1952 If not Assirati....Who ?

Ed Bright was repackaged many times.

Think it is same man as Ed Bright. They used him to boost Shirley.

Looking at the bill for Belle Vue, 11th of August, 1956 (above), I only just noticed that Bert is listed to fight "Horatio Bright".

Does anyone have any idea who this would be?, I would expect him to be a big name, if he is topping the bill with Assirati, but I don't know anything about him?

The reason his name suddenly jumped out at me is two-fold; firstly this is not a common name at all, it's not a common first name, during that period, and not such a common surname either.

The second, and main reason that the name just popped out at me, is that Horatio Bright was a famous Steel Baron, in Sheffield, in the late 1800's.

http://chrishobbs.com/horatiobright.htm

Apparently an eccentric character, he left 136,000 pounds in his will in 1906, a princely sum in those days.

There is even a local (and rather lovely) beer named after him.

https://www.eebriatrade.com/products/beer/crosspool-ale-makers-society/20985-horatio-bright

Just wondering if anyone had a clue who our wrestler was, and if he had any connection at all to the Bright family, or Sheffield?

Discovered from the A-Z Assirati lived until 19990.Dread to imagine what he thought of final ITV years

Effectively you are looking at a Rogue Promotion. Most of these wrestlers were in the Wilderness and would never work for Joint Promotions again. Kiki started his own promotion in Kent. Jack Taylor picked up a lot of these men as well as Assirati when Rogers probably sold out or was forced out.

Alf Robinson was coming to the end anyway and the exception was Vic Hessle who seemed to enjoy similar privileges to what Bartelli had with Wryton.

John Foley another exception.

It was Rogers who set the billing.

Joint were a long time choosing another champ after Assirati. I think it took them almost a year as it did when Billy Robinson left.

Incredibly Billy Joyce was to be the next champ in 1958 at the age of 42 and actually won it for the final time in 1966 at the age of 50 , which pretty much beats both Doug Clark and Assirati as oldest champ although Bert could also claim 50 in 1958 , but was not actually turning out for Joint by then.

Something's fishy if they were billing Bert as European Champion in 1956? When he had clearly won the British title from Ernie.

I've had a good look at Assirati's final reign after October 1955 and by April 1957 it looks like he had gone with Jack Taylor.

That 18 months he did not seem that busy but was with Dale Martins indeed.

At the end of 1955 he did three shows in Edinburgh and I then don't find him in the north again with one big exception.

In 1956 he did a minimum of 14 shows at Kings Hall Belle Vue.

How could that be.

Well nobody has ever put me right on this , but after the formation of Joint in 1952 , Dick and Jessie Rogers kept hold of Belle Vue up to the end of 1956.

The Roster was predictable but always with a few guests.

Bert was to end his career often fighting Stezycki under Jack Taylor and Strangler Bright as well , who was used to gift Shirley Crabtree with an alternative British Title. Alf Robinson traveled south to have many matches with Assirati for Dale Martins and had multiple matches in Manchester. Billy Benny and Vic Hessle also were used and it seems Dick Rogers had a lot of Greater Manchester based wrestlers supporting him.

Can we deduce that Dick Rogers was the first real opposition to Joint Promotions and how and why did he finish.

But for Bert there is evidence here that he did not work with the Northern Arm of Joint Promotions.

I would expect exceptions as I don't have anything like all the bills , but that is the story of my own and Ray Plunkett's Index.

That last 18 months of Assirati was limited and Yorkshire men were not evident in the story. Enjoy these clips of Assirati at Belle Vue , they were hard worked for and Manchester shows are a special archive of mine.

Maybe it was a good payday and for sure the time had come to give Bert his championship back.

As I have said , rare to see Bert in the North after 1955 and still with Joint.

Maybe someone can throw some in.

Just checking my bills after Bert's regaining of the championship. I can't see him north of Peterborough or Coventry which were both Dale Martins. I checked Leicester where he could have worked for Morrell but no sign of him. Nor did he seem to do any trips into Scotland with Relwyskow like he had done in the past.

By mid 1957 Bert looks to be with Jack Taylor. It may be that Bert did not do much of significance in his final reign (55-57).

If I get time The Plunkett Index will maybe give a better picture.

Thank you Mr Ost.

That surprises me that the promoter was Dale Martin.

I had always thought that Ernie Baldwin was a committed Morrell man.

Did he often fight on DM bills ?

That bill compliments the photo I put on of them as the ref was Lou Marco.

Great find Oct 1955 , within a couple of months of Bert's return.

Here's a photo of the bill, courtesy of Bob Bartholomew. One thing i've wondered is if Baldwin wore his Mountevans belt and if the physical belt ever changed hands.

So we still don't have a bill for when Bert won the title back.

As for missing a trick, if Baldwin did not convince with the title, they could have had Sandy Orford back for a short run.

He was probably a more likely title holder than some who held it.

Mancelli, for instance , was no more than a Mid Heavyweight at that time.

Could not beat Norman Walsh (up north) and as much as I liked Norman and respected his ability, I did not consider him as a viable alternative to Baldwin.

He was getting a bit old and as had been said of others did he need a title.?

Strange goings on in 1955 because I have Baldwin billed up to at least February 5th as British Champ.

I don't know the result but on 5th Feb he fights Mancelli at Norwich in a title match.

By March 18th Dai Sullivan is holder and defending against Baldwin.

By 3rd April I have Mancelli v Baldwin for the title again at Norwich.

Certainly by September Assirati was back , but with all these championship changes did they miss a trick.

Would a slippery Jack Pye have been a good option.

I don't have the bill , but I wonder if this picture , often seen , was the night in question.

