Marvellous Mike Bennett

[ohtani's jacket]

A while back, I discovered a guy who was potentially the last great super worker of British television wrestling: a rule-bender by the name of "Marvellous" Mike Bennett. I was so impressed by his bout with Steve Logan that I picked up a two-disc comp of every Bennett match to make time and promptly found no time to watch it. Now that I've caught up with the Arthur Psycho channel this is my new British wrestling baby.

 

Bennett made his debut in March 1964 when he was 18 years old and was a blue-eye in the early part of his career. Despite appearing on TV fairly regularly in the 60s, he disappeared from the small screen in the 70s and only made sporadic appearances through the decade. At some point he took on a heel persona, dying his hair and handwriting the nickname "Marvellous" on his tights as well as well as his ring towels. It was similar in spirit to one of the hardest working showmen of the era, Brian Maxine. For some reason or another, Bennett didn't have a huge television presence at the turn of the decade, presumably because he was working for the independents, but when World of Sport was cancelled in 1985 and wrestling became a stand alone show, Crabtree brought Bennett into the fold and gave him a pretty solid push as a television heel personality. If you know anything about World of Sport wrestling, you'll know it was populated by a colorful array of heel characters -- Sid Cooper, Brian Maxine, Adrian Street, Bobby Barnes, Jim Breaks, Mick McManus, Mark Rocco, Giant Haystacks and Kendo Nagasaki to name a few -- but by the mid-80s much of that "heel depth" had been eroded by the jumps to Brian Dixon's All-Star Promotions. Rocco was gone. Breaks was gone. John Quinn was gone. Finlay worked for everyone, Skull Murphy was knocking about, and there were stalwarts like Tally Ho Kaye and Sid Cooper, but nobody who made the nation stop at 4pm like the glory days. Bennett could hardly be expected to recapture that glory, but for a while he got to be the man on the small screen while giving the Bristol boys Crabtree was desperate to push such as Ritchie Brooks and Danny Boy Collins a viable foil.

 

Let's check him out.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Steve Logan (6/26/85)

 

The first match on the comp is the Logan match I reviewed in the Arthur Psycho thread. I told a fib in my opening post as we're greeted by Dick Davies here and the ring even has the World of Sport logo on it, so Bennett was brought in during '85 but before the end of WoS. He basically took Breaks' spot after Jimmy left the small screen in '84. This was just as good as I remembered. It wasn't as jaw droppingly, sit up and make you take notice, good as the first time I watched it since I'd already seen it, but Logan was basically the Brad Armstrong of British wrestling and this was as good a match with Logan as anyone got outside of maybe that one long Pat Roach bout. Bennett was a dynamo on offense and defense and did enough to convince me he was an all-rounder.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Johnny Kidd (10/16/85)

 

Actually, this is the first disc on the comp. Started watching the second disc first (boy, this thread is going well so far.) This was a short two fall contest with a ten minute duration. Bennett wrapped it up in half that time, but everything he did was slick. Kidd was a stylist in the vein of his mentor and trainer Ken Joyce, but rarely got to show his wares due to his youth and card positioning. Kidd tried out maneuvering Bennett early, but Bennett cut him off and was able to dominate the bout physically. I love how Bennett dyed his eyebrows as well. That's real commitment to the peroxide based heel turn. The only thing Bennett is really lacking when you compare him to the great TV heels is that little bit of extra charisma. He doesn't do a lot of verbal sparring with the crowds and doesn't work the crowd as much as some of the other heels of note, so we'll see how much more of that we get during his TV run.

[ohtani's jacket]

Battle Royal (10/16/85)

 

This was an extraordinarily long battle royal by British wrestling standards. It actually went to a 10 minute draw when most battle royals were over in half that time. That meant a lot of dull battle royal spots, but the TV director tried keeping things interesting by showing close-ups of folks in the crowd. In the end neither Collins nor Bennett could eliminate each other and a sullen looking Bennett took a bit of a swipe at Collins afterward.

 

Mike Bennett vs. Danny Boy Collins (12/19/84)

 

This was joined in progress but it appeared to be Bennett's first appearance on TV since 1979. He was still sporting is natural hair colour hair, so I'm not sure if the Heritage guys have got the timeline right on when he became a heel. Walton mentioned he wasn't behaving like the Bennett he knew, but chalked that up to Bennett being annoyed that a 17 year old was holding the title he'd always wanted. Bennett was strangely obsessed with keeping Collins trapped on the mat in a grovit. It paid off for him when he got the one submission necessary to win, but I don't think it was what the crowd paid for.

