Pete Roberts

[ohtani's jacket]

I think it's fair to say that Pete Roberts doesn't have the greatest reputation among the British workers. Even I'm a bit apprehensive when I see his name crop up in tape lists and I've seen more good Pete Roberts than most. But he's been delivering for me lately so I bit the bullet and got a comp made.

 

Pete Roberts vs. Tom Tyrone (1/8/87)

 

This was the final for the 1986 Grand Prix Belt, a real piece of shit looking belt. Joint Promotions had by far the worst looking belts in the history of professional wrestling. They were really into their tournaments at this point, which I guess was a plea/ploy to get people to tune in each week. Regardless of all that, this was my kind of wrestling. Tom Tyrone was a lot bigger than I thought he was. He was looking a bit battle weary here and had put on some pounds, but even with the extra weight there was a pretty significant size difference. The crowd was behind Tyrone and boo'ed Roberts and Tyrone was able to throw his weight around a bit, but for the most part this was a clinic from Roberts on beating a bigger man. He may have been the most charisma-less man in the world, but he could flat out wrestle. The match started to get really good when they began with the forearm smashes then cooled off a bit, but Roberts was savvy the way way through. I can see others not liking this as much. I don't want to say it was cerebral or anything like that, but if you don't like holds or the odd strike then Robert's personality is hardly going to hold you, but if you plain like wrestling then this was about as good as it got in a dying territory.

[ohtani's jacket]

Pat Roach vs. Pete Roberts (4/23/85)

 

Despite being a heavyweight this was another bout where Roberts gave away two or three stones to his opponent. Roberts excelled at working against bigger men and was fantastic here both underneath and on top. Roach was nearing 50 however and starting to get a bit long in the tooth so his contribution didn't quite match Roberts'. This was particularly evident with the finish, which I thought was lazy considering it was only a one fall bout and Roberts had wrestled superbly up to that point. The match deserved a finish with a bit more care put into it like the Caswell Martin ref stop, not Roach swatting Roberts because he woke up and remembered he was 18 stone and 6'5".

[ohtani's jacket]

Wayne Bridges vs. Pete Roberts (10/28/81)

 

Joint Promotions liked to run these programs between guys where the champion would lose the first match 2-1, the winner would ask for a title shot but have to go through a non-title bout first, they'd win that, often 2-0, then finally get a title shot. They'd run this on TV and at the halls simultaneously. Just about every program followed this pattern; what made this special was a Bridges heel turn or at least a quasi-heel turn. Blue-eyes would sometimes work heel or tweener in the halls and occasionally break the rules or get agitated on TV, but this was about as close to a full blown turn as British wrestling got. It wasn't really clear what Bridges' problem with Roberts was, only that he got pissed during the bout and refused to shake Roberts' hand after a fall. As the bout wore on, Bridges began wrestling illegally and smirking about it. The finish was Bridges hitting Roberts with a running knee while he was still on the mat. Bridges assumed he'd won the match but he was DQ'ed, threw a fit and cut an asshole heel champ promo. Considering Bridges was cut from the same cloth as Roberts this was a lot more interesting than straight up Roberts/Bridges.

 

Pete Roberts vs. Indio Guajaro (11/13/85)

 

Hey, it's Indio Guajaro. I always get a kick out of the Germany-based guys popping up on British TV. Guajaro played up the witch doctor gimmick here and played the dumb savage to start with. Walton kept mentioning that he couldn't speak a word of English and couldn't understand the public warnings he was receiving. He also accused Guajaro of using the all-in American style, which comes across as a knock on US wrestling at times. The bout started out with these cliches, but it turned into something pretty great when the women in the crowd got massively fired up at Guajaro, Roberts began retaliating in the most awesome fashion (including a killer drop kick that knocked Guajaro out of the ring) and Guajaro kept grabbing the ring announcer's mic and cutting promos in Spanish. Fantastic heat for this, an injury finish that worked for a change and really amusing schtick from Guajaro that drew some good one liners from Kent. I think they brought in Guajaro a couple of times, but he would have been great in longer stints.

[ohtani's jacket]

Wayne Bridges vs. Pete Roberts (12/7/81)

 

This was the non-title rematch. It was wrestled pretty cleanly until three or four minutes into the bout when Bridges suddenly started pointing the finger at Roberts and getting in Max Ward's face. This was so out of the blue that I wondered if he'd timed it for when TV would join. In typically understated fashion, Walton feigned surprise at the change in Wayne Bridges, but there was no damning him to hell. It still wasn't clear what set Bridges off or why he had such a problem with Pete Roberts. It may have been fleshed out in the programs people bought, which I believe played a big part in getting the wrestlers over at the halls, but it was pretty obvious that angles or storylines weren't Joint's forte and not something Walton was used to commenting on. Roberts scored the two-nil upset here, which led to an amusing exchange on the house mic where Bridges asked "who have you ever beaten, Roberts?" to which he sharply replied: "I've just beaten you, Bridges."

 

Wayne Bridges vs. Pete Roberts (2/17/82)

 

The title match at the Royal Albert Hall. Joined about halfway in. This was the most fired up I've ever seen Roberts. Bridges was in full rudo mode, which surprised me as I thought he might work cleanly in this one and perhaps raise Robert's hand at the end or something similarly sporting, but he was having none of that. The intensity here was good and it definitely felt like a big match. As with the lead-in, they were extremely understated about Bridges' carry on. The crowd booed him, however. After the match, they cut back to Dickie Davies in the studio, who said offhand "a mixed reaction there for the World Champ." Bridges jumped to All-Star Promotions shortly after this, so this was pretty much his curtain bow.

