DRAW FOR 1963 FORD CORTINA!!

Jackie Pallo had a raffle in his Scottish promotions in the 1970’s. Our family won one I think the prize was a bottle of whiskey I remember my father going into the ring to collect it.

Here's the programme that Main Mask promised.

Quite agree - no raffles at St James; it was hard enough selling ice cream!

What fun you all had. I don't recall any raffles at Morrell or Wryton shows. None at my usual indies Cape Promotions either. When Dixon took over Preston I think he had a raffle at one show. And there was a regular raffle at weekly Bobby Barron shows I went to in Blackpool, for the "Professional Wrestlers Benevolent Fund" if I recall right. Even innocent me felt that I could see through that one.

I certainly recall raffles as part of the show. Dixon often used to raffle a bottle of whiskey (long before his days of flogging WWE paraphernalia) and I would often sell the tickets for him. I recall things coming to a head one night at one of his regular venues, The Civic Hall, Middleton, when manager Sam Shrouder approached me and asked who had told me to sell tickets (as if I would have decided off my own bat on a Brian Dixon show to run a raffle without permission). This resulted in Shrouder and Dixon engaged in a heated argument with Shrouder reminding Dixon that he had been told not to do this and, if he did it again, he would find his bookings cancelled.

I recall running a raffle on my first show in January 1976 and persuading my old school friend Stephen Hunt to sell raffle tickets for me. Not only did Stephen sell the raffle tickets, but he enthusiastically sold the counterfoils as well. Before the show i had gone through in my mind all the possible things that could go wrong and how to deal with them but this was one that I hadn't bargained for.

Again on one of my early shows I left the bottle of whiskey in the dressing room before, as M.C., going to the ring to introduce the first bout of the evening. When i returned to the dressing room I found that the bottle had been opened and some of the whiskey had gone. Sitting there (this was at The Parr Hall in Warrington) were the wrestlers for the second bout, Steve Young (Pete Northey/Skull Murphy) and Jim Moser with big grins on their faces. "Don't worry," laughed Young, "we'll top it up for you before the draw." I had enough on my plate running the show without asking too many questions about the topping up logistics but i do recall a little old lady being delighted at winning the prize. How she felt the next day after having taken her first swig I don't know.

I also recall using Billy Hargreaves' ring when I promoted at The Champness Hall, Rochdale, and I managed to persuade him to lower his asking price by throwing in two bottles of whiskey. He attended the show and sat in the dressing-room chatting to the workers and swigging on his whiskey. I recall introducing the final bout of the night and, when i returned to the dressing-room, Billy having swigged quite a bit of whiskey by this time, I found said Mr.Hargreaves finding fun in pouring some of the whiskey onto the dressing-room floor, lighting a match and dropping it into the little whiskey puddle. He seemed to find this most amusing.

I recall MCing a show for "Big Boy" Stuart Miller at The Town Hall, Congleton, and selling raffle tickets in the interval for a bottle of whiskey. Jackie Pallo was on the bill and was horrified when he saw a half bottle of whiskey in the dressing room as the star prize. Stuart had been losing money on his shows and was trying to cut corners. "You can't do that," argued Pallo, "it's only a half bottle." Stuart argued that it was whiskey in a bottle and was therefore by definition a bottle of whiskey. Pallo argued that, as top of the bill, the ruse made him look cheap and that if Stuart was going to pull this, the very least he ought to do was offer a crispy oncer as a second prize. Reluctantly Stuart gave way (we were fans putting on shows and were rather in awe of someone like Pallo) and I announced that a bottle of whiskey and a crispy oncer were the two prizes. At the draw, when the half bottle was presented there were boos but the crispy oncer received a cry of delight. No-one in Congleton had heard the phrase "crispy oncer" before and the winner was genuinely pleased to be presented with a one pound note.

There was also a lady in the audience with a wooden leg but she only had half a nicker.

Sorry 1963 is too late for me. No raffles at Newcastle in my time.

I wonder if Dave or Power remember any later.

We had a raffle.

It was never advertised. It usually went wrong. The ring was usually full of hampers and flowers; good-hearted souls had sold tickets. It could take ages. Controversy reigned as disputes arose about whether 138 orange or 138 salmon had won. But the MC, Charlie Fisher I have in mind, fixated on wrestling crookery, would usually try to fiddle it so that the mini-skirt in the front row won. The hordes would be unhappy, Chas would have lost the plot, drunk with debauchery, ... and the raffle often ended in more mayhem than any Nagasaki main event. There was no video, no rewind, and poor Charlie couldn't remember what had happened two minutes before.

A car? No.