As a Companion to My Latest MASKS AND MEMORIES Thread-I can Mention That there were 2
KAMIKAZES in The Early Sixties-They Formed an Evil JAPANESE Tag Team which Operated in
and around PARIS and Elsewhere in FRANCE!!-See Below!!
KAMIKAZE 1-MODESTO ALEDO was Very Active for PAUL LINCOLN in 1963 and 1964!
Below I Feature Some of My Original LINCOLN Programmes Which Include KAMIKAZE Bouts-
Along with Flyers and 2 Very Rare FRENCH CATCH Wrestling Posters also Featuring him on The
Bills!!
MAIN MASK
All I'm saying is there wasn't one single Kamikaze. I think there is an agreement of that.
There's another obvious point, too.
With all that build up for his heavyweight bouts, it would have to be a wrestler with serious speed and skills.
If, after all that, a masked Tug Holton turned up, well, just imagine.
We haven't a clue but we are good at disagreeing with each other.
Is it possible the good Doctor in yet another role ? Just joking
Hack is not a happy Easter Bunny today.
Might one suggest that THE Kamikaze is the proprietor of the fancy full-length outfit?
Which rules out (black) Bob Anthony.
He's clearly as copied as was Doctor Death. I would surmise that he did indeed visit early sixties when the fancy photos were taken. Once he had departed there was a gap to fill and promoters were not slow to rise to the challenge.
A bit like Zebra Kid on a smaller scale.
Ron: "It's , looking inconclusive."
My nomination for post of the year. The anguish, the struggle, the disappointment all conveyed by such desperate punctuation.
Aledo was working for Joints in May of 1964, after that just a couple of one-off appearances.
A Kamikaze starts on Joint bills in December of 1965. This continues until the end of January 1966. Bob Anthony reappears on Joint bills at the end of March 1966. We all know what happened in this timeframe with Lincoln & DM. In 1967, there's a Kamikaze on the independents, another possible timeframe for Stratton.
I can find sporadic appearances for Kamikaze in 1968 and then again in 1973. Ray has listed the 1973 Kamikaze as Al Miquet.
Pure coincidence. Honest.
A new tribute page on Heritage. And he was a Kamikaze too.
Here is KAMIKAZE UNMASKED-on a HULL 1962 OCTOBER Programme Cover!!-
MODESTO ALEDO!!
He is NOT however on The Bill for This Show!!
MM
Here at The CORN EXCHANGE in NORWICH-We see KAMIKAZE is a 'Team Manager'!
As ANGLO says The TANI-YOKOUCHI Tag Team Features on This Bill!!
MAIN MASK
Japan was certainly all the rage 1964/65.
Kamikaze, Kim Kendo, Kendo Nagasaki all opting for the Japanese angle. Joe D'Orazio too, before them.
Then some more - but not completely - authentic ones like Chati Yokouchi and Togo Tani.
Finally a bona fide one arrived in 1968 in Shozo Kobayashi.
Here's Another 1964 FRENCH CATCH Photo of KAMIKAZE!-VERY Oriental!!
MM
As you would say, Main Mask, the thick plottens.
I'm having to rethink this now. He's in with Haggetty too, all on Lincoln bills.
It's a nightmare enough without knowing there was Kamikaze 1 as well as Kamikaze 2.
(Pallo v Masambula would be fun, not a singles bout I recall seeing.)
Well Boys!-Below We have KAMIKAZE Still Wrestling for LINCOLN in 1964 and 1965!..
PLUS a Curious Appearance at SCUNTHORPE in 1965 Wrestling for RELWYSKOW!!
I'm not Entirely Convinced that This Latter WAS MODESTO ALEDO though??
Even though it uses the LINCOLN Publicity Photo and Title of 'SUICIDE' Wrestler!
Albeit the BRIXTON 1965 LINCOLN Bill is almost 6 Months!! BEFORE My Poster
for BATHS HALL-SCUNTHORPE and by This Time JOINTS Absorption of PAUL
LINCOLN Promotions was in the Offing!!
MAIN MASK
Also something not kwite rite here. The British Heavyweight Champion facing the lightweight champion of Spain?
