The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling

[David Mantell]

There would be another punk rock wrestler later in the mid 80s:

Meanwhile actual real life punk rock fan Robbie Brookside had quite the squeaky clean white meat image:

 

[David Mantell]

On 11/27/2014 at 1:34 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

John Elijah vs. Bill Bromley (2/17/82)

I've never seen an opponent make John Elijah look like a midget, but at 6'5" and 19st 2lbs, "Big Bertha" Big Bill Bromley was the man to do it. He absolutely dwarfed Elijah. Elijah was able to wrestle knots around him though, but not before carrying him to something fun and decent. Another neat carry job.

 

British wrestling doing a big arena show at the Royal Albert Hall - note the slightly larger ring.   Bromley, the future masked Emperor in a rare clean match from early on in his TV career before he found his real direction.  His change in style was startling:

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Mike Jordan vs. Johnny Saint (Unknown location, taped 1984)

 

This is what I mean by the standard lightweight fare. Admittedly, I've never been much of a fan of Mike Jordan, but this is nowhere near as good as Saint trying to wrestle a bigger man. Too much trickery and tomfoolery.

Well this is just it - the "trickery and tomfoolery" was what we Brits would have seen as serious scientific wrestling and the countering/reversing/escaping as a vital part of the game which we couldn't undertand why Americans - even the likes of Flair and Steamboat - never did.

Jordan later took Saint's World Lightweight title in 1987 and I believe still had it at the end of the ITV era in Dec '88.  He also turned heel as part of that run.

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Robbie Brookside vs. Terry Rudge (Llantrissant 2/6/91)

Robbie Brookside, that hair... It was bigger than he was. I suppose in modern terms Robbie Brookside was like a talented indy guy who can't get signed by the WWE. He was pretty good for a guy who broke into the business so late. Rudge was older than dirt here, but still throwing forearm smashes like a motherfucker. Brookside could only take his shit for so long before retaliating and we got some nice exchanges before the ref ruined all the fun and threw the bout out. Fun to see Terry again.

 

He grew it long in the first couple of years after TV. It came in handy doing reruns of the hypnosis angle with Kendo as he would turn into a shuffling zombie with hair hanging down in front of his face.  He kept this look for several decades before getting it cut for his backstage WWE job.

[David Mantell]

On 8/22/2023 at 8:58 AM, David Mantell said:

I think Tim Fitzmaurice (RIP)'s later 1980 2-0 loss to Keith Haward gets reviewed later in the thread, which is a really good bout for seeing the original forms of various techniques such as the roll on the mat to untwist an arm, done from a kneeling position rather than standing with a cartwheel instead of the roll.

Wikipedia describes Terriers as "small, wiry, game, and fearless".  It was Kent Walton's preferred term for both Tim and brother Jim.  Both were trained iby an elderly Bert Assirati after he'd finished chasing Shirley C out of the business in 1966.

I was mistaken.  I had a crafty flash forwards and itt wasn't there.  So here it is now:

Like I said, this bout is a flashback to earlier styles of British wrestling.  Haward is a top amateur champion (Commonweatlh Games silver medalist, no less) and no nonsense gym boy.   "Kerry Leprechaun" Tim Fitzmaurice is a student of the legendary Bert Assirati.  Pretty quickly from the start,  Haward is snapping off quick fireman's carry takedowns from a wristlock and drawing on his GR background to go for rear waistlock takedowns and suplexes. Notice how once he throws Fitzmaurice he puts a leg out in front to create disance. between himself and his opponent.

Fitzmaurice does a lot of moves down on the mat that most wrestlers by 1980 would do standing up like the backdrop at 8:03 and the rolls done down on the mat at 5:40 , 5:45 , 7:22, 15:07 and 15:22 when from the mid 60s to the mid 80s people like Petit Prince, Bobby Ryan,, Dynamite Kid and Danny Collins were using cartwheels to achieve the same result (although he does also a standing roll at 7:05.  Incidentally another wrestler I've seen doing this old fashioned roll from a kneeling position was Kendo Nagasaki against Colin Joynson in Solihull 1976 - Kendo actually switching directions on the roll a couple of times to - as Kent Walton would say "undress" the arm lever and spring free. )   Haward has a great escape from legdive attempts, spinning horizontally in a standing position to wrench the leg free.