 

Pat Roach vs. Pete Roberts (3/14/85)

 

Another bout that Roach kind of struggled through. Either he was getting too old for this or carrying an injury. Pete Roberts vs. Mark Rocco (4/21/80) These two had a really fantastic catchweight contest a month after this in the style of Pete Roberts. This was an up-tempo, all action bout in the style of Mark Rocco. No prizes for guessing which I prefer. This also had the ignominy of ending in a really stupid double DQ.

 

Pete Roberts vs. Young David (4/7/82)

 

Very little of his was shown and what did air made it seem like a squash. Very disappointing given what others had accomplished with a game Davey Boy.

[ohtani's jacket]

Pete Roberts vs. Clive Myers (2/9/83)

 

This was all right. Two skilled guys who clearly enjoyed working with each other, but it was more of an exhibition than a contest. Well, that's the comp finished. Can't say it changed my opinion on Roberts too much. He was a skilled worker who had some great matches, but you've got to go digging for them.

[JerryvonKramer]

OJ, do you know what Pete Roberts did when he wasn't working All Japan in the late 80s and early 90s?

 

Did he shuttle back to the UK to work dates or not? Can't find much from him working in UK post-85.

[ohtani's jacket]

He still worked in the UK. He just wasn't on TV that much. In the 70s, he used to work the German tournaments and globe-trot a bit, but by the late 80s I think he was mainly traveling between the UK and Japan. After '86, his UK dates dropped off a bit, which I assume was a combination of UK wrestling being in the shitter and getting regular tours w/ Baba.

 

I'm curious as to why you ask.

[BruceTharpe]

According to his book - Stan Hansen was very close to Pete Roberts in Japan.

[ohtani's jacket]

Pete Roberts vs. Wayne Bridges (5/11/82)

 

This was perhaps the missing piece in the Roberts vs. Bridges feud. In the final televised meeting between the pair, instead of showing disdain for one another, there was a begrudging show of respect. The lift in intensity was noticeable from Bridges and he wrestled this bout like it meant everything to him on the night. Roberts was destined to be a super worker who was never deemed good enough to hold a title even the British one, but as a challenger there were few better to put on TV, and this came to life more than you'd expect from a Wayne Bridges bout. Easily the crown jewel of their feud and one of the best bouts of 1982.

[JNLister]

According to his book - Stan Hansen was very close to Pete Roberts in Japan.

 

That was indeed the case. Here's Pete Roberts's recollection from a profile I did on him for FSM:

 

 

 

One tour began a lifelong friendship with American star Stan Hansen, who wrote in his autobiography that Roberts was "the true brother I never had. His friendship is one of the best things that came out of my years in wrestling." The pair met on Hansen's first trip to Japan, and Roberts recalls fate played its hand.

 

"Whenever you arrived, you'd have the first day off, so you'd check into the hotel and ask at the front desk who else had arrived among the foreign wrestlers. Stan phoned up to Dave Taylor's room first, but could barely understand a word he said because of his Yorkshire accent!

 

"He called me instead and because the only other foreigners on the trip were two Canadians who'd paired off, Stan, Dave and I began going round together. However, Dave got peritonitis a week into the tour and was in hospital and then flown back home, so Stan and I paired off.

 

"We were up in Hokkaido in northern Japan and it was the January tour, so it was very cold. We stayed in traditional Japanese hotels with straw mats instead of beds, and no heating, so we bonded by complaining about it together. I always thank Dave Taylor for getting ill and letting me make such a friendship with Stan!"

 

That friendship remains in place today with the pair regularly visiting one another's homes, most recently embracing their mutual interest in the Wild West by visiting the site of the battle known as Custer's Last Stand. So close were the pair, Roberts was one of only a handful of people aware that Hansen was secretly negotiating with rival All Japan promoter Shoehei "Giant" Baba.

 

"I was there for the wheeling and dealing; there was quite a bit of intrigue, real MI5 stuff. It was one of the biggest moves in Japanese history. Stan wanted me to come over, but I felt loyal to Karl Gotch. Without him I would never have got started in Japan: I always felt I should go with people who helped me."

[Britwresdvds]

I think it's fair to say that Pete Roberts doesn't have the greatest reputation among the British workers.

 

I realise this is an old post, but it was really surprising to read this. Every British wrestler of that era I've worked with has always had an absolutely glowing opinion of Pete Roberts, some even describing him as "a real wrestler's wrestler" and such.

[ohtani's jacket]

I meant with overseas fans who've only seen him work in Japan, but I don't think he's an overwhelming favourite of the Heritage guys either since most of them had stopped watching by the 80s.

[Britwresdvds]

I meant with overseas fans who've only seen him work in Japan, but I don't think he's an overwhelming favourite of the Heritage guys either since most of them had stopped watching by the 80s.

 

Fair enough. Each to their own. He's definitely well-regarded amongst the other wrestlers of that era though. I'm not sure exactly when he retired, but it was probably around the mid 90s, which was the time I started, so I missed him unfortunately.