David Mantell Posted November 23, 2024 Report Share Posted November 23, 2024 On 7/18/2014 at 3:27 AM, ohtani's jacket said: . If Gravesend was the best venue for wrestling in the country The above recent British Heavyweight Championship title change with Mickey Long beating Oliver Grey was in Gravesend. Rumble also has (or has just had) a house show there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted November 23, 2024 Report Share Posted November 23, 2024 On 3/31/2012 at 5:38 AM, ohtani's jacket said: My ongoing list of recommended matches ... Pete Roberts vs. Caswell Martin (4/4/73) Is that ALL you have to say about this absolute MASTERPIECE? This is a match with the one missing ingredient of Gilbert LeDuc Vs Bert Mychel - speed. From the start they are moving for position in Roberts ' headlock which Martin makes a straight arm and Roberts rolls out. son the situation is reversed with Martin rolling out of Roberts' armbars. They both go for folding presses with Pete cartwheeling out. Round 2 and Martin kips out of a headscissor. He gets Roberts in an interesting leglock, scissoring an ankle while gripping under the knee. Roberts undresses it my pulling out one atm and folding it into a double wristlock into hammerlock into overhead wristlock, adapting as Martin changed position. He started to regain the double wristlock but Martin reversed and dropped a leg on it. Martin tried an Irish whip but Pete landed on his feet. Martin got a front chancery, Roberts reversed it into a headlock but too near the ropes. Martin slipped out of a standing side headlock, folded Pete's legs into a Gotch toehold, turned the whole package over and dropped his weight on it. The final secs saw Roberts use a front chancery to fend off legdives from Martin. The Third saw Cas get that leg and bend it on his knee. Pete snared a free arm , hammerlocked the other and wrenched. More arm weakeners and a throw. He tries for a folding press but Cas spins himout. Cas downed Pete with a chancery and his special standing cross scissor weakener. Roberts got a sidehealock but Cas unwrapped the arm and tried a double knee then folding press but Pete rolled away. Roberts gets a leg plus face bar, Cas turns himself over, but Roberts retained the ankle scissor. He eventually released and Martin was setting up victory roll when the bell went. Halfway through. Cas started round 4'with a rear waist lock but Pete scrambled out. He got a leg from behind and lifted it to bash down the knee but Martin sprang upright. He went from standing full nelson to rear wristlock but Roberts got an arm and built it into a front chancery. Cas threw him but Roberts went over on one hand into upright and caught Martin with a backslide for a 2 count. He then got a hammerlock into further nelson on the mat but Martin bridged then kipped up into a test of strength, getting Roberts on his shoulders briefly. Roberts powered up and bodychecked free, hiptoosed and posted and slammed Martin, tried for the double knees twice. Martin snapmares and dropped an elbow on it. Roberts tried a piledriver but it wasn't vertical enough and went into the ropes. He next got a leglock but Martin got double arm s and a knee in for the start of a surfboard. Roberts stood up into a test of strength when the bell went. Round 5 and Cas powered Roberts down on his back from a top wristlock. Things kick off, Martin boots Roberts into the ropes but Roberts cartwheels back and goes for a sunset flip but Martin double ankles mashes him. Roberts snapmares into a cross press but Martin bridges up. Gets a wristlever and protects it against a snapmares and grapevine and even a flying headscissor attempt before converting to a leglock, Martin turns it over to force a stalemate. He gets a standing octopus, Roberts slowly but surely throws him for a five count. Martin goes for a rear waist lock but Pete takes him down into a headscissors. Martin turns it into the front kneeling position then gets his knees in to pull the scissor off and dive straight in for a side headlock! Roberts stands up in it, reverses it into a grovit, Martin throws him but again he goes over on one hand into a stand. Roberts chanceries and throws Martin but he cartwheels into upright. He gets a legdive and is about to step over into something when the bell goes- not the first time he has been cut short. Final round and Martin gets a long distance throw that keeps Roberts down until the seven count. Roberts went headlock into snapmares with a kneedrop on top for 4. A throw of his own also got 4, another got him headlocked, a knee off the ropes set up a backslide attempt for two, Martin gets a side head chancery, Roberts pushes him off the ropes, shoulders him but gets nothing for it. He tries another piledriver, better than the last, then gets double arms, but it hits the ropes. Martin snapmares and puts on his trademark standing cross scissor. Roberts grabs the calf muscle to block it but Martin falls forward to wrench on the scissor. Both backdrop each other. Roberts gets a sunset flip for 2 then a headscissor throw for six. Martin cartwheels out of a legdive and into one of his own, taking down Roberts and folding the legs underneath. He oddly puts himself in a headscissor (a blown spot?) then uncorks it with his feet. Roberts shoulder blocks, Martin gets a leg scissor. Roberts turns it over into a Gotch toehold but Cas rolls out. They have a two way side chancery and are still grappling on the mat when the bell goes. Absolutely perfect. Beautiful scientific nil nil draw. The crowd love it too and roar their appreciation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 23, 2024 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2024 I probably wrote about it on another site or in a different thread. This thread began well after tellumyort began uploading matches from the Wrestling Channel. That was a fun time. I miss the excitement of checking out his daily uploads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted November 24, 2024 Report Share Posted November 24, 2024 14 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said: I probably wrote about it on another site or in a different thread. This thread began well after tellumyort began uploading matches from the Wrestling Channel. That was a fun time. I miss the excitement of checking out his daily uploads. Not as fun as it was to grow up in this territory and live with it on TV and live! This is the wrestling that made me a fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted November 24, 2024 Report Share Posted November 24, 2024 A quite famous bout taped 1973, screened 1974, mainly famous for the pre-match angle where Street flicks a stray piece of glitter at McMichael who replies by pulling Street 's gown to pieces, which has been conveniently loaded with Xmas tinsel and sequins especially to cause them to spill everywhere over the ring and ringside where elderly fans take to wearing pieces of the costume. Ever since The Final Bell, this bout - especially the pre-match antics, has been a favourite of documentary makers not just for wrestling but for wider social history such as the I Love The Seventies series. The angle is also widely cited - alongside McMichael's mock-grumpy banter with Vic Faulkner (and later Owen Hart) as being the case for labelling Mick McMichael a "comedy wrestler" when most of the time he was anything but. It's also one of only three Street ITV matches in wide circulation along with the late night 1974 match against Les Kellet's son Dave Barrie and the 1972 heel Vs heel surprise technical classic against Jim Breaks. In fact, the only other pre-North America Street bouts in circulation are the 1960s fading colour 8mm fancam of the Hells Angels Vs Alan Dennison & Sid Cooper, early 80s CrappyCam against Axel Dieter in (IIRC) Hamburg 1981 and teaming with Steve Kelly to lose to the Pallos in the main event of their Great Yarmouth Hippodrome home video releases cum rejected TV pilot that same year. Six bouts for about 25 years of Ada's career. Needless to say, Street is aggrieved by the incident which gets a massive Lex And Barry Beat Tully And Arn For The Belts @ Clash 1 pop. The result is something of a wild brawl which @ohtani's jacket will love but both Kent Walton and myself found disappointing considering both men's technical skills (Kent often praised Mick's purist ability and as for Adrian, look no further than the Breaks bout.) There are however three great scientific pinfalls, they stick out like sore thumbs but taken in isolation they are a joy, especially Adrian's opening legdive and turnover into folding press with bridge, an absolute masterpiece. After McMichael equalises with a neat double legdive and folding press, Street takes it home with a magnificent middle rope flying bodypress. Kent is gushing with praise for both Street falls, tinged with "why can't we see more of this from him?". To be fair to Kent, in 1973 even a celeb like him did not have the option of dialling up the Breaks match with just a few clicks of the remote control. Mind you, in those days most TVs didn't even have a remote control. P.S. I was going to review McMichael Vs the other Hells Angel Bobby Barnes as a follow up.but I already have on page 38. Notice McMichael is totally no nonsense in that bout and does a lot more technical work, despite the two opponents' similar gimmicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted November 27, 2024 Report Share Posted November 27, 2024 Kendo Nagasaki has recently been in action in Croydon. At age 83, natch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted November 30, 2024 Report Share Posted November 30, 2024 https://www.facebook.com/groups/BritishWrestlingRemembered/permalink/8717283868309545/ Highlights of McManus Vs Pallo 1960s. Sadly someone decided to add music which was in copyright so half the soundtrack is missing. This, Thompson Vs StClair, the bits of Kaye Vs Zapata 1969 and Starr Vs Capello 1964 from The Final Bell 1988 and about 2 secs of Kellet Vs Hussey from 1967 in The Wrestler (camera converted from a shop window TV and spliced into the documentary makers'own footage of said bout) are the only pre-1970 ITV footage in wide circulation - unless people are prepared to share some earlier bouts featuring Ernie Riley etc mentioned elsewhere on this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 8, 2024 Report Share Posted December 8, 2024 On 10/28/2024 