I recently caught up with the Wales v Italy game in the Nations Cup rugby. At one time in the match an Italian player caught hold of a Welsh lad and rolling underneath him, threw him vigorously over the touchline. The English commentator made a remark about 'seeing that sort of thing involving grapplers' and then carried on to mention Mick McManus! Here in Australia, errant tackles in Rugby or even football are tagged with a 'WWF' or for the more enlightened broadcaster 'WWE'. I expect Ed Lock and I have lost count the number of times a tackle has evoked a comment about Killer Kowalski, Killer Karl Kox and Mario Milano. Back a decade or so ago, when I used to read newspapers, the rugby league journalists often used to place a wrestlers name into an article, usually to indicate how strong a player was, or how violent a tackler a player was. The funny thing was, they would always use names from way back, so much so I think they were reminiscing their childhood. On one occasion I felt the need to 'chip' a columnist for using a couple of names which were a blast from the past (one of them was Junkyard Dog), so emailed him, asking him who exactly he was pitching his article at, as at that time the Internet was very new and I was pretty sure rugby league enthusiasts from age five to thirty five wouldn't have a clue as to who he was alluding to. I have found when contacting these journalists, they always reply and are always polite. This one said I was correct and he on reflection was stretching back to the days of his youth, as he 'didn't follow the wrestling much these days', however in the future he would only mention modern day wrestlers and named I think, Stone Cold and The Undertaker. When was the last time a Heritage member hear the names McManus or Pallo (would anyone else come to mind, maybe Big Daddy)) used on the television in a non wrestling related program? (I do remember one that referenced both, just a few years ago, but I'm struggling to remember the show).
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In an episode of The Chase last week, the quizmaster got excited about McManus and Pallo.
Not sure if it's in the last ten years, probably not, but Frank Skinner talked about going to the wrestling in Birmingham when he was young and watching Lord Bertie Topham.
Two young lads in front of me in the queue at the pub where I partook of my post match drinks a few years ago were watching Arsenal on TV, who were in the middle of a considerable unbeaten run. One remarked that his dad had told him they they reminded him of the Nottingham Forest side coached by Brian Clough and Peter Taylor who set the record and they both went on to lament that they had never seen that team play. And there was me who could remember watching Clough and Taylor as players!!
TV Presenter Jonathan Ross has mentioned wrestlers in his shows, occasionally, especially Kendo Nagasaki, and was probably instrumental in having him appear as a guest on a "70's night" version of the sports quiz, "They think it's all over", link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMh2BFhjkuk
Jonathan Ross was also a fan of Mexican Wrestling films and did a documentary once about El Santo, Blue Demon and others, appearing in their own films.
Hi Peter. Remembering Tommy Doc. I was Down-Under when he coached here. In his first season here, his team, Sydney Olympic, visited my local team who were in the top tier for the only time in its history. The game was going to be a cash bonanza to my team as Olympic were a club whose members were largely Greek immigrants to Sydney and who were football mad. About seven thousand Greeks poured into the stadium, unfortunately almost all of them got in the ground without paying, as I watched from a hill behind a goal, as men, women and children poured under a fence uprooted by a few of them. To rub salt into the financial wound, Olympic won 7-0! They went on to become League Champions that season.
I recall Tommy Doc. being a bit of a raconteur, telling a stream of stories, some of which I’m pretty sure he stole from Bill Shankley! On one occasion on Sportsnight t.v. talking about football hooliganism, he told Harry Carpenter that the hooligans needed to be given ‘CAPITAL’ punishment (he meant corporal) he followed this up with ‘that would HALVE the problem by 75%’!
In all walks of life once you reach forty you feel nostalgia for the past. Since his death it has amazed me how many Aston Villa fans are not aware that Tommy Docherty was a former manager until I realized it is now more than fifty one years in the past .
Completely off topic this Christmas season I found congregants at my Parish Church comparing present day clergy less than favourably with clergy in years gone by.
The title of the thread is 100% correct
On an episode of a forgotten Aussie drama series, one guy asked to another ''who do you think you are, Killer Karl Kowalski?" Now there were two famous wrestlers, Killer Kowalski and Killer Karl Cox, both beloved in Australia. So I wonder was the script writer a wrestling fan who just decided to play around with their names, or more likely, was he of an age where he was recalling the wrestlers of his childhood days and hadn't remembered correctly and worse, hadn't done his HOMEWORK!
Slightly tenuous connection, but I recall that I would spend Sunday evenings many years ago listening to the American Football commentary on the AFN radio. This would have been around the time of the first Wrestlemania in 1985, and the game in question involved the Los Angeles Raiders and Denver Broncos, which was always a rather lively affair. There had been several extra-curricular skirmishes, which prompted one commentator to remark that he wouldn't be surprised to see Hogan and Piper popping up in the middle of it.....
That's quite a question John and I'm struggling. When we were young. Well younger (and age is relative of course) these references to wrestlers cropped up all the time. I'm trying to think of a wrestler referred to in anon wrestling related programme in the last ten? twenty? years. Others may help. Years ago, probably nearing ten, Anglo Italian took me to a wonderful pub somewhere up a big hill above Hebden Bridge. He said it was his favourite pub and I can understand why. Anyroad, we got talking to the lad behind the bar and told him we were there in connection with the wrestling, pointing out we meant proper wrestling not this new fangled American style stuff on the tv. He said he remembered it. We were happy. Until he talked glowingly about Big Daddy and Haystacks. McManus and Pallo were beyond his comprehension. A ten year old remembering wrestling in 1975 when Pallo was off tv would now be 55. Sorry boys, we are getting old.