50 Greatest British Wrestlers of All-Time

I agree, Peter, and - as Anglo has touched on - we can only go with our own perspectives.

I've now realised that, if I include John Saint I really need to include Steve Grey and Mal Sanders...

Difficult for any of us to judge.All time is a very long time

If you don't mind me calling you by your middle name, thanks Melvin ☺

This list is also about perceptions. We all know far too much now. But I can certainly go along with you that Steve Logan was frightening the gizzard out plenty of fans in the sixties.

It's a shame we have only five lists, I'd like to have a crack at someone else's 50; considering so many are viewing.

I've been lurking, but this is a b****y good site that stands up well against any fan site on any topic. My middle initial stands for 'Melvin'...

Aaaah. Melvin. Good to see you back. What does your middle M stand for?

Impossible task, in many ways. Just a bit of fun to think back over Kwango and the rest.

Keep posting, I always enjoyed your comments. So will Sir Atholl, bt.

< Was Ken Joyce British-born? >

I always assumed so, but only because he and Doug were from Rushden (with love). When he spoke on his 'retirement' from the ring, he sounded Northants.; but you know better than I.

< Including one Yorkshire Terrier and not the more prolific other one is surprising.>

Yeah, I was admittedly in two minds about this, and broke the rule by basing it on his surprising success abroad. I did mention Mick McMick, but should perhaps exclude both in favour of Preston. (BTW one of these for tag teams should be interesting :) ) .

< But a list like this without Alan Garfield. Seriously? >

Admit to professing ignorance. Only saw AG once in late career, when Pat Roach went over.

< Johnny Kwango >

He was allegedly (admittedly by M. Crabtree) professional in terms of honouring bookings, etc. While I was never into the headbutting-the-hand shtick, he seemed high-profile in terms of Albert Hall appearances, etc. I'm leaving him in.

< Mike Marino >

Prestige as perceived by promoters. Stays in.

< Steve Logan >

Seemingly rock 'ard. Stays in.

< Alf Marquette and Leon Arras and Mal Kirk all well worth a shout >

Have to admit that Marquette totally passed me by until his book came out.

Re- Arras, I was thinking 'Surely he's foreign'? until I twigged: yes, Glover had slipped down a crack and deserves to be in.

Mal's rating is (unfairly) affected by all the jobbing he did for Daddy, literally to the death.

< who signed gracious autographs. >

I think this sort of thing should add to their score, as should shoot ability and the fact that some have paid their dues, jobbing for years before getting a push.

< Sir Atholl >

He was mentioned above, so I put him in (you always used to laugh at my stuff on the old Grappling website :D ). Oakley out, Arras in.

Thanks, Anglo. Respect - Dave (Melvin M. Melvin)

Was Ken Joyce British-born? Was all that "newly arrived from Canada" stuff just baloney?

Including one Yorkshire Terrier and not the more prolific other one is surprising.

But a list like this without Alan Garfield. Seriously?

Lagos or London, i still found Johnny Kwango very limited. His same routines over decades from what I can make out. Never a title shot, never a controversy. Household name, perhaps. Greatness demands more versatility in my book.

I wonder what makes us all include Mike Marino? Would we feel so guilty if we left him out?

Maybe someone can remember a bout where Steve Logan really excelled? I can't.

Alf Marquette and Leon Arras and Mal Kirk all well worth a shout for originality. More than some of the above had.

I find it very hard to make the list objectively as I feel honour-bound to mention those I saw loads of times. And who signed gracious autographs.

Mind you, Sir Atholl will be tickled pink to be included here.

Thought I would include my 10-penn’orth. Wasn’t Johnny Kwango English? Al Micquet and Steve Wright seem to have slipped through the net; and of the Joyce Brothers, I’d include at least Ken.

I get that it needs no further complication, but I personally would prefer it to be wrestlers that worked in the UK, including non-British grapplers who did so that often that, in wrestling terms, that they were almost ‘British by adoption’, otherwise we’re losing good workers like Boscik and the Borgs.

I agree that inclusion should be based on their showings in Britain, as opposed to for WWE, etc. However, I do feel that the Dynamite Kid had enough impact here before going to America, and he also came back later for iconic bouts with Rocco. Billington was born and died in Britain; but the fact that people wrestled a lot in tag does not mean that they’re bolted together. Davey-Boy only just sneaks into my list.

