Kendo Nagasaki Day

I would like to find the March 16, 1965 bill from Kidderminster:

Bartelli/Dr Death v Nagasaki/The Professor

My memory is that he submitted far more frequently than ever he had a pinfall against him. In all those 2-1 victories.

I'll never forget my astonishment when I first saw this:

I am fascinated by the early weeks of his carreer. has anyone got any 1964 stuff.

The Kendo home page is brilliant with all those links to Kendo items. I enjoyed reading the articles from old mags but havent got through them yet as there are so many. I've also been looking at the You Tube links. Thanks Riots. It's a shame it's for a limited time.

Only marginally related to wrestling but one of the best nights of my life occurred a few years back when I managed to book a table right at the front to see "Send In the Girls" star and sister of Jimmy Logan, the great Annie Ross, at Soho's legendary Ronnie Scott's club.

Without him the UK wrestling scene would have been a whole lot poorer

A reminder that Tuesday 19th October is Kendo Nagasaki Day on Wrestling Heritage.

It will give us an opportunity to draw attention to Nagasaki features on the website, introduce a few new things and generally celebrate Kendo on his birthday.

As with the usual pro wrestling tradition of stretching to the outer edges of reality the day will begin at 12 noon on Monday UK time, that's the start of Tuesday in Tonga.

Please use this thread to share your good memories of this great masked wrestler.

A great career , an exciting wrestler and a great book. Will always want more . Circa 1971 I was enchanted , a big part of my life and often saw Kendo 3-4 times in a week , But suspicions of it not being real with such repeatability in bouts with Shirley finally wore me down. I saw them four times one week and I think the theme was a run from the ring after a bit of mask pulling to give us a glimpse.

Wanting more yes.

Who did Kendo really either not like or maybe was wary of.

Who hurt him by being careless or stiff. (Terry O'Neil)

Who did beat him in the early days with the result lost in the mist , what is the source of the rumours , John Cox , Roy StClair , Billy Robinson. Is there anything in it. Can anyone add. It must have been easy to have got knocked out by accident. After all Kendo was so committed to making it look real.

He kept such things out of the book and skated over Stampede where we know he had to drop the belt back to Portz.

How did he interact with Streiger and Jim Moran. Bouts that I never saw. I know Moran would have sold for sure.

But all in all I am still a great fan , wish him a happy birthday and still hope we can unearth some more.

Anglo Italian has further whetted my appetite for the big day with his comments!

Kendo was a character who combined the showmanship aspect of wrestling with the reality of someone who had been well trained and then put through his paces at Wigan. He even imbued the showmanship aspect with a level of seriousness and thoroughness that others couldn't be bothered to do. Some of his contemporaries undoubtedly saw aspects of this (eg. arriving at and leaving venues in a mask) as pushing it too far but this helped the mystique to be fascinating to a level that other wrestling personas never were. I think that the way Kendo has opened up in recent years (including attending the Leeds re union unmasked and as Peter) shows that there was no lack of respect for his colleagues in his carrying out of the Kendo persona to the extent that he did.

It is interesting to reflect that in our conversations many years ago in another place we searched in vain for the explanation of how a newcomer to professional wrestling had an unblemished record from Day One. We now understand that it was because he was so well respected from his work in Wigan. He was allowed to win because he deserved to, having proved his skills in a place where showmanship counted for nothing.

Anglo is correct that there remain omissions, unanswered questions. One which I am interested in is the role of Arthur Wright in all this. Having persuaded another wrestler to become Count Bartelli back in the 1940's he had realised the value of masked stars and played host to an even greater phenomenon in 1964. It was in Wryton rings that Kendo first appeared; I wonder what role Mr Wright had in developing Kendo and launching him onto the scene. The conversations between Count Bartelli, Kendo and Arthur Wright must have been interesting.

Whilst Peter will be celebrating his 80th Birthday in his own way, we will be celebrating Kendo Nagasaki day by enjoying our memories and ongoing fascination with a true wrestling legend.

In a 19-round bout you'd expect the opening exhanges to be quiet and energy-saving.

But not here, half way through the countdown and there are villainous narky comments about not wanting to celebrate an eightieth birthday A birthday we were central in unveiling years ago - we could be celebrating a 75th. I must say, the thought of a Bill Torintos Day did make me chuckle.

Nagasaki was fantastic. A mystery through his first ten years, travelling far and wide. Never ever ever a dull bout. As bkendo says, 100% effort.

His interest in giving 100%+ and pushing perhaps less committed co-workers is what, perhaps, in some cases, distanced him from some. But as fans we must surely respect him greatly for that.

Then he had his period that needs little more comment from me. Suffice to say it was in parallel with the rise to stardom of Big Daddy, Catweazle and his funny antics, referee Bryan, and any old guy pulling on a bonnet for a night or two even in JP rings. Can't blame Nagasaki if he too tried something outlandish that didn't appeal to us purists, retrospectively.

Then in his third phase he became partially and then wholly accessible to fans via meetings and then his book and related signings and much appreciated videos.

As an investigative and challenging site, never content with what we know, fixated on what we don't know, we need to press on into the mysteries of Phase IV.

Phase IV contains all those details that Nagasaki chose not to address in his book. It can explore and unearth some of those details that dictate that, even today, most other wrestlers still have very little to say about working with him. Phase IV must also continue to question any and all eyebrow-raising details in the book. There were many, couched within the undeniable truth of many other facts. Phase IV needs us to continue to seek out the truth regarding the inevitably many OMISSIONS in the book.

This issue of omission is fundamental. We can detect it at the basic level of red eyes and a missing missing finger. By extension, many other important and not inevitably omitted details were deliberately left out.

Never more do we need more to press on with our mission as the established central bank of information for professional wrestling. Ephemeral facebook entries may feed out of our combined research and analysis. But only this cornerstone of wrestling history that is Wrestling Heritage gets to the root of the issues that intrigue us. It is amazing that, 57 years after Nagasaki's debut, a core of us dozen or so hardened and regular contributors have the wherewithal, perseverence, intelligence, interest and, above all, combined sense of unity, to continue in our research together.

And all this without questioning the role of Count Bartelli ....

I am sure we all wish Kendo/Peter well for the future. Let's hope he stays healthy through his 80's and even beyond. Thanks to bkendo for clarifying his comments, I was concerned that maybe Kendo wasn't well.

I had booked to go to one of Kendo's events at his home just before the first lockdown and was very disappointed when it was (unavoidably) cancelled.

I think it has been fascinating the way that he has opened up over the last few years.

I think Kendo Nagasaki day is a great way of celebrating his career which brought excitement and enjoyment to so many people.Kendo/Peter has my best wishes for the future.

Kendo is an absolute legend and Peter seems like a really nice guy. A Kendo Nagasaki day is a great idea. Looking forward to reading it.

oh sorry for enigmatic comment I meant Peter rather not be that age but the alternative isn't good,he was without doubt a major player in the game,pre 1972 at his peak peerless ,later with the mystic sctick not so,seems a lifetime ago I bumped into him in Spain maskless but still giving 100 per cent .

That's an intriguing and worrying comment bkendo. Would you care to elaborate?

I am all in favour of Kendo Nagasaki day and wish him well.

He Doesn't