Does anyone have a bill for the night when Assiratti took the title from Baldwin?

Yes Bernard and if anything he still seems to be the one in History to be remembered in that period when Assiratti was away. Maybe because Bert took the belt back off him!!!!

But for sure the title never really settles for long and there seems to have been an absence of real great heavies.

Your comments help so much Bernard , small but vital anecdotes and memories.

Just one point of interest about Ernie Baldwin.

If you look at a full length picture of him, you will see a large chest, a larger diaphragm/ stomach and quite thin legs.

The latter ,not well developed , no doubt, contributed to his legs being broken in the ring on two occasions.

Many thanks Ron. I clearly have it round my neck - as I often do.

It does look to me that when Bert got the championship back in 1955 on his return from his tour that he did not do much work in the north.

He seems busy enough with Dale Martins until his departure a few years later , but hard to find him fighting many of the great northern men.

Assirati v Baldwin at any venue , I do not have in my collection.

Can anyone tell me please what happened when Assirati met Baldwin at I believe the RAH. I have always thought it was pretty short-lived much as the Ghoul (Mk II) v Bert was years later. I also believe it contributed to Assirati falling out with Joint.

Thanks William. We've had mentioned many times before the connection of wrestlers we would never have thought of. Well I would never have imagined Gerry's last wrestling contact being Vic Faulkner. Happy Christmas to you too William.

It is nice of you to make mention of Gerry Hoggarth, Hack. It will be to my everlasting regret I did not make contact with him sooner, as he lived only a few miles up the road from me. Had I met him a few years previously his memory would no doubt have been less clouded and I’m sure some precious anecdotes would have prevailed. However one thing wasn’t in doubt, he regarded Ernest Baldwin as the best technical wrestler of his era.

I would have loved to hear his memories of his advertised bouts with Alan Garfield and Mike Marino et al, but he couldn’t recollect them at all. However, he was able to tell us a little about The Ghoul and of his association with Sir Athol Oakeley. (I understand the last wrestler to make contact with Gerry, some years back, was Vic Faulkner)

I still very much miss my dear old friend but am in touch regularly with his daughter, Janet, who lives just a couple of miles away.

Best wishes for Christmas and The New Year.

That's a good assessment, we are privileged to have you with us St Bernard. Tiger Joe Robinson only seemed rated by Atholl Oakeley. Same for Gerry's championship reign. We know Gerry could hold his own with the top men, including Baldwin and can only speculate his future had it not been for injury. Whenever Gerry's name crops up I'm still astonished to think how he had been forgotten until re-discovered for us by Beancounter.

Maybe Jerry Hoggarth is also a good shout.

I thought it was straightforward: Tiger Joe Robinson throughout the fifties.

That's great Bernard , I had forgotten to suggest Armstrong.

Seems to me that the 1950's was short of the giants that could have pulled it off. I always said that they made Pat Roach wait ten years too long to be champ.

A big man in the early 1950's might be well off six feet , but they did have one hell of a thick bone structure.

So nobody stood out above Baldwin and a lot more excitement watching the Ghoul.

Thanks Bernard.

When I started going to Newcastle, Bert Assiratti was recognised there as British Heavyweight Champion..

Bert went abroad and Ernie Baldwin, I believe, won a tournament to claim the title.

Of course there were other contenders. It is said that Baldwin beat Dave Armstrong to win the title.

Armstrong was a big scientific wrestler with lots of moves.

However his eyesight was poor and I don't think that the promoter thought he would be the people's choice.

I also saw Alf Rawlings , Dai Sullivan and Tony Mancelli. Although they were all good wrestlers, at my tender age, none of them convinced me that they could hold the title long term. So Ernie sailed serenely on.

He was a good technical wrestler with weight and strength, but he did not excite punters ,unfortunately.

As we know now, the promoters would swap the title round every so often to keep things fresh and possibly boost the crowd for return matches.

The up and coming boys, who became good with extra weight and experience, like Dennis Mitchell, Geoff Portz and Farmer Johnny Allan, were at that time not ready to challenge.

When Bert came back, he didn't seem to get on with Morrell and as far as I know he was never allowed to fight Baldwin for the title.

I never saw Billy Joyce live, so I can't tell you anything that you didn't know about him.

Hope that this helps.

A task indeed. Being Wiki we could all edit the findings couldn't we? I've always fancied Leon Arras as British heavyweight champ.

This period will be especially difficult as Joint Promotions were in their formative years (Dales joined in 1953). And we all know how little value promoters gave to championships. I have an agenda of a Joint promoters meeting in Leeds sometime in the 1960s - attendees were reminded of the different weight classes - us fans knew them by heart.

Ost is right that Hisa does a serious job of trying to sort the mess out, but like us he sometimes find a missing piece of the jigsaw which means re-arranging the ones in place.

Here's an idea. If the Wiki originator would like to come on here he or she could get some serious help with the project.

'Garfield was deduced, as was Bartelli, but Watson, it will take all of my incredible deduction and investigating skills to solve this case.'

'Yes, Holmes, but if anyone can, it's you.'

'True, Watson, so very true.'

(The Baffling Case of the British Heavyweight Champions, published 1913).

And yes Ron, that's very useful, as I'd found reference to Dai Sullivan winning the title in 1955 around March. I'd read that it happened at Leicester, so either the bill was an earlier one, the newspaper actually gave away the result before hand, or it happened somewhere else.

Wiki is not reliable but yes, best of luck to them. I stick with wrestling-titles.com which is still incomplete but at least you can provide a source (or Hisa will find one). Also we have the date Baldwin won the Mountevans belt in the title decider: https://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/uk/joint/joint-bri-h.html