I’ve limited this to people I remember, plus those whose reputation is too strong to ignore. In come Steve Clements, Peter Rann and ace jobber Sid Cooper. Bubbling under were some seemingly-forgotten workers, like Mike Eager, Mick McMichael and Cardiff’s Johnny Williams. I agree that choosing is hard: Roy Bull Davies and Skull Murphy – in or out? I struggled with Peter Preston (as it were) who did, after all, comprehensively beat Mick on TV. I liked Joe Robinson, but only remember him in films; and Bill Robinson is (despite Anglo’s point, and not to sound like Ant and Dec) in the top three.

Here we go, in alphabetical order…

Bert Assirati

Bad Bobby Barnes

Count Bartelli

Jim Breaks

Wayne Bridges

Eddie Capelli

Tony Charles

Steve Clements

Alan Colbeck

Cyanide Sid Cooper

Dazzler Joe Cornelius

Jon Cortez

Gwyn Davies

Alan Denison

The Dynamite Kid

Johnny Eagles

Vic Faulkner

Dave Fit Finlay

Judo Al Hayes

Marty Jones

Ken Joyce

Les Kellett

George Kidd

Johnny Kwango

Iron Man Steve Logan

Tony Mancelli

Mike Marino

Brian Maxine

Mick McManus

Alan Miquet

Bernard Murray.

Kendo Nagasaki

Athol Oakley

Jackie Mr TV Pallo

Dirty Jack Pye

Peter Rann

Bomber Pat Roach

Andy Robin

Billy Robinson

Mark Rollerball Rocco

Bert Royal

Johnny Saint

Davey Boy Smith

Tony St Clair

Francis St Clair Gregory

Adrian Street

Clayton Thomson

Steve Veidor

Albert Rocky Wall

Steve Wright

Hi Guys. I have to admit, as a kid I loved lists, wrote them out all the time, boxers, wrestlers, footballers, cricketers etc. As an adult I just find them soooo difficult, as you actually have to think, hard! However as I'm probably going to 'do' a list in my 'Journey' series, I'll weigh in here and say I wouldn't include Big Daddy nor Haystacks. If it were purely on drawing power there might be a case. However, those guys were mostly drawing kids who dragged their parents along. The cards in the days of those two were getting pretty thin and scattered. If they had been competing with a typical nights wrestling from the fifties, sixties or early seventies, they'd have been struggling to draw. Not their fault, just a change in the times and a dearth of talent. I would have to be convinced on those that I have never seen, i.e. Garnon ,Bates, Orford, Sherry and Dale. There is enough info. about both Clarks to give them a pass. A few others on the original list are a bit dodgy. No need to be 'great', just think how a card of 'very good' wrestlers would have buoyed our spirits on the way home on a cold, wet and windy night !

Sorry he was so good I named him twice

Sorry he was so good I named him

He shouldn't ,he wouldn't.

He shouldn't ,he wouldn't.

He shouldn't ,he wouldn't.

Great thread, everyone. Just a thought - if Billy Two Rivers were British, would he get in? Melvin

Still no Danny Lynch,

Come on lads !!!!!

I think any criteria will make it easier, especially if we bear in mind that this is all to do with your own knowledge of British wrestling and you're not looking for some scientifically created set in concrete lists (good grief, this is wrestling after all).

Box office appeal has it's own limitations because fans went to watch a show rather than one wrestler (well, I think they did, I did).

The big box office appeals would be McManus, Pallo, Kellett, Big Daddy, Starr, Rocco, Nagasaki of the 60s,70s, 80s era - though my knowledge from mid 70s is iffy. But then there was a second tier of the likes of Logan, Royal, Kidd, Masambula and a load of others. In earlier decades Jack Pye was probably the most enduring crowd puller.

What if we narrowed the criteria to box office appeal domestically? I realize there are still adjustments to make for different eras but it's probably easier to do?

Very hard to keep it to just 50, as we had a lot more than that who were excellent.

Marty Jones and Tony St. Clair appear to be overlooked.

when promoters got Lewis and Londos together in the ring in 1934 in Chicago, IL...it was no doubts sport event of the year if not of the whole decade. Its glory surpassed baseball, football and all other sports.