The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling

[NintendoLogic]

I just found out what "seconds away, round X" means. I thought the ring announcer was letting the audience know that the beginning of the round was only seconds away, but he was actually instructing the ringside seconds to leave the ring. That's from boxing, right?

[Al]

I can't say for certain, but modern boxing does utilize a warning buzzer for that purpose.

[Matt D]

I just found out what "seconds away, round X" means. I thought the ring announcer was letting the audience know that the beginning of the round was only seconds away, but he was actually instructing the ringside seconds to leave the ring. That's from boxing, right?

JR is a lot better at doing podcasts than I am but we were thinking of doing a big British Wrestling project and calling it "Seconds Away" at some point (after WoS was so underrepresented in GWE). I just have too much going on all the time, unfortunately.

[JNLister]

Hope nobody minds a cheeky plug, but I've now added all the YouTube videos I could find to the match listings on itvwrestling.co.uk. They go back to 1970, though as you'd expect, the later years are closer to complete.

I should stress that I've simply embedded the videos and they aren't actually hosted on my site -- 99% of them have been uploaded by other people.

If anyone spots a video that's been deleted, or one that's not the listed match, please do let me know. I've tried to match them up as best as I could, and can probably now recognise most of the venues at a glance!

[peachchaos]

 

Can anyone confirm the date of this match? I've seen it listed on YouTube as 12/6/80 but that's not on the listings.

 

Could it be December 19th 1981 (Oldham, taped 18/11/81)?

[JNLister]

It's December 13th 1980 (Walthamstow, taped 26/11/80).

[peachchaos]

Gracias.

[Cap]

Does anyone know the date for this match by looking at/watching it?

 

 

Anyone know where I can find Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey from 01/28/1980? I found a few between them on youtube but I couldn't easily sort the date.

 

 

Also, anyone know where I can find Mick McManus vs. Jackie Pallo... or can I? I am - obviously - sort of diving in the deep end here and I am fuzzy on if and how much of this mach is available. I thought it was all of it, but it didn't come up on some quick searches.

 

 

Many apologies if any of this is super easy and I just missed it.

[GSR]

Anyone know where I can find Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey from 01/28/1980? I found a few between them on youtube but I couldn't easily sort the date.

 

It's on youtube. The match is dated 2/2/80 on there though because that was the date it aired, although was taped in Reading on 1/28.

[Cap]

 

Anyone know where I can find Johnny Saint vs Steve Grey from 01/28/1980? I found a few between them on youtube but I couldn't easily sort the date.

 

It's on youtube. The match is dated 2/2/80 on there though because that was the date it aired, although was taped in Reading on 1/28.

 

much appreciated

[GSR]

Does anyone know the date for this match by looking at/watching it?

 

 

It's from 4/19/78 in Croydon (originally aired 5/6/78).

 

There were three Breaks/Grey matches that aired on TWC (original air dates for the three are 5/6/78, 7/7/79 and 5/16/81).

 

The following website will help you out http://itvwrestling.co.uk/

 

Just after I worked out which Grey/Breaks match it was, I referenced to get the date it was taped and found that they've now added a ton of youtube links.

[Cap]

 

Does anyone know the date for this match by looking at/watching it?

 

 

It's from 4/19/78 in Croydon (originally aired 5/6/78).

 

There were three Breaks/Grey matches that aired on TWC (original air dates for the three are 5/6/78, 7/7/79 and 5/16/81).

 

The following website will help you out http://itvwrestling.co.uk/

 

Just after I worked out which Grey/Breaks match it was, I referenced to get the date it was taped and found that they've now added a ton of youtube links.

 

Fantastic. Thanks a ton. This is super helpful.

[JNLister]

 

 

 

 

 

Also, anyone know where I can find Mick McManus vs. Jackie Pallo... or can I? I am - obviously - sort of diving in the deep end here and I am fuzzy on if and how much of this mach is available. I thought it was all of it, but it didn't come up on some quick searches.

 

The full tape of the broadcast exists -- the people behind one of the wrestler-only reunions paid for ITV to find it in their film archives and digitise it. That only covered showing it at the reunion and not making any copies. So to put it vaguely, anyone who does now have a copy will likely be under strict instructions not to pass it on, and if they do, it will be on the same basis.

 

ITV having digitised it meant it was available to licence for the BBC Timeshift documentary on wrestling a few years back which used clips from it.

[Cap]

 

 

 

 

 

Also, anyone know where I can find Mick McManus vs. Jackie Pallo... or can I? I am - obviously - sort of diving in the deep end here and I am fuzzy on if and how much of this mach is available. I thought it was all of it, but it didn't come up on some quick searches.

 

The full tape of the broadcast exists -- the people behind one of the wrestler-only reunions paid for ITV to find it in their film archives and digitise it. That only covered showing it at the reunion and not making any copies. So to put it vaguely, anyone who does now have a copy will likely be under strict instructions not to pass it on, and if they do, it will be on the same basis.

 

ITV having digitised it meant it was available to licence for the BBC Timeshift documentary on wrestling a few years back which used clips from it.

 

Ahhh. Understood. Well maybe one day I will luck into seeing it. Thanks for the info.

[Matt D]

https://www.youtube.com/user/bwilliamswyn25/videos

Pretty cool to see full episodes, such as: 

 as I've primarily just seen single matches.

[JNLister]

These are actually better than full episodes!