at 9:08 AM, David Mantell said: From 2003 at the Victoria Hall in Hanley. Mike Gilbert aka Mikey Whiplash Vs Dean Allmark - future World Heavy Middleweight Champion versus future British champion in all three top weight divisions (Heavyweight, Mid Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight). Two of the then new generation of All Star talent rescued from the wreckage of Staffordshire garbage promotion GBH (shut down by the local council in 2000) and retrained as old school British wrestlers alongside Robbie Dynamite (Berzins), Kid Cool and Playboy Johnny Midnight. Deano is also the dad of current All Star proprietor Joseph Dixon (grandson of Brian) . This is also some of the earliest footage available of Allmark's then wife Laetitia (daughter of Brian and Mitzi Mueller, child star of various TV news items on Mitzi, see earlier in thread) as an MC. Whiplash has a crewcut and is not yet doing his Chippendale gimmick. Bout starts off technical, both men reversing each others armbars, Whiplash using a cartwheel for one escape and eventually a nifty suplex to take things to the mat. Deano as blue eye works the crowd like James Mason before him and Robbie Brookside & Doc Dean even before that. Round ends with Whiplash working and ankle lock. Round 2, Allmark works over Whiplash's arm, whiplash gets to ankle lock from round 1 but Allmark spins him off. Round 3 and Allmark fires off some kickboxing kicks and a monkey climb. Whiplash gets some 2 counts with a fireman's carry takedown Whiplash uses the ropes to pin Allmark but the referee spots it so he fall is disallowed and Whiplash gets a public warning. Round 4 Whiplash tries a powerbomb but Allmark converts it into a reverse victory roll and folding press opening pin! He nearly gets a second straight with a roll up from behind as Whiplash is arguing with fans. Dean tries a sunset flip but Whiplash puts his knees down and holds the ropes for a second dodgy pinfall, but again the ref sees him and he now has two public warnings instead of two pinfalls. Round 6 Whiplash gets a leg caught in the ropes and Allmark bounces him on the rope. Allmark gets a reverse top rope splash but only a 2 count. Same again with an inverted flying bodypress. The two clash heads, Deano stays down, Mikey struggles but fails to get up, bout is declared a Double Knockout. The referee declared Dean winner 2-1 on account of his earlier fall in Round 4. Whiplash protests but the ref, Laetitia and the crowd are emphatic. Allmark offers Whiplash one more round for a £50 side stake. Whiplash goes to get some cash, but doesn't return so Allmark's music plays and he steps out onto the stage. Whiplash turns up with the money just as Deano is at the back of the stage, the bell rings and Deano scores a running dive across the stage and over the ropes to pin a furious Whiplash and take the cash. Good blue-eye versus heel action bout from a time when rounds were just about hanging on in there. A war with rival Scot Conway's TWA had forced Brian Dixon to regenerate his product from the dark days of 1997-2001 with the UK Undertaker and Big Red Machine into a hot new home for new stars. On 10/28/2024 at 9:54 AM, David Mantell said: From the same venue 17 years earlier before Health And Safety banned fans from sitting on the stage leaving it free for the promoter to project nice swirly lighting patterns on it. Some background - in early '86 Wayne Bridges had a real life disagreement with Brian Dixon and walked from All Star, taking his ball - or rather his red/white/blue World Heavyweight title belt he beat Jim Harris to win at Wembley '81- with him. All Star still had the original black belt first claimed by Spiros Arion in 1979 so held a tournament on All Star's TV show on Screensport (their audition forca share of ITV coverage.). StClair beat notorious Kendo Nagasaki impersonator Bill King Kendo Clarke, Quinn beat Johnny South and we were left with this final. We join in progress. Quinn doesn't particularly work the British style, he is soon getting a public warning from referee Frank Casey (recently kayfabe-suspended due to complaints from viewers about him being too lenient on villains.). StClair gets a 2 count with a missile dropkick. Quinn throws him out but rather than try taking to KO win, follows him out and hits him with a (rather comfy-looking plush) chair. A heavily juiced StClair stumbles back into the ring but Quinn works on him with closed fist punches. What with that and the chairshot, I'm beginning to think the anti Frank Casey letter writers had a point. StClair fights back a bit but Quinn nails him with a Duthty bionic elbow and undoes a corner pad and bangs StClair into it. Chuckle Brothers on commentary are going crazy and so is the crowd. StClair still fights back, brother Roy is in his corner and he slams and cross presses Quinn for two. Quinn kicks StClair down, Casey inspects the cut and awards the bout and the belt to Quinn on a TKO. Quinn and StClair continue to have potshots at each other as Roy and a second (in green) tend to Tony. The ring is under siege from fans as Quinn puts the belt on. Chuckle Brother #1 Max Beezely, later an MC on ITV's All Star bouts gets in the ring for a French Catch style post match interview which cuts off before it starts. Apparently this was the kind of envelope pushing stuff supporters of the Indies loved but the IBA would have blown a fuse over. Quinn and StClair did have their wild brawl on ITV a year later when they were both DDQ'd and left Kendo Nagasaki and Neil Sands to finish a tag bout as a solo contest, but at least that time, the referee was able to assert control. Clearly Brian Dixon needed a good filter if he was going to stay on ITV once he got a slice of it. Quote Again from Victoria Hall, Hanley 16th June 2000. Three years before Dean Allmark Vs Mikey Whiplash and 14 years after Mighty John Quinn Vs Tony StClair. Kendo Nagasaki's "Millennium Comeback" was one of the bright spots of All Star's 1997-2001 dip period when Brian Dixon was supplementing his income with a sideline in male stripshows (the behaviour of female punters at which he later described as "the biggest education [he] ever had in [his] life.") and the shows were mostly headlined by the UK Undertaker and the Big Red Machine. A dead giveaway about the historical context is the signs saying "JABRONI" and "SUCK IT!" betraying that, somewhere else in the world, the WWF Attitude Era is in full throttle mode. A month earlier, longtime traditional British wrestling phoneline Wrestlecall held a poll for Wrestler Of The Millennium which Naggers duly won. A trophy ceremony took place at the same Victoria Hall Hanley. For starters, Kendo was late according to manager Lloyd Ryan, then Tony Walsh's son Darren turned up with a note from former World Mid Heavyweight Champion Marty Jones protesting Kendo's poll win. This ended in an argument between Walsh and Ryan and eventual fisticuffs , at which point Kendo finally turned up, salt-bombed and Kamikaze Crashed Walsh and then finally got presented with his trophy. Fast forward to this evening. There was originally a whole long bit at the start (which I've got on VHS) where Lloyd Ryan was supposed to be the Tag Partner but his arm was supposedly broken so MC Gordon Prior had to go back to the dressing room to find another tag partner. Vic Powers got the gig. Cue the start of this video. The first fall goes by without Kendo tagging in - Powers (whose brother Phil I saw live in Dudley back in the spring) has an even time with Walsh but is completely dominated by Jones. The crowd have completely forgiven Jones for his past eight years since 1992 as a heel (road tested in Germany 1990 as we have seen on the German Catch thread.). Jones taunts Naggers to tag in to no avail. Eventually Walsh gets the opening pin on Powers. Lloyd Ryan is furious claiming that there has been an illegal tag but the referee has none of it. A brief ringside brawl starts and the heels retreat to the dressing room but are coaxed back. Kendo gets a public warning for a weapon used in the brawl. Walsh misses an aerial spot and after stomping him on the mat. Powers finally tags in Naggers. Kendo kicks Walsh around on the mat.flings him to ringside, VICIOUSLY whacks him with a chair and coffee table and whips him with a tag rope. The referee, for reasons out of camera shot, gives Jones a public warning. Walsh is dragged back in the ring and double teamed. Even Lloyd joins in with his cast. Kendo finishes off Walsh for the equaliser with an old time combination of his, a backdrop and splash cross press pin. Jones finally has enough, knocking out the ref (he's still a heel at heart.) attacks Kendo from behind, gets him on the floor and has a go at the mask. He pitches Powers out of the ring and beats down on an interfering Lloyd Ryan. While he is outside doing this. Kendo revives the referee then locks up with Walsh, at which point the ring collapses! Kendo does a sort of belly to belly suplex and a slam on Walsh for the decider. Needless to say Jones is unhappy, he and Kendo throw furniture at each other before Kendo leaves, chased away by Jones with a corner pad. Jones, aggrieved, demands a singles bout with Kendo where if he doesn't beat and unask Kendo, hecwill burn his boots and retire. No idea what happened next, but the Millennium Comeback continued another 18 months until December 2001 and Kendo's third retirement and only formal retirement match. It's not very scientific but if @ohtani's jacket likes a good brawl, he'll love this one. Very cod ECW hardcore of its time (Kendow as a fan). Footnote to the above stories, All Star are due to return to the Victoria Hall Hanley 24th January 2025, 22 years after Dean Allmark Vs Mikey Whiplash, 24 years after Nagasaki & Powers Vs Jones and Walsh and nearly 39 years after Mighty John Quinn Vs Tony StClair on Screensport. Wrestling underwent a brief break at the Victoria Hall when it was closed for redecoration 1996-1998, an event Simon Garfield latches on to in his book as a symptom of an "end" which in truth has still never come. (He quotes Klondyke Kate says that her friend she used to go to shows with was getting very emotional about it). Nonetheless life went on and wrestling resumed in the redecorated venue as you can see in the 2000 and 2003 bouts. In the late 2010s a new manager took over who wanted to move the venue more upmarket so did a Greg Dyke job on the wrestling. This