The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling

[David Mantell]

Jim Cornette talks about overseas TV sales 

 

 

[David Mantell]

I've dropped Jim and Brian a note about British and French overseas sales of TV Wrestling kinescopes.

Quote

 

British and French TV both sold kinescopes of their wrestling to dozens of overseas markets. World Of Sport matches were repackaged by ITC as Wrestling From Great Britain and sold to 30 countries. French Catch was also sold particularly to former French colonies. Many print of classic French Catch held in France's INA Archive have Arabic captions at the start.

 

[David Mantell]

Surprised this has never been reviewed on here given the high esteem Terry Rudge is held in. This isn't quite a clean match but the referee stays in control and it most remains technical.  

Round 1:  Rudge breaks opens a headlock into a top wristlock.but Steele regains. Rudge withstands a bodycheck attempt. Steele gets a side chancery and takes Terry down but he comes all the way back up to the top wristlock.  Steele gets a side chancery (as discussed in the Ian McGregor bout this is his go to hold) but Rudge straightens it to a wristlever and then front chancery. Each man forces the other into the ropes for a break. Bell goes.Kent hint that Rudge might go heel later.

Cut to Round 3: Steele gets front chancery, Rudge counters with toehold takedown. Steele tries to kick Rudge on the head but does not break the hold. Rudge goes up, gets a snapmare the slingshot. Steele gets cross buttock press for 2. Rudge goes from front to side chancery, Steele resist the throw. Steele gets single leg takedown into front open grovit into sleeper . Bell just as Rudge reverses to front chancery. They part exchangeing suspicious glances. Kent runs down Rudge 's International record including Greece and the draw with Inoki.  

Round 4: Steele wins finger Interlock but can only get the odd 2 with pins.  Rudge fight back Hogan/Warrior style.  Advantage goes back and forth.Rudge gets a butt to Steele's chest.  A break in the corner gets rather needley. Rudge gets standing double wristlock. Ray Steele tries for a bodyslam but to no avail. Bell ends it, Rudge provocatively wipes his forehead on Steele's shoulder.

Round 5. Steele gets standing full nelson. Rudge gropes for snapmare counter then tries powering out, eventually breaks it into front then side chancery, then forearm uppercuts. Kent worries it will degenerate in to brawl but luckily it Rudge gets a butt to the stomach then a flying tackle for 2. Steele gets semi Japanese stranglehold into wrist lever, straight arm weakener and hammerlock. Adds a grapevine the switches to rear standing armlock. Rudge gets drop toehold takedown, vaguely tries for a pin, eventually gets chinlock then up for forearm smash exchange with Steele firing back. They are locked in the ropes when the bell goes, Steele gets in a last slap, Rudge is unhappy and sells it long after. 

Round 6: Rudge tries to come out wet and slipper, ref Jeff Kaye wip noSteele gets front chancery, grapevine, arm lever but Rudge trips for a cross press and 2. Another finger interlock test of strength.Forearm smashes, Steele getting the best of it.  Rudge gets a hammerlock takeover and headscissors. Steele tries to snap it open, Judges tries to crank it forward. And then the bell goes. 

Round 7:  Steele gets headlock into side chancery into headlock in the mount from 135 degrees to armlock to cross press pin, Rudges bridges out nicely at 2. Tries to maintain the finger interlock but Rudge gets standing wristlever into rear armlock. Rudge gives a forearm but gets back a flying headbutt. Both up at 8 but Rudge sends Steele back down with a back elbow for another 8. Steele gets a good folding press for two and a front chancery while backed in the corner therefore broken up by the ref. Slap fight briefly breaks out. Happily for Kent (and purists like me, it goes back to science with a Steele headlock, then a Rudge folding press to match Steele's only he Runs Out Of Mat. Less happily, the bell goes again. 

Neither man can now win by two falls or submissions. The options are knockout, DQ (and they'll have to be quick about throwing it away with still  no public warnings) or likeliest of all, a final round opener making it 1-0 at time.

