One of the Great Wrestling Venues in the 1960's was NOTTINGHAM'S ICE STADIUM!
Some Spectacular Shows were put on here and one such took place on MONDAY
28TH NOVEMBER 1966!
In the few Years before this Super Bill-the ROYALS-BERT ROYAL and VIC FAULKNER
were being Pushed and Promoted as Top Stars-Both in Solo and Tag Combat!
ROYAL was already the MOUNTEVANS MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE Holder and now it was to be the turn of his younger brother to acquire a Belt to reinforce his 'Credentials'!
So VIC was pitched against Spain's Champion-JOSE RODRIGUEZ for the 'Vacant'
European Middleweight Crown!-FAULKNER was Victorious and now had a Title to his Name!
But this Date was not as Auspicious for his older brother who was also defending his
BRITISH MIDDLEWEIGHT CROWN on this NOTTINGHAM Nite!
Arguably facing a tougher Opponent than his brother in DUNDEE'S CLAYTON THOMSON-
BERT was Defeated over 15 x 5 Minute Rounds-and thus began CLAY'S first Tenure as
Boss of the MIDDLEWEIGHTS-which was to last 350 Days before losing the Belt to MICK
MCMANUS on 13/11/1967!-The Terror from NEW CROSS could only manage to hold it
for 72 Days before THOMSON was to Regain the TITLE and going on to hold it for 1224
Days!
Amazingly these 2 TITLE Bouts weren't even Top of the Bill-that Slot was occupied by
GEORGE KIDD taking on - Yes that Man again MICK MCMANUS!!
Some ?s however arise from this Spectacular?-Was FAULKNER REALLY the BEST
MIDDLEWEIGHT in Europe at this point in his Career?-In fact was he EVEN a MIDDLEWEIGHT at all?
Also it has been mooted that ROYAL 'dropped' the Belt because he was struggling to
keep making the Weight-and indeed went on to later 'own' the BRITISH HEAVY-
MIDDLEWEIGHT Title instead!-BUT the SAME applied to THOMSON who was more of
a natural LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT-and future SCOTTISH Title Holder in this Bracket!
MY Answer is that CLAY was a better Wrestler than ROYAL-and I'd choose Other Wrestlers
ahead of FAULKNER to be a Champion!
Rare Poster to follow!
MAIN MASK
Ruslan - look, the Kelvin Cup!
1966 - what a year, so many fabulous bills.
Jose Rodrigues certainly existed. I saw him at Preston against Alan Colbeck. Surprisingly for a Morrell show this clean welterweight match was top of the bill. As a match it didn't excite me. It was one of those occasions when MC Ernest Lofthouse felt obliged to tell us all that we had just watched two of the best wrestlers in Europe.
Brilliant link Saxonwolf! I always knew there was something fishy about Jose Rodriguez - you have explained what now.
Indio Guajaro sometimes wrestled under the name Jose Rodriguez (it appears to be his actual real name), so I wonder if we are actually seeing our old pal on this particular bill?
Funnily enough, to tie this in with another current thread, he sometimes wrestled in Mexico under the name "Mazambula"!!
Any images of the European title belt ???
The major Ice Rink shows also got coverage in the Wrestler but I haven't looked to see if this one was.
We debated in 2007 whether Jose Rodriguez actually existed, as there seem to be very few other traces of him. Seeing him on the poster now certainly helps his cause, so thank you Main Mask. Beaut poster!
In these situations I always wonder who went on first...could it have been Naggers here????? Or maybe they had a sixth bout of Nicol v McMichael which didn't make the poster.
We have seen so many angles of Joint Promotions internal machinations, Morrell being allowed to keep Lime Grove being a prime one. I wonder whether we can see another rule here: "McManus always and only to be top of the bill within the entire network, and always placed above his opponent."
I believe Clayton was Scottish Light-Heavyweight Champion as early as 1961, so he was coming right back down to Middleweight here. His weight fluctuated wildly until it all became too much and he was Exorcised! We are all so knowing on here but at the time it took me a good long while to realise it was Clay under the mask, obvious with hindsight.
Funny how Dundee crops up again: I always saw Clay billed from Glasgow but Geo. Kidd's home town seems to have slipped down to the wrong wrestler here?
In a recent quiz question we drew attention to the famous bout where Clay regained his title from McManus with special referee Mr Joe Hill at the RAH.
I just love dissecting these posters.....