spurred plenty of protest and did score the one minor concession of a WOSW tour date at the venue in early 2019 before the pandemic put the mufflers on things generally. Now in the mid 2020s All Star returns to the Victoria Hall Hanley. Hallelujah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 8, 2024 Report Share Posted December 8, 2024 Continuing from Prince Zefy Vs Colonel Brody on the German thread, here is another good technical bout that I didn't think was going to be one. Sid, as mentioned in the commentary, did a heel turn on Breaks at one of Rumble's outdoor shows at the Oval bandstand in Cliftonville, Kent this past summer. I don't think I posted it here, but it's up on Rumble's YouTube channel (same source as this video) if you want to go have a look. However both Sid and the promotion have since got cold feet on the turn, with Sid behaving himself at every TV match since. Even so, I expected there to still be some needle between these guys. In the event they have a good classy technical matchup with Sid showing a great deal of mastery of Breaks' trademark ankle scissor, first applying the hold himself and being able to twist Breaks up and down at will and then being able to simply step out of the hold when applied to him. Manelli is also much improved with regard to rolling escapes from armbars, previously his lack of use of this tactic has dissuaded me from singing his praises but here he has that area of the British style nailed. There's also a good section involving reversing standing Japanese strangleholds.It gets a little forearm smashes towards the end but Manelli scores a neat folding press for the winner. Breaks looks stunned and for a moment teases a heel turn of his own before shaking Manelli's hand. Presumably this is the last we shall see of the heel turn angle. I am reminded of Dean Allmark and James Mason's matches together. The earliest James/Dean (see what I did there?) match on video is from 2003 when James was doing an experimental heel stint for a year as Bad Boy James Mason, just as Danny Collins and Robbie Brookside both did in the mid 90s. Fast forward to 2010 and James is back as a good guy but at the start of All Star's residency in Birkenhead James flirts with heelishness and gets a public warning against Deano before being TKOd. Deano seems ready to decline the victory but a dazed Mason goes wild and attacks Allmark with a bunch of other wrestlers holding them apart. Deano the challenges James to a rematch where James is the heel throughout (apart from a blue-eye ring entry). This leads to them being on opposite sides of a six man elimination tag match with James, swapping his red/blue ring gear for heelish black/white, on the bad guys side. Versions of this were then redone on various holiday camp locations including one in which James appeared to have cheated to regain the British Heavyweight Championship from Deano only for guest dignitary Johnny Saint at ringside to alert the referee and get it reversed. However, when they met for said title at Fairfield Hall Croydon in November 2013 (one of the last shows in the Concert Hall before things moved to the smaller Ashcroft Theatre room in 2014) they had a FANTASTIC technical bout which I've previously posted on here and ends with a Deano win and a sportsmanly response from James and talk in the ring of a title rematch under full Mountevans rules. This never materialised but I still love to post that bout 11 years later as evidence of the survival of Traditional British Wrestling in the C21st. It's also two guys having a great clean match despite having a history of rivalry. Like this Breaks-Manelli match. (One thing I'm NOT happy about however is the addition of American style crowd barriers which make the crowd look smaller and remove the connection where fans eg old grannies could go right up to the ring apron to make their feelings known.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 8, 2024 Report Share Posted December 8, 2024 Bob Bartholomew was a long time supporter of the UK wrestling scene. Fan, second, timekeeper, publicist, he worked in many roles, particularly alongside Rumble promoter Steve Barker whom he met when the latter was still at school. He was also a nice guy to chat to on Facebook groups about British Wrestling and last summer he added me on Facebook as a friend - only to sadly pass away the very next day aged 72. A four man KO tournament was held in his memory on the same Ditton show as the Jordan Vs Sid match I just posted. The semis are up on YouTube - they pitted British Tag Team Champions Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey (who before he turned heel had a great clean match in 2022 on a New School show versus the same Jordan Breaks, which I posted to this thread last year) versus brothers and two faves of mine whom I've raved about on here, British Lightweight Champion Nino Bryant and his 16 year old kid brother Leland. Both Bryants beat a tag champ each, leaving us with an all brothers final. And quite the British technical masterpiece it is, particularly between two guys both born after the millennium. There are a couple of obligatory high flying spots off the top turn buckle and down to ringside where those wretched new fangled crowd barriers are, but for the most part it's technical work all the way. Nino goes from being impressed but cocky at what his brother can do to being seriously worried until a little after ten minutes into the match, Leland uses a victory roll to pin his older brother for the win. The two defeated heel semifinalists come to the ring- mercifully not for a beatdown but to receive runner up mini trophies along with Nino. Leland, as winner, gets a full dinner plate sized shield Heels mostly behave themselves as Bob's son (I believe) dishes out the prizes. With Leland Bryant over the past several months on here, we've watched the stages of the traditional TBW push from vulnerable newcomer to apprentice scoring wins to getting a bit win. In this case a trophy tournament. It isn't on the clip, but afterwards Leland put in a challenge for big brother Nina's British Lightweight title. The match has already taken place, it reportedly got filmed and I'm looking forward to sharing that match with you when I see it, so I won't spoiler you with the result. Instead, let's have a look back in time at another tournament final between a British Lightweight Champion and a blood relative - in this case his dad ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 8, 2024 Report Share Posted December 8, 2024 On 8/14/2013 at 2:08 PM, ohtani's jacket said: King Ben vs. Kid McCoy (3/19/88) In 1988, the father and son pairing of Ben and McCoy fought this rather novel final for the 1988 Golden Grappler Trophy. Instead of McCoy kicking Ben's leg out of his leg, they wrestled a really clean bout with the odd bemused look from the old man and plenty of jocularity. The YouTube fetishists kind of bit their tongue over this one, though there were some weird comments like, "did anybody wrestle their dad when they were a teenager?" The bout fell somewhere between watchable and a bit of a bore. Quote Personally I like this match a lot as a pure "human chess" technical fest. (It was Gordon Solie who coined that "human chess" phrase yet I doubt he got to see too much - if any - British wrestling.) It's also quite good to hold up as an example of how BRitish wrestlers, particularly two blue-eyes could have a competitive match and not only be friends afterwards but actually during the match. In this case, they're actually father and son, which kind of makes look ridiculous and unneccesary a lot of the "bitter family feuds" between the Harts etc that we see in American wrestling - I look at those angle and wonder "what's the point? The Boothmans didn't need this nonsense". Having said that the second generation of the Knight family and Danny and Peter Collins did have some bitter brother vs brother fallout grudge matches in the late 90s (the Collinses) and the C21st (the Knights). Kid McCoy was THE hot prospect of 1986-1989. He was defending Golden Grappler champion looking for a second year on top on this match. He beat Steve Grey for the British Lightweight title in 1987. He was being tipped as the heir to Johnny Saint's throne. He was the creator of the Yorkshire Rope Trick which Owen Hart borrowed for the Blue Blazer in the WWF. Unfortunately the older Boothman had an old grudge against Kendo Nagasaki going back to an incident in the late 60s when a young Kendo badly stiffed King Ben's trainer Ernie Baldwin then handled Ben when he tried to attack Kendo backstage. In Basingstoke 21st June 1990, the Boothmans were matched with Kendo and Blondie Barrett. Father and son overheard Kendo/PEter disparangingly recalling the late 60s incident and decided to take action in the match, pulling various tricks (including Ben overpowering Kendo in a test of strength.) Kendo eventually cut the match short scoring an early finish then went backstage to complain to Brian Dixon. As a result, the Boothmans' bookings were cut to near zero and All Star stripped McCoy of recognition as British Lightweight champion quietly hading the belt back to former champion Steve Grey. Max Crabtree's remnant of Joint Promotions continued to recognise McCoy as champion as did Orig Williams whose BWF produced Reslo, which gave McCoy a high profile World title shot at Johnny Saint. The Kid even made it onto the continent for New Catch (albeit only for a Squashing in France by Scrubber Daly.) But being blackballed by Dixon stymied McCoy's career and he retired in 1994, later starting a roofing business. The other promoters fell back into line and recognised Grey as champion and apart from a couple of losses to Jimmy Ocen in the 90s, he held onto it until formally retiring the title in 2021 with it being awarded to Nino Bryant after he beat Lewis Mayhew to win the belt. (Grey was due to be special referee for this Rumble promotions bout but traffic problems intervened on the night.) Turns out I've already written a piece about this match so I'll go a different approach and go for the blow by blow description instead. You all know the story, Mark Boothman aka Kid McCoy in 1987 was TBW of the year, holder of what is now Nino Bryant's British Lightweight title, winner of the first annual Golden Grappler trophy. His dad, Phil aka King Ben, was a strength grappler who had made a few title tournament