So to the final Round 8. They shake hands, temperamentaly but no one takes advantage. Steele gets an abdominal stretch. Rudge tries to make it a cross buttock throw but Steele stays anchored and gets the arm into wristlever while maintaining the leg grapevine element.  He switches to double arms from behind (the upper part of a surfboard) Rudge tries a backwards headbutt but can't reach. He breaks it and gets two forearm uppercuts held by front chanceries. Exchange of forearms and bodychecks with Rudge getting the better, flooring Steele with a bodycheck for 9.   Ray gets a folding press backslide for 2 in the corner but just Runs Out Of Mat as Rudge's feet curl forward into the ropes. Double bodycheck for eight, Steele flying tackle for 2. A final exchange of forearms but then the bell goes one last time for a 0-0 draw.  Ray Steele looks like he's going to shake Rudge's hand at the end but he video cuts off so we don't see how that played out.

Skill but not much speed.  I found it solid enough but lacking compared to packer lighter weight bouts.  The bell endings started to feel  slightly cop-out-ish, it feels like they often could have got one more clever counter in but instead they just sat around for the last 10?seconds. I enjoyed it though and referee Ken Joyce came off well  for maintaining order. Not a classic but substantial wholefood nonetheless.

 

[David Mantell]

Nice recent match between two youngsters we've already seen on the channel.

Don't worry about the rather American looking ring. It was borrowed as the normal very Trad Brit Rumble rings would not fit a cage and there was a cage tag match on the bill (blame Nagasaki and Rocco for importing cages to these shores in about 1989)

[David Mantell]

First of all ...

On 3/30/2025 at 1:10 PM, David Mantell said:

Don't worry about the rather American looking ring. It was borrowed as the normal very Trad Brit Rumble rings would not fit a cage and there was a cage tag match on the bill (blame Nagasaki and Rocco for importing cages to these shores in about 1989)

... Promise kept! Back to the regular traditional old school ring for Rumble.

Second it's great to see Leland Bryant progressing into the role of the experienced veteran getting surprised by the newcomer and he handles it well. Still a young sportsman but cocky enough to be surprised by a kid from the Class of next year.

Third this is a fine scientific bout with just a few concessions to modernity and proof that the Bernie Wright Vs Young David, Richie Books Vs Ian McGregor and Peter Bainbridge Vs Gary Clwyd genre of TBW Vs TBW match  still has a legitimate place in wrestling in 2025.

Sneer if you must but I'm sure I'm not the only British fan of a certain age and above who will remember those bouts and then watch a match like this and be pleased to see that this is still a thing.

A pleasant surprise to have popped up on my Smart TV while settling down to lunch, I just had to post it.

[David Mantell]

This was the third in the series of the Big Daddy Vs Spoiler (with Doctor Monika) feud.  The first, Daddy and Andy Blair Vs the all masked tag team of The Spoiler and King Kendo saw the Spoiler have his mask pulled off to reveal some tights over his head underneath. The second, of which this is a rematch  saw the Spoiler unmasked and revealed as Drew. Now he risks losing the next layer.  I dealt with the French December 1967 hair match, so here is the other one. It was set up when Drew McDonald came out after Daddy and Marty Jones's win over the Barbarians Karl and Wolf Kramer waving an open pair of scissors about and giving Health and Safety KITTENS at the thought of the bad example to children watching. In a promo before the match not included in the YouTube clip (but that's a screengrab of both promos at the start) Drew McDonald ripped off a line from Jesse Ventura's WM3 commentary when he says "there'll be one of us going home tonight looking like Humpty Dumpty." 

As a devout Glam .Rocker I rather envy Daddy's purple sequin jacket in this - his top hat here matches. He seems to still be suffering the effects of the stroke he had around this time.  Monika has ditched her SS Fraud uniform for a nice sundress and red hat . The villains have El Diablo in their corner in a nice new maroon/silver mask (he usually wore red/blue). He gives away that he's Tony The Brain/Weasel Francis by wearing the exact same white leisure suit he wears as a manager.

Gordon Prior is a very shouty hectoring MC.  You wonder if he's a strict school teacher during the week. He reminds me of Rumble's Steve Barker nowadays. (Steve if you're reading this I'm sure you'll take that as a compliment.). Daddy takes that beautiful jacket off and swings it round and round which can't have done it much good.  The kiddy Daddy fans besiege the ring apron provoking concern from Kent Walton and a cry of "SITTHEBLUDDYMOKEYSBACKONTHEIR SIIIIITS!!!" from Monika. Female heel managers don't mince words.

