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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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.