finals but never bagged a belt. This year, still champion, the younger Boothman again made it to the final - to face his dad.. ********†* Round one and after briefly hitting the ropes, Ben gets a wristlever on McCoy. Kid rolls out and goes for a grapevine but King maintains the hold and takes him to the mat. Kid tries again, this time rolls forward, cartwheels back. and then horizontally rotates out, leapfrogs dad and finishes with a neat snapmares, but dad is on his feet. Dad tries again, this time Kid turns over on his head using a bridge, then picks off the hold with his foot and grabs a wrist of his own and jerks upward. Dad has to jump and take a bump on his back and now Kid has the hold. Kid switches from wrist to wrist including leaping over dad's back. Dad goes for a roll of his own to reverse the wrist, tries for a grapevine then gets Kid up in a fireman's carry. He puts Kid on the ring apron, but Kid, sensing a trap, leaps over the ropes instead. Kid snapmares Ben on the mat for 3 of a 10 count. Ben gets another wrist but Kid is climbing up to try something when the bell goes. Round 2: King Ben gets a wrist and goes in behind for a waist lock takedown but McCoy gets on top, almost with a waistlock of his own. Ben does the same the swivels round into a front chancery position then steps over his son and out Kid goes for a leg, takes dad down and folds the leg up before switching to a wrist, dad who stands up and horizontally spins then snapmares Kid who yakes it well and is right back on his feet. Kid forces dad to the ropes but Ben has an armlock on. Kid tries to throw Ben but Ben rolls through and is on top with the armlock. Kid gets up one hold and tries the ropes again but KB maintains the hold. He tries a third time, gives Ben quite the bump with the resulting throw but Ben STILL has that arm! Ben stands up and McCoy tries a French Catch style flying headscissors takedown but Ben (as is usual in Britain) throws him off. Kid leaps over dad but dad pulls him back over and adds a headscissor but loses the arm and Kid easily gets his head out and kips up. Ben twice snapmares Kid, both times the son goes over on his hand. Kid goes for a folding press but dad's legs are in the ropes. Bell goes. Round 3 : Ben nails McCoy in the stomach, McCoy overshoots on a sunset flip and lands on his back. Dad gets kid in a hiptoss into a side headlock on the mat. Kid forces back up so Ben comes off the ropes with a bodycheck. Ben gets a full nelson but McCoy slides out and through dad's legs. Ben gets the better of a flying tackle attempt by Kid, puts him down but when Kid hits the ropes again, gets a cross buttock and press for the first fall! Round 4 and Ben has his son on the mat with another wristlever. Kid gets up but Ben twists and jerks his arm up to make Kid jump and take a bump like he made his father do in round 1. Ben switches to a finger interlock, but McCoy climbs the ropes, standing spins horizontally then backdrops dad. Ben gets both legs on his son from behind but Kid goes between his legs to roll him in a folding press then hook both legs for the equaliser. Round 5: Ben snapmares and chinlocks his son He changes tack on posts Kid but McCoy bounces off the pad and rocks his dad with a dropkick. As they lock up, McCoy fires off the ropes but Ben stymies it, gets a side chancery on Kid, snapmares and bodychecks him. They hit the ropes again and Kid gets a cross buttock and press on Ben for a Two. He gets it again but Ben kicks out. Kid tries forcing down the King's shoulders but hasn't got the strength so sportingly helps his dad up. (Sorry, Americans, but no major heel turn angle commences here.). Ben goes for a double leg folding press but Kid crawls out the back way and gets up. They finger interlock and Kid drops down, reaches up with his legs and gets dad in a cross headscissor like he was going to do the toupee. But first he crawls to the corner, claims up the rope with his arms and then finally does the toupee spin to throw dad. Kent Walton identifies this as the Yorkshire Rope trick although usually that means him climbing with ropes with his legs to flip over backwards over an opponent (also a favourite trick of Owen Hart around this time.) They lock up but Ben is backed into a corner and referee Max Ward calls for a break. McCoy gets a leg but cannot turn Dad for a single leg Boston Crab. He switches from one wrist to another but Ben stands up and slips on the standing full nelson Kid beaks it by blasting backwards at Dad and comes of the ropes but gets and elbow in the chest. They hit the ropes again and Kid catches dad with a knee to the chest but the bell rings. Round 6 and they shake hands. Ben gets a waistlock then Kid reverses then Ben reverses it back. Kid turns himself into the bearhug position (some wags in the audience joke "aah!" at dad and son hugging) and goes for Ben's head, then leans back in a bridge and slips through Ben's legs and takes his legs out under him. He hits the ropes and comes back with a flying tackle but dad kicks out a 2 putting Kid on the ring apron . He is back up at 5 and King Ben backs him into the ropes and sends him running but Kid comes back with a "inside forearm" as Walton calls a clothesline. Ben posts his son but McCoy comes off the middle rope to take Ben down with a sunset flip but Ben gets a leg free, spins round, drops both knees on McCoy's shoulder and hooks the legs for the deciding fall! ******* A fine technical masterpiece and one which ran about twice the length of Bryant Vs Bryant. Like Leland getting his title shot at Nino, Ben was reported by TVTimes to be due a crack at the British Light Heavyweight title. He did indeed beat Alan Kilby (the man who once beat him in the tournament final to win his first title) for he belt, but lost it back on the 90 day clause return match later that year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 17, 2024 Report Share Posted December 17, 2024 Mid 80s. Older Zolly and three TBWs in a four man KO tournament. At least two - Kid McCoy and his semifinal opponent here Johnny Kidd (to be fair a twentysomething by this point. - went on to bigger things, the other was Jeff Kerry. God technical first round, Kidd forces a bump landing, Zolly makes had work on a headscissors, Kidd gets a chicken wing on which Boscik escapes the first time but uses the ropes the second time. Bit of needle in round two, Zolly using some fine legweakerners, tries his 3-in-1(Kidd sort of hiptosses out but hasn't the power to properly break) Zolly uses the ropes to break a Boston (seen as a cowardly heelish way out) Zolly gets the opener with another special leglock of his off the back of earlier legwork. Round 3 Zolly tries for another leg submission but Kidd equalises with a neat backslide. Zoltan carries on the leg strategy with ankle locks and legspreads. Kid dropkicks Boscik out a couple of times.uses a slingshot into the corner and backdrop. Boscik tries to step out of the ring but gets a second public warning for passivity. By round 6 it's getting heated, Kidd mises a flying tackle, injures his arm and goes down to Zolly's 3 in 1. Nice bout with something for everyone. Plenty of technical work for me, plenty of heel heat for you Americans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 17, 2024 Report Share Posted December 17, 2024 On 8/23/2015 at 3:51 AM, ohtani's jacket said: Steve Grey vs. Ritchie Brooks (7/3/86) Excellent bout, and refreshing too after watching so much shoddy wrestling of late. I have no idea whether I've seen this before as Brooks is the kind of guy I would have turned my nose up at in the past. Reminds me of the Sanders/Grey feud I overlooked in the past because of my prejudices. I'll have to take a look at the other Brooks matches, and the series with Danny Boy Collins as well, as Grey clearly wasn't as washed up as I thought in '86. It was weird seeing the beefed up, mulleted Brooks as a lightweight. He acquitted himself well, I thought. It was a title match, which naturally brought out the best in Grey, but Brooks showed more talent than I've given him credit for in the past. Egg on my face? A pleasant surprise? I won't mind being wrong if the other Grey matches are this good. Steve Grey is incredible. He really is. Every time you watch him it's the same thing yet every time it's awesome. How does that work? Such a class act. Glad to read that OJ was acquiring a taste for these - clean cut TBW puts up a good show Vs clean cut veteran. Ritchie later on became a heel. got a dubious British Heavy Middleweight title run off Danny Collins in 1990 and can be seen earlier in the thread heeling it up with Darren Ward, but here he's the nice respectful kid versus the great Steve Grey. The early rounds are mostly Grey except l Brooks gets a folding press opener held in place with a headstand in round 2. So Steve goes to work with forced bumps from jerked armlevers. Brooks nearly makes it 2-0 with another folding press. He withstands a Boston Crab and is saved by the round 4 bell from a surfboard. Grey finally gets his equaliser in round 5 with another surfboard making the back weakeners pay off. He becomes obsessed with another surfboard in round 6, failing three times, missing a dropkick and taking a 7 counts and getting caught in some arm weakeners until time runs out and the kid has earned a 1-1 draw with the legendary Grey. A step up the ladder for the younger man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 23, 2024 Report Share Posted December 23, 2024 On 12/8/2024 at 8:27 PM, David Mantell said: Bob Bartholomew was a long time supporter of the UK wrestling scene. Fan, second, timekeeper, publicist, he worked in many roles, particularly alongside Rumble promoter Steve Barker whom he met when the latter was still at school. He was also a nice guy to chat to on Facebook groups about British Wrestling and last summer he added me on Facebook as a friend - only to sadly pass away the very next day aged 72. A four man KO tournament was held in his memory on the same Ditton show as the Jordan Vs Sid match I just posted. The semis are up on YouTube - they pitted British Tag Team Champions Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey (who before he turned heel had a great clean match in 2022 on a New School show versus the same Jordan Breaks, which I posted to this thread last year) versus brothers and two faves of mine whom I've raved about on here, British Lightweight