The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling

[ohtani's jacket]

I've seen a few matches of him as a kid. Too young to pass any judgement on.

[ButchReedMark]

I suppose Reslo finishing in 95 leaves a massive gap for wrestling where we won't be able to know now how good things were atb the time due to lack of footage. That's a bugger. I mean by '99 Orig Williams was doing "WWF Tribute Shows" instead of the Reslo type stuff. Boston Blackie was The Rock.

 

It was dire.

[NotJayTabb]

There's a Clewd tag match reviewed on the last page that I really enjoyed when I watched it. A lot of that was due to the heeling of the Superflies in opposition, but I thought the faces looked good too. Let me find what I wrote at the time..(looks like I got Clewd's first name wrong)

 

The Superflies (Jimmy Ocean and Ricky Knight) vs. Tony Stewart and Geraint Clewd

You only have to look at the Superflies to know theyre heels: with bleached blond mullets and garish multicoloured tights, they ooze scummy heat. Stewart and Clewd seem much younger and less experienced, but have a great babyface energy and swiftly win the first fall with a Clewd rollup on Ocean. The Flies pull out all the stops from the Heel Tagteam playbook, with tag-rope chokes and ref distractions a-plenty. A handful of salt to the face of Stewart evens the score to 1-1. A pin in the corner with feet on ropes almost earns the Superflies the win before the ref spots it, before allowing the young faces a chance to make their comeback. At this point, the Superflies turn into stooges of the highest order, frantically grabbing the ropes to avoid submission holds and each taking huge bumps to the outside from face offence. Clewd and Stewart more than hold up their end of the bargain, and pick up the win when Ocean accidentally hits Knight with some barricade meant for Clewd, allowing the face to pin Ocean following a sunset flip. Good tag action made more enjoyable by the efforts of the heel team.

[ohtani's jacket]

Wild Man of Borneo & Steve Haggerty vs. Ray Hunter & Al Hayes (Paul Lincoln Promotions 1960s)

 

This was a transfer of an old 8mm Walton Films print presumably from the mid-60s. Unfortunately, whoever did the transfer didn't match the frame rate and the playback is slow. Nevertheless, it's a valuable piece of footage that shows not only the Wild Man of Borneo on tape, but also a look at a young Alfred Hayes and a spry Max Ward. People who think Bárbaro Cavernario does a good job of playing a caveman really ought to check out the Wild Man as he's pretty much the Captain Caveman of caveman gimmick wrestlers. He was a lot smaller than I expected (probably a middleweight by the looks of it) and pretty quick. His offence was obviously designed to match his character, but I liked his rolling bumps. Part of his gimmick was that no-one had ever seen his face so he wrestled with his hair covering his eyes and every time he'd bump you'd get this tiny glimpse of his face, which was neat. Hayes didn't show a heck of a lot of fire as a blue eye, but the tag structure was fortunately better than a lot of the World of Sport stuff. Not as good as the catch matches from the same era, but much clearer tag psychology and a fun bout. There's a short silent version on YouTube, but I have a longer sound version.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 10

 

Dave Finlay vs. Masakatsu Funaki (Caernarfon, taped 3/14/89)

 

Y'know who I'm sick of? Dave "Fit" Finlay, that's who. Just wrestle the man, Finlay. Now Masakatsu Funaki was the man in my eyes, but here he was doing all sorts of flippy juniors shit. Even so, he trounced Finlay with his athleticism here. Maybe pre-Paula Finlay could have hung with Funaki, but not the sluggish four-leaf clover version.

 

Boston Blackie & Robbie Brookside vs. Giant Haystacks & Johnny South (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

For some reason, Johnny South was going by the name Shaun at this point. Fun match if for no other reason than the Welsh fans giving South the fingers when he spilled out to the floor and the local kids being simultaneously in awe of Haystacks and riding their luck with their shit talking. Haystacks in Wales is this mini-novelty like Andre in Japan. The faces plugged into a Haystacks match pretty well and South was a decent workhorse. Plenty of worse Reslo bouts than this.

 

Dave Taylor vs. Tony St. Clair (Corwen, taped 4/5/89)

 

Again these two locked up in a manner reminiscent of the very best of British heavyweight wrestling and the last vestige of everything that was great about the style. And again Reslo edited it down into what amounted to a highlights package; but even in the form it was shown in, this was one for the Greatest Hits package, and Taylor working the way you want to see Dave Taylor work in a British heavyweight setting. I don't think anyone's keeping check at home, but if you are, all St. Clair vs. Taylor matches are worth watching for interest's sake if nothing else.

