I was watching Colonel Brody against Pat Roach on the youtube, it occured to be that Brody was a powerful and more than capable heavyweight. It also occurs to me that he had more than his fair share of defeats. Like Sid Cooper, he seemed happy just to entertain the crowd and put others over rather than building his own stardom.
Who were your unselfish stars who deserved to win more, but chose to put the business and others first?
Whenever this question comes up, I always say the same name- Bernard Murray.
A onetime trusted man in the Morrell set-up. Often used for training newcomers.
A more than capable man in his own right, who could give the topliners a hard fight.
Yet he rarely won.
Made the other boys look good though.
Bobby Graham was another who didn't tot up to many victories but maybe should of.
What I mean is that Barry could have said "Dad, I want to be British Champion", and it could have happened. He had all the skills.
There were so many weren't there. Laurie Coulton is another we've discussed at length. Lee Sharon another. Funny thing was that I don't think we realised how often they did lose. Anglo says Burly Barry was happy with his role. We don't really know, but that was his given lot. We've got to have respect for these perennial losers. Some may well have been happy losing, being in the business might well have been satisfaction enough, outside work commitments may have meant some had very limited aspirations, whilst others might have continued in the role in the hope that one day their dream would come true.
Jim Hussey and Colin Joynson for me.
And actually they were too good to lose as often as they did.
Barry Douglas was the supreme pro.
His German counterpart, Wolfgang Starck, had to be put over big time even in the UK because he was a promoter's son. Steve Clements followed the same route in the Americas.
But Burley Barry got to the very core of professional wrestling and made a career out of making big names shine. He was happy with that. Rare insight.
Mick McMichael, who always came across as a nice guy.