So lucky to have seen quite a lot of people make their Belle Vue debut. Johnny Saint , Rocco , Jones , Finlay , Dynamite. These were great wrestlers and were the future for the 1980's. By 1974 Nagasaki had gone with Dixon and Albert Wall was departing and I remember seeing even more good wrestlers coming through , Like John Naylor , Iron Fist , and Kung Fu along with a fantastic visitor in Goro Tanaka. . All below heavyweight as well.
Of them all Rocco seemed to hit the ground running , really good right from the start where as others take longer to get to their peak. I think it was because I knew about Rocco being Jim Hussey's son , that I believed a wrestler could just come on the scene and be great from the word go.
I jumped to the wrong conclusion with Kung Fu , Eddie Hamill. My memory of him was he took risks and was so exciting . Who the hell was he and how could he suddenly pop up like this at the level he was at.
I had no idea of Hamills origins , but now I know the Belfast boy born in 1943 had been about since at least 1964 , learning the game as Mike Hamill in Ireland. It's not easy to find Hamill in Belfast either , but recently I have found him in some of the smaller towns of Northern Ireland. Mentored by Darkie Arnott and entwined with the Finlays I thought I would share with you a view of his early days and a very different Roster to what was in the UK.
Joint , had penetrated Belfast's main Halls ,The Ulster Hall and the Kings Hall. George Connell was promoting there as Joint's front man. Get out to Ballymena and Lisburn and Carrickfergus and the picture is different..
Look at this set of wrestlers and Judo Mike Hamill.
There is a fabulous imagination at work here with characters like The Mummy , The Destroyer and The Skull.
The Dave Finlay you see is the father of Fit Finlay who was to come into all this in 1974 as Young Apollo. A previous Young Apollo is on these , tagging with Hamill , who he is I know not.
Hamill I believe started with Whirlwind Munroe at a Gym called Milos.
If anyone knows anything about these guys then shout up. I would love to know more.
Should be added to sixties greats still with us
Great to have Kung Fu in the mask to look back on. Thanks John Lister.
I'm certainly with this early 1974 transition but decided to look what we said on Wrestling Heritage.
I was surprised to read 1971. Surely that can't be correct. So I looked for the source. It was a certain Mr Eddie Hamill.
It seems he also gave the same date to Slam Wrestling
Personally I'm not convinced. Wrestlers are notoriously poor at remembering dates. We have more to explored.
You showed your March 1974 Kung Fu at Colwyn Bay Ron, but he was back in the same town without the mask in June.
The challenge is out there. I have found nothing before Feb 1974 in Ireland for the launch of Kung Fu. After getting rid of the mask in 1976 Eddie still went back to Ireland and worked with old friends.
Not sure if people know this but Kung Fu went to Stampede in 1981/82 and I have evidence here that the mask went back on.
I remember when we researched and wrote the Year of Wrestling 1973 the circumstances regarding Kung Fu's arrival were very strange and we wrote how Ian Gilmour seemed centrally involved.
https://wrestlingheritage.co.uk/a-year-of-wrestling-1973/
And back on Eddie Hamill. I think it was 1976 when Mick McManus talked him into unmasking on TV and after that Kendo also repeated the unmasking of Kung Fu. Tired of being imitated, and originally told by Rocco that the mask was a bad idea , one interview claimed that eddie had been Kung Fu for about 5 years.
Well , I don't argue with these things but in 1973 I did not find Kung Fu. Always Eddie Hamill as far as my bill collection goes.
So I am quite happy to be put right on this and will simply show you the first Kung Fu bills that I can find and look forwards to anything anyone can produce that is earlier.
I actually find Kung Fu back in Ireland with Adrian Street. Almost as though Ada helped him launch the gimmick , after a couple of jobs in February 1974 Street is with him again in March 1974 in both England and Wales.
Was this the break through that Hamill needed.
Great work Ron. Eddie's potential was seen from the start. More examples of how much could be done with a small collection of wrestlers. A good splattering of fakes. Not just the masked men but I bet the appearances of Whipper Watson, Great Togo and Gene Kiniski, Buddy Rogers were news to them. Manchester's Tony Barry in 1970? Presumably genuine as it wasn't a name to copy, but he was only just starting out and was only about 16.
Could not resist adding this one as this Niche area is so interesting. Hamill was about 22 here in this picture and we gain Butcher Donnell. The Black Ghoul is a new one and looks an impressive villian.
Also another picture of the Older Dave Finlay from the late 1960's.
Leaving Hamill for a minute , I wanted to share in 1974 three bills with Young Apollo Dave Finlay jr. We know he wrestled at 14 and he is advertised here as that but I think at this stage he was 16 as records have him born 1958
Quite rare to see these.
Young Dave against his dad in this tag match.
Here we move on a bit with 1969
1970 sees the visit of a team from across the the sea
And finally looking at 1970 we are starting to see a mixture of Mike Hamill and Eddie Hamill. The 1970 ones where he goes as Eddie feature the import of the girls , different town to previously and are we promotionally different
And for sure now in 1971 it's Eddie Hamill and for the first time he is working at least a job for Joint promotions , in the big time at The Ulster Hall. By now I think Eddie was perhaps no longer in Ireland. I will look further at 1971 and come forwards and try to get to the bottom of the beginings of Kung Fu. I even wonder if George Connell was allowed to use Joint Wrestlers and mix in Hamill and Munro himself. They are in a more minor part of the advertising.
Looking at 1971 some more I just can't see that Eddie worked exclusively for one promoter.
Do I see a mixture of Orig and Dixon. Can anyone put me right.
And this Bournville Job has to be "Joint" or am I dreaming.
No sign of Kung Fu yet.
Those bill are a great find Ron. Outside of the big name promoters and famouse venues there was a whole world of small scale shows. Young wrestlers learning the trade, older hands who knew that this was as far as they would get but just loved being involved and the odd very experienced wrestler, it would be unfair to say on the way down. A fascinating scene.
Nice collection, almost all unknown to me except the original big names visiting: Whipper Watson, Great Togo, The Outlaw, The Rebels.
Not!
I saw Mark Rocco in 1971 and he was quiet, so I wouldn't say he hit the ground running.
Interesting those bills are up to 1968. Heaven knows what complications there were in the business set-ups and which wrestlers you couldn't put in with each other because of the unrest in the following years. It must have decimated a scene that seemed to be developing cosily in its own right.
Maybe Mike Hamill found that being from Eire or, better, behind a mask, lifted himself out of the in-fighting?
Really cool clippings Ron. I believe Rocco's debut at BV was in 1970.