 

Ritchie Brooks vs. Mongolian Mauler (Corwen, taped 4/7/90)

 

Just looking at the name Mongolian Mauler tells me I would have been better off skipping this one, but I wanna give everyone at least one chance. Still, unless you're Killer Khan nothing good comes from a name like the Mongolian Mauler. Especially against Richie "the Yanks can take our TV spot, but they'll never outgrow our mullets" Brooks.

 

Sandy Scott vs. Steve Adonis (8/24/88)

 

Steve Adonis was a new blonde sensation from the US who attracted a lot of attention from an admiring Kent Walton. In fact, you might say that Walton was as fixated on Adonis as those YouTubers who are into wrestling men. I recently got sent some samples of original ITV stuff a guy had bought from the broadcaster and you get the lead-in to all of the tapings. Walton can be heard on camera making a snarky remark about some Christmas cards members of the audience had given him or he had received in the post or something. I always wondered if there was a dark side to Kent where he secretly had contempt for the audience. Anyway, Sandy Scott had borrowed Bobby Eaton's wardrobe for this and that was about the best thing about is late period worthlessness.

[PeteF3]

The finish to that Hayes/Hunter match is one of the coolest tag sequences I've ever seen. Footage of prime Al Hayes is a pretty major find.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 11

 

Robbie Brookside vs. Danny Collins (Corwen, taped 4/5/89)

 

These two were the great workrate hopes of the late 80s and I'm happy to say that they delivered a bout here to quell even the most cynical of viewers. Anybody who's followed me in these threads know that I come pretty close to despising Danny Boy Collins, but he was excellent here. The best he's looked outside of the match he had as a teenager where Breaks carried him to a legit masterpiece. Brookside was cursed with not really having the look to succeed. He didn't have the frame to pack on muscle like his buddy Regal and he had kind of an angular face, but he was a good worker. I've seen enough of him now to be confident in saying that. This impressed me a lot as I was predisposed towards thinking this would be weak, but both guys looked great.

 

Pete LaPaque & Tommy Lorne vs. Ritchie Brooks & Jeff Kerry (7/31/85)

Blondie Barratt & Tally Ho Kaye vs. Danny Collins & Greg Valentine (7/31/85)

Danny Collins & Greg Valentine vs. Pete LaPaque & Tommy Lorne (7/31/85)

 

The Rockers team of Peter LaPaque and Tommy Lorne were so cool. Give them a full 20 minutes and I'm sure they would have been able to put on a classic during this time frame. Tommy Lorne, in particular, was the closest thing British wrestling had to a proper US territorial heel in 1985. This was a tag tournament, which usually isn't the greatest TV, but in this case was super fun because of Lorne and LaPaque. Barratt and Tally Ho Kaye also played their part in a match where Collins and Valentine looked fantastic as the hot young babyface team hitting high impact moves against the gobby heel team. Collins again looked great, which isn't something you'll hear me say a lot about Danny Boy Collins, and the miscommunication between Kaye and Barratt was highly amusing. The finale was building to a great crescendo when they went with a cheap finish where the heels walked out on the match, but at least we heard some of their complaining about having a rematch with a fair ref. All told, this was a winning episode of TV.

 

Johnny South vs. Fuji Yamada (Denbigh, taped 3/15/89)

 

This was slightly better than Yamada's other Reslo bouts, but still nothing special. Johnny was calling himself Shaun South here for some reason. The crowd thought more of Yamada/Liger than I did.

 

Robbie Brookside vs. Lee Thomas (Merthyr, taped 2/4/92)

 

I thought Lee Thomas was going to be the Scottish wrestler from Dundee, but it was some young guy using the same name. Match was neither here nor there, which if you know me means not worth watching.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 12

 

Big Daddy & Scott Valentine vs. Dau Dihiryn (Count Von Zuppi & Dr Death) (Newcastle Emlyn, taped 2/5/92)

 

This is the sort of match I ought to skipping, but I felt like I had to watch Daddy weasel his way up North for his one and only appearance on Reslo TV. Rather amazingly, he was 62 years old here. 62 years old! He brought along one of his brother's kids to tag with him and tried to do the whole BD entrance, but it felt flat without "We Shall Not Be Moved" and a fair amount of the crowd thought he was a tosser.

 

Jimmy Ocean vs. Gary Clwyd (Merthyr, taped 2/4/92)

 

Jimmy Ocean is the kind of guy whom I think a lot of folks around here would like. He didn't have a ton of skill, but that didn't stop him from trying to squeeze every last drop out of his gimmick. A weedy little guy, he kind of took Bobby Barnes' post-peroxide blonde gimmick of garish mismatched colours and a Rick Rude moustache and turned it into the story of an ostentatious little man who thinks he's a much better wrestler than he truly is. He had a female valet here and they did a low rent version of Paula and FInlay that was better than Paula and Finlay. ButchReedMark's mate, Glywd, looked a bit green at times and was out of position a lot, but it didn't take away from the fun of Ocean and his skinny valet.

