was on top for 90% of the bout. At times it was like he was riding him amateur style. It was weird that George didn't get a fall, but I've always wanted Walton to bust out a West Indian cricket reference on commentary and here we got two -- Viv Richards and Joel Garner. Very few of you will know how awesome the West Indian cricket team were in the 70s and 80s, but trust me that was a mark out moment.

Pat Roach vs. Johnny Kincaid (12/11/85)

Johnny Kincaid, don't call it a comeback! Fuck this was awesome. Kincaid just took it to Roach and put him in a grovet that made him squeal like a pig. Never seen anything like it. Roach's selling was sublime. The finish was the best "falling to make the count" finish ever as the first chance Roach got free from the grovet he sent Kincaid flying. Roach never really worked like a big man in the sense that he didn't take advantage of his size (at least during his elder statesman phase), but tick him off and he was like a bear with a sore head, or neck as the case may be. For a throwaway tournament bout, this was badass.

Jim Breaks vs. Kung Fu (9/3/86)

For some reason I still don't fully understand, Breaks and Kung Fu made an appearance for Dale Martin in '86. Jim hadn't been on ITV since '84, and Walton was naturally happy to see him back, but the magic was gone and this was a hockey, shtick-ridden bout. The crowd enjoyed getting on Jimmy's case, and Walton even got in the act by providing a back story as to why Breaks didn't like him (he informed the ref that Breaks was holding the trunks one day), but it wasn't an enjoyable experience for me and was very All-Star-ish.

Tom Tyrone vs. Lee Bronson (8/4/87)

Speaking of All-Star, here was Tom Tyrone going nowhere fast on one of their shows. All-Star may have been great for charismatic workers like Rocco, but guys for who wrestling was their bread and butter, these short, meaningless bouts sucked the life out of them.

Dave Taylor vs. Johnny South (3/16/88)

This, on the other hand, was an All-Star bout that ruled. South was one of the best veteran workers on the circuit and a real asskicker. Taylor loved a good fight and these two were happy as muck beating the crap out of each other. This is the kind of match that dropped a young Steve Regal's jaw. Taylor fans need to see this.

Pat Roach vs. Caswell Martin (10/26/88)

This was the last match to air on ITV. I had this romantic notion that it would be the last piece of footage I watched, but with all the random shit popping up on YouTube I went ahead and watched it. Damn good match, actually. Miles better than I was expecting. It looked like they went out there with the intention of putting on a good show, not only to eulogise 33 years of wrestling on ITV (though that was certainly part of it), but to encourage people to continue going out and watching wrestling in their local halls. Indeed, Walton put a plug in for the ongoing house shows as they braced for the final round. Roach was years removed from his best, but dialed back the clock here, and Martin was one of the few guys who still looked in peak physical condition right up until the end. I enjoyed this immensely.

Dave Finlay & Skull Murphy vs. Honey Boy Zimba & Lenny Hurst (6/13/83)

I think I officially love the Riot Squad. There's not much competition, but they may be the best tag team I've seen in British wrestling. Certainly, one of the few who understood how to work the French style of heel tag work. McManus and Logan were also very good, but Finlay and Murphy were more athletic. There was an inordinate amount of headbutts from Zimba in this bout, but the heels pinballed about and made it work. Entertaining bout.

[GSR]

There is every chance that was when Richards and Garner were over here playing county Cricket for Somerset, it certainly feels about right on the timing.

 

I really enjoyed that Breaks/Fu bout that you didn't care for. Heavy on the schtick but I found it fun and probably the last great Breaks bout (for me).

[ohtani's jacket]

For me the last great Breaks match was the superb carry of Danny Boy Collins in '84, but I freely admit I hold Breaks to pretty high standards. I don't think he ever got bad per se, as I recently watched an early 90s handheld of him, but I prefer Breaks when he has a serious edge to him as opposed to out and out shtick.

[ohtani's jacket]

Jon Cortez vs. Johnny England (11/25/85)

 

This was from Screensport Wrestling, which was a satellite TV show produced by All-Star Wrestling in the mid-80s. They'd show bouts from the States and mix them in with some local ASW tapings. They tried hard to distinguish themselves from ITV Wrestling by having an edgier, American flavour to their product. There was a lot of handheld camera work with documentary-style head shots of people in the crowd and different angles than you'd get on ITV. The wrestlers scrapped instead of wrestling Mountevans rules while the commentators screamed all sorts of gibberish like "Jon Cortez is the King of Chaos!" One of them was fixated on Jon Cortez' moustache and kept doing a Charles Bronson impersonation. It was all a bit amateurish really. They even invited people to write in if they wanted VHS or Beta Max copies of their shows, which would have been great for collectors but came across as amateur. After the fight, the wrestlers almost got into a pull apart brawl during the post match interviews when Cortez kept claiming that England's body was a deformity. The interviewer then cut to a request from Robin or Robert Smith from Stoke-on-Trent who asked to see the Slaughter/Sheik Boot Camp match. At least Screensport was good for something.