Gordon Nelson went from near invincible and RAH Trophy winner in 1964 to losing all around as he prepared his run-up to turning into The Outlaw.
So the Ost's interesting 1963 analysis shows Aledo losing as himself on Dale Martin bills but then remaining unbeaten for Paul Lincoln.
It is possible that Dale Martin didn't know who Kamikaze was.
From our study of other visitors, including Jon Guil Don and Quasimodo, we know there was great respect for the 40 bouts a year allowed by the Home Office. But we also know that appearing behind a mask was a handy way of getting around this rule. Maybe we should be accrediting Modesto Aledo as the one who invented this strategy! Maybe the mask was necessary to prevent Dale Martin from dobbing him in.
He had been wrestling off and on in the UK since the fifties for Dale Martin, hence recognition on the Royal Show. Seems like Paul Lincoln poached him.
He also wrestled as Black Demon, maybe after he finally crashed his plane, and manages at this point to remain many steps ahead of our collective wisdom.
To be definitive, we'd need to track Aledo in Spain, France, Belgium and anywhere else he wrestled. We also don't know when he started using the Kamikaze gimmick. The last result I have for Modesto Aledo in the UK in 1963 is late May in Southampton (He of course lost to George Kidd at the Royal Albert Hall on the famous Royal bill on May 22). The first Kamikaze sighting for Paul Lincoln is May 11, at Edgware Road in London (billed against Hayes) but we don't have results for that show. There's another billing for May 27 in Slough, but again no results.
The first result for a Kamikaze on a Paul Lincoln show is June 1st, 1963 at Skegness. Then we have the June 11 show in Greenford. My listing has this as Aledo as Kamikaze. Kamikaze appears until November of that year, but the appearances become less frequent after June. This may have been when Anthony or someone else took over. I can also see a Kamikaze up north (not Lincoln shows) in late 1963. I presume this was Stratton. My next result for Aledo (under that name) is May 7, 1964 in Bristol for Dale Martin. At the same time, there is a Kamikaze working for Paul Lincoln. I can go into more detail next time for 1965.
That is good near-proof indeed, Ron. Modesto was in Spain in '63 and Kamikaze didn't wrestle in UK that year.
I suppose another course of action could be to check out bills where Modest Aledo appeared mid-sixties and see for which promoter; which opponents; and whether Kamikaze was on the same bill (not that this would exclude doubling up.)
It seems to me like Kamikaze had a good idea, and just like Dr Death, was copied extensively, especially when not in UK. Unlike Dr Death, it looks like even Lincoln used Kamikaze ringers!
I see a link between Kamikaze and Nagasaki - and I don't mean the Japanese slant - that they both had exotic costumes, making it more challenging to send in ringers Dr Death and The Outlaw were a piece of cake!
I am reminded of a delightful post by David Mantell describing King Kendo who swished "a butter knife" during the preliminaries.
And our beloved Kim Kendo of course comes into the equation time and promoter-wise.
Consider me confused (but perhaps that's the point), I thought we were trying to identify the Kamikaze(s) that worked for Paul Lincoln. In that context, I still suggest Bob Anthony. Most of the time.
there was also a couple in the USA
adrianpollard.shangri-la
4h
Firstly MODESTO ALEDO was the Original KAMIKAZE!-Either LINCOLN himself or a
LINCOLN Scout must have Spotted him in PARIS!-
Again I ask that although Aledo wrestled as Kamikaze and was unmasked on the continent are there any references to him wrestling in the UK as Kamikaze?
I found three references to Stratton as a Kamikaze - The Edwin Stratton entry in the Academic Dictionary, a local newspaper article and reference to his time as Kamikaze in an interview conducted by one of his pupils, Sensei Ken Robson published in Fighting Arts Magazine.
I'm not saying Stratton was the original and only, nor that Anthony or anyone else was. I just don't see any reason at all for assuming it was Aledo on Lincoln bills, and without any evidence that's all it is, an assumption.
Did you find any sign of Aledo on Paul Lincoln bills?
I also can't see any logic of a lightweight as an obvious foil for a masked Dr Death who was mostly billed heavies and mid heavies.