 

Giant Haystacks/King Kong Kirk vs. Marty Jones/Steve Logan (6/24/87)

 

Haystacks matches are generally better than Daddy matches. We established that a long time ago. They could be fairly underwhelming, though. This never really took any shape and the best thing about it was how feral Haystacks was looking. He got on the mic at the end and screamed for them to bring him men not babies.

 

Skull Murphy & Dave Taylor vs. Boston Blackie & Orig Williams (Pontardawe, taped 4/4/89)

Orig Williams & Gary Clwyd vs. Skull Murphy & Robbie Hagan (Llantrissant, taped 2/6/91)

 

A couple of Orig Williams tags. I haven't watched that much Williams. As the promoter/focus of the promotion, you desperately want him to be a capable worker in the Colon mold, but I'm not seeing it. I dunno what his rep was like when he was younger, but his brawling wasn't up to scratch here.

[NotJayTabb]

I've only see 5 or 6 Orig matches, but I think it's fair to say he was a great showman rather than a great wrestler. He's quite enjoyable to watch, just because the crowd eat up everything he does, but he's probably not a great lost worker. That said, these were all from his Reslo days, so like you said, I don't know what he was like when he was younger.

I will say his autobiography is a tremendous read though, one of the most purely entertaining wrestling autobio's I've read. He's a great storyteller.

[ButchReedMark]

Yeah, I think Orig's draw was more his respected place in Welsh speaking culture than abilities as a wrestler, what with him him being a chair of the Urdd and appearing in other S4C programmes quite regularly.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 13

 

Tony St Clair vs. Drew McDonald (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

The jury's still out on McDonald. He has the size and the tools to be a bruiser, but I haven't seen him put it all together yet. Given that Tony St. Clair in 1988 was a more than capable foil, this has to rate as a chance gone begging.

 

Ray Crawley vs. Jacques Le Jacques (10/31/85)

 

This was interesting to say the least. Jacques Le Jacques was this French guy they brought over to face Danny Collins. He looked like a relic from the 70s and wouldn't have looked out of place in the cast of Hair. Even more curiously, he kept going for the same leg attack, which had to have driven Walton bonkers. Arthur Psycho had a pretty good description of Crawley in the video: "In one corner, Ray Crawley, who would later wrestle under a mask as Spiderman. Here, he is a pasty man with a sensible haircut and moustache who looks like an insurance salesman. In fact I thought he'd wandered into the ring by mistake on his way to the toilet." Just one of those extraordinarily ordinary looking British wrestlers who don't seem like athletes at all. Both guys were pretty quick and the bout wasn't bad. Walton did his usual shtick of insisting that a foreigner can't speak a word of English, and this time when Brian Crabtree shoved the mic in JLJ's gob, Kent was spared the embarrassment of the guy being fluent in English.

 

Pete and Danny Collins vs. Robbie Brookside/Steve Regal (1/5/88)

 

This may as well have been a handicap match given how little Pete Collins was in the ring. Fairly standard action between these guys. Regal was still learning the ropes.

 

Marty Jones vs. Tony St Clair (Llantrissant, taped 2/6/91)

 

This was a lot better than I remembered it being. Jones had slowed down and put on a fair bit of weight, but he could still throw a vicious forearm and beat the shit out of St. Clair whenever St. Clair got in close. St. Clair was looking for takedowns and a more ground based approach and the result was a tasty contest between the two veterans. Probably one of those matches that works depending on your mood, but I liked this a lot.

 

Johnny Saint vs. Chic Cullen (Llantrissant, taped 2/6/91)

 

This was also good, and from the same show no less. This was much different from your standard Johnny Saint bout as Reslo by this stage had moved away from the Euro style and was employing a more universal wrestling style not dissimilar to the US style. So instead of dressing and undressing holds, Cullen dished out a methodical beating. Not used to that sort of style, Saint's selling was inconsistent and he kept instinctively going back to escape holds, but that made for an interesting contrast and a change from the usual Saint sleight of hand.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 14

 

Dave Finlay & Dave Duran vs. Orig Williams & Gary Clwyd (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

Man, I love Dave Duran. I dunno if he ever reached his potential because of the state the business in, but he's the kind of thickset asskicker I keep hoping Drew McDonald will be. Most of this bout was Duran beating the crap out of Gary Glywd and then Finlay tagged in and just brutalised the kid. Orig was only really involved in the finish. For some bizarre reason he decked the ref and Finlay was able to capitalise. The yokels were upset, but what was their man thinking? Finlay and Duran were a fun combination.