 

Jon Cortez vs. Jackie Robinson (1/18/86)

 

Ridiculously clipped to the point where it seemed like someone just wanted to play with their video editing software.

 

Picked up a few handhelds:

 

Jim Breaks vs. Mal Sanders (11/21/90)

 

You can probably guess that 1990 Jim Breaks wasn't going to be terribly good, but there was some novelty in seeing a balding, pudgy Breaks take on a completely bald Superstar Sanders. British house show fare as is house show-y as anywhere in the world and this was mostly Breaks jawing with pensioners.

 

Chic Cullen vs. Terry Rudge (11/21/90)

 

This had its moments of asskickery from Rudge, but he wasn't quite the same in the 90s as he was in even the late 80s in Germany. Partly, it was because he was doing a bit of house show heel shtick that I don't need from my Rudge, but it was for the paying customers so I can't complain too much.

 

Lord Steven Regal vs. Robbie Brookside (date unknown)

 

This was from some time in the mid-90s after Regal had gone to WCW. Not a very interesting match. Mostly Lord Regal shtick. They had a much better match in 1990 which you can find on YouTube.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Robbie Brookside (Hamburg 9/14/90)

 

Good when Rudge is delivering a stomping on Brookside, but average otherwise. I guess I can't really get into Brookside.

[ohtani's jacket]

Honey Boy Zimba vs. Ray Thunder (9/26/78)

Bit of a nothing clip with Zimba getting the win against the run of play.

Bronco Wells vs. Ed Wensor (3/8/78)

Despite this being a catchweight contest, it was still a battle between fatties. Pretty good bout for a match between two unheralded types. Nothing mind blowing, but a much better watch than I would have anticipated.

Mike Marino vs. Sandy Scott (10/4/77)

This was a typical Joint heel turn with Scott suddenly acting out of character and using all sorts of underhanded tactics. I don't know if there was a kayfabe explanation given in the magazines or in the programs sold at the halls, but there was never any motivation given on television. Walton would simply start lamenting that wrestler X hadn't been the wrestler we know of late and how much of a shame it was because X could be such a good wrestler if he simply followed the rules. Marino never had much time for bullshit and didn't put up with Scott's shit.

Peter Wilson vs. Gary Wensor (10/4/77)

This was miles better than Wilson's 80s work. How many miles better? I dunno, maybe the distance from the earth to the sun. From memory, this was both men's television debuts and they were keen to impress with a well worked bout. Even Walton was into it, and he'd call a spade a spade if he didn't think a wrestler's television debut was up to scratch. This Wilson had the potential to be a decent worker. I wonder what happened.

Mike Bennett vs. Alan Dennison (4/23/79)

Wow, this was much better than your typical Dennison bout. The grappling was actually really compelling and Bennett put in an outstanding performance for his age and experience level. I really need to watch more Mike Bennett. Unfortunately, the latter half of the match was clipped. Still a good bout, mind.

Brian Maxine vs. Ray Thunder (2/28/79)

Maxine as a babyface is one of the worst turns ever. Who the hell wanted to see Maxine as a face? It was just wrong on so many levels.

Johnny Czeslaw vs. Ray Thunder (4/24/79)

This was Czeslaw's last appearance on TV and he didn't look good. Walton tried to paint it as though he was off-colour or having a bad day, but knowing what we do about his health, it's possible that he wasn't in the best of shape. Thunder looked awful here, which I'd attribute to Czeslaw not being able to make him look good.

Billy Torontos vs. Black Jack Mulligan (1/9/79)

Mulligan was such a pro. He never failed to make his opponent look a million bucks even a comedy worker like Torontos. I think he's by far the biggest and best bumper in World of Sport history and possibly ahead of the times with the bumps he took. Nothing bout, but I have a ton of respect for Mulligan.

John Naylor vs. Leon Fortuna (4/17/75)

This was an exciting bout mostly because the wrestlers got excited and kept fighting on the ropes. It was the final of a World of Sport Trophy tournament and the winner had the trophy presented to him by none other than Walton himself, who made a rare on screen appearance. Ridiculously smooth. Walton was the man. I wish we knew more about the "other" side of Walton -- the smoking, the drinking, the DJ'ing and soft porn producing.

John Naylor vs. Johnny England (1/31/79)

This was decent enough, I suppose. Late 70s Johnny England reminds me of Sid Vicious or some other punk rocker. He comes across a right little shit.