Champion Nino Bryant and his 16 year old kid brother Leland. Both Bryants beat a tag champ each, leaving us with an all brothers final. And quite the British technical masterpiece it is, particularly between two guys both born after the millennium. There are a couple of obligatory high flying spots off the top turn buckle and down to ringside where those wretched new fangled crowd barriers are, but for the most part it's technical work all the way. Nino goes from being impressed but cocky at what his brother can do to being seriously worried until a little after ten minutes into the match, Leland uses a victory roll to pin his older brother for the win. The two defeated heel semifinalists come to the ring- mercifully not for a beatdown but to receive runner up mini trophies along with Nino. Leland, as winner, gets a full dinner plate sized shield Heels mostly behave themselves as Bob's son (I believe) dishes out the prizes. OK here it is, under full Mountevans rules complete with (female) seconds, with legendary former champion Steve Grey as special referee (as he was supposed to be a third of a decade ago when Nino beat Lewis Mayhew for the revived title). Remarkably, Round One consists mostly of a series of near pins, mostly Nino but sometimes Leland getting 2 counts with an impressive collection of folding presses, victory rolls and other false finishes. This continues into Round 2 with some good headscissors and a back and forth "Bascule" as the French commentators called it, before Nino gets the opening fall, clamping down as Leland tries to crawl over him. Round 3, a great escape from a headscissors by Nino gets countered by a final twist from Leland that leaves Nino with a banged arm. Nino escapes a Leland headlock on the mat with the old Mike Marino style pullout of the head but then changes his mind and puts his head back in (perhaps the escape was actually a blown spot) and starts working for a backslide when the bell goes. Round 4. Nino was selling the arm bump during the interval and Leland zooms in with an armlock. Leland applies the Zoltan Boscik 3 in 1 special! Nino cross buttock presses out but Leland uses the arm to flip over Nino into a side folding press for 2. Nino uses Ken Joyce's stalking on a posting tactic. Round 5 Leland nearly gets an equaliser with a huaracanrana plus folding press. He gets two Zolly specials, the second left handedly, and then an armscissors. Nino looks to be submitting when the bell rings and for a moment it looks like the challenger has the equaliser. Round 6, Nino gets a fireman's carry, Leland breaks open one end to convert to a victory roll attempt but Nino regains the fireman's carry for a Death Valley driver for 2. Since Round 3, Nino has been selling the arm injury and Leland has been trying to capitalise and he finally gets the equalising submission with an armbar on the mat. During the interval, Nino is still heavily selling his arm Round 7 , Nino is still desperately trying to protect the arm. It starts to get a bit brawly, even needly, and in fact Grey gives Leland a quick private warning. Leland twice nearly gets the decider and the title with a folding press and then a karate kick. Nino however catches Leland with a superkick as he comes of the top turnbuckle, puts him in a reverse fireman's carry backbreaker then launches from there into a powerbomb for the pin. Nino gets the belt and the bouquet of flowers and seems to be very conscious of what a match they've had,his slight cockiness melting into just plain exuberance. As for Leland, he still has his 2024 Bob Bartholomew shield. Some of it was possibly a bit more high flying and "flippy" than the British style in its pure form and I might have hoped for a few more technical escapes than this, but this was definitely a fast paced exciting 20 minute match. I think this would have gone down well on a French Catch show, there are definite elements of Michel Saulnier Vs Petit Prince at work here (and not just because Grey here looks a bit like Saulnier in his 1980s " Aux Chiottes Arbitre" phase.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 24, 2024 Report Share Posted December 24, 2024 Okay, we've seen teenage Leland Bryant come a long way from being the plucky underdog against menacing heels to seeing him beat big brother Nino in a trophy tournament and nearly taken his Mountevans British Lightweight Championship. We've also seen Kid McCoy, an earlier teenage British Lightweight Champion and Golden Grappler tournament winner, reach the finals of the tournament for a second year running before coming unglued at the hands of his own father, but not before showing Dad a thing or two (and as part of Dad's own push towards a brief British title). With both these TBW pushes in mind, one from the 1980s, the other from the 2020s, I think it would be interesting to examine some more of McCoy's push by watching him clean up the rest of the tournament we started on with Zoltan Boscik beating Johny Kidd. To start with, here is McCoy in the other semifinal Vs Jeff Kerry: Round 1 starts off oddly similar to the first two rounds of the Bryants' title match. Lots of two counts, more from bridge folding presses than the trip folding presses employed by Leland and Nino and some of the same acrobatic skill albeit more from throws and bumping than from leaps and flying headscissor variants. Anyway, MCoy gets an opener with a sunset flip in just 52 seconds. Things settle down in round 2 like they didn't quite do with the Bryants' match. McCoy kipping out of a headscissor and using his head as fulcrum for a bridge to turn out of a wristlever, Kerry simply rolling out of one. As with the Bryants there is also a hint of an arm weakener story with Kerry using a hammerlock and a straight arm lift just before the bell on McCoy. After the round break, he continues the arm work, stretching the arm with a whip (and forces McCoy to take a hard bump) and further weakens the arm by using it to pull on three postings. Oddly enough, he gets his equalising pinfall with a Kendo Nagasaki style Kamikaze Crash (diving fireman's carry) rather than an arm submission like Leland did. Sadly Round 4 was cut out (and also sadly not reinstated by TWC) so we get a brief round 5 where McCoy uses his Yorkshire Rope Trick to go up an over Kerry for a neat folding press decider. McCoy wins but next on his plate is Zolly, heavier, older and with the added dimension of dirty wrestling ... From the start Zolly is playing mind games, giving hard words to McCoy. He chops away on the younger man's chest and goes for the ropes when McCoy gets an advantage. McCoy is clearly established as underdog and crowd favourite just as a young vulnerable Leland was in some of his first matches on Rumble's YouTube channel where he gained shock pinfalls in triple tags or where he and middle Bryant brother Xander were sacrificed to superheavyweight Henchman Jim Diehard. Zolly gets his 3 in one (a favourite of Leland, funnily enough) on MCoy who nonetheless resists lon enough that Boscik changes tack and goes for a side folding press 2 count. McCoy gets his other, toupee related version of the Yorkshire Rope trick on Boscik and has the bigger heel cowering for mercy. Zolly weakens McCoy with a single leg Boston Crab (which McCoy resists) and by dodging a couple of dropkicks. He goes for another 3 in 1 but the Kid dumps him on the ropes, gets in a couple of postings and then a straight arm submission to win the contest tournament and trophy! King Ben runs in to congratulate his son while Zolly rolls around in pain and defeat. The late Anne Relwyskow presents Kid McCoy with the cup, a bouquet and a crafty kiss, (the naughty lady!) As the future British Lightweight Champion celebrates with his booty, the Former British Lightweight Champion stands on the corner, desperately calling out for some Respect ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 24, 2024 Report Share Posted December 24, 2024 On 11/22/2015 at 2:59 AM, ohtani's jacket said: Zoltan Boscik vs. Kid McCoy (9/3/86) Boscik was another of the aging television vets the promoters leaned on in the mid-80s to break in the next generation of talent. He was pudgy and middle-aged at this point, and a shadow of the worker from those great Steve Grey matches, but his carry was effective enough. Not as good as some of the latter day Tally Ho Kaye stuff, but McCoy was only 15 here and Boscik fed him well. Perhaps too well as it was a bit anti-climatic when Boscik won. The Kid did go on to beat Boscik in the final of a Christmas knockout tournament in December that year, but Walton didn't link the two bouts together. But I think I shall! To see how far MCoy had come, here is that earlier bout: It starts off nicely enough with some good escapes by both men, until Zolly puts the knee in and starts roughing up the Kid, Kid gets on the same Rope Trick/Toupee hybrid as the tournament final and Zolly doesn't like it any better nine months earlier! Mostly it's Zolly the Bully being brutal then shrinking away whenever McCoy gets in some offence. The bell to end Round 1 saves McCoy from a leglock and test of strength leverage into a pinfall attempt. Things continue that way after the interval although Zolly's opening pin is quite a skillful affair, going over nicely on one hand from a whipped arm lever (which would more normally score a hard bump) before slipping in from behind for a folding press. Zolly tries again for the move that got him the first fall but McCoy clamps down on Boscik's legs for the equaliser! An enraged Zolly attacks between rounds and gets himself a Public Warning. Boscik is still angry at losing his lead and eventually gets and advantage by dodging a dropkick. He desperately works for the 3 in 1 but the Kid resists. He tries again but gets the same neck drop on the top rope that cost him the tournament nine months later. Kid gets a slam for a 2 count. He survives another leglock/wristlever combo and fights back. The kid fights back to the end of the round and a frustrated Boscik gets a kick in earning himself a Second And Final Public Warning. So now not only is the score equal but Zolly is in danger of a DQ and must behave himself. Finally he gets his 3 in 1 and the deciding submission. It's a disappointing moment for the Boothmans and the Southport fans but nine months later it would be a different story. Just like Danny Collins in 1983 getting a consolation fall off Jim Breaks in