 

Giant Haystacks vs. Jamaica George (Unknown location, taped 1989)

 

Was there anybody more committed to jobbing to Haystacks than Jamaica George? He took it so seriously he almost made an art form out of it.

 

Kung Fu vs. King Kendo (Unknown location, taped 1985)

 

Kung Fu against the fake Kendo Nagasaki. This is kind of like watching, I dunno, Marty Jannetty against fake Diesel. I really hate bouts like these where a boring big man is beating down a smaller man. No matter how hard Kung Fu sold it was never gonna make up for the fact that Kendo's offence sucked. Dour way to pass the time.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Takayuki Iizuka (Merthyr, taped 2/4/92)

 

Rudge still looked pretty good here. Iizkua came across like generic Japanese guy, but Rudge looked good working from above and below. Generic Japanese guy, but that was Rudge's lot. Only worth watching if you wanna see every bit of Rudge there is, but not bad.

 

Ritchie Brooks vs. Cool Cat Jackson (Cage Match, Merthyr, taped 3/29/90)

 

Jamaica George had changed his name to Cool Cat Jackson here for whatever reason. If ever there was a cage match that didn't require a cage then this was it. I can only imagine the reason they were in the cage was because once the ring crew put it up all of the matches had to be cage matches. Brooks tried using the thing, but they didn't know how to thwart each other's escape attempts properly and the finish was the single weakest finish I have ever seen in a cage. Jackson headbutt Brooks and walked out the door... Imported gimmicks! Not a good idea.

 

Orig Williams, Gary Clwyd & Boston Blackie vs. Shaun South, Terry Rudge & Tony Francis (Caernarfon, taped 1988)

 

Reslo six man tags sucked just as much as the ITV ones. This had some bizarre Thunderqueen like rules and was a total waste of a pretty fun heel line-up.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 15

 

Tony St Clair vs. Steve Adonis (Merthyr, taped 3/29/90)

 

St. Clair does an excellent job of carrying North American bodybuilder type, Steve Adonis, to a credible match. I've said it before, but St. Clair was one of the biggest losses for Dale Martin during wrestling's decline on ITV. It's not as though he would have kept wrestling on the air for a few extra years or anything like that, but it's amazing how much he continued to adapt and improve his wrestling style despite the fact he was aging and the business around him was struggling. St. Clair vs. Tyrone would have been great. St. Clair vs. McHoy. St. Clair vs. Roberts/Rudge/Steele/Singh/Roach. So many possibilities. Still, I've been super impressed with his Reslo work even in the late 80s to early 90s period where the product no longer looked like the unique grappling style that drew me to European wrestling in the first place. He's a guy I often skimmed past when looking through match lists, so I wonder how good his German bouts are during this time frame. That could be worth investigating.

 

Danny Collins & Shaun South vs. Dave Finlay & Skull Murphy (Corwen, taped 4/5/89)

 

Wildly disappointing. South was a perpetual heel in Reslo, but for some reason he was wrestling on the blue eye side here. Knowing Reslo, there was probably an angle behind it, but if you were expecting some awesome rudo contra rudo action you came to the wrong place. The heel vs. heel (or former heel) action was lame, and this probably ranks as the worst of the Riot Squad bouts we have on tape. Another dud Finlay bout.

 

Rollerball Rocco vs. Danny Boy Collins (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

Y'know, this really wasn't that bad. It was about as generic a Danny Boy Collins vs. Rocco bout as you could imagine, but it still wasn't bad. Rocco wasn't the force that he was in the late 70s and it was clear looking back that his career was winding down from a physical standpoint, but his passion hadn't wavered and he was still a ball of energy. I'm starting to soften on Collins a bit through the sheer force of repetition. It's interesting how tolerable a guy can become if you watch them enough.

 

Skull Murphy vs. Jamaica George (8/19/87)

 

Knockout tournament match for the coveted Southport Shield. The Dale Martin promotion and ITV wrestling producers were behind the times at this point. I love this stuff and even I think wrestling for a community shield is embarrassing. The match was pretty much what you'd expect with George getting in a bit of offence but never really looking like winning, and Murphy dishing out a beating and winning with the gator submission. If you were watching WWF every other week at this point, or however frequently it was on, this would have looked so cheap.