John Cox vs. Ivan Penzecoff (11/7/74)

Not sure if I've seen this before or why it was on the disc since it doesn't seem that I ordered it, but this was pretty good up until the finish. Cox was a big boy. Walton claims he was already 17 stone at age 18. Later on, he'd become a grizzled, hard as fuck veteran, but he was a young guy here and pretty much a huge slab for Penzecoff to work with. Instead of putting over the other guy as is often the case with Penzecoff playing the foil, he got to concentrate on his own shtick and gave an entertaining performance. The finish was a lousy DQ -- a finish that always seemed to happen when Colbeck was reffing -- but I enjoyed the majority of this bout.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm sure by now most people are aware of the existence of the Arthur Psycho channel on YouTube. He's uploaded a lot of stuff I didn't bother getting; stuff that wasn't worth paying for. Thanks to him I can continue my obsessive compulsive cataloguing of British and European wrestling; but since there's a fair bit to get through, I'm going to watch it one hour at a time. Let me present:

 

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 1

 

Dave Taylor vs. Steve Regal (Machynlleth, taped 2/5/91)

This was all right, I suppose, but far down the list of good matches from both men. I've never been that high on WCW Sat Night style matches and this wasn't a particularly great entry into the genre.

Tony St. Clair vs. Steve Regal (Caernarfon, taped 1988)

 

I'd seen this before, but it was worth revisiting. It's kind of an interesting match-up as St. Clair was in no way the type of heavyweight Regal aspired to be. He was always flashy and athletic and a lot looser than your standard Regal influences; but he was a wily vet at this stage, and a guy who kept ploughing along long after the UK scene turned to shit. Not a great match as Regal didn't really lay his shit in, but an interesting look at where Regal was at in '88.

 

Rollerball Rocco vs. Danny Boy Collins (Caernarfon, taped 4/6/90)

 

Rocco was nearing the end here. He looked considerably older.. and fatter.. but still worked the same frenetic, all-action style that differentiated him from so many of his peers. The guy didn't possess an off switch and was a maniac in the ring. Collins I've never been a fan of, but I've mostly seen teenage Collins and have no idea what he was like as a man. This wasn't a good place to start as late 80s-early 90s Reslo is as bad as the latter years of ITV, but it looks like I'll have plenty more opportunity to delve into Collins.

 

Dave Taylor vs. Tony St Clair (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

This was the pick of the all-Reslo hour. It was joined in progress, but the action was immediately better than in any other bout. The difference was in the way they contested each hold in the old-school WoS style as opposed to the short all-action format Reslo developed when the TV switched to one fall bouts. I'm not sure if St. Clair knew Taylor's father, but that may have been a factor. Post-83 Reslo bouts are only good when they're hard hitting and this one delivered. Cool finish too.

 

Rollerball Rocco vs. Fuji Yamada (Caernarfon, taped 1987)

 

This was a juniors bout and didn't resemble anything remotely European. It was all right as far as short bouts go, but do you really want Doobie in your funk? Not what I signed up for.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 2

 

Dave Finlay vs. Kid McCoy (Cage Match, Cardiff, taped 3/30/90)

 

One thing I'll say for Reslo is at least they didn't sit around on their derriere as the American product took over. They may not have succeeded in creating a product that matched the slick production values of US wrestling, but by pinching cage matches and other American gimmicks they at least put up a fight. It's hard to work a good cage match when there's no history or tradition to them in your territory, but they must have had some idea that they were used for blow offs in the States. Why then was this your typical Finlay squash inside a cage? These were bad years for Finlay as he had all the tools but none of the nouce required to work a great match. I sometimes wonder if it was an ego thing -- known tough guy constantly looking to prove himself and protection his spot -- not to mention the fact that this was King Ben's kid and God knows what relationship Finlay and Ben had. On the other hand, his formula was so ingrained by this point that perhaps it was impossible to deviate from it. His offence looked good, but he was so slow and methodical compared to his Riot Squad days where he was a hell of a bumper and pretty much a super worker. In any event, if you're going to separate the men from the boys apparently a cage match is the way to do it. McCoy tried attacking Finlay after the bout to get some heat back, but was brushed aside like a gnat. I miss Jones vs. Finlay.

 

Peter Bainbridge vs. Garry Clwyd (8/4/87)

 

Teenage boy wrestling is not really my thing, but they did all right for their age. While they were wrestling, there was a sudden clip of Hogan ripping off his singlet in front of thousands of screaming fans while Jesse claimed Orton was a chance of beating them... then back to the boys... Why did wrestling go off the air again?

