Jobbers

Bob Abbott could be described as a jobber but was always under rated

Tibor and Marino were both A listers who were very boring. John Kowalski i liked. A new heavyweight.....shock, horror.......Sid cooper was always entertaining. Mind you I loved Torontos........

How about some credit for the late Sid Cooper and (not so) Lucky Gordon?

My B lister choices would include Jeff Kay, Al Nicol, Lee Sharron and Earl Maynard, although I saw them all in decent bouts over the years.

Wrestlers who nearly always made me switch off included Mike Marino ( a nice guy, but the most boring wrestler I ever saw) and Pete Roberts, the inappropriately named "Super Destroyer".

In the 60s, on the box and at my (not so very) local Brighton stadium, I don't remember being disappointed when seeing who were in their respective corners. I found all matches interesting in one way or another. Of course I preferred to see the colourful Two Rivers, the exotic Rocha and the unruly McManus and Campbell, but was quite content to watch eight rounds of mat work. I can only remember one match, between Eric Froelich and Billy Torontos, which had me fidgeting through the six round draw, which basically featured three holds throughout.

When I had only the American and Aussie wrestling to watch, my attitude did change and for six or seven years I had to put up with some ordinary fare, some dire, amongst the good stuff. Tex McKenzie, a main eventer, each time he visited, I found totally unconvincing as a wrestler and 'names' like Fred Blassie, Bill Dromo and Rick Hunter disappointed, along with the then young, world champions to be, Dory Funk jnr. and Harley Race.

On returning to the UK, in the early 70s, I was pretty happy again, although later I did get cheesed of with the likes of Mick, Naggers and Clive, seemingly popping up every week, because you just knew there was little chance they were going to be beat. On returning to Aus late 70s, the fare was pretty poor, as it was when I had four years back in the UK in the 80s, Big Daddy, Haystacks, Haystacks, Big Daddy, over and over. The good times were done.

Then there was the horror show that was WWE, where the workers were Good, Bad and often Very Ugly! Far too many poorly trained, uncharismatic guys, who were shoved down our throats, to discuss!

I will name afew 60's heavies and not call them jobbers. They were big men and always looked very credible to me before the bout. After a while though I did notice that they did not win very often and just my opinion , their skill set was not of the Calibre of a top guy like Albert Wall.

My men....John Lees , Kumali , Kowalski.

But you can't have a business without these guys , and as I say , a credible look goes a long way. Can't say I saw them in a memorable bout.

Jobbers, an American term for journeyman who made the 'stars' look good, we have mentioned a few of them over the years, Gentlemen like Larry Coulton, Peter Kaye etc could make whoever they climbed into the ring with look good, always had a full diary, wrestling would have been a poorer place without them

Reg Trood has two excellent matches on You Tube.It was some of the Top of the Bill wrestlers in often repeated matches that put me off not jobbers who were often very good

My heart never sank when I saw "Tug" Holton on a programme. I particularly recall him up against Shirley Crabtree in a Morrell and Beresford show at Leicester's De Montfort Hall in the mid-seventies and he put up a really good show.