 

Ringo Rigby vs. Lucky Gordon (10/28/81)

 

This is probably the best I've seen Lucky Gordon look, which isn't really saying much but it's something. It amuses me how Walton treats a heel like Gordon as a regular bloke who just happens to have a short temper. He does his usual "he could be such a good wrestler if he'd just stick to the rules" shtick and tells us about the truck company he owns and how he lives in Birmingham and is married to a local girl there. It's a million miles away from the pantomime and morality plays of American pro-wrestling. Rigby is an interesting one in that he didn't really work a traditional British style because of his globetrotting and never really stayed in England long enough to show how good he could have been at freestyle wrestling, Match was the usual heel/face shenanigans.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 16

 

Karl Kramer vs. Gary Clwyd (Cage match, Beaumaris, taped 3/7/91)

 

Whew, that Karl Kramer was a big boy. This wasn't an outstanding match, but it was a decent attempt at incorporating the gimmick into the match and they seemed to have a better sense of what to actually do with, and inside, the cage than a lot of the other wrestlers.

Shaun South vs. Franz Schumann (Chain match, Newcastle Emlyn, taped 2/5/92)

 

This was about as good a chain match as you could hope to see on terrestrial TV. It was wrestled under the Pirate Fight rules we've seen before in Germany and Belgium (iirc) -- a sort of cross between a chain and flag match. Both guys gave as good as they got, and South even appeared to bleed hard way. This was Schumman's first appearance in the Arthur Psycho Hour and he made an immediate impact and veteran South still had something left in the tank even in '92. Gems like this make it worth wading through the late period TV Psycho puts up.

 

Marty Jones vs. Skull Murphy (Cage match, Beaumaris, taped 3/7/91)

 

This would have been a main event anywhere in the UK in the mid-80s, but in '91 it was a rubbish six or seven minute cage match.

 

Masked Marauders vs. Orig Williams & Bryn Fon (Porthmadog, taped 1987)

 

This was a special tag match featuring Orig Williams teaming with the Reslo television commentator Bryn Fon. Don't ask me why I bothered watching this. I wanted to see the Welsh version of Hogan teaming with Mean Gene, I guess. Just awful.

 

Fit Finlay vs. Danny Boy Collins (9/6/88)

 

This was from some VHS tape hosted by Mick McManus and a commentator whose name I couldn't quite make out (Lee Banda, or something like that.) It was basically an All-Star show taped at the Fairfield Halls at Croydon. A. Psycho gives a pretty amusing description of the pre-match vignette: "Before the match we see Collins limbering up and Paula giving Finlay a pre-fight massage. I was quite relieved when he moved his hand to see that he had [under] pants on. Equally so that Mick McManus interrupted them before he was tempted to ask for a happy ending." Mick's hair was so jet black that he looked like Bela Lugosi when he popped up on the screen. This was a pretty standard Finlay heel performance, but the crowd were right into it and it was a decent match. The commentary was an interesting deviation from the standard Walton fare, as they pointed out Paula's wrestling career, which Walton always ignored as Dale Martin didn't feature women's wrestling and her wrestling career occurred entirely on the rarely mentioned indy circuit. (She was always refereed to as Finlay's wife and manager by Walton.) They also pointed out that Collins had suffered from kidney problems the year before and had one of them removed and how he defied the odds to return to the ring (even pointing out the surgical scar.) I don't recall Walton ever sharing that information. Aside from the stock Finlay cheating and the Paula shtick, they worked this around the premise that Finlay was a monster and Collins a boy and that Finlay was used to wrestling much bigger men in the UK and Continental Europe. Again, nothing outstanding, but it had good heat and was well worked for the paying audience.

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 17

 

Barry Douglas vs. Ian McGregor (7/3/86)

 

Barry Douglas came from wrestling royalty as part of the most famous family in the North, but was one of the most colourless journeymen on the circuit. He wasn't a bad wrestler per se, but bouts like this were indicative of his lack of showmanship. McGregor was one of the better teenage wrestlers around. Instead of working an exciting bout to put the kid over, Douglas took it easy on him. I wouldn't even call it a workmanlike performance. It was almost as though kayfabe wise he was thinking "well, here's a night off." Flat pace and a bit uninspiring.

 

Mick McMichael vs. Greg Valentine (4/16/86)

 

This was the final of the 1986 Golden Grappler trophy between veteran Mick McMichael and Farmer's Boy/Promoter's Son, Greg Valentine. It was obvious to all in sundry who was going over here. Max Crabtree clearly wanted a vet in there to make his boy look good. There was no way in hell that McMichael was winning this thing. McMichael usually annoys the shit out of me, but he got stuck into his work here and delivered a quality performance without any mickey mouse bullshit. It was actually a pretty good match with Valentine looking just how his old man wanted and Mick earning his paycheck. Surprised me as I expected it would be dreck.