Daddy clears out the heels and Singh takes over The twice future European Welterweight Champion gets a headscissor throw (not quite a toupee) on Rasputin who takes quite a bump. Mostly the villains just use dirty wrestling.  Daddy gets a public warning for a two on two sequence where receives into the whole pile of wrestlers in the corner. The villains each get a Public Warning (Rasputin for illegal punches, Drew for double teaming) and Kashmir gets a nice opening fall over Drew with a folding press after recovering from a backdrop.

Rev. Michael Brooks is at Ringside. Drew gets a Second And Final Public Warning for  repeated guillotine elbowsmashes on the floored Singh. He gets the equalising submission with a backbreaker and Daddy hits Drew with the plastic bucket. The heels are 1-1 and Daddy and Drew are 2-2:for Public Warnings. Drew thinks he has the winner with another Boston Crab but in fact he has tagged Daddy who gets the win with a splash despite Drew's pleas for mercy. 

And so commences a shouting match between Monika and Prior, she claiming Drew kicked out , he shouting "YOU KNEW THE RULES! YOUR HAIR COMES OFF NOW!" at Drew over and over again even after he has sat down on a stool and a rather nervous female hairdresser who obviously thinks Monika is going to attack her snips off tiny bits of Drew's split ends with nail scissors.And there we leave them.

As I've said elsewhere, I suspect that after the cameras cut, Drew got up and strode off, leaving the Lucha de apuestas to be redone every night on tour while the REAL head shaving took place in Drew's bathroom at home. He did thereafter appear bald but the special stipulations stopped here after three layers, two mask and one hair. - thankfully no Loser has Scalp Skin Surgically Cut Out match.

Quality? Well the Singh opening folding press is good and so was the headscissor throw a minute or so earlier. The rest is what you get from a Daddy tag.  I'm sure there was something good on the undercard that it subsidised.

 

 

[David Mantell]

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Match 1 

Andy Simmons vs JD Bryant

match 2

British wrestling legend Danny "Boy" Collins vs young David Finlay jnr 

match 3

Thunder vs ASW Superslam champion Dean Allmark

match 4

Justin Star vs former NXT tag champion Oliver Grey (Joel Redman)

match 5

Robbie "The body" Dynamite vs Japanese wrestling legend Jushin "Thunder" Liger

 

All Star Wrestling filmed at Croydon's Fairfield halls 3rd october 2014 ASW UK

A full length All Star show a decade ago at Fairfield Hall Croydon in the main concert hall. Just before shows there got relegated to the smaller Ashcroft Theatre room. Headline attraction is the return to the UK of Fuji Yamada, in against then (and most recent) British Mid Heavyweight champion Robbie Dynamite Berzins. (Posted because I wanted to find a Reslo Finlay/Yamada match but there isn't one.)

Thunder is Darren Walsh, son of Banger Tony Walsh.  In the Warwickshire area he was still Darren. In the rest of the country and in Germany/Austria he was Thunder -EWP World Heavyweight Champion, British Heavyweight Champion and top heel in a Warlord style half metal mask.

Oliver Grey/Joel Redman was later All Star British Heavyweight Champion twice, last losing it to Mickey Long last year.

Fit Finlay's son David Jr, actually David III, in against his dad's old punching back, a now middle aged Danny Collins, out to settle old grudges.

[HowtobeaMark]

Well I had no idea this was on youtube. I was at this show

 

[David Mantell]

2 hours ago, HowtobeaMark said:

Well I had no idea this was on youtube. I was at this show

 

Welcome to the thread.

Dean Allmark filmed quite a lot of All Star bouts (or got friends to do so) and put them on his YouTube channel. They're an invaluable record of All Star in the Noughties and Tenties and nence the Old School British scene during that period.

Were you at this bout Mark?  It's one of my favourites. It would have been nice if Kent Walton could have lived to see it.

We have similar threads on here for French Catch and German Catch, although the French thread could do with some native fans who grew up watching Le Catch Sur la Tele and carried on following the exploits of Flesh Gordon, Monsieur Jacky etc etc like I and presumably you and many others have done in Britain from 1988 to the present.

 

[David Mantell]

1 minute ago, David Mantell said:

We have similar threads on here for French Catch

Have taken the liberty of having a look at your past posts- I see you've already posted on the French Catch thread.