a 2-1 defeat and then the next year racking up multiple wins over Breaks - a tournament win, a £500 a fall challenge, the British Welterweight title at the Royal Albert Hall and finally after a no contest return match, one more win to put Breaks out of contention. That was Danny's rise and Kid's rise was wins over Zolly B, Steve Grey for the title, Mal Sanders for the Golden Grappler trophy and nearly beating his Dad to make it two years running. Leland's next step is surely a title win of some sort, maybe another shot at Nino - or will Nino win a heavier Mountevans British title and leave his Lightweight title for Leland to pick up? Roll on 2025 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 25, 2024 Report Share Posted December 25, 2024 On 2/8/2015 at 3:07 AM, ohtani's jacket said: Johnny South vs. Johnny Palance (Unknown location, taped 1985) South got a chance to shine here as he was evidently higher up the totem pole than Palance. Veteran Johnny South is just badass. I don't know how well it would translate if you haven't seen the footage we have of him from his younger days until this point, but there's something awesome about watching a fringe guy turn into a veteran journeyman and still maintain a high standard of personal performance in the ring albeit adapted into a veteran's game. Palance got in a bit of offence towards the end and it's still weird seeing a Jack Palance look alike working a match. All sorts of movie quotes start rushing through your head not to mention that breathing sound Jack always made. A tale of two left arms. Nice clean modern copy from a C21st rescreen on S4C Digidol. Match is joined towards the end of round 2 with "Sean" South holding Palance down in an armbar. He's still a decade away from becoming a Legend of Doom (as screened in Reslo's final year) and 14 years from ending Marty Jones's final World Mid Heavyweight Championship in Bristol, May 1999. He has a thick tache and a comb over and looks like Gary Hart before Fritz Von Erich shaved him. He also reminds me of Roland Bock. Palance meanwhile is a stout no nonsense veteran of the Indies who reminds me of Colin Johnson as a blue-eye. He was probably long ago a fresh faced blond haired TBW. By 1985 he looks like a friendly Ray Stevens. The armbar becomes a hammerlock and then the bell rings and they warily shake hands to light applause. After the break, South uses a full nelson to get Palance back down in the armlock. Palance fights his way upstairs with forearms, postings and a kneelift. South gets him down in a backslide for the opener. Still sporting handshakes. South tries to Whip Palance but he rolls through nicely. They shake hands again but South uses this to drag Palance forward to hit the mat, already weakened shoulder first. South reapplies the armlock from a standing position then drops his weight on it. He takes the wrist and kicks the ribs under the hurting shoulder. More standing arm- hank. Two postings build the punishment but then South charges an empty post and hurts his own shoulder. Palance drops an elbow a bit late and gets a quiet warning from the referee. He forces a hard bump with a whip to stretch South's arm some more, but is still selling his own arm. He puts on his own armhank and locks it into a standing figure four armscissor. He eventually converts it to a hammerlock held in position by the feet but the bell goes. Palance gives South a cheeky sporting pat on the good shoulder but South is heavily selling his own arm now. Round 5 and South breaks out heavy pitting moves on Palance's shoulder while keeping his distance to let his own arm recover. Palance floors South with a dropkick. He forearm smashes South down twice and cross presses him for the equaliser. He continues the treatment with a forearm, snapmares and elbowdrop. South regains the advantage with a backbreaker across his knee.and then a second one before getting the winning submission with a Boston Crab. Crowd are split between those applauding and those booing because they know him too well as a hard-nosed heel. Not a technical masterpiece but it told a solid story about the arm/shoulder weakeners until they were forgotten about for the finale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 25, 2024 Report Share Posted December 25, 2024 On 12/29/2015 at 11:54 PM, ohtani's jacket said: Legend of Doom vs. Raging Bull (Caernarfon, taped 2/27/95) "Legend of Doom" was Johnny South's Road Warriors tribute act that he used to roll out on shows where they'd have fake Undertakers and shtick like that. He was a pretty decent looking Hawk actually, though the similarities ended there as he didn't wrestle anything like an LOD member. Raging Bull was PN News seeking a new lease on life in the UK. It's funny because a guy like PN News would have had a more respectable career in the UK than he did in the States; he just would have been paid a hell of a lot less. Anyway, PN News vs. a Road Warriors rip-off. This went on for way too long. On 12/30/2015 at 3:23 PM, ButchReedMark said: On PN News, you'd be right about him having a better career in the UK, and he indeed has. He's been a full timer over here for years and years as Cannonball Grizzly working for All-Star. On 8/18/2023 at 11:00 AM, David Mantell said: Johnny South's career really took off in the 90s when he became a blue eye Road Warrior Hawk tribute act The Legend Of Doom. (You may remember his opponent here from WCW - yo baby yo baby yo.) I think I've discussed either on here or on the German thread the history of the man we Brits know as American Avalanche, the Germans used to know as Cannonball Grizzly (not to be confused with the one on All Star shows a couple of years ago) Welsh mid 90s TV viewers as Ragin Bull (not Manny Fernandez) and all you Americans knew as PN News, yo baby yo baby yo. But I can't seem to find it. What is relevant here is that as American Avalanche (but NOT especially as Cannonball Grizzly, mister @ButchReedMark, the former rap master has had a long career over here for All Star Wrestling going back to 1993 when AA was Kendo Nagasaki's equalising tag partner against Giant Haystacks and Scrubber Daly, then billed as the UK Earthquake. (Ironically "Avalanche" would be the original Earthquake, John Tenta's ringname in WCW 1994-1995 - Tenta too would tour the old school British promotions in the final years of his career and life, working All Star and TWA shows in the early Noughties.) He also appears in Robbie Brookside's Video Diary quite a bit. Well over here it's getting near the end of another Xmas but across the pond you still have several more hours to go so if you need a spot of Family Entertainment then here is the AA in Action in 2015, the same year Butch posted, in an All Star main event by the seaside in New Brighton in Merseyside, a quick drive home to All Star's home base in Birkenhead. WARNING - Americans of a sensitive patriotic disposition who cannot handle the sound of several hundred young kids chanting that their country sucks, are advised to avoid this clip His opponent is Mason Ryan, the final student of Orig Williams from the late Noughties who went off to America to achieve WWE Stardom and put Wales on the American Wrestling map (as if Adrian Street and Tony Charles didn't). I actually saw Mason Ryan in action on an All Star show in Leamington Spa circa 2007 but I'm not sure what he was billed as at that point. If all else fails I shall check my bag of my collection of stuff from back through the years. It ain't pretty. Mason was a 6ft 6ins ex Gladiator (you called it American Gladiators your side of the pond) built totally for power. Paul Neu is a nice guy but a massive American Superheavyweight who wrestles accordingly. It's no one's technical classic, it's like Daddy Vs Quinn 1979 if Quinn was the blue-eye and it goes on for a good 15 mins. So NO WAY am I doing a blow by blow of this. But hoo boy is it over with The Kids. So was Hogan Vs Andre in 1988 I hear you say. But just remember, in the 2090s long after you and I are gone, a bunch of decrepit old ninetysomethings will be telling the great grandkids vivid childhood memories of watching that match. And unlike with Big Daddy, neither man was being kept stupidly ridiculously strong by the promoter, so they have a competitive kind of slug 'n punch. In the meantime, just console yourself with the knowledge that this is what the Rapmaster, master of The Broken Record and the Broken Dave Sheldon ended up as. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 26, 2024 Report Share Posted December 26, 2024 12 hours ago, David Mantell said: I think I've discussed either on here or on the German thread the history of the man we Brits know as American Avalanche, the Germans used to know as Cannonball Grizzly (not to be confused with the one on All Star shows a couple of years ago) Welsh mid 90s TV viewers as Ragin Bull (not Manny Fernandez) and all you Americans knew as PN News, yo baby yo baby yo. But I can't seem to find it. But I have found this bit on German Catch: Quote Paul Neu from the same magazine, a year before he took up rapping in WCW (yo baby yo baby yo). Signed for me by nice guy Mr Neu at an All Star show in Bedworth England in the early 2010s, where he was working as American Avalanche, teaming with Joe E Legend and Brody Steele whom I saw last night in Dudley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 29, 2024 Report Share Posted December 29, 2024 On 5/12/2015 at 4:48 AM, ohtani's jacket said: Danny Boy Collins vs. Robbie Hagan (Machynlleth, taped 2/5/91) Man this was generic. I suddenly remembered why I don't like Danny Boy Collins. After hitting a leg drop on Hagan, the heel rolled out of the ring and Collins did a back flip followed by a windmill fist pump. Forgetting how awful a pose that is, he didn't even drop kick him out of the ring; the guy took a spell on the outside and Collins started over-celebrating. Who does that? I've lightened up on most guys over the years even Naylor and Sanders, but Collins will be a struggle. Hagan was a thick, stocky guy with limited skills. He had plenty of ideas about what he should be doing but couldn't make any of his stuff looked good. Collins' offence was all wrong, and if I'd had his ear at the time I would have told him to drop it all. At least there was a generic finish to complement the rest of the bout. It was hard in the old days to get yourself booked as a villain if you were