Crosses

A very important double-cross was Ricki Starr. We can only ponder the circumstances but the version I have pieced together for myself is this.

In 1962 he wrestled the great Alan Garfield multiple times States-side. He must have seriously rated the way Garfield sold his show,

Garfield returns to UK 1963, wrestling for Lincoln.

Garfield convinces Lincoln of Starr's great worth and Lincoln brings him over.

All is signed up, Lincoln begins his 1964 promotion of Starr.

Then whoosh, carpet whipped from under feet and Starr arrives on Dale Martin bills, with the carrot of tv exposure.

I have mentioned recently the Lincoln-DM feud, with Southend being an epicentre of the battles.

Then what happens? Garfield is suddenly brought back to the fold, as if by reward, and appears on the at-the-time highly prestigious World of Sport (before his final banishment in the 1965 Gwyn Davies match.) Let's not forget that 1965 prestige.

And in one poignant match in Brighton, Garfield is just about the only sixties wrestler in the UK to claim a victory over Starr. Such sweet payback. We saw last week how Les failed in 14 bouts against Starr.

Nails in coffin, Lincoln metaphorically and probably physically gutted, finally gives up the ghost and sells out late 1965. Dale Martin had won the battles of Southend, Ricki Starr, the tv contract, and too many others.

Alan Garfield, at least initially, pretty much Starr's manager.

Might be wrong, but it all fits like a jigsaw.