[David Mantell]

Rare video of 3 wrestling matches in Lusaka, Zambia.

0:00 Kid Chocolate (dark trunks) vs Alan Bardoville (yellow trunks)

0:24 John Mwale (green trunks) vs Johnny Kwango (orange trunks)

1:20 Masamboula (spotted trunks) vs Prince Kumali (red trunks)

Source : Reuters archives

Descritption from the source :

"A team of top black international wrestlers came to Lusaka, Zambia's capital, for the first time on Thursday (7 November) night.

Wrestling is a popular sport in the country and the crowd was well pleased with he evening's programme.

The evening opened with a close-fought battle between Kid Chocolate, Jamaica's Lightweight Champion, and the Dominican Republic's Middleweight Champion, Alan Bardoville. The result was a draw.

Next on the programme, a contest between the local Middleweight Champion, John Mwale, and Johnny Kwango of the Central African Republic. Kwango is a leading television personality in Baaing, but he could not match the Zambian's skill and determination and lost after a knock-out.

The high spot of the evening was a bout between Masamboula, the Heavyweight Champion of Gambia, and Prince Kumali, the Guyanan Heavyweight Champion, who is called (with geographic licence) the 'Lion of Africa'. After six hard-fought rounds, Kumali gained the winning pinfall."

The odd thing about this is that "Kid Chocolate" was usually Alan Bardouile's ring name in Britain. Not sure who this one is. Possibly George Burgess aka Jamaica Kid (1970s)/ Jamaica George (1980s)/ Cool Cat Jackson (Reslo early 1990s).

Notice they all very much work a British style here. Clearly Zambian TV was screening "Wrestling From Great Britain" (repackaged World Of Sport footage sold overseas by ITC). See especially the line "Kwango is a leading television personality in Baaing" The four corner pads are all white but red and blue corners are indicated by the metal ring posts.

 

[David Mantell]

Some sad news this Easter Sunday morning - RIP Scott Conway, boss of the TWA - The Wrestling Alliance UK an Old School British promotion that ran 1989-2003.  After the closure of Ring Wrestling Stars, the former Joint Promotions in 1995, TWA became All Star's biggest rival, expanding to become a national promotion. 

For most of the late 90s the two promotions got along nicely but in the early Noughties, fed up with various issues including the appearance of tribute show characters like the UK Undertaker and the Big Red Machine, Conway declared a promotional war, presenting the TWA as the more serious grown up alternative featuring feuds such as Superstar Mal Sanders Vs James Mason for the British Middleweight title and Robbie Brookside Vs Drew McDonald. He also reactivated the British Welterweight title for matches between Johnny Storm and Jodie Fleisch and ran a splinter branch of the British Heavyweight Championship around the Millennium, details of which are listed on the title's Wikipedia page.

This is turn prompted All Star to up its game, dumping the tribute acts, focussing on pushing its young talent especially the crowd from Stoke On Trent that included Dean Allmark, Robbie The Body Dynamite (Berzins) Mikey Whiplash (Gilbert), Kid Cool, Playboy Johnny Midnight and others, as well as arranging a 2003 tournament for Rollerball Rocco's old World Heavy Middleweight Championship (whose last holder Frank Chic Cullen had retired in 2002, ten years into a second run with the belt) which was won by Bryan Danielson under his masked American Dragon persona.

In 2003, Conway relocated to Thailand. He had plans to transplant the company to his new home as the Thai Wrestling Alliance but this never came off. (French Catch fans please note, Le Petit Prince was also living there until his untimely death in 2005 but Scott told me they never crossed paths.). Eighteen years later in 2021 he returned to Britain planning to revive the TWA just as his friend Steve Barker was reviving Rumble at the time after a gap since 2001.

I guess the TWA comeback is off permanently now. Never mind - that war with All Star Wrestling U.K  in 2002 saved All Star in the end.

Some TWA resources.

TWA Facebook page  for the comeback that never was:

https://www.facebook.com/twawrestlinguk

Interview with Scott Conway at the height of his promotional powers

Part 1:
https://web.archive.org/web/20031211105514/http://www.wrestle-zone.co.uk/interviews/scott_conway.htm

Part 2:

https://web.archive.org/web/20031127031249/http://www.wrestle-zone.co.uk/interviews/scott_conway2.htm

RIP SCOTT CONWAY