Caswell Martin

[ohtani's jacket]

OK, I'm going to talk about a worker that very few of you have probably heard of, Caswell Martin.

 

 

Martin was part of the contingent of British workers billed as being from the West Indies and made his professional debut in the early 70s. He was a worker with excellent amateur credentials and had a similar sort of build and athletic prowess to Clive Myers, for those of you who are familiar with Clive. He came along at a time when the public were beginning to tire of the older stars like McManus, Pallo, Kellett and Logan and where there were real opportunities for a young black star to replace the aging Johnny Kwango and Masambula. Martin was a wrestler's wrestler, however, and never adopted any sort of gimmick for television or the halls and didn't play to the galleries as Walton was so fond of saying. He had a nickname "Cast Iron" Caswell Martin, but the only real change he made to his image over the years was dying his fringe. For this reason, he never received the push that was projected for him in the mid-70s and had more success in the German tournaments than he did on the home front, but he was a reliable and solid performer who worked the bills right up to the end of television. And more importantly for us, he was an excellent worker.

 

When I first started seeking out WoS footage, he was one of the earliest workers to leave an impression on me outside the name workers. It's been a while since I've seen a Martin match, but I got a custom made comp of footage I hadn't see and so far the results have been impressive. Martin is definitely up there with the better British workers of his era.

 

Reviews to follow.

[goodhelmet]

You need to send that comp my way man!!!

[Zenjo]

Okay you've just scored ***** on the obscurity scale here.

[Jetlag]

Excited to see what you dug up, OJ. If this info is correct, then Caswell must've been around 40 when he made his debut.

[ohtani's jacket]

Caswell Martin vs. Steve Logan (12/4/74)

Steve Logan was Mick McManus' long time tag partner. He had jet black hair, no neck and looked a bit like a Dick Tracy character at times. His MO was delivering body shots, both legal and illegal, and there was nothing fancy about the way he wrestled. He was never outwardly charismatic like McManus, instead he got over by being mean. Martin worked this about as perfectly as a baby face can in this situation. Logan was going to get his shit in. It was a Logan bout and Martin was simply the latest guy to step up to the plate, but he showed his technical prowess here and a willingness to wrestle despite Logan's body shots. You could probably make an argument that Martin should have gone over in this era where they were in need of stars or at least milked this more as a potential upset, but Martin came out of it looking the better wrestler and a budding star, part of what Walton dubbed the ITV 8 in the yearbook they put out.

Caswell Martin vs. Pete Roberts (JIP 12/17/80)

This was joined about halfway through and really was an outstanding contest. It was one of those times where you get Pete Roberts in the ring with someone who can work and the sparks fly. The first couple of falls that were shown featured some awesome grappling and some superb standing exchanges. In the final fall they tried to go for the jugular and it didn't have quite the shape as the previous falls, but it was still a really cracking bout.

Ray Steele vs. Caswell Martin (4/7/81)

Man, when you can make Ray Steele seem this interesting you really are good. I've seen guys like Terry Rudge, Dalibar Singh and Pat Roach get decent stuff out of Steele, but I've never seen him look this athletic against anybody. Martin just seemed to bring out the best technical qualities in all of the guys he faced.

Pat Roach vs. Caswell Martin (JIP 2/24/81)

The sound on this was absolutely fucked to the point where I had to watch it on mute, which is a shame because this was an awesome contest. Pat Roach has got to be the most technically gifted big man of all-time. I can't think of a guy his size who could take it to the mat as well as Roach. The pattern I'm seeing with Martin so far as that everybody wants to take it to the mat with him. That's a very good sign for fans like me. Roach got frustrated by how well Martin hung with him and started snubbing Caswell between rounds. Then he started some great borderline shit like headbutts to Caswell's back that were really befitting of the kind of tweener character Roach played most of the time. Unfortunately, Martin jobbed again here. He was very much a "go out there and have an awesome match and job to the stars" talent despite really deserving a run with a belt.

[pantherwagner]

There's a guy I saw a few times shopping at the supermarket on Saturday mornings after I stayed over at a lady friend's house in North London several years ago. I was pretty sure that was Cas Martin but I didn't realize it at the time and I never saw him again so never got around to ask him. I told this story to a British historian friend some time ago and he told me that he indeed lived in North London with his wife who is either German or Austrian. I think Dave "The Butcher" Bond also lived there before he died.

 

I believe that Martin wrestled in the first or second UWF, I'm wondering if there's any footage of him there and how good is it.

[ohtani's jacket]

Caswell Martin vs. Marty Jones (10/16/85)

 

This went 10 rounds of a 15 round title match so not all of it aired on TWC. It was a good contest, but a step down from an epic title match. I think this was generally because it was face vs. face and the better title matches are heel vs. face and Martin wasn't going to take the title, but it was decent enough. Jones was past his best here and on the downhill slide, whereas Martin maintained his form right through to the end of television.

 

Caswell Martin vs. Dave Bond (12/7/81)

 

Dave Bond has what I like to call clumsy enthusiasm, where a worker isn't technically good but has plenty of exuberance. He's most famous for being one half of the Caribbean Sunshine Boys and having some pretty great heat filled bouts against the top faces, but he defied all expectations here by working a sporting bout the whole way through. I've no idea why he wanted to work a pure contest but it was the best he's looked from a technical point of view. A lot of credit for that has to go to Martin who was really great at making guys look good in a technical setting. Really enjoyed this.

