It looks like part of the confusion with Kumali/Malumba relates to a mistake in IMDB, where Gordon Petrie is listed as Big Mulumba, in the weekly New Zealand wrestling show, "On the Mat".
I think IMDB can be edited by any registered user (like Wikipedia), so maybe someone saw the wrong information on a wrestling site, such as I posted above, and then edited IMDB?
Either way, as can be seen at the 3 minute mark of "On the Mat" from March 17th, 1981, this is not Gordon Petrie.
I think I recall Kumali appearing as one of the chorus in a West End musical of the day. I think he was in the chorus of "South Pacific" starring Mary Martin. I think Sean Connery was also in the chorus but, as I get older, I seem to get things muddled so don't take this as gospel.
There seems to have been some confusion on a US wrestling message board/web site, where someone said that The Great Malumba also wrestled as Prince Kumali, but Kumali retired in 1978 and The Great Malumba wrestled from 1972 to 1988.
I found this in an archive, from 2004......
"..Do you mean Prince Kumali? Also known as Orland Malumba, and the Great Malumba, he spent most of his career working in the UK. Some of the North American promotions he worked for included Atlantic Grand Prix, Gulf Coast, Stampede, and Alabama... so I don't think he ever had wide exposure here. He wrestled into the late 80s. There is some nice 60s archival stuff of him at the Wrestling Furnace website..."
I always remember the televised world heavyweight title contest between Bridges & Roberts. In Bridges corner was Prince Kumali. Kent Walton stated that Kumali was to become Bridges manager, as far as i'm aware this never happened. Does anyone know the reason why?
The Super Destroyer in Japan was Canadian Don Jardine, more commonly known as the Spoiler.
The Super Destroyer name was used multiple times in the U.S. as well. Scott Irwin being the most prominent, as well as his brother Bill (with whom he often teamed as the Super Destroyers), Jardine, "Super Destroyer Mark II" (who would later become Sgt. Slaughter, managed by Alfred Hayes), and "Super Destroyer Mark III (Neil Guay, who also wrestled as the Hangman among other names.)
I seem to recall reading in one of my American wrestling magazines that The Super Destroyer in Japan was Andre the Giant in a bonnet. Or was he Super Machine?
I only saw Prince Kumali live once and it was at The Sports Centre, Newark, when Max Crabtree promoted due to an arrangement with Relwyskow and Green. He faced Mike Marino on the opening show of the card. I forget the two other singles bouts but the top of the bill was a tag match between The Borg Twins and The Undertakers.
I never really appreciated them as a youngster, in fact I need to think if I ever saw Prince Kumali live, but as an older man, I can appreciate what a fantastic technician Pete Roberts was.
This was discussed at length some time back and it transpired the name was not used in Japan. We were told there was a Super Destroyer in Japan at the time, but not Peter. The name seems to have been created in Britain with Kent Walton pushing the Japanese story.
Pete Roberts, once described here as “The wrestler’s wrestler“. Certainly one of the best never to hold a title, probably because of his lengthy globetrotting exploits, particularly to Japan. Held in high esteem by many of his peers, among them a certain Mr. Regal who recalled some advice he received: “Make everything you do in the ring mean something”.
I’ve mentioned here how the best available insight into Pete comes from the autobiography of his best friend in the business Stan Hansen: it’s called “The Last Outlaw”. Get a copy. I’ll probably do some reading in the coming days.
It looks like part of the confusion with Kumali/Malumba relates to a mistake in IMDB, where Gordon Petrie is listed as Big Mulumba, in the weekly New Zealand wrestling show, "On the Mat".
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5237052/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_i32
I think IMDB can be edited by any registered user (like Wikipedia), so maybe someone saw the wrong information on a wrestling site, such as I posted above, and then edited IMDB?
Either way, as can be seen at the 3 minute mark of "On the Mat" from March 17th, 1981, this is not Gordon Petrie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw_y6cHr47A
I think I recall Kumali appearing as one of the chorus in a West End musical of the day. I think he was in the chorus of "South Pacific" starring Mary Martin. I think Sean Connery was also in the chorus but, as I get older, I seem to get things muddled so don't take this as gospel.
I bow to your superior knowledge saxonwolf,and Anglo
Agree. That's not our Prince. Our Prince was a dead ringer for Clark Gable.
"Prince Kumali" also wrestled as "The Great Malumba" with great success in Australia among other countries
I always remember the televised world heavyweight title contest between Bridges & Roberts. In Bridges corner was Prince Kumali. Kent Walton stated that Kumali was to become Bridges manager, as far as i'm aware this never happened. Does anyone know the reason why?
The Super Destroyer in Japan was Canadian Don Jardine, more commonly known as the Spoiler.
The Super Destroyer name was used multiple times in the U.S. as well. Scott Irwin being the most prominent, as well as his brother Bill (with whom he often teamed as the Super Destroyers), Jardine, "Super Destroyer Mark II" (who would later become Sgt. Slaughter, managed by Alfred Hayes), and "Super Destroyer Mark III (Neil Guay, who also wrestled as the Hangman among other names.)
Andre was "Giant Machine" from memory.
I seem to recall reading in one of my American wrestling magazines that The Super Destroyer in Japan was Andre the Giant in a bonnet. Or was he Super Machine?
I only saw Prince Kumali live once and it was at The Sports Centre, Newark, when Max Crabtree promoted due to an arrangement with Relwyskow and Green. He faced Mike Marino on the opening show of the card. I forget the two other singles bouts but the top of the bill was a tag match between The Borg Twins and The Undertakers.
I never really appreciated them as a youngster, in fact I need to think if I ever saw Prince Kumali live, but as an older man, I can appreciate what a fantastic technician Pete Roberts was.
This was discussed at length some time back and it transpired the name was not used in Japan. We were told there was a Super Destroyer in Japan at the time, but not Peter. The name seems to have been created in Britain with Kent Walton pushing the Japanese story.
Pete did NOT get "Super Destroyer" in Japan."Mad"Max Crabtree gave it to him in his "copying American names" phase.
Did Pete not get the 'Super Destroyer' monicker n Japan?
Pete Roberts, once described here as “The wrestler’s wrestler“. Certainly one of the best never to hold a title, probably because of his lengthy globetrotting exploits, particularly to Japan. Held in high esteem by many of his peers, among them a certain Mr. Regal who recalled some advice he received: “Make everything you do in the ring mean something”.
I’ve mentioned here how the best available insight into Pete comes from the autobiography of his best friend in the business Stan Hansen: it’s called “The Last Outlaw”. Get a copy. I’ll probably do some reading in the coming days.