 

Mike Bennett vs. Danny Boy Collins (2/12/85)

 

Great bout. The way Bennett attacked his man in this was vicious. He was so quick with his attacks and some of the stuff he was doing was just nasty. He bust Collins' nose up pretty good, which was pretty hardcore considering Collins was still only 17. He had blood smeared over the side of his face and Bennett went after the nose in a way you almost never see in British wrestling. Walton had mentioned that Bennett's daughter was watching at home and really torn because she wanted her dad to win but was one of the greatest Danny Boy Collins fans around. He didn't mention how old she was, but if she was young I wonder how Bennett explained his viciousness to her. The side story to all this was that referee Jeff Kaye was having a torrid time trying to keep Bennett in check and Bennett was becoming increasingly frustrated with Kaye forcing him to break all the time. It came to a head in a rare piece of quality booking from Joint. Bennett thought he had won the title, but Kaye overturned the decision and the bout continued. There were some neat twists and turns down the stretch and it seemed like any number of results were possible. Finally, Bennett was DQ'ed and he immediately ripped into Kaye. He got on the mic and said: "I want you referee." Kaye replied he wasn't one to hide behind the bow tie and would fight Bennett any time he wanted, and that's the next match on the comp. It's rare you see a WoS bout this well booked and the work was awesome enough that I'd put in my top 20 bouts from the 80s without much hesitation.

 

Arthur Psycho uploaded it the other day if anybody wants to check it out:

 

 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Jeff Kaye (2/27/85)

 

After a hot angle this was a typically understated bout. It wasn't bad or anything, but they could have milked it more. You sometimes read people talk about a "story bout" that is more angle driven than wrestling based, but the only real story here was Walton not giving Kaye much of a chance against Bennett. I guess they painted themselves into a corner a bit as you could hardly have a retired wrestler and ref beat one of your top heels, but at the same time it's kind of weird seeing Kaye ref Bennett again after Bennett had beaten him. They could have easily fixed that by having Kaye come within a whisker of beating Bennett, but the bout was much more subdued than that, and the entire thing was brushed under the carpet and never spoken of again.

 

Mike Bennett/Black Jack Mulligan/Bearcat Wright vs. Greg Valentine/Samson Ubo/Mike Jordan (1/9/86)

 

This was the first ever six-man elimination tag on television. Usually, six mans were given 10 minutes or less and were the culmination of a series of singles matches between the sides, but this went the full duration and was a fairly substantial 20 minute bout. As usual, there was nothing to make you forget truly great six-man wrestling, but the action was decent. Ubo was a Nigerian wrestler doing the most stereotypical African gimmick imaginable complete with headbutt. Apparently, Big Daddy had touted him in the TV Times as one of his top 10 picks for '86. Maybe they were hoping to recapture the popularity of Masambula or Johnny Kwango. He was pretty bad and this was his one and only TV appearance. The bout came down to Bennett and Wright vs. Valentine and as tempting as it would have been to have Valentine defy the odds and win the bout, they went the more realistic route and had him last the distance instead. Valentine winning would have been shoving him down our throats indeed. Bennett was good in this, but on par with Wright and Mulligan and not show stealing.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Richie Brooks (3/18/86)

 

Another kick ass performance from Bennett. The way he'd go after his opponent in the opening rounds and stay on his man was vicious. He was one tough worker and gave Brooks a hell of a time in the early going. The heat Brooks got for his comeback was so much more earnt than in run-of-the-mill pro-wrestling and there wasn't a fan in the building who didn't belief an upset was on the cards. This was a quarterfinal for the 1986 Golden Grappler Trophy and you won't find a better quarterfinal heat in any tournament that Joint ever ran. Massive feather in Bennett's cap.

 

Big Daddy/Danny Boy Collins vs. Mike Bennett/Bully Boy Ian Muir (11/13/85)

 

Daddy came to the ring in a Santa gown, ringing a bell and pushing the wheelchair of a "spastic" boy (how times have changed.) He was accompanied by some odd looking individuals called the Pearly Kings and Queens, who are apparently a charity organisation. This was a continuation of the Bennett/Collins feud and the action was pretty hot. There were even some fun Muir/Daddy exchanges for those of you whom love fat boy wrestling. But just as I was about to add this to the hallowed ranks of fun Daddy tags, the finish confused the fuck out of Walton and the MC neither of whom seemed to figure out that Peter Szakacs had called for a DQ on Bennett. At least that's what it seemed like in real time. Wish they'd given us a proper Bennett/Collins program.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Jackie Turpin (6/5/85)

 

This was a neat bout between Bennett and Turpin. Bennett was closer to Pete Roberts than Jim Breaks when it came to charisma, but he was an excellent wrestler who was just as good at getting his opponent over as he was at drawing his own heat. This was a catchweight contest with Bennett being the heavier man. He could have easily brushed Turpin aside since Jackie was a forgotten man at this point, but instead he crafted a bout where Turpin looked feisty and competitive. Turpin being a former boxer often got disqualified in his early days for punching and they did a nice job of weaving that boxing background into match tapestry. Bennett smothered Turpin on the mat as he had done with Collins in their first meeting. Turpin reacted with a slap and from there the bout deteriorated into Bennett using moves and Turpin retaliating with punches. Szakacs almost threw the bout out but decided to let them continue and Bennett made the most of his opportunity. It was a bout he was always going to win, but he did a nice job of making Turpin seem like more than a JTTS and turning into a neat little scrap. And he even showed some swagger by walking over to Turpin's corner and showing him the towel with "Marvellous" written on it.