They are from the later days of The Wrestling Channel showing old ITV footage. When the channel started, they got me to pick out matches to make themed episodes (like 'Hart Family in UK' or 'Dynamite vs Rocco'.) That got harder and harder as the archive records were a total mess with no dates or run times for the shows, so it was difficult to fit them in the slot, even with the flexibility The Wrestling Channel had.

Eventually they just started dubbing  random tapes and sending them over. In a lot of cases what they sent was effectively a copy of the master tape of the evening's recording that would then be cut down as necessary to fit the 45 minute slot on ITV. The Wrestling Channel usually had enough leeway to show them in full (especially as it was the most watched programming) so quite often they were showing stuff from in between matches and even some parts of matches that never aired on TV before.

[ohtani's jacket]

Owen Hart vs. Danny Boy Collins (handheld 11/2/91)

This was a good match. It was worked in more of an international juniors style than the classic British wrestling style, but as I've argued many times in the past, British wrestling was steering toward a more global style in the early 90s, and had no choice really given the wrestling climate at the time. Owen did all the things you'd expect 1991 Owen to do. Even though it was the rounds system, I thought he did a good job of pacing it as a normal match. The early rounds were competitive and hard fought, and the match escalated well. Worth watching if you've exhausted all your World of Sport options. It made me want to revisit the Marty Jones match, which I was never very fond of because I was sold on Grey vs. Myers as the epitome of the British style with Owen being a fish out of water. But perhaps it looks better through the lens of a late period WoS match. 

[conker8]

Is this a new match ?

[Jetlag]

That's a new match, indeed!

[ohtani's jacket]

Vic Faulkner vs. Mick McMichael (6/28/72)

Man, it's been a while since I've seen a new ITV match. Maybe it's because I've been starved of ITV wrestling, but I really enjoyed this. I wouldn't classify either guy as a favorite of mine, but this had some really nice wrestling in it. Mick McMichael looked so young! The most recent McMichael stuff I've seen was from when he was a ref in the CWA in the 1990s. Walton clearly liked him as he kept calling him underrated and a great technician. They did a great job of mixing up the competitive wrestling and comedy spots. Faulkner can come across as smug at times with his in-ring tricks, but I thought he likeable here. They went at each other so hard and so fast that the inevitable draw felt like the most realistic outcome, but wow, that nearfall that Faulkner countered into the equalizer was a superb sequence. Highly entertaining bout. 

[club]

On 1/18/2018 at 9:52 PM, Cap said:

 

Also, anyone know where I can find Mick McManus vs. Jackie Pallo... or can I? I am - obviously - sort of diving in the deep end here and I am fuzzy on if and how much of this mach is available. I thought it was all of it, but it didn't come up on some quick searches.

 

It's available to buy a watermarked copy directly from ITV for 75 pounds. The process is quite lengthy and as others have mentioned and you have to sign a document promising to only use it for personal use, not to distribute it etc. Let me know if you want details.

[brockobama]

Have a few questions as I slowly inch my way through this footage:

-How many of these international characters are just Brits with gimmicks? If it's only a handful it feels like Joint Promotions would've had more foreign talent than any one contemporary American territory would've had at a given time. Was there a concerted effort to put on a more colorful, worldly product?

-When did ITV's standalone wrestling program air after WOS was canceled, was it the traditional Saturday afternoon spot or a different time of day?

-What's with Big Daddy using "We Shall Not Be Moved"? Very strange seeing this large red-faced Englishman kissing babies and hugging grannies to this anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

7 hours ago, brockobama said:

Have a few questions as I slowly inch my way through this footage:

-How many of these international characters are just Brits with gimmicks? If it's only a handful it feels like Joint Promotions would've had more foreign talent than any one contemporary American territory would've had at a given time. Was there a concerted effort to put on a more colorful, worldly product?

-When did ITV's standalone wrestling program air after WOS was canceled, was it the traditional Saturday afternoon spot or a different time of day?

-What's with Big Daddy using "We Shall Not Be Moved"? Very strange seeing this large red-faced Englishman kissing babies and hugging grannies to this anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

 

 

Many of the international stars were legit. Some were gimmicks. A lot of the African and West Indian gimmicks were bullshit, as were the Russian gimmicks or anyone from the Communist Bloc. Some of the talent were naturalized British citizens. Others were born in the UK but billed from overseas. The Wrestling Heritage A-Z website is the best resource for finding out more information about the workers. Wrestling was a product for the working class, and the UK working class included a melting pot of immigrants from Europe and the Commonwealth. In the 60s and early 70s, it was common to see European workers on TV. That tapers off as the  European wrestling scene dries up. There wasn't a ton of money to be made in Britain, which is why you rarely see American or Japanese stars, and why a lot of the British workers are often away working the European tournaments or touring other countries. 

IIRC, wrestling was initially shown at 4pm in the standalone spot, but gradually they started programming it earlier in the day. Eventually, it was on at lunchtime, which killed it off completely. 

I'm not entirely sure about why Big Daddy used "We Shall Not be Moved" other than the obvious imagery that Daddy was tough to move. The Seekers were hugely popular in the UK in the mid-60s, and it was their version that they originally used until Daddy recorded his own version. I guess the song was popular with the grannies. 

[Al]

Looking at the song's wiki, it was used for a sitcom about a British working class family in 1975. I think if you look at music in the 1960s, a lot of bands and artists did a lot of covers. They needed material and while in America we think of the British Invasion, a lot of our music crossed over to the other side of the Atlantic as well. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Liverpool fans also sing a version of it.