Fitzmaurice flips and  flops a lot to resist Haward's rear waistlock suplex pin attempt before Keith eventually succeeds in getting the move in and polishing it off with a bridge for his first fall.  (He gets the second fall with the same move but with less resistance from Tim and after a few softening suplexes.)

Fave moment of the match: 14:36 - 14:50 of the match where Fitzmaurice has the stepover toehold on Haward and Keith pushes himself upwards into a seating position so that Tim's hand is caught in a neat arm scissor. (Yes I know Tim has a confused look in response to this but DON'T YOU DARE call that a comedy spot!!! )  I would love to have seen Haward develop this into a submission attempt but instead he moves into an arm lever.  Maybe re-use that one another time for a finish?

An old fashioned - even for the era - but good bout, probably has gained a lot in retrospect as we haven't seen too many 40s/50s bouts with a previous generation working this style.  Kent Walton talks of Haward challenging Brian Maxine for the British Middleweight title - in the event he skipped the British title and took Mal Sanders' European title and the two of them would pass a World title back - apparently filling the vacancy caused by Adrian Street going to North America - and forth at Sun City in South Africa in 1982.

[JNLister]

On 8/24/2023 at 9:23 AM, David Mantell said:

 

FAO John Lister, correction to the 1980 page on ITV Wrestling, this WAS the only match transmitted that week.  Regular World Of Sport was pre-empted in favour of special wall-to-wall coverage of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow but this one match was inserted in to keep the wrestling public happy a la the FA Cup coverage.  There was no actual Olympic wrestling on ITV but this match's screening prompted six year old me to loudly proclaim that the bout was "Olympic Wrestling" which led to a lengthy argument with my dad!

 

Thanks -- have updated accordingly.

[David Mantell]

On 8/25/2023 at 5:21 PM, JNLister said:

Thanks -- have updated accordingly.

You're welcome.
Brings back childhood memories - running round the house telling everyone and everything that Mighty John Quinn and Giant Haystacks had won the Olympic Wrestling!

[David Mantell]

On 12/7/2014 at 1:25 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Dave Finlay vs. Mick McMichael (7/25/84)

 

This was the era where Finlay was starting to come to the ring with Princess Paula, which was a bit like coming to the ring with Sensational Sherri if you're looking for a comparison. He got a lot of wins during this era and was one of the more pushed characters on television. I don't personally care for it compared to his early years on television, but it really cemented him as one of the biggest names in the business. McMichael was a bona fide veteran at this stage, so he was treated with a bit more respected than some of Finlay's other roadkill. This had a ridiculous finish where the ref overturned Finlay's submission victory and ordered the bout to continue. Instead of teasing McMichael winning, Finlay merely applied the hold again and it was over. Not sure what the point of that was.

Princess Paula is the main thing that comes to mind when older people in this country think of Fit Finlay.  Mention how Finlay once had a sidekick and they won't make the link to Hornswoggle, they'll think of bossy old Paula who used to tell her husband off and get angry with him if he lost a fal.  They especially remember her at her most flamboyant with the headress.  (The Fabulous Finlays were also big as a double act in Germany/Austria for the CWA.)  First time I ever saw Randy Savage and Elizabeth on a WWF special I instantly thought they were the American version of Finlay and Paula.

Mick McMichael spent a lot of his career as a jobber to the stars despite his skills.  One rare actual win for him on TV was his teaming with Bid Daddy against The Rockers (Pete Lapaque and Tommy Lorne) but generally he wrestled worthy serious bouts with he then generally lost albeit not as a pushover.  Doesn't seem to have won a title ever (add him to the same list as Caswell Martin and Steve Logan mk2 as wrestlers wo should have won titles but didn't.  The obvious knockoff ring name (from Mick McManus) perhaps didn't help.  In Germany,he is best remembered as a kilt-wearing referee.

[David Mantell]

On 12/8/2014 at 1:34 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Vic Faulkner vs. Sid Cooper (4/26/84)

This was the final of a knockout tournament for... the Golden Gown 1984... I'm not making this up, they were fighting for a boxing robe. Walton actually had the nerve to comment on how badly Faulkner wanted the gown.