 

Pete Roberts vs. Barry Douglas (1/28/86)

 

There was no taking a night off against Pete Roberts, who may have been the best guy in the promotion at this point. He was certainly the guy who delivered the best matches in the first year that wrestling became a stand alone program. Speaking of which, this video includes the ugly opening credits for the stand alone show and that awful voice over narrator guy I can't stand (the poor man's Dickie Davis.) This was a good match. I'm the only Pete Roberts mark I know outside of the Heritage old-timers, and even then he's at the tail end of the era that they're invested in. But it's always a pleasure to watch him work and the fact that working with him prompted Douglas to step up his game is a sign he was respected among his peers as well. Because he was well traveled, he brought slightly more high impact offence to the ring, and while Douglas made a strong start to the match, Roberts was able to mow him down in the end w/ a beautiful suplex. Supa Desutoroia!

[ButchReedMark]

Karl Kramer's still going. Very good big man worker, wrestled on LDN's ill-fated attempt at a World of Sport reboot a year or two back which I *think* is on Youtube. I worked on a couple of shows with him and he had a cracker against Big Dog who goes about 30st in a bodyslam match in Llanrwst. There was only about 4 bumps in the whole match but I loved it. Although Krammer cut possibly the worst promo of all time before the match in the ring.

 

 

Look at all you kids. You shouldn't be out this time of night. YOU SHOULD ALL BE IN BED!

[ohtani's jacket]

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 18

 

Dave Finlay vs. Orig Williams (Denbigh, taped 1988)

 

This was the last chance saloon for Orig Williams to convince me his matches are worth watching. There were some fun moments early on with Finlay stiffing Williams, but it soon disintegrated into some BS countout victory for Finlay and Teenage Tracy somehow got involved (looking distinctly like Cyndi Lauper.) Finlay had to hold Paula back to spare us from her overacting, and all of this dreck signaled the end of me watching Orig Williams.

 

Skull Murphy & Kendo Nagasaki vs. Pete Roberts & Steve Adonis (9/6/88)

 

This was the main event of the Mick McManus VHS tape, which a bit of research tells me was called "The Mick McManus World of Wrestling." The commentator whose name I couldn't make out before was Lee Bamber. Fairly typical sort of British tag. All-Star at least tried to work more of a Southern style tag format than Dale Martin, so there was a big FIP segment with Nagasaki and Murphy working over Roberts as the crowd grew increasing livid. That was the highlight of the match really as some of the crowd had a real go at Nagasaki in particular and things got a bit dicey when the heels went over. Nagasaki's manager got a lot of stick as well, but he always did as he was openly gay. He pretty much gave up on his post-match promo to kick at a ringsider. Not a lot of action otherwise. Adonis looked hopeless green, Nagasaki was old, Murphy's great work from earlier in the decade had taken a dive, and Roberts was too long in the tooth to hold it all together, not that the great workers ever really could in these British tags. Make like VHS and fast forward to the end.

 

Danny Boy Collins vs. Ritchie Brooks (Cage Match, Cardiff, taped 3/30/90)

 

This was the last match I expected to be any good. Anybody who's followed this thread will know how I feel about Ritchie Brooks and Danny Boy Collins and here they were in a cage match on TV with escape match rules. Not a great recipe for success, but I really, really enjoyed this. Brooks dished out a meaningful beating to Collins. Collins sold well and hit some big offence. A couple of big spots off the top of the cage including a missed splash from Brooks and a superplex that was straight out of the Hart family playbook. There was also one cool spot where Brooks stopped Collins from escaping out the door by using the side of the cage to run up the ropes and deliver a diving stomp. A bit hard to describe, but I'd totally pinch that if I were a wrestler. Anyway, I was right into this. My only criticism would be that Brooks should have stayed down longer from the move that let Collins escape instead of popping up quickly to dramatise his shock and disbelief, but that's a minor quibble. One of the big surprises thus far.

 

Johnny Saint vs. Barry Douglas (Corwen, taped 4/7/90)

 

Another decent Saint match. A short technical bout with a lot of cool looking escape holds. Straight up with very little in the way of shtick. Douglas couldn't really add anything to the bout, but that's all right. It was fun watching Saint.

 

Dave Taylor vs. Robbie Brookside (Caernarfon, taped 1987)

 

Short match with a heel Dave Taylor squashing a young Robbie Brookside. I'm not sure what the timeline was on Taylor turning heel after being the ladies' favourite in early Reslo, but he was offside with the crowd so he clearly made a go of it. Brookside had one offensive tear, but then it was goodnight nurse.

 

Marty Jones vs. Ross Hart (12/7/83)

 

This had extended squash written all over it and sure enough Jones was just brutalising Hart here. If you ever want proof of how great Jones was on offence during this time period then this is a good example. There was some awkwardness between them when they ran the ropes, but otherwise Jones decimated Hart. It was as though they didn't belong in the same ring together. Whether Jones really felt that way I don't know, but he often wrestled that way when he didn't think his opponent was up to scratch. Wish Hart had stayed down longer on some of the suplexes, but I suppose it doesn't pay to quibble about squashes.