 

Mike Bennett vs. Clive Myers (9/3/85)

 

Myers was fired up for this and looked to open a can of whoop ass on Bennett. It was a lot more showy than Bennett's bouts with Collins and Brooks. If you saw this before Bennett's other fights you'd think he was more of a classic stooging type. It was fun watching Bennett evade Myers' kicks, but Clive's aggression overshadowed the bout too much for my liking. There was no way he was going to go over Bennett clean either, so they ended it on a DQ. I'm not sure why Szakacs was always given the unenviable task of stopping a bout, but he seemed to do it more than any other referee. Mind you, crowds were always hollering for refs to throw heels out, so I guess it didn't make him unpopular. Disappointing bout if you're expecting a classic. Fun watch if you want something to kick back to.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Steve Logan (3/4/86)

 

This was the final of the 1986 Grand Prix Belt tournament, and my what an ugly belt. I've said it before, but Joint Promotions had the ugliest belts in wrestling. This was a good little bout, but a bit low key for a tournament final. I was impressed with Logan's counters and thought he did a good job working the mat. Bennett brought his usual bag of tricks and was flirting with a public warning the entire time. The ref was Jeff Kaye (remember him?) Every time he'd threaten to give Bennett a warning, Bennett would take him by the arm and gently guide him to the opposite corner. It was a neat tactic, but of course there was no mention of their history. That felt like another of those never-ending missed opportunities that the bookers never seemed to cash in on. One thing that was coming along nicely was Bennett's heel act. He was starting to find his character in the ring and his heel work in '86 was stronger than in '85. He won the Grand Prix Belt and got a winner's medal to go along with it. He seemed poised to win even more silverware in the Golden Grappler Trophy tournament when suddenly he was gone. He defeated Brooks in the quarters yet somehow it was Brooks who wrestled in the semis. There's a copy of the semi out there, but I don't have it so I'm not sure how Walton explained the situation. They probably disguised it as an injury withdraw. I'm not sure what happened to Bennett, but by the end of April he was off Joint Promotion cards. He may have jumped to All-Star. It seems very strange that they'd book him to win a major tournament and then severe ties with him. It's a shame too because he could have produced more (at least in '86 when the TV was stronger relative to '87 and '88.)

 

Mike Bennett vs. Kid Chocolate (2/27/86)

 

This was the semis for the Grand Prix Belt. Bennett deserves credit for making Kid Chocolate seem more interesting than usual. The crowd got right behind Chocolate during the opening fall and so did Walton. You won't hear Chocolate get too many bigger pops than the one he got for pinning Bennett. Bennett's tricks are almost always the same in each bout, but he makes his opponents look so good and he was excellent at tournament bouts (and let's face it, Joint's television tournaments weren't much better than the ones in the U.S.)

 

Mike Bennett vs. Alan Dennison (4/23/79)

 

This was some choppy footage that survived from the late 70s. I'd seen it before but had no memory of it. Bennett was wrestling as a blue eye here, so unless he did his heel act on the indy circuit, I think the Heritage guys had their wires crossed about when he turned heel. The footage is too clipped to make much of an impression and I'm not a big Dennison fan in the first place.

 

Closing out the comp are some local news stories about a chain smoking granny named Blanche Lecrass who was threatened with a ban if she didn't stop attacking the heels and a council's dilemma about whether to replace wrestling with opera. Here's a newspaper article about Blanche:

 

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=n-8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT36&lpg=PT36&dq=wrestling+bristol+granny+ban&source=bl&ots=jjR7eYmNJ1&sig=1BO1nQr9oPWibtn2D1Aili4ZOTM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwishbjLl8LKAhXmFqYKHUBxBfAQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=wrestling%20bristol%20granny%20ban&f=false

[ohtani's jacket]

Mike Bennett vs. Alan Dennison (4/23/79)

 

This was some choppy footage that survived from the late 70s. I'd seen it before but had no memory of it. Bennett was wrestling as a blue eye here, so unless he did his heel act on the indy circuit, I think the Heritage guys had their wires crossed about when he turned heel.

 

Looks like Bennett was wrestling in the halls for Joint in the early 80s so perhaps that's when his heel run started. Man, I would have liked to have seen some of these bouts -- Bennett vs. Grey, Bennett vs. Haward, Bennett vs. Cortez.