 

Skull Murphy vs. Fuji Yamada (Caernarfon, taped 3/14/89)

 

Boring match. It wasn't European wrestling and it wasn't an honest attempt at creating a dramatic heel vs. babyface bout either. Murphy basically clocked in and clocked out, and Liger's roided body was off putting.

 

Danny Boy Collins vs. Robbie Hagan (Machynlleth, taped 2/5/91)

 

Man this was generic. I suddenly remembered why I don't like Danny Boy Collins. After hitting a leg drop on Hagan, the heel rolled out of the ring and Collins did a back flip followed by a windmill fist pump. Forgetting how awful a pose that is, he didn't even drop kick him out of the ring; the guy took a spell on the outside and Collins started over-celebrating. Who does that? I've lightened up on most guys over the years even Naylor and Sanders, but Collins will be a struggle. Hagan was a thick, stocky guy with limited skills. He had plenty of ideas about what he should be doing but couldn't make any of his stuff looked good. Collins' offence was all wrong, and if I'd had his ear at the time I would have told him to drop it all. At least there was a generic finish to complement the rest of the bout.

 

Dave Finlay vs. Danny Boy Collins (Pontardawe, taped 4/4/89)

 

These two had so many matches together that it almost needs to be a good series for both men's sake. At this point, it might even be a bigger feather in Finlay's cap if he can actually produce the goods with Collins. This was the best match of the hour almost by default as it was a bout that ran longer than 10 minutes, but Finlay was again a rock when it came to his slow pace, methodical style, and the match took a turn for the worse every time Collins was on offence. To have a good match with Finlay during this era, you need to take the fight to him like Kincaid or Jones did, but Collins would rather prance around. He finally showed some grit when they brawled on the outside, but that was the end of the bout. Whinging aside, this wasn't terrible. but it wasn't promising either. It was cool seeing a nine-year-old Arthur Psycho running around with a Metallica patch on his jacket, though.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 3

 

John Quinn/Kendo Nagasaki vs. Neil Sands/Tony St. Clair (4/28/87)

 

This was a fairly entertaining brawl. It was goofy, dumb-as-shit All Star wrestling, but enjoyable in the same way McDonald's is if you haven't eaten it for a few years. It was basically an out of control brawl with public warnings flying everywhere and Billy Finlay in over his head trying to keep everyone in check. Quinn was still pretty mobile at this stage and St. Clair is starting to gain my respect for his veteran work. They had some quality dust-ups in this w/ St. Clair doing a great job of blowing a gasket. Sands had been on TV a couple of times in the 70s before returning to the independents and working the tournaments in Europe. He left the wrestling game in '81 but made a brief comeback in '86. One of the most ordinary looking blokes to lace up a pair of boots, but a great contributor to online discussions over the years. Delivered an amusingly dour one-liner during the pre-match promo that drew a chuckle out of me. Nagasaki was in his element working the all-in style, so All Star had all their bases covered here; however, Walton was strangely unethused. At one point he was commenting on Quinn holding the tag rope and uttered: "he's holding it for now... how long, Lord? How long?" It was the oddest thing I've heard him say. St. Clair and Quinn both got thrown out, and Nagasaki and Sands continued the bout alone. Unfortunately, Sands' offence wasn't really good enough to have a memorable stand-off, but it didn't detract too much from a fatty meal of a bout.

 

Sid Cooper/Zoltan Boscik/Mal Sanders vs. Steve Grey/Rick Wiseman/Johnny Kidd (3/19/88)

 

This was billed as a "Continental Rules" triple tag match with sin binnings instead of public warnings. The idea was that if you committed a foul you'd be sent to the penalty box for 1-5 minutes at the discretion of the referee (or, as the MC called it, the "prison area.") The penalty box in this case was two guard rails in a "V" shape. It was an interesting idea in theory, but a clusterfuck in execution. Jeff Kaye had no fucking idea what he was doing and neither did anybody else really. Grey was sent twice for a total of 6 minutes and Cooper once for 2 mins. It would have worked better in a regular tag match where you could have a clear FIP segment, but for the most part it was business as usual until the offending wrestler returned to the apron (!) and not the ring itself. Drama. Eventually, the heels put Kidd through the ringer and he was able to make a clumsy hot tag to the returning Grey, who cleaned house in equally awkward fashion. If it hadn't been for Sanders innovating some fun bumps that took out his partners as well, the entire thing would have fell flat on its face. It wasn't terrible as the heels were fairly good despite Boscik and Cooper being past their best (Walton called Boscik "Zolly" which I'd never heard him do before); the clumsiness can be chalked up to the lack of proper tag structure in British wrestling.