young. Ravishing Robbie Hagen made his ITV debut on the very last regular episode of ITV wrestling as plain old Bob Hagen, clean wrestler. At least he got the one fall required against veteran Pretty Boy Mal Stuart. (A somewhat older future Superflies member Jimmy .Ocean WAS allowed to heel it up for his own first and last ITV bout but went down to Farmers Boy Promoter's Boy Greg Valentine. Two years later on Reslo Hagen finally gets to be a heel on TV and in Danny he has one of the most popular blue eyes in the UK to play with. We join in action with Hagen variously antagonising the crowd and cowering from Danny. Thrice he grabs Danny's hair to pull him down from top wristlocks, drawing boos. He stuck a knee in Danny's throat for good measure. Danny kips up via a headstand so Hagen gets on the hammerlock with bar but as camouflage for an illegal kidney punch that sends Danny down on the mat selling (Context: in the late 80s Danny had to have a kidney removed in real life.). Hagen flings Danny's head to the mat and follows in with a stomp to the back then hurls him out of the ring. Danny manages to get in a knee on his way back in after feigning a vault over the ropes but Hagen knocks him down with bodychecks. So far, so dirty wrestling, so HEAT. Time for Danny's comeback. What @ohtani's jacket neglects to mention is Danny getting in a high back bodydrop and a side chancery mare before the legdrop or the way Hagen sells by flopping over the bottom rope like a jellyfish. That's quite a bit more blue-eye comeback than OJ credits and it gets the crowd going. Yeah so OJ doesn't like the backflip and arm windmill - different babyfaces/blue-eyes have their trademark ways of acknowledging a big pop. I recall Barry Darsow during Demolition's babyface run doing a tumbling motion with his arms to acknowledge the pop after he slams both Powers of Pain or both Twin Towers in quick succession. Danny's backflip is a good little trademark piece of exuberance and it takes crowd pops even higher. (I recall one video compilation which freeze frames as Danny flips to celebrate something.) Collins catapults Hagen in tona hard bump then dropkicks him. Hagen fles to ringside begging for time out. He still wants time out when he gets back, offers a handshake then a finger interlock but sneaks in a punch. Instant heat regained as Collins crumbles. It cannot be underestimated what BIG HEAT an illegal closed fist punch still was in Britain even in the Nineties. He stomps Danny's fingers, headbuts him down and illegally punches him in a headlock. Danny kicks backwards, drops Hagen on his spine and takes the legs of the fallen heel. Instead of a leglock or Boston Crab he drops a flying headbutt to his opponent's chest, getting a private warning from the ref. He once again begs for time out then darts forward for another illegal punch. He drags Danny half outside, bashed him on the ring apron, turns him over and crops an elbow. He gets back in, stomps Danny's hand then delivers about his first good clean move, a thunderous dropkick. He elbows Danny who responds with a kick, Dusty Rhodes bionic elbow, posting, spinning kick. He is angry and considered a retaliatory closed fist punch when Hagen triggers a live one. Danny drags Hagen out for he same apron bash and elbow smash that Hagen dealt him. He gets back in but Hagen chops him in the stomach and climbs the post for a Bret's Rope axehandle. He gets another then goes for a third but Danny catches him with a retaliatory closed fist that Hagen sells with a backflip of his own. He slings Hagen to the ropes and clotheslines him. He tries for a suplex but Hagen blocks with another illegal fist then two headbutt.s .Hagen undoes a corner pad then drags Danny outside and lines him up for a punch against the ringpost. Collins ducks and Hagan wallops the steel! Collins bangs Hagen's head into the post. The referee thinks enough is nearly enough and gives Collins a right talking to. Collins has RRH cornered but Hagen floors him with a bodycheck. Hagen gets Danny by the throat, slaps the base of his spine hoping to get a punch in there when the ref takes his eye off (OLD heel trick). Elbows him down. But the fans are chanting DANNY! DANNY!and Hagen covers his ears, he cannot STAND IT. He gets a Legdrop of his own for a 7 count, anothe fist to Danny's face, slams his head down, posts him, and BASKS in the heat!!! He fishhooks Danny's mouth in the corner and elbows and knees him. A good long brawl, not really my thing but I appreciate Hagen's heel work. "Collins' offence was all wrong"? Well I prefer him as a technician but hey OJ I thought you said on the German thread you like brawls. Unless you mean the next sequence of the bout, Collins the aerialist: Hagen posts Collins but Danny takes the bump well and does a decent Ric Flair flop over the top, along one side and up the top of the post to catch a FANTASTIC missile dropkick that sends Hagen tumbling. Collins follows up with a flying bodypress but only gets a 2. Hagen gets his second good legal move with a small package but only gets two. He gets back to heeling. stomping Danny and smacking his head into the mat. Danny tries a chest high dropkick but bounces off and lands with a bump. Hagen headbutts him but Danny posts himto the opposite corner. On the rebound both try a headbutt and there is a double knockdown. They get up and Danny leapfrogs, flips and dropkicks Hagen to ringside. Hagen gets up and gets in a cheap shot before Danny knocks him down and sends him back to the floor with a sliding dropkick. He gets back in and just like Fit Finlay on Prince Efy in that four nations tag match on the German thread, drops Collins on the top rope for an instant DQ. As the announcement is made that Danny has won, Hagan crashes to the floor like his near namesake Hulk Hogan at WM6 realising that the Ultimate Warrior has just dethroned him. (I bet that's where he got it from. For Hagen this has been a decent vehicle to get him over as a dirty cheating rotten villain. For Collins I concede brawling isn't his forte although he made up for it with the pyrotechnics of the lat two minutes. He dims down the technical skill for most of the bout to help build the new villain, even losing the fight if not the match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 30, 2024 Report Share Posted December 30, 2024 19 hours ago, David Mantell said: It was hard in the old days to get yourself booked as a villain if you were young. Ravishing Robbie Hagen made his ITV debut on the very last regular episode of ITV wrestling as plain old Bob Hagen, clean wrestler. At least he got the one fall required against veteran Pretty Boy Mal Stuart. (A somewhat older future Superflies member Jimmy .Ocean WAS allowed to heel it up for his own first and last ITV bout but went down to Farmers Boy Promoter's Boy Greg Valentine. Have found both these bouts. The bout was only six minutes long and was chopped down to three for broadcast. According to Kent, Hagen got in a lot of offence earlier against Stuart but we don't see much of this. Nice dropkick. Excellent bumper- perhaps why he went heel? Okay I may as well review the other bout: Quote Greg Valentine vs. Jimmy Ocean (10/26/88) "Farmer's Boy" Greg Valentine? Shouldn't that be Promoter's Boy Greg Valentine? This was the second to last match on ITV ever. If you haven't seen Jimmy Ocean, he's actually worth checking out. A pint sized little showman with peroxide hair and an 80s tache doing an age old Adrian Street gimmick with a fair bit of panache. Pretty zippy worker and a big bumper; I think he would have carved out a niche for himself in the era of TV stars if he hadn't come along right at the end. Probably as an enhancement talent like Black Jack Mulligan. I see OJ made the same joke as me. Jimmy went on to MUCH bigger things of course over the next 24 years, the legendary Superflies tag team, stints as British and European Lightweight champion. If anything it was Greg who was the unfulfilled potential , only ever taking home the 1986 edition of the Golden Grappler trophy tournament that Kid McCoy would win in 87 and lose to his dad in 88. (Although this was in part due to something in which he had a personal hand, the closure of the family company which neither Steve (Greg) nor brother Spencer (Scott Valentine) wanted to take on when dad Max retired in 1995)) They could have easily squeezed the rest of Hagen/Stuart into the show in place of the preamble to this match but Max C knew he needed to get his new heel over and sent his son to do the job.,Ocean doesn't show much skill but he bumps around, gets thrown out of the ring and gets into arguments with crowds. Too bad he ended up doing all that for Dixon, Orig and ultimately his own tag partner Ricky Knight. Greg gets in a great gorilla press and drop to backbreaker, Superfly Jimmy pays tribute to his namesake at MSG and misses off the corner (a kneedrop not a splash and no cage involved.). Unlike Danny. Greg wins by pinfall. It just gets a further tantrum off Ocean. Actually, as Kent mentions, this wasn't Ocean's debut. He went down 1-0 to Ivan Trevor's and lostin a battle royale all in the space of one TV A episode in 1987. I think I'll check that out next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 31, 2024 Report Share Posted December 31, 2024 12 hours ago, David Mantell said: Actually, as Kent mentions, this wasn't Ocean's debut. He went down 1-0 to Ivan Trevor's and lostin a battle royale all in the space of one TV A episode in 1987. I think I'll check that out next. Okay. Let's have a watch: Ocean already a heel and already somewhat flamboyant with his pink tailcoat, matching bow tie and moustache. Ivan Trevors also has a rather nice purple/silver jacket. His dad was a wrestler called Brian Trevors, I don't know much about him but probably should Ocean does most of the attacking while Ivan rolls out of armbars etc in the early stages. Crowd are happy and Ocean stroppy when he takes a bump from going with a whip. Ocean does one neat escape, coming out of a sleeper attempt with a wristlock. Trevor's rolls out. Ocean jaws with a heckler in the crowd. Twice Trevors gets double legs but Ocean goes for the ropes - the second time Ivan pulls Ocean off with a bump. Ocean gets a side chancery and throw, wrenches Trevors' neck and drops a fist like prime Jerry Lawler. He gets Trevors down with an armbar when the bell goes. Cut to round 3, he offers the blue-eye