Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame

[Kevin Ridge]

James Bond

James Bond's exact birthdate is clouded in mystery due to him seemingly never aging and his early history being deemed classified by the British government. Earliest date of birth goes back to November 11, 1920 or 1921 but exact day probably will never be known. Place of birth is also disputed with locations of Scotland, Switzerland and Germany being mentioned. James early life had him spending much of the time living abroad with his Scottish father, Andrew Bond and Swiss Mother, Monique Delacroix. Young Bond became fluent in German and French as his taste for travel would play a huge part in his future career. James would add more languages over the years allowing him to become a true international star. At 11, both parents were tragically killed in a climbing accident which left James orphaned. He moved in with his aunt after before heading off to Eton College boarding school. His stay was not long before he transferred to Fettes College in Scotland. It is there that the sportsman was groomed as Bond boxes in the light heavyweight division and takes up judo also.


During WWII, Bond entered the Ministry of Defense in 1941 in the Special Branch of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. He would rise to the rank of Commander and was praised heavily by superiors for his excellent service during War. After the War, Bond applied for a position in the Secret Service. He attempted to become a Secret Agent but at the suggestion of M, Bond is told to give Pro Wrestling a try.


James started his training at Q Branch wrestling school in London. Bond was a quick learner and was sent out to the "Snake Pit" run by catch wrestler Billy Riley to expand his wrestling knowledge. James survived the rough training environment and proved his toughness by being able to take torturous wrestling holds. While one of the best students, Bond developed issues with some of the other wrestlers due to his gambling and womanizing ways. He would clean out Billy Robinson in Baccarat and steal Karl Gotch's girlfriend. Upon debuting in London, Bond would become an immediate hit with the local wrestling fans. But who could have imagined how quickly he would become a worldwide star.


Bond was sent to Jamaica in 1962 to get his first real taste of wrestling outside the UK. Jamaica would become one of his favorite territories to work as he would come back many times over the years. Fellow UK wrestler John Strangways was taken out by the Three Blind Mice faction. Bond answered the challenge debuting and becoming one of the first wrestlers to have ring entrance music with the James Bond theme that he would continue to use for the rest of his career. James would team with local babyface Quarrel in tag matches. They would also be joined up by Felix Leiter I who was one of the many Leiter brothers who would align with Bond during the years. Bond was able to sniff out a heel turn by Professor R.J. Dent which led to the eventual matchup with Dr. No (a Canadian playing a half German/half Chinese character). Here we would learn that Dr. No is actually part of the uber wrestling faction of the 1960's, SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Bond would come out as the victor in a scaffold match where he pushed Dr. No. below into an atomic reactor cooling vat. James Bond had arrived.


Bond's feud with SPECTRE was just beginning now as the organization beefed up it's ranks by signing some of Russia's best wrestlers. Bond arrived in Turkey in 1963 and started a wonderful tag team with charismatic Ali Kerim Bay. Bond is teased by the Lektor device which gives detailed information on how to win matches. This same device would be used decades later by The York Foundation. It's really a plot to set up Bond by SPECTRE agents Kronsteen and Rosa Klebb though. Klebb would enlist Donald "Red" Grant. He would run through the local Turks, Bulgarians and Bey with him being built up to eventual match with Bond. Grant proved to be an strong opponent for Bond before succumbing to tear gas and being choked out by James. Bond would make quick work of Klebb and her poisoned toe spike afterwords. Continuing the excellent booking of the time, SPECTRE Number 1 is kept off screen mostly as the audience cannot see his face.


It was 1964 that we saw the rise of Bondmania. James made his debut in the United States in Miami trying to take the gold from heavyweight Auric Goldfinger. Bond's overaggressiveness had devastating effects as he ended up doing a big job to Harold Sakata who was doing his world famous Oddjob gimmick, manservant butler who was henchman to Goldfinger. Bond was resilient though and chased Goldfinger back over the Atlantic to Switzerland. Bond would overhear Goldfinger talking to Chinese wrestler Mr. Ling about Operation Grand Slam that would take place at Fort Knox, Kentucky. James would believe that Goldfinger was trying to steal gold from Fort Knox repository but Golfinger would have other plans. From my match review:

James Bond, Felix Leiter II and U.S. Military versus Goldfinger, Oddjob, Mr. Ling, Kisch, Pussy Galore's Flying Circus and Chinese Red Army.

This is the famous Operation Grand Slam Electrified Fence Exploding Atomic Bomb Death Match from Fort Knox, Kentucky that made Jim Cornette a life long wrestling fan and had Atsushi Onita crying for the first time. Babyfaces have 30,000 troops on their side which is really outrageously in their favor but they immediately along with Leiter II get taken out by nerve gas from Pussy Galore's Flying Circus! So Bond has to go alone against the whole heel side. Goldfinger isn't actually interested in stealing the gold but setting off an atomic weapon inside Fort Knox that will render United States' gold useless for 58 years. This will cause the price of his own gold to skyrocket. Pretty clever. Bond gets handcuffed by Oddjob to the atomic device so this looks over. However, the U.S. Military was not actually gassed and it was all a ruse! Pussy Galore's Flying Circus turned face beforehand by not using actual lethal gas. Pussy Galore herself turned from a lesbian to straight after one convincingly roll in the hay with Bond. Leiter II and U.S. Military storm Fort Knox and overwhelm the heels. You got to say Bond, Leiter and U.S. Military had some balls just laying down intentionally and letting Goldfinger and company stroll up to Fort Knox with an Atomic bomb. Heels are a mess as Goldfinger takes out Mr. Ling and does the changing outfits to sneak away from everything. Goldfinger arms the Atomic bomb and the clocks begins to wind down! Oddjob gets rid of Kisch, who had second thoughts about letting off the bomb, by throwing him off the balcony. Ah, but Kisch was holding the key to Bond's handcuff. Bond is able to unlock himself and we are now one on one with Oddjob! Oddjob is slinging his top hat trying to decapitate Bond. James responds with throwing gold pieces and using a piece of wood to no effect. Oddjob looks like a invincible monster. Bond gets Oddjob's hat and fires back but misses as it gets lodged in metal fence. I'm amazed WCW didn't have a Top Hat on a Pole match during the Russo era. Oddjob goes to grab the hat but a quick thinking Bond grabs a sparkling wire and presses it to fence which electrocutes Oddjob. A much better sell than Abdullah the Butcher's version. With the clock about to expire on the Atomic bomb, Leiter II and rest of CIA finally show up to disarm it with 0:00:07 left. The Match of the Year for 1964 as I go the full *****