 

Danny Boy Collins vs. Dave Finlay (Cage match, Merthyr, taped 3/29/90)

 

This was the best Finlay/Collins match so far, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement but they managed to produce some fairly brutal looking stuff within the confines of the cage. Collins finally looked like a man, which was big because manning up has been an issue for him so far. Cool missile dropkick spot towards the end. First of their matches I'd recommend to people who worship at the altar of Finlay.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 4

 

Tony St. Clair vs. Rollerball Rocco (Porthmadog, taped 1988)

 

Two aging vets make a decent fist of having a hard hitting bout. We even got a bit of colour from both guys. Rocco was doing some sort of a coal miner's glove gimmick at this point, and being in Wales and all, it's a really fucking big coal miner's glove. Actually, I don't know what sort of glove it was -- it was a big black glove with metal studs. Rocco used it as a foreign object around this time which had a real WWF feel to it. Kudos to him for flying the flag in how the British style needed to catch up with the American product, but it's far from the Euro style I love. I assume St. Clair cribbing the Doomsday Device was due to crossing paths with Animal or Hawk at some point, but it was a nice string to his veteran bow.

 

Rollerball Rocco vs. Tony St. Clair (Corwen, taped 4/7/90)

 

St. Clair with the mullet. Rocco was just about finished at this point and was breaking down physically, but I've got to say St. Clair is quickly moving up my ranks of guys who kept the flame alive post-ITV.

 

Giant Haystacks vs. Drew McDonald (Pontardawe, taped 4/4/89)

 

Drew McDonald is one of many who have died recently, but this was actually my first time to see him. He looked like a solid performer, but he wasn't going to get much rub against Haystacks. Hopefully there are better matches to come.

 

John Quinn vs. Wayne Bridges (Denbigh, taped 1987)

 

I didn't give this much chance of living up to their Joint Promotions spectacle, but it was actually really good. It was a rounds match and joined frustratingly late, but Quinn deserves a knighthood for what he was able to get out of Bridges. Really underrated worker John Quin -- underrated in the sense that most people don't have a clue who he is, but he cut out a career in the 80s as good as any fringe guy in other promotions.

 

Kung Fu vs. Kid McCoy (Denbigh, taped 2/15/89)

 

By and large, I think the Reslo footage helps Kung Fu's case as being a decent worker; certainly moreso if you only watch his World of Sport stuff, but this wasn't really given enough time to mean anything.

 

Gary Clwyd vs. Tony Stewart (Merthyr, taped 3/29/90)

 

Hey, Reslo had boy wrestling too! This was better than I expected, but the guy I thought was the better worker did the job. Boo!

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 5

 

The Mighty Chang vs. Fuji Yamada (Amlwch, taped 2/5/87)

 

Absolutely horrific.

 

Princess Paula vs. Tracy Kemp (Porthmadog, taped 1988)

 

Never seen Paula wrestle before, so why not? She wasn't too bad. As you can imagine there was a lot of kicking and punching and all of the other visceral elements of women's wrestling like scratching, biting and hair pulling. You'd think being on the road with her husband so often she'd learn how to throw a better punch, but her biggest asset was the fact that she looked like such a bitch. If you've seen her manage Finlay you can probably guess what it's like when she's the centre of attention. This was a squash match but the crowd gave her plenty of grief. Comparable to a British Sensational Sherri w/ Sherri perhaps having more of a penchant for the over-dramatics.

 

Dave Taylor vs. Judd Harris (Llandudno, taped 7/13/83)

 

Back to the early 80s. I much prefer this era of Reslo. Even the host is better with British Lions and Welsh rugby star Ray Gravell fronting the show. That won't mean anything to anyone except ButchReedMark, but's cool to have a Welsh rugby connection to Reslo. I've never been a huge fan of Taylor, but he was one of he stars of the Reslo footage (the complete master tapes of which have apparently surfaced, btw.) Harris had a huge beer gut. You don't get that sort of gut over night. That takes work, boyo. It's too bad he was extremely limited as he got fantastic heat. There were two young girls giggling their heads off in the front row, who were squirming like hell when Harris took a bump over the ropes and stumbled near them. That was more entertaining than the bout which was one of those heel wear down bouts that drag when you don't care about the heel or the babyface. Still love this era of Reslo, though.