 

There were one or two rather strange prizes up for grabs in KO tournaments over the years.  No washing machines or yachts or anything else you might get off some TV quiz show, mind.  But there was one tournament, screeened on an Easter Monday, where a giant chocolate Easter Egg was up for grabs.  Jim Breaks was the lucky winner who got his championship diet screwed up with cocoa beans, fats and sugars.  Also the Jolly Fisherman trophy - a pottery figure of a character from an old 1930s poster/magazine advert for ralway trips to seaside resort Skegness, praising its notoroiously bad weather as an actual major selling point:

In fairness, the Golden Gown would not have really suited scowly Crumb Heel Syd Cooper.

[David Mantell]

On 12/9/2014 at 2:00 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Steve Logan vs. Rocky Moran (6/13/84)

 

Slightly better than Moran's disappointing work in tags, but devoid of the personality and heel work that made him so exciting against Cullen and Kilby. Not sure where that Moran went to.

 

I think this bout was actually 1983, from the same Basildon, Essex TV taping as that years's cup final day match pitting Charlie McGee's Masked Marauders.  I think it was Moran's TV debut and he hadn't yet grown the mullet or got the heel identitiy established (consider Fit Finlay wrestling cleanly in the title eliminator against Davey Boy in 1982) so just came across as an amiable sort of guy, resembling your local postman.  Good solid scientific match

 

[David Mantell]

On 12/12/2014 at 1:20 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Eddie Riley vs. Ian McGregor (11/20/84)

 

These two were proteges of Marty Jones. Walton was particularly fond of Eddie Riley, who was 10 st 9 lbs and speedy. McGregor was only 17 here and it's kind of hard for a 17 year old to be interesting. The closest I've seen anyone come is Dynamite Kid. The bout was okay, but nothing major.

This bout I like a lot and have said so to Riley on the Wrestling Heritage forum (he said thank you)  Just for the sheer variety of technical work involved (reversals, counters etc) and the fact that it was two relative youngsters that were coming out with this rather than two obvious top of the gamers like Saint and Faulkener.

I'll make a list of some of my favourite bits:

Round 1

* the folding presses reversed into more folding presses

* the Steve Grey style use of the leg to unpick the wristlever and McGregor getting it back, twice

Round 2

* McGregor keeping hold of the wristlever so Riley stays within headscissoring distance.

* Three escapes and reengagements in a row, then Riley finally reverses the roll throwing McGregor out of his rhythm and getting a wrist lever of his own into a whip which he yanks upwards forcing McGregor to spin and land badly so Riley can escape.

* The legtrip to behind and then the (much misunderstood!) cartwheel to avoid a monkey flip trap.

Round 3
* Weakeners by McGregor to Riley's arm - two upward yanking whips that force Riley this time to land badly.

*McGregor moves quickly enough to get out of a folding press before he's in it

*Riley goes into Johnny Saint's "Russ Abbot" sequence then on the go behind swivels himself upside down into a sunset position for the opening pin!

Round 4

* Riley uses the finger interlock (aka test of strength/Greco Roman knucklelock) to pull McGregor down into the folding press attempt (which ends in stalemate with first the bascule then the two way double leg nelson - still a popular spot to this day)

* Riley avoids the hiptoss and comes back with a sunset flip attempt from RIGHT ACROSS THE RING!

* McGregor, caught in the figure four toehold (aka Indian deathlock/pedigree - Kent Walton calls it the figure four with bar here) grabs a bearhug. Riley has to release his grip on McGregor's legs to push McGregor off - and out of the hold which was what McGregor wanted!

Round 5

* Riley catches McGregor doubled up and gets a quick snapmare on him

* McGregor's equaliser with a sharp hiptoss into cross press, turning his back on him just in time to scoop the arm with his own arm (very cute and it worked, says Walton of the move).

Round 6

* McGregor switches from a hammerlock to a snapmare then moves in behind for a couple of further-nelson pin attempts.

* A couple more interesting  pin attempts - an attempt to repeat the equaliser from the last round and a backslide caught while Riley was bouncing off the ropes.

Round 7

* McGregor is weakend by bad landings but suddenly goes behind for a side folding press, Riley only narrowly gets out and McGregot has a couple more attempts at holdiing him down.

