Great montage of so many of our favourites today on ITV - including the time-honoured wrong caption, 2019 style, as Bert Royal pinned moustachioed Steve Logan with "Adrian Street v Mick McMichael" flashing across the screen.
Not bad at all, probably edited by someone whose parents were in nappies at the time - how on earth could they cut off just before the unmasking! Wrestling sacrilege!
Tony Skarlo looking as smooth as silk, Johnny Yearsley admirably selling a silly Tomahawk Chop ... and Kent in typical style shifting Lenny Hurst from Montego Bay to Jamaica. How on earth did Kellett cling on to the bottom rope????
I hope there's more to come - judging by the opening titles there will be.
I think what was surprising about the episode that I described, was that being a ring used for boxing ,the ropes were always pretty tight.
At Dale Martin shows there was always a big presence of the second with the giant spanner visibly adjusting the ropes during the evening.
A few years ago a show in Hindley was abandoned completely because the ropes broke and could not be repaired
I have seen it happen at an indy show, I think it was down to the ropes stretching so the tension was quickly checked between each match
I watched this again today, and it struck me how slack the ropes were in the bout between Tony St Clair and Lennie Hurst.
It reminded me that one night at Newcastle, Les Kellett followed the two wrestlers into the ring, tested the ropes as he often did, and said that they were so loose that they were dangerous.
A second was dispatched and came back with what looked like a large ring spanner.
Les proceeded to tighten the ropes using the nuts behind the buckles in the red and blue corners. to his satisfaction.
I had never seen that before and haven't seen it happen since.
Thanks Anglo, just as I remembered it.
And you know the best bit for me?
No wrestlers talking forever on mics.
Unfortunately I wouldn't get too excited. This is from a short series of 10-minute shows they did a few years back, each on a different aspect of World of Sport. They pop up every so often, usually when there's a 10 minute gap in the schedule to fill. In fact the series referred to in ITV Sport's catalogue as "Sports Classic Fillers."
Just the way I remember it , there is enough good stuff there to give Heritage another kick start.
Logan selling Bert's drop kicks was brilliant for me.
Leon Arras didn't need a microphone.....wonderful....and dancing with Les...pure comedy
Didn't Dynamite look tall. ( and at 5-8)
I believe there‘s a load of recordings either in Manchester (Granada) or Leeds (YTV) which are unindexed and which they charge an arm and a leg just to look through. WWE/F apparently wanted the Marty Jones/Bret Hart World Title “eliminator“ for the Bret Hart DVD - ITV (or whoever owns it now) have it, have no idea on which tape it is, and will only “license” footage, whereas WWE/F want outright ownership.
Thanks for the link Anglo Italian. Such a shame that ITV don't search through their earlier archives. I've read that 1960s recordings exist but are not indexed. Personally I think we'd be happy with any lucky dip.
I missed this so thanks Anglo Italian. Your subscription to the Radio Times in Piedmont is worth every penny. Thanks for the link.
Do you ever wonder why you were mesmerised by the wrestling all those years ago? I do.
But this short piece dispels all doubts. Wasn't it great?
My highlights: Mick's hair already looking so false in 1975, the wonderfully underrated artistry of Leon Arras, the magnificent Tony Scarlo giving Dynamite Kid a push, the Dynamite Kidd caption and only seconds devoted to you know who.
Thanks for the link Anglo. Kellett clinging onto the bottom rope is great. Must have took a lot of practicing.
Cheers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9MQLrBC80