 

Dave Finlay & Skull Murphy vs. Boston Blackie & Gary Clwyd (Caernarfon, taped 4/6/90)

 

Really fun bout. Finlay was back to his early 80s best for this Riot Squad tag bumping and stooging his ass off. Murphy wasn't quite as good as he had been in the 80s, but the magic was still there in terms of the Riot Squad. Such an underrated tag team. The fact that people are oblivious to this facet of Finlay's career is something that ought to be rectified as he ought to have a better reputation as a tag wrestler than he does (which is presuming that he doesn't have any reputation as a tag wrestler, unless people thought he was good in TV tags in the WWE). Even Regal kind of has a rep with the Blue Bloods and he Riot Squad fucking annihilate the Blue Bloods; I mean, who are Boston Blackie and Gary Clwyd? I saw Clwyd the other day in a boy's bout, but here they looked like a badass babyface tag team. Do you know how hard that is to do in British wrestling -- to look badass as babyface tag team? The Riot Squad deserve more attention.

 

Robbie Brookside vs. Doc Dean (Pontardawe, taped 4/4/89)

 

OK, now this was something. These two were long time partners on the British indy circuit as The Liverpool Lads with their struggles as independent wrestlers being captured in Robbie Brookside's Video Diaries documentary for the BBC. I think they ended up getting a gig with NJPW through Finlay's connections and later becoming jobbers for WCW, but at this stage they were like the Bryan Danielsons of their day. This was a really beautiful old-school style bout with some fucking great wrestling. It actually blew me away as I was expecting to be plenty cynical about it. It would be easy to say it was a ROH syle deliberae homage to old-school WoS and therefore not authentic, but fuck it... It was great WoS wrestling and up there with Brookside vs. Saint and the better of the two Brookside/Regal handhelds.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 6

 

Andy Blair vs. Lucky Gordon (6/13/84)

 

This had a disproportionate amount of heat in relation to the quality of the work because it was part of some Big Daddy team challenge. If you ever want proof of how over Daddy was, here's a good example as you've got a vet who won't bump or sell for some Scottish kid no-one's ever heard of and they're getting great heat. That was interesting if nothing else.

 

Dave Finlay vs. Danny Collins (Chain match, Beaumaris, taped 3/7/91)

 

At first you're thinking "Chain match! C'mon, make this good Finlay!" and then you realise they're on Welsh TV and the chances of there being blood or the thing being any good are limited, and sure enough this was a fairly subdued German-style Pirate Fight that's more or less a cross between a chain match and a flag match. Could have been better if Finlay had his working cap on, but as I've said many times this was a funny old period for Dave.

 

Johnny Saint vs. Kid McCoy (Machynlleth, taped 2/5/91)

 

This was incredibly banal. Another exhibit in why Johnny Saint really wasn't that good. You would expect, or I would expect, a standout worker to have a good little TV match in under the confines of Reslo's television editing, but there was nothing good about this.

 

Klondyke Kate vs. Taranwen & Tracey Kemp (Newcastle Emlyn, taped 2/5/92)

 

Klondyke Kate was kind of like the British Dump Matsumoto, or I guess for fans living over there, a female version of Giant Haystacks. Since Dale Martin never gave women's wrestling a chance, she barely has any profile online, but I believe she was a consistent presence on the indy scene for a great many years and was one of the more despised heels around. Personally, I find her shtick predictable but she wasn't terrible or anything. The blue eye girls here tried hard, but botched their double team spots badly.

 

Pat Roach vs. Ray Steele (Cardiff, taped 3/30/90)

 

This was rad. These guys may have never had a blow away classic on tape, but they had consistently good matches from the late 70s through to this match in 1990, which is an incredibly long time for any given match-up to deliver. There must have had more matches on tape than just about any other pairing and still I was enamoured with their forearm exchanges, body checks and close-in fighting. The only marring age had left on them was their ability to execute standard British pinfall maneuvers, but the rest of their game rocked. I really thought Roach would struggle in this, but this along with the final ITV match with Martin has changed my opinion about latter day Pat Roach. He had some life in the old legs right up until retirement.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 7

 

Johnny Kidd vs. Jim Fitzmaurice (4/8/87)

 

This was cool. Jim Fitzmaurice was a diminutive Irishman who could really go and Kidd opted to use more of his mentor Ken Joyce's style than he usually showed in the waning days of ITV. It only lasted three rounds (I suppose because Fitzmaurice was a vet filling in for a younger wrestler who couldn't make the card), but it hearkened back to a time when wrestling this skillful was common place, and if I were to make a comp of the best stuff post-WoS, I would certainly tack this on. Walton mentioned that Fitzmaurice was brought into the business by Bert Assirati, which is interesting. Ken Joyce was the ref, which also added to the spectacle. Wish it gone longer, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

 

Battle royal (7/3/86)

 

I don't usually watch battle royals, but this was only a few minutes long and from 1986 so I thought it might be interesting. I was rooting for Studs Lannigan, and if not him then Black Jack Mulligan, who took great delight in beating people up on the outside. The finish came down to "Farmer's Boy" Greg Valentine and Bernie Wright in his Bearcat Wright persona. The promoter's boy took it out, and I'll tell you what, the nepotism dripping from Brian Crabtree's fangs could have burnt a hole in the floor.