 

Boston Blackie vs. Yavus Selectman (Caenarfon, taped 1988)

 

The matwork in this was so cool. I have no idea who Yavus Selectman was, but his name alone suggests East European mat wizardry. Blackie looked rock solid as well, and things were going great until they stood up and botched the finish. Blackie was supposed to be laid out on the floor unable to beat the count while Selectman made it back into the ring, but they botched the tumble over the ropes and Blackie ended up kneeling against the apron waiting sheepishly to be counted out. Shit finish to a fun bout.

[ButchReedMark]

Lee Bamber who commentated is possibly the UK's most respected MC, and is also the Play by Play man on LDN's Ill-Fated Reboot Of World Of Sport. Watch it here, Karl Kramer is in the opener -

 

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

 

Also, how can you give up on Our Orig? He's our Martin Karadagian! A Welsh speaking, head of the druids, champion of Welsh language youth movements who half inched a WCW ring and is the folk hero of folk heroes!

[NotJayTabb]

Butch, did you ever see the documentry S4C did a few years back on Orig? It was really good, had some great stories about his early football career and his poor disciplinary record. It was hosted by his daughter, and they even flew her to America for a couple of minutes chat with Mason Ryan. At work so can't check if it's online, and it's all in Welsh (I had to make do with subtitles), but it's really worth watching.

[ohtani's jacket]

Recommend me an Orig match that's good and I will watch it. The best one I've seen so far was that tag against Finlay and Duran.

[ButchReedMark]

Butch, did you ever see the documentry S4C did a few years back on Orig? It was really good, had some great stories about his early football career and his poor disciplinary record. It was hosted by his daughter, and they even flew her to America for a couple of minutes chat with Mason Ryan. At work so can't check if it's online, and it's all in Welsh (I had to make do with subtitles), but it's really worth watching.

 

Yeah I did. I actually provided William Regal with a copy of it straight from the production company, Antena. I was in shock that Dave Finlay had Chihuahuas. His daughter Tara Bethan and I have mutual friends, I fancy her. She acts in Pobol y Cwm now. I'd be very interested to see Orig's matches from India and Pakistan which they talked about in the doc. the doc was also handy for introducing the world to Mason Ryan's nickname which everyone calls him of Barri Ten Foot, a good Welsh nickname that. I like to think CM Punk called him that too.

 

Recommend me an Orig match that's good and I will watch it. The best one I've seen so far was that tag against Finlay and Duran.

 

They're all brilliant in the eyes of a Welsh child. In the eyes of a discerning viewer from New Zealand however, there's probably none. I, and everyone else here, loved watching Orig more because of who he was in Welsh culture more than any real ability. Honesty? There probably won't be any matches of his that tape exists of that you'd find decent. I liked his tag team with Steve Jones yr Caerdydd, or William Regal of Blackpool if you'd rather, though. At least I did as a youth anyway.

 

 

I've requested some uploads from Psycho. Unfortunately he didn't have Otto Wanz jobbing to a phone book in Denbigh in a misguided attempt to break the world record for ripping them up, but hopefully he's got the Mic McMichael vs Kung Fu match I've asked for. It's dreadful. I love it.

[ohtani's jacket]

I finally got around to watching that 60s footage from Iraq featuring British wrestlers.

John Lees vs. Adnan Al-Kaissie (Iraq, 1960s)

John Lees came from a bodybuilding background and was actually Mr. Universe in 1957. A few years later he turned his attention toward professional wrestling, and while the Heritage guys on his profile that he was a skilled wrestler who could hold his own with the likes of Joyce, Robinson, Davies and Wall, I've heard whispers that workers like Robinson didn't think much of him. That shouldn't come as much surprise given he was a bodybuilder in an era where a lot of the top guys were rippers. This footage was a series of clips and there wasn't a lot to judge Lees on outside of a couple of strength holds and a flurry of takedown attempts. He didn't look bad, but he wasn't exactly awe-inspiring either. The finish was weak even by the standards of the day as Al-Kaissie pinned him from a body slam and the ref took an age to make the three count meaning that Lees stayed down for a mighty long time from a simple body slam.

Massive crowd on hand for this. I dunno if they were there of their own volition as there was plenty of top brass around, but there was a sea of people filling up an outdoor football stadium and a constant blare of music and cheering similar to what you'd expect from a national football match. The stadium noise cut in and out as the narrator did his voice over, which was annoying. All up not much of a revelation but novel enough.