a handshake but takes advantage drops a knee and tombstone piledrives Trevors for a two. He tries again but Trevors reverses it cartwheel style and gets the one fall required. The first of these eight man battle royals was on TV in 1980. Eight will remain the limit on ITV although on Reslo they will do 12 or even 15. ;Ocean has his pink gear back on. Brian .Crabtree has a mauve tie and blue carnation with his white suit. Ocean goes under the bottom rope a couple of times. King Ben is ganged up on. Ocean is 5th out of eight, eliminated by King Ben with an overhead press. Ben is the last blue eye going 1 on 2 with heels Texas Ted Heath and masked El Diablo, the usual end of battle royal trope. Ben puts them out to win the battle royale and a nice sash to wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted December 31, 2024 Report Share Posted December 31, 2024 This bout came up on my Smart TV earlier tonight and I enjoyed it so I thought I'd share. They start by rolling out of each others' wristlocks. Kidd uses a leg to pick apart Greg's last one and has both Valentine's arms extended so he can only roll backwards into a possible folding press pin. Valentine does roll back but picks off both Kidd's grips. They reset. Valentine gets a full nelson, converts to a snapmares then a chinlocks but Kidd escape with a wridtlock. Valentine rolls, kips up and tries to Whip Kidd but he cartwheels off to a feet first landing. They lock up. Kidd leans back into a crossed scissor, looking for a toupee but Valentina deftly slides a leg down into a standing figure four leglock. Kidd rocks back and forth and gets the momentum to grab back his leg and roll away backwards to safety. Valentine gets another leglock Kidd takes control of it, gets into a standing position and starts to twist Greg's leg but Valentine whips him with his foot and Kidd spins out and takes a hard bump. Valentine gets another legs and folds it up into a Frank Gotch toehold Kidd rolls up and rolls out. Kidd dodges past Greg's side headlock attempt and gets a full nelson of his own then slides down, crawls through Valentine's legs, rear snapmares him then further Nelson's him for a two count before Greg's feet hit the ropes. Valentine takes a leg and gets a figure four leg extension. Kidd pulls himself into a standing position but Valentine drags him right back down into the figure four. Kidd instead sits up and spins out on the mat to free his leg Kidd gets a wrist and pulls Valentine down into a headscissor, Twice, Greg turns into the kneeling position and handstands his head out, twice Kidd pushes his head back in again. Valentine twists 90 degrees and kips up to free his head.. Kidd gets an abdominal stretch which lasts until the round bell. Cut to round Three. Kidd gets a headlock Valentine breaks it open into a top wristlock, gets down on his knees and whips Kidd on his top wristlock forcing him to take a bump. Valentine reapplies the double arm extension but Kidd bicycles his legs and clips Greg with one foot, making him break the hold. Kidd strikes with an over the knee backbreaker. He posts him and strikes with another over the knee backbreaker, Valentine selling the impact. Kidd posts Valentine back again, Valentine pulls up a knee to bounce off the pad and comes back but Kidd gets a snapmare on him. Kidd tries to bodycheck Greg but no impact, I expect Greg's uncle Big Daddy taught him a thing or two about bodychecks! He drops down to dodge the next charge, leapfrogs to avoid the cone after both men try for an inner forearm but slap against each other. Valentine falls down but picks himself up and takes Kidd down with a flying tackle but Greg's head touches the ropes, forcing a break. Greg posts Kidd hard. He gets a fireman's carry, aeroplane spin and dumps him down, cross pressing him for the one required fall. Beautiful short bout and a purist pallet cleanser after watching Collins and Valentine rein it in while Ocean and Hagan develop their heel acts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted January 3 Report Share Posted January 3 On 6/24/2012 at 4:40 AM, FLIK said: Out of curiosity, anyone have any info on Jumping Jim Hussey? Google search doesn't really tell me much except that he's Roller Ball Rocco's dad and that he was Kendo Nagasaki's opponent in his first match. * EDIT * And this awesome pic http://www.britishwrestlersreunion.com/app...hotoid=12266488 If you can get hold of Granada TV's 1967 docu The Wrestlers he's in there facing Les Kellet. The bout was also on World of Sport and as well as the specially shot footage, aa few seconds on the WOS version was camera-copied into the documentary from a TV set in a shop window! Big butch mouachioed guy. Imagine an evil version of Ted Bovid from the sitcom Hi De Hi!!! Here are father and son together: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mantell Posted January 3 Report Share Posted January 3 On 4/6/2012 at 4:21 AM, ohtani's jacket said: I watched a Rocco/Cullen match from Screen Sport yesterday that was completely different from the traditional WoS freestyle style and it sucked like the majority of Rocco's work. All that Screen Sport/ASW stuff is an abomination. Well this wasn't it. This is from Reslo 1982. Cullen isn't Chic yet, he's Dynamite Frankie Cullen. Rocco has only just recently defected from ITV/Joint to Orig's BWF and would soon expand to Brian Dixon's Wrestling Enterprises. I think Max Crabtree was quietly happy to see him go. Whereas Dixon was a big Rocco friend, Max saw him as a silly nutcase who smashed things up and kept getting banned from TV by the IBA. It starts out as a similar faster paced version of clean British wrestling, like Round 1 of the Rocco Vs Dynamite Kid World Heavy Middleweight title match mere months earlier. Rocco rolls out of wrist levers and unpicks them with a foot. Cullen snaps out of a side headlock and quickly convert it into an arm scissor. Rocco gets a snap suplex and switches to a side headlock. Then the brawling breaks out. Rocco kicks the fallen Cullen in the head and drops an elbow. A concealed punch, more kicks and a kneedrop follow. Rocco gets a side chancery, snapmare and chinlock. Rocco does a lot of attacking of his floored opponent and the crowd do not like it. This may be odd to Americans as this is perfectly legal in America but it would get amazing heat not just in Britain but across Europe (see Judd Harris Vs Rolo Brasil on the German thread and several French bouts). Rocco chinlocks Cullen then reels him in for a bodycheck that gets a 5 count. He stomps on Cullen's throat as the bell goes. Rocco carries on in the same way for round 2 but Cullen surprises him with a sunset flip for a 2 count. Cullen tries for Rocco's legs but Rocco knees him down.Rocco monkey climbs Cullen but he lands on his feet and dropkicks Cullen out of the ring. Rocco uppercuts Cullen from the apron and climbs the post but Cullen throws him off. He posts and atomic drops Rocco but Rocco gets the upper hand with the brawl. He throws Cullen out and obstructs his return so Cullen drags him out and stomps him at ringside, right in front of the town Mayor (his chain of office clearly visible onscreen) Rocco slams Cullen at ringside and kicks him around. It's more ringside action than ITV would ever allow although nothing like as violent as French TV brawls going back to the late 70s. Finally Rooco flips Cullen back in and paces about like a caged animal as the ref counts Cullen. He goes for a slam but Cullen turns it into a small package getting a couple of 2 counts. They brawl out the rest of the round. During the interval, the commentator says something in Welsh about Canada - Cullen wrestled for Stampede a fair bit as Robbie Stewart. Round 3 and Cullen gets a waistlock rear suplex for a 2 count. Rocco works on weakening Cullen's leg. He takes a bodycheck but comes back to backdrop Cullen to ringside. An old lady (not a fan) wipes Cullen down with her towel. Rocco tries to intervene in Cullen's return but gets a public warning. He grabs Cullen off the corner for a slam and gets a rope assisted slingshot suplex then a regular one and cross press for the opening pin. Rocco's attacks on the fallen Cullen gets too much and he gets his second and final Public Warning. He argued with the ref and the crowd, giving Cullen plenty of time to recover and strike a chin kick on a charging Rocco. cCullen slams and guillotine elbows Rocco - a bit late but the ref lets it go and he gets a 2 count on the pin. He tries typing up Cullen head in the ropes. Fans are chanting "Out! Out! Out!" for Rocco to be DQ'd. He bashed Cullen 's head in the corner but Cullen reverses a posting attempt, sending Rocco flopping to ringside selling an injury. He reenters via the corner post but Cullen catches him with a top rope superplex that would have made the young Barry Windham around this time round, then turns into a pin cover for the 3 and the equaliser . Round 5 and Cullen jumps all over Rocco with stomps til he quits the ring, pointing in complaint. The ref agrees and gives Cullen a public warning. Rocco tries Cullen in the ropes and charges but Cullen dodges and Roco sells an injury. Cullen pulls Rocco off the ropes by both legs with a bump, headbutts Rocco's stomach a la Mr Fuji and double leg slingshot for a 2. Rocco, is then slingshot in to top turnbuckle. Rocco Tree of Woes Cullen but the ref will have none of it and unhooks Cullen's legs. He snapmares Frankie and they continue to brawl Cullen. chinlocks Rocco who slips out of the ring and wanders around a lot, soaking up the heat until the bell rings. Round 6 and Cullen catches Rocco with a fine dropkick. Rocco snapmares Cullen and gets a 2 count. Ditto a cross buttock and press. He gets a string of tombstone piledrivers on Cullen but keeps on pulling him up before finally holding him for 3 to win the match. Wild Brawl with a technical bit at the start and occasionally therin. Very like thOJ will like it. I'm rather keen to see this Screensport fight. Cullen had a number of runs with the British Heavyweight Middle weight title until 1987 as well as a short world title run in the mid 80s. He had another run later, from beating Robbie Brookside in 1992 and held it for a decade until his 2002 retirement. The following year 2903, it was Rocco and Cullen who curated the tournament for a new champion, won by one Brian Danielson in Croydon. 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