* Several more attempted pins then a dropick that turns into a flying headscissors attempt that Riley only just in time spins out of.

* Riley clamps down on McGregors monkey flip trap with a double leg nelson to get the pin
 

 

[David Mantell]

On 12/12/2014 at 1:20 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Big Daddy/Pat Patton vs. Masked Marauder/Tony Walsh (2/2/84)

Big Daddy/Pete Ross vs. Scrubber Daly/Tiny Callaghan (11/13/84)

 

These were all terrible as you'd expect. The mystery of the Masked Marauder being revealed as Scrubber Daly pretty much sums up how utterly shitty the booking of Big Daddy was. Then you had Charlie McGhee bringing in Tiny Callaghan as the man to finally stop Big Daddy as though he could succeed where Quinn and Stax had failed, Scrubber Daly teasing out his hair as though he were Jerry Blackwell or Moondog Mayne with nowhere near the amount of talent,

The story here was basically Charlie McGee, poor man's Captain Lou Albano, one year into a doomed mission to defeat Big Daddy (doomed that is except the one time Haytacks, Marauder and McGee scored a triple tag win at Xmas '83 well away from the TV cameras and avenged the following month.).  McGee had been the manager of the Masked Marauders (the other being Lucky Gordon) who went down in the FA Cup Final match to Daddy and Kid Chocolate and then the lumberjack match and finally the above, all of which I posted on the previous page.   Then he tried with all bald team The Terrible Two (Mal Kirk and Ian Muir). the Rockers (Lapaque and Lorne) and various other combinations before finally getting blown off in that Xmas '86 Triple Tag the week before the reboot where All Star got their feet in the door.  And then from '87 he got replaced by Tony Francis in much the same role....

There is one match missing from all this, Tiny Callaghan's first attempt at  beating Daddy, teaming with Lucky Gordon to lose to Daddy and Roy Scott.  You won't like it any better than the above matches, but I'll post it here for two reasons - Tiny Callaghan's facepaint, only the second one on British TV after Jim Harris's early attempt at Kamala paint for his 1982 match with Tom Tyrone (which I missed at the time, making TC my first ever face painted wrestler.) and for a sudden turn to technical at the end where Scott pins Gordon.

 

[David Mantell]

On 12/15/2014 at 2:34 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

John Quinn/Yasu Fuji vs. Steve Veidor/Lee Bronson (5/13/80)

 

This was a simple but effective tag match. It wasn't great or anything, but a damn sight better than those Big Daddy matches. ...

 

Its purpose was to hype a non televised Big Daddy tag topping the bill at a major arena show.  Veidor and Bronson were in the role of American style jobbers although they got in their own offence.

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Walton tried to fob Quinn off as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, which made me wonder whether if even Kent was clueless about this fake belt of Arion's. 

He probably wasn't clueless about Arion's belt being a creation of Joint Promotions but he was probably clueless about the American world title scene beyond what wrestlers who came back from America for a visit like Robinson, Hayes, Adams etc told him.  In the event, Bridges vs Kendo in 1987 was billed as the WWAlliance title which was nothing to do with Dick The Bruiser in Indianapolis, just a mishmash of WWF and NWA, probably by Brian Dixon, at the behest of ITV, to distinguish from Hulk Hogan's title from the special American editions.

[David Mantell]

On 12/25/2014 at 1:34 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Vic Faulkner vs. Johnny Kidd (aired 5/28/83)

 

There's been some talk on here lately about how there are two types of Faulkner, the smart alec prankster and the royally ticked off type (pun intended.) But there was a third variation and that was a straight wrestler. He still had a smart arse grin on his face and pulled a few of his tricks, but for most part he was determined to guide the Ken Joyce protege through a solid bout. It didn't last long, however, as there was a screwy finish a few rounds in.

I think you were beginning to warm to Vic at this point and see the substance. Without checking,  I guess it was a refused TKO resulting in No Contest - the shorter alternative to a 1-1 time limit draw.