 

Giant Haystacks vs. Tony St Clair (Caernarfon, taped 3/14/89)

 

So, it was Tony St. Clair's turn to take on Haystacks, and I guess it was a credit to his standing in the business that it was far from inglorious. He got to put up a fight before his night was over. The Welsh kids loved Haystacks. They were throwing all sorts of shit at him and hurling obscenities then he feigned charging at them and they ran a mile. Talk about getting your money's worth. Stax had the occasional good match over the years. This wasn't the best I've seen, but it was above average.

 

Billy Reid vs. Blue Buchanan (Pontardawe, taped 4/4/89)

 

More boy wrestling. I've got to say the boy wrestling in Reslo was vastly superior to the boy wrestling on ITV, I suspect because these guys went out there and tried to work an indy style match as opposed to Mountevans rules. Reid (or Reed as some matchlists spell it) even did a plancha. Surprisingly good match if you can appreciate young guys doing the basics and putting in some good minutes.

 

Superflies (Ricky Knight & Jimmy Ocean) vs. Gary Clwyd & Tony Stewart (Cardiff, taped 3/30/90)

 

Indy level tag wrestling this. Really rough around the edges. Both teams had garish looking tights, though in the Superflies' case it was deliberate. They were trying hard to have a good match, but it seemed like they were tape watchers and not guys learning strictly on the job.

 

King Ben vs. Ritchie Brooks (Caernarfon, taped 4/6/90)

 

Brooks had a horrendous mullet here and looked like a British Crush. He was doing a heel gimmick, which I don't remember him doing on ITV, but then I skipped a lot of Richie Brooks matches. Ben looked well and truly middle-aged. Pretty innocuous squash.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 8

 

Fit Finlay vs. Sandy Scott (4/28/87)

 

This was the Princess Paula Show -- the latest in a long line of Finlay squashes despite it being a catchweight contest and Finlay being the lighter man. It was an extremely polished version of the Princess Paula Show, though, which at least made it entertaining. If kayfabe counted for anything then Finlay would be the 1987 European Wrestler of the Year, but matches count more in my world.

 

Doc Dean vs. Aztec Warrior (Newcastle Emlyn, taped 2/5/92)

 

Aztec Warrior was some kind of Kendo Nagasaki rip-off. I can't be bothered figuring out who he was. This was rank pro-wrestling. Maybe this type of heel vs. face dribble is some people's idea of pro-wrestling personified, but it's cartoon wrestling in my books.

 

Otto Wanz vs. Drew McDonald (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

This was amusing because Wanz defended the CWA World Heavyweight Championship in some God forsaken Welsh town, but it didn't really provide much insight into McDonald, and my biggest takeaway regarding Wanz was that he looked like a beached whale every time he was back to canvas. Won't make you forget those Vader matches in a hurry.

 

Rocky Moran vs. Fuji Yamada (Denbigh, taped 1987)

 

Finally, a Liger match worth a damn. A little on the short side, but Moran did a superb job bumping for Liger and eating all of his shit. The Mighty Chang came to ringside afterwards and challenged Yamada, but we all know how poorly that turned out.

 

Giant Haystacks vs. Boston Blackie (Merthyr, taped 3/29/90)

 

Boston Blackie looked pretty good in his last outing, but it didn't really matter since he was facing Haystacks here. You may be a king or a little street sweeper, but sooner or later, you job to the Haystacks. Haystacks looked a bit like One Man Gang during this era.

 

Pat Roach vs. Skull Murphy (Merthyr, taped 3/29/90)

 

Skull Murphy vs. Pat Roach! This was right up my alley. One of the biggest revelations of Reslo so far has been how good Roach was as a grizzled veteran. I thought he was washed up a long time before this, but he was laying into Murphy like it was old times again. They always went too short, or rather the promoters didn't give them long enough, but I love this match-up. You have Murphy the instigator/agitator up against a guy who is, literally, too big for him. Seriously, 1990 Roach, long in the tooth and white bearded, is one of the better aging veterans out there. A big revelation and a shame he didn't work Reslo more.

[cheapshot]

Really interested in the post '88 stuff you're reviewing OJ. Thanks!

