As early as November 1961 the TV Times has an article in which the promoter Paul Lincoln accepts that All in Wrestling is as much entertainment as sport and attributes its growing popularity to the closure of many theatres. "Grunts and Grimaces" do not necessarily mean the wrestler is in pain we are told but the fans do not really mind one way or another.
This surprising because during the course of 1961Professional Wrestling meandered its way from a Saturday Evening prime time slot at 7:00pm usually associated with entertainment to Saturday afternoon slot amongst other sports programmes were it remained for the next quarter century.
Perhaps Lincoln was so confident in the growing popularity of Professional Wrestling that he felt he could talk without embellishments. He was included in a program later in the week Look Around which looked at the credibility issue in depth
Yes it is surprising to read comments like that as early as 1961. Equally surprising is that Paul Lincoln was being quoted in the TV Times in the days he was in competition with Joint Promotions.
No I read this article in an original copy of the TV Times held in a bound volume in Birmingham Central Library.
Hi Peter, do you have a copy of the article that you could cut and paste onto here?