[David Mantell]

On 12/29/2014 at 12:55 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Kendo Nagasaki vs. Prince Kumali (4/6/76)

 

I'll say this for Nagasaki: he drew an incredible amount of heat. The crowd were right behind Kumali here and I don't think it was because he was a crowd favourite. You won't hear too many bigger pops in British wrestling than the nearfall Kumali got here. It even had me sitting up and taking notice. Nagasaki actually looked good here. Not "all-time great" good, but he was definitely backing his gimmick up with some substance. It helped that the crowd were electric, but there was a clear formula to what he was doing and the whole Nagasaki act went up in my estimation off this one match. Fun stuff.

 

Kendo Nagasaki vs. Lee Bronson (1/25/77)

 

Same Croydon crowd, same hot match. Maybe the Nagasaki act worked well in Croydon, I don't know. These were the days when Bronson was the next young hope, before he lost all his hair and they moved onto the next young heart throb. His attempts at rolling his eyes back into his head on Nasagaki's chokes were almost comical, but apart from that he was perfect babyface material. Nagasaki again looked slicker than in other matches I've seen. He could execute the basic holds all right, he just wasn't that pretty a mover. I absolutely love his finisher. There's no getting up from that unless you're one of the top stars, which Bronson obviously wasn't. Another thumbs up for Kendo.

Glad you were warming to Kendo too but I have to disagree with the bit in red.  I gave a list of  some of his prettier moves a few pages back and he does a fair few of them in the scientific round 1 of this bout.  I listed them a while back so rather than make another list, I shall just paste the original.

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He did have quite a few signature moves - his particularly graceful rolling escape from a headscirro on the mat often into a sideheadlock, his sliding conversion of a side headlock into a cross press on the mat like points on a railway switching from one track to another (often these two moves were performed as one long sequence)  the slow, majestic cross buttock throw.

Also here's my own review of it from earlier

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I've always liked his 1977 match against Lee Bronson, mainly for the technical work in round 1.  One nice little moment in here when Lee manages to pop his head out of a Kendo headscissor and Kendo quietly and furtively shakes his hand.

By the way, I've spotted an error where I posted this Bronson match a second time instead of his bout with Rex Strong from 1978.  I've now corrected it and put in the correct video if anyone wants to go back and check.

[David Mantell]

On 2/22/2015 at 12:18 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Marty Jones vs. Bret Hart (11/30/81)

 

We only really saw the latter scoring rounds of this, so I have no idea how good it really was, but if you've ever seen early Bret you'll know he was fairly nondescript with a focus on execution and not much in the way of charisma or playing to the crowd. He tried to play the outside foreign heel w/ his heathen North American "all-in" rules in the same subtle heel manner he'd perfect later on, but it was in direct contrast to Walton trying to put him over as one of twelve children, and so on. Marty Jones vs. Bret Hart is actually a match-up with a lot of potential, but the timing wasn't right with each man peaking ten years apart.

I think it would have been more interesting if Bret hadn't done the "not understanding the British rules" soft heel part and had another clean bout  like the Dalbir Singh one.  Likewise Jones vs Dynamite Kid.  Sometimes having a heel and having to work the crowd gets in the way of a good technical match.  Or so it seems if Kent Walton shaped your ideas about what constitutes a good wrestling match.  If you give up on a match because of no story then that probably won't make much sense to you, like the no followdowns rule if you were brough up with following down being perfectly clean.  If you grew up with this wrestling culture then you see following down as akin to a boxer who has just knocked an opponet down and rather than retire to a corner, proceeds to kneel down and pummel his opponent on the mat.  

[David Mantell]

On 2/24/2015 at 1:59 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Kendo Nagasaki vs. Pete Roberts (7/29/77)

 

I'll say this for Nagasaki: he knew how to work a crowd. His manager Gorgeous George was decent on the mic, but after the bell rang it was Nagasaki's ability to pace a performance that really shone. He'd start with some legit grappling, which he was only half way decent at but good enough to look credible, then slowly start backing off as his man took the upperhand. Then he'd begin with the inside moves and cheating and bring the house down. Here Roberts got a questionable fall where it really did seem like Nagasaki's shoulders were up, and he took it out on Roberts by giving him a hard head first posting after the bell and dishing out quite a lot of violent punishment. Roberts was doing a silly "Kung Fu Fighter" gimmick at this time being the era of Bruce Lee and Shaw Brothers films, and Walton showed the limits of his ability to dress this slop up by claiming that Roberts had picked kung fu up in Japan and Korea. At any rate, Roberts used a chop he hardly ever used in ordinary bouts and went after Nagasaki's mask lucha style trying to pull it up over Nagasaki's nose while Kendo fought to cover his face. The crowd were worked into a lather by this point, and even though the schmozz finish was inevitable, it was a great television brawl that I imagine the ITV higher ups frowned upon. If they had a problem with Rocco and the Caribbean Sunshine Boys then I couldn't see them approving of this as it was much more violent than your ordinary World of Sport bout. Gorgeous George, who looked like a member of Sweet during this taping, cut a promo afterwards claiming that Kendo deserved a shot at Tony St. Clair and rubbishing the likes of Roberts as an opponent and Pete got another of his sharp tongued retorts in. It's funny how a guy with such little in-ring personality could have such a sharp wit on the mic.