[GSR]

I believe that Martin wrestled in the first or second UWF, I'm wondering if there's any footage of him there and how good is it.

According to the Mat Results newsletters I've got, he did a tour for them back in April 1985. It seemed pretty common place for the UWF to bring over some European based talent each tour as the likes of Pete Roberts, Marty Jones, Keith Haward, Wayne Bridges, Dave Finlay, Bernie Wright, Johnny South and Dalibar Singh all wrestled for the promotion at various times.

[Jetlag]

There is a Caswell vs. Nobuhiko Takada match on tape which I assume is from UWF.

[GSR]

There is a Caswell vs. Nobuhiko Takada match on tape which I assume is from UWF.

That's most likely from the tour I just wrote about. Here are Martin's results from then:

 

04.06.85 Kisarazu (L) w/ Dalibar Singh vs Super Tiger & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

04.08.85 Koshigaya (L) w/ Omar Atlas vs Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

04.12.85 Tokyo (D) w/ Osamu Kido vs Ray Steele & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

04.14.85 Osaka (W) Mach Hayato

04.16.85 Sagamihara (L) Osamu Kido

04.17.85 Matsumoto (L) w/ Omar Atlas vs Super Tiger & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

04.18.85 Suwa (L) Kazuo Yamazaki

04.20.85 Nagano (L) w/ Dalibar Singh vs Akira Maeda & Super Tiger

04.23.85 Aomori (L) Nobuhiko Takada

04.24.85 Goshogawara (L) w/ Omar Atlas vs Super Tiger & Osamu Kido

04.26.85 Tokyo (L) w/ Dalibar Singh vs Super Tiger & Mach Hayato

[ohtani's jacket]

Caswell Martin vs. Chic Cullen (1/16/85)

Caswell Martin vs. Chic Cullen (2/27/85)

 

These were okay. I've soured on Cullen a bit since going through a period where I was high on him. He has some good stuff that aired on TWC, but this extra original broadcast stuff hasn't pushed his case as a great worker and that's been against some pretty top draw talent. The first match only aired the meat and potatoes of what was a double countout to set up a rematch, so it was never going to be hugely satisfying. The second bout was better, though they did this strange bit of booking where it seemed like it was going to be an injury finish in the second round, but Cullen convinced the ref he was fit to continue. I've seen them do that to great effect in later rounds but never so early. I guess it was meant to draw sympathy for Cullen, but the crowd didn't seem to care that much and Cullen wasn't the sort of performer who could really put over an injury like that. At least the action was stronger than the first bout, though Martin tends to overuse certain pinning combinations. That's a criticism you could probably make of all British wrestlers, however, as those pinning combinations were seen as specialty moves and the workers often scored from them in every single match.

 

Caswell Martin vs. John Elijah (11/5/86)

 

Solid late period match. Going into this I expected a power contest with plenty of strength holds and maybe a bit of mat wrestling from Caswell and that's exactly what I got. Both these guys were reliable performers and two of the better guys on the roster at this late stage, but they were never going to have a four star match outside of the halls maybe. But dependable can be enjoyable with a safe pair of hands.

[ohtani's jacket]

Caswell Martin vs. Pat Roach (5/11/82)

 

Man, these guys were good together. Again we only got to see half the bout and I wish we'd gotten more because it really seemed like they were doing original stuff here instead of the spots they did with everyone. The finish was a great example, as they took your run-of-the-mill Dale Martin injury finish and did something special with it. Caswell Martin had probably the best headbutt in the business and Roach sold his strikes beautifully. Once he shook off the butts, he retaliated by body checking Martin repeatedly. Two or three times, Martin was knocked over the ropes which nine times out of ten is a technical knockout/automatic countout in WOS. Martin, however, got back in the ring and fronted Roach. Roach kept checking him and checking him and finally did his Brumagen Bump for the ref stop. If you're going to end it on an injury or knockout that's the way to do it.

 

That's the end of the comp. There's a few odds and ends I may order later, but I've now seen the bulk of the Caswell Martin we have on tape. Unfortunately, I can't in good conscience recommend any of his matches for the 80s set, as the ones that really impressed me were JIP halfway through and the 1982 Marty Jones bout from the Royal Albert Hall is cut short by a shitty finish when it could've gone six rounds and been a certain pick.

[ohtani's jacket]

I re-watched the Martin/Finlay match from '87. It was basically a vehicle for Finlay's heel act, which was over regardless of how I feel about the Princess Paula era, but since Martin was such a good worker the parts where they actually wrestled were excellent. The finish came a few beats too soon and should have had a few extra nearfalls. That would have made it an excellent little TV sprint. The timing is often off on British finishes, even the clean ones. It's the key area that people are going to struggle with when a set gets released.

[Jetlag]

Gernot Freiberger put this match of Martin on youtube

 

vs Achim Chall, germany 1980

 

Not that much to it and it has a shit injury finish, but Caswell shows some nasty looking armwork. Chall looks old, but he moved well, I did like how he splashed Caswell with his gut to break the bridge and he busts out a nice neckbreaker type submission into a pin to counter the armwork.

[ohtani's jacket]

Thanks for the heads up. I've got a few more dregs to get through with Britain then I'm off to Germany for a change of pace.