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 9

 

Chic Cullen vs. Rasputin (Unknown location, taped 1983)

 

One of the best guys around vs. one of the worst workers I've seen, what's gonna happen? Rasputin was a tall, Rasputin-looking Irishman who some of you may be familiar with from that Fit Finlay documentary. He was a classic kick/punch wrestler with almost nothing else in the way of offence aside from elbows and eye rakes and the occasional choke; but I'm happy to say that on this particular evening goodness won out and Cullen got the best match out of him I've seen. This was a lot of stomping the canvas to make the strikes sound good, but it at least looked like they were laying their shit in and Cullen sold well. Won't blow your mind, but would fool you into thinking Rasputin wasn't that bad if you didn't know better. Get back to me in six months and I'll probably be claming 'putin wasn't that bad, but that's my story for now.

 

Greg Valentine vs. Jimmy Ocean (10/26/88)

 

"Farmer's Boy" Greg Valentine? Shouldn't that be Promoter's Boy Greg Valentine? This was the second to last match on ITV ever. If you haven't seen Jimmy Ocean, he's actually worth checking out. A pint sized little showman with peroxide hair and an 80s tache doing an age old Adrian Street gimmick with a fair bit of panache. Pretty zippy worker and a big bumper; I think he would have carved out a niche for himself in the era of TV stars if he hadn't come along right at the end. Probably as an enhancement talent like Black Jack Mulligan.

 

Marty Jones & Steve Taylor vs. Skull Murphy & Johnny South (8/24/88)

 

This was hands down the biggest disappointment of The Arthur Psycho Hour to date. I thought this had the potential to be really good w/ Jones, Murphy and South all involved, but it was an incredibly shitty attempt at playing WWF style wrestling instead of beating the tar out of each other. It started off promising with South having shaved his head to form The Manchester Hardman with Murphy, who was bedecked in La Parka's wardrobe. Skull cut an amusing promo where he claimed he didn't even know who Steve Taylor was. Jones retorted in his inimitable style. One of the greatest workers to ever live and one of the single worst promos in the history of the racket. Steve Taylor was the older brother of Dave and I guess coming out of retirement for this. He should have stayed retired. This sucked. Murphy and South cheated like brats instead of dishing out an asskicking and Marty spent more time posturing with his lazy eye then proving he was still world class. Taylor might as well have been invisible. Not good.

 

Alan Kilby vs. Colonel Brody (3/5/87)

 

What's a South African colonel doing being valeted by a black French woman? I'd love to say that was a political statement but somehow I doubt it. You've got to love Walton mentioning Brody was born in England. Why don't you just tell everyone that he's Magnificent Maurice, Kent? You know you want to. They barely aired any of this, but I doubt we missed out on much.

 

Gary Clwyd vs. Jack Davey (Porthmadog, taped 1988)

 

I had to ask on another forum whether Mike Jordan and Jack Davey were one in the same or separated at birth, and it turns out that they are two different people and that Davey was a ref for Orig Williams. I'm not sure whether that means he was a legit proper worker or not because he looked like the world's poorest version of Mike Jordan and I've never been that high on Jordan, but man were they the splitting image of each other.

[ohtani's jacket]

Alan Sarjeant vs. Jon Cortez (8/25/76)

 

Alan Sarjeant vs. Jon Cortez, could this be anything less than brilliant? Well, for the first two rounds it was completely mesmerising and I was ready to declare it one of the best WoS bouts ever. Then Sarjeant injured himself from an awkward fall and Cortez easily took the one fall required for victory. It looked like the planned finish, but if so, why couldn't they have gone another two rounds? Bitterly disappointing.

[BillThompson]

Any details on this match would be appreciated. My go to would usually be WrestlingData but they've been down for over a week now. Either way I know it's Giant Haystacks versus Big Daddy and it's in the UK, but that's it. Date, promotion, venue, event; any of that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PeteF3]

Fairly sure that's the Royal Albert Hall match from 6/18/81.

[BillThompson]

Fairly sure that's the Royal Albert Hall match from 6/18/81.

 

Thanks, unless someone else chirps up that's what I'll be going with.

[ohtani's jacket]

It's their 6/18/81 match from Wembley Arena. Joint Promotions, or Dale Martin Promotions in conjunction with Joint Promotions if you want to get really picky. itvwrestling.co.uk is the go to site with dates along with britishwrestlingarchive.co.uk, but you have to use the way back machine for the latter. That's a bollocks version of the "fight" though as they've dubbed over the top of Walton.

 

EDIT: Okay, it was only an intro.

[ButchReedMark]

Mick McManus' hair never gets old. Literally.

[cheapshot]

Grecian 2000 is great isn't it.

[ButchReedMark]

This might be of interest. The 2013 reboot.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZC2_02gug

[ButchReedMark]

A friend of mine, Gary Welsh/Gary Clwyd, came out of retirement after a few years the other week. He used to be on Reslo a fair bit buy all accoiunts, but I don't have much memory of it. What are your thoughts on him OJ?