 

Kendo Nagasaki vs. Pete Roberts (7/12/78)

 

Same match a year later. Same sort of bout, same finish, and just as entertaining. Nagasaki was unmasked and wearing those crazy red contacts that made his eyes look the kids from Village of the Damned. He also did this great bit of schtick where he'd try to block out the crowd noise by covering up both his ears. I'm actually starting to gain a bit more respect for him as a performer. He wasn't a great worker, but he had a well honed act and pushed the limits of what was acceptable on TV. Here he actually beat on a second, which you never saw happen on television. Of course it helped that he was wrestling Pete Roberts, who didn't mind working stiff, but both these matches were wild brawls that would have maybe had some blood if they'd been wrestled in the halls but were otherwise great theatre for Saturday afternoon TV.

I've already praised and posted the second one of the two.  The first I find a little disappointing because there's less of the technical work of the first half of the 1978 bout.  Watch the 1978 bout as a one fall contest ending in Round 2 and watch the Rex Strong contest and you have a good idea of what Nagasaki could be like as a pure wrestler.  The second half is a rare example of one of Nagasaki's wild brawls from live shows that slipped the net and was allowed on TV.  Not sure how or why but they got away with this one - mainly because of the reversed decision DQ for Kendo at the end (this was announced later in the night at the venue and by studio host Fred Dineage, filling in for Dickie Davies, on transmission.

There is some footage of a third earlier Nagasaki-Roberts bout from 1971, short clips  filmed off TV on 8mm like the Billy Howes bout (indeed by the same person), with Kendo winning with an airplane spin, also noticabale for Kento's samurai sword charge at the start coming close to Roberts, but him not batting an eyelid.
 

Also as I said, they have a few good seconds at the start of the Mick McManus World Of Wrestling before Steve Adonis tags in and forearm smashes everything in sight.

[David Mantell]

On 3/2/2015 at 1:16 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

six-man tag, or three aside as they put it.

Triple Tag !!!

[David Mantell]

On 4/12/2015 at 2:23 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

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.

He very much made a career of dropping lighter weight titles to the latest hot young whizzkid.  Bobby Ryan, Dynamite Kid, Davey (almost), Danny Collins, Peter Bainbridge, probably a load more.  Imagine if Harley Race had to job the NWA World title about 30 odd times to every promising Tommy Rich in the business.

Some, like Collins, went on to bigger things, others like Peter Bainbridge had their reign or two (Euro lightweight in Bainbridge's case) then flashed right back in to the pan.

[David Mantell]

On 4/21/2015 at 2:00 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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.

Screensport was a very limited viewing satellite/cable channel at a time when most people in the UK only had the then four terrestrial channels.  I'd totally agree with your assesment of the production and would point to the the dreadful commentators (I call them the Chuckle Brothers) as further evidence of how fantastic Kent Walton was.  Like French TV wrestling and to a lesser extent Reslo, it did push the boat out in terms of violence (especially weapons and fighting outside the ring) far further than ITV would ever dare.  There were however some serious clean matches thrown in as well.

This was basically All Star's audtion tape for a share of the ITV pie.  Tellingly it ran for almost the same time period as the Joint-only first season of post-WOS shows (Sept '85-Dec '86) Clearly they had action and ideas but they needed the restraint of the IBA to get a proper upmarket professional show such as Joint had managed before Daddy.  That restraint on the violence was what they needed to become a major league promotion.