The after match is a pure bonus as Bond and Goldfinger take to the sky with Goldfinger taking a king size bump out of the window of a decompressing plane. The show was one of the fasting grossing of all time and received overwhelming critical success. It has become a true phenomenon and one of my most favorite wrestling shows off all time.


Bond was at his peak in the ring as 1965 brought another banner year for him. SPECTRE is back and they are going to their Number 2 to try put away Bond. They resort to having one of their agents get extensive plastic surgery to look exactly like a NATO pilot so they can steal the loaded two Atomic bombs. Emilio Largo (SPECTRE No. 2) who sports an eye patch and is able to match promos with James is yet another strong heel Bond goes up against. Plan Omega is set in place as SPECTRE will detonate the two Atomic devices if the wrestling promoters don't pay up the ransom of 100 million pounds. Largo sets up shop in the Bahamas and is soon challenged by Bond and tag partner Felix Leiter III. First Bond gets rid of the original Straight Edge No Drinking No Smoking No Sexual Intercourse superstar Vargas with a spear gun. The big climax is a underwater Battle Royal between Bond and US Coast Guard versus Largo and SPECTRE where winner gets possession of the Atomic bombs. Great back and forth action with the great visual of being underwater. Bond and company pull out the victory in the end as another SPECTRE wrestler fails against James Bond. The year of 1965 proved to be the highest grossing year for Bond at the box office with adjusting for inflation.


It is now 1967 and after five years of continuous travel through the territories it is beginning to catch up on James Bond as he is starting to get burned out. But Bond must get himself together and quick as he is about to face SPECTRE No. 1! Enter Ernst Starvo Blofeld, megalomaniac and main guy of the SPECTRE heel group. He's got two big plans in place. First to start a global nuclear war. Second, he wants his wrestling promotion to go national. Bond gets plenty of help in this big showdown in Japan with Japanese superstar Tiger Tanaka, Dikko Henderson, Joshi legends Aki and Kissy Suzuki and even Q himself joins in the action. The heels load up too with Mr. Osato, Helga Brandt, Hans, Number 3 and Number 4. But SPECTRE is starting to show cracks in the foundation and has been adding weaker talent to the group. Hans is one of the plainest blonde muscled up wrestlers you will ever see. Numbers 3 and 4 are useless and you wonder how they got ranked so high in SPECTRE. Way down the depth chart there is an interesting case though in Osato Driver played by grandfather of The Rock and father in law of Rocky Johnson in "High Chief" Peter Maivia. He duels it out with Bond. My review:

Bond had pretended to be a henchmen of Osato who was injured and carried by Maivia by mistake into Osato headquarters. This is a fast one as Maivia starts out strong by suplexing Bond around. Bond counters with hitting Maivia five times with a sofa. Maivia fights it off and gets hold of a katana sword but is woeful on trying to hit a prone Bond on the ground. Backbody drop by Bond on a charging Maivia who then puts him away with a statue shot to the head. No rest holds here as match goes only a minute. Heck of a sprint though as Maivia was holding nothing back. ** 3/4

SPECTRE has been secretly poaching wrestlers from United States and Soviet Russia which causes those two factions to almost go to the brink of war. Bond is dubious about this and comes to learn that Blofeld has been manipulating both side of things. It's an incredibly great set up for a wrestling venue as things take place inside a volcano. We get the first face to face meeting between Bond and Blofeld and it's a bit underwhelming as Blofeld doesn't look the part. His gimmick would get ripped off down the road by Mike Myers' Dr. Evil. Bond has the least exciting Death Pool of Piranha match with Hans that could possibly happen. We get a big tease for Bond versus Blofeld but Ernst takes off before they come to blows. It's a great looking card on the surface and received mostly positive reviews. But there are flaws with the increasingly use of gimmick matches. Still it's another year of Bond making big bucks at the box office. However, there are some big changes in the future for James Bond.


James Bond will return!

[Ricky Jackson]

Fantastic!

[Matt D]

This board would ignore Bond and go on about Our Man Flint.

[goodhelmet]

This board would ignore Bond and go on about Our Man Flint.

Stop planting seeds.

[KrisZ]

Amazing

[S.L.L.]

I'm surprised Bond didn't go in by fiat in '96. He seems like an obvious dunker as a candidate - drew huge numbers for decades, was considered an excellent worker at least during the early part of his run, inspired a lot of "spy" acts that tried to piggyback off of his success to one degree or another (some of which are arguable candidates in their own right), and was really the key figure in establishing the British wrestling industry as a powerhouse that could succeed internationally. How did JDW miss this guy but let Bert Asserati in?

[jdw]

I fucked up. Bond and Carpentier... just two horrible misses in the Class of '96.