[Tim Evans]

OJ, I hope you review the match Arthur uploaded today with the fake dick murdoch, Flash Gordon's pervert brother Flesh and the topless girls. That was something to see. I loved how the announcer called it straight.

[ohtani's jacket]

All in due time. I'm going through his stuff oldest to newest and it's taking a fair old while.

 

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR

 

Ep 19

 

Chic Cullen vs. Robbie Hagan (Cage match, Beaumaris, taped 3/7/91)

 

Another night, another cage match. This was a decent scrap. Cullen's a good worker and another guy who's had his reputation restored with me by watching him work Reslo. Match was escape heavy and dragged on a bit, but good to see Cullen still kicking about in 1991.

 

Rick Wiseman vs. Jeff Kerry (7/3/86)

 

This was a decent little match but nothing worth going out of your way to see unless you're super into British wrestling. Kerry was a new kid on the block out of the burgeoning Bristol scene that had produced Danny Boy Collins and Ritchie Brooks, and Wiseman was a solid if unspectacular pro who apparently worked in engineering so must have been a fairly clever guy. Wiseman only had a few more years experience than his opponent, though seemed considerably older, and guided him through a fairly typical newcomers bout.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Patrick Lopez (Newcastle Emlyn, taped 2/5/92)

 

Lopez' gimmick appeared to be that he was a French rugby player. For all I know he may have actually come from a rugby background, though I've never heard of the guy. He stalled a lot and kept trying to get the crowd to chant along with him. Rudge's voice always throws me for a loop as I don't expect him to sound like the milkman or the local fruit seller. The match was good when Rudge was beating on Lopez and a bit labourious when Lopez was clapping and foot stomping. Can't blame Rudge for that. Again he did the job, which doesn't correlate with my view of him as being a wrestler supreme. He was looking fairly old here though and starting to drop some muscle, but fuck it, it's Rudge and he should have beaten this clown.

 

Dave Finlay vs. Tony St. Clair (Chain match, Caernarfon, taped 4/6/90)

 

This was all right, but like a lot of Finlay matches from this era it was more showy than the violent spectacle it could have been and it wasn't a patch on the Johnny South/Schumann fight. St. Clair brought some female bodybuilder to the ring to presumably mitigate the threat of Paula interfering, though she may have been a wrestler herself. I'm not sure because I haven't been watching the female stuff. All I know is she posed for the audience and gave Paula the fingers, which is about as British as it gets in my book. Some decent spots with the chain, but the finish was shit as you'd expect from the Dave & Paula show. They have to rank as one of my least favourite acts in wrestling.

 

Barcud Du vs. Golden Boy Graham (Unknown location, taped 1985)

 

Masked wrestler beats the shit out of some kid. Matches like these bore me to tears. Someone on YouTube hypothesised that it was Johnny South under the mask. From out of nowhere comes Orig Williams. Off comes to the shirt... you hurt my friends and you hurt my pride! Orig's on the mic now. It's a thick Welsh dialect, but I think he said something like "Whatcha gonna do brutha when El Bandito runs wild over you?" Ooh, a tag match came out of this. Dare I watch it? Tune in next time.

[ohtani's jacket]

 

I finally got around to watching that 60s footage from Iraq featuring British wrestlers.

John Lees vs. Adnan Al-Kaissie (Iraq, 1960s)

John Lees came from a bodybuilding background and was actually Mr. Universe in 1957. A few years later he turned his attention toward professional wrestling, and while the Heritage guys on his profile that he was a skilled wrestler who could hold his own with the likes of Joyce, Robinson, Davies and Wall, I've heard whispers that workers like Robinson didn't think much of him. That shouldn't come as much surprise given he was a bodybuilder in an era where a lot of the top guys were rippers. This footage was a series of clips and there wasn't a lot to judge Lees on outside of a couple of strength holds and a flurry of takedown attempts. He didn't look bad, but he wasn't exactly awe-inspiring either. The finish was weak even by the standards of the day as Al-Kaissie pinned him from a body slam and the ref took an age to make the three count meaning that Lees stayed down for a mighty long time from a simple body slam.

Massive crowd on hand for this. I dunno if they were there of their own volition as there was plenty of top brass around, but there was a sea of people filling up an outdoor football stadium and a constant blare of music and cheering similar to what you'd expect from a national football match. The stadium noise cut in and out as the narrator did his voice over, which was annoying. All up, not much of a revelation but novel enough.

 

 

Whoops, turns out there was more to the bout than this. The body slam was the finish to the first fall. Lees responded by attacking Al-Kaissie somewhat viciously, but Al-Kaissie was able to fend him off and forced him to submit to a half Boston. The extra footage didn't add much to my overall impression, but if you bother watching this you'll need to piece together the video parts properly to make sure you see the entire thing.