[David Mantell]

On 4/21/2015 at 2:00 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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

There were two of these in the summer of 1996.  Regal was TV champion for the third time and doing a World tour with his title.  This included two defences against former partner Regal at Fairfield Hall Croydon (old TV venue, All Star's showcase location) and Victoria Hall Hanley (about the best venue used for Screensport.)

Along with the visit by Michinoku Pro to Croydon, Regal's visit and defences were The big headline in All Star for 1996.

 

[David Mantell]

On 5/11/2015 at 6:45 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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.

Rocco and Collins had quite a few matches, including a TV bout with Mitzi Mueller in the MC role she would later bequeath to her daughter Laetitia, ending in Rocco taking advantage of Collins's leg being trapped in the ropes to get a winning submission.  Also a World Heavymiddleweight title match in Paris 1991 on Eurosport with Rocco incorrectly billled as American (like Tommy Mann, the Black Diamonds and Dave Bond before him in France) where again Collins got trapped in the ropes, this time resulting in a TKO.

(If you don't like the dancing girls Eurosport gave Flesh Gordon as hangers on, then you won't liek Rocco's "sensational second" either, whom Orig puts a lot of effort into letching over.  I guess Rocco thought his wife Anne wouldn't be impressed either, which may explain why he carried her out humiliatingly over his shoulder upside down like Elizabeth by heel Randy Savage circa 1986.)

 

[David Mantell]

On 5/12/2015 at 4:48 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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.

 

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.

 

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.

Dave Finlay vs. Danny Boy Collins (3/16/88)

Usual half-arsed Finlay bout from this era. One thing I was wrong about was that Collins' kidney operation wasn't acknowledged on ITV.

Collins is still pretty good in ring nowadays. There's a full All-Star show from last year on YouTube (headlined by Robbie Dynamite vs Jushin Liger), and the second match is Collins having a decent match with a pretty green David Finlay Jr. Collins also cuts this great pre-match promo where he tells young Finlay that he's going to be taking his revenge for every broken bone and every drop of blood he spilt at that hands of Finlay Sr.

As you can see, there was quite a long series of Finlay vs Collins matches, starting in about 1986 with an absolute squashing of Collins and climaxing in 1989 with Collins beating Finlay for the British HeavyMiddleweight title.  The 2012 match pitting an older Dirty Dan against Finlay JR, from a fan appreciation show at Croydon was something of a coda to this.

[David Mantell]

On 5/12/2015 at 4:48 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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?

er because of the big fat old men like Daddy and Haystacks so says everyone?

Clywd aka Gary Welsh was being touted as a hot prospect by Orig in the late 80s and into the 90s but ended up as one of a couple of Doink The Clown tribute acts (or rather "Dunk the clown") alongside veteran Blondie Bob Barrett.  Bainbrdge was on a tear having a couple of European Lightweight title runs, but then packed it in and was not heard from again.

[David Mantell]

On 5/19/2015 at 5:14 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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.

A good early specimen of the Nagasaki Tag match that would fill the headline spot at many a small town show.  The breakout of wild punching violence between StClair and Quinn ended in both DQd and thrown out in disgrace - StClair is actually the blue-eye attacking the referee and he turns even Kent Walton against him and seems fairly shamefaced once he's calmed down.

[David Mantell]

On 5/24/2015 at 2:42 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

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!

Clwyd I've already dealt with, Tony Stewart aka Billy Reid was getting quite a push in the early 90s.  He had 21 months as British Lightweight Champion with Jimmy Ocean as twice interim heel champion and preceded and succeeded as long term champ by Steve Grey.  On the Wrestling Madness videotape he does an interview with an odd quasi shoot interview about his excerise routine (including digging up sand with a plank of wood) conducted by an unusually subdued Princess Paula.  He also has a match with Johnny Saint from Leeds, late 1995 but it is rather hard to watch as it was filmed some distance from thje ring.

[David Mantell]

On 5/31/2015 at 3:38 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

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.

Was initially rather cross about this review as there is a Saint win over McCoy on Reslo that I like a lot, but I've since found out that there were two and the one I like was the second match, whereas what you'vr got hold of here is the first match.

This is the lacklustre first match:

and here is the rather better second match with English commentary by veteran MC Lee Bamber whom you heard earlier as Mick McManus's sidekick on his 1988 videotape.