REAL RARITY-BILLY JOYCE IN TAG!

Since this was five years after I had stopped working at the wrestling and more than three since St James Hall closed I can not speak with much authority regarding this instance. However the Billy Joyce that I saw on several occasions was very much old school and it was inconcevable that he would be part of a tag team which personally I looked on as the light relief end of wrestling. In the book "Billy Riley - The Man, The Legacy" there is a photograph of Joyce and Jack Fallon together in the latter's profile but it diesn't say anything about them ever tagging. Either things had changed immesurably by 1971 but in my time I can only remember two substitutions at Newcastlef - one when Alan Garfield was replaced by Martin Borman (hardly value!) against Norman Walsh and Ian Campbell depping for Lee Sharon against Earl Maynard. It is doubtful that the printer would get things wrong as well as in my experience Morrell were meticulous in their detail.

I was at the Belle Vue show which, incidentally, was in 1971 rather than 1871 and it was a most unusual eight man team contest. There were four individual matches, two two versus two matches then all eight men in the ring. The two versus two matches were not tags. All four men were in the ring throughout. The eight man finale was all four versus four in simultaneously going for falls, submissions or knockouts. There were no over the top rope eliminations and it was the most falls etc scored in a specific time period. If I recall correctly, the other two versus two match was Bob Kirkwood and Tony St.Clair versus Billy Howes and Bobby Graham. No-one (including referee Joe Hill) really understood the rules and the whole thing was a bit of a mess.

It is not inconceivable for Fallon and Joyce to be a tag team. I believe they fought each other several times in this period and had a good little bout. Both lived in Wigan, had similar styles, and could have easily tagged together. In fact, it's a pity that Fallon/Joyce versus Arras/Graham didn't take place. It could have been an interesting little tag.

From Ray's files. I just had a quick look: Jan 12 1965 HULL;B.Joyce/Campbell bt Vachon/Simonovich;

Oct 14 1970 WIGAN;B.Joyce/Dane bt Black Diamonds-DISQ;

June 5 1871 BELLE VUE Bridges/Masambula 1-1 Wall/B.Joyce (some sort of singles, tag, 6 man show)

Arras was at Malvern the night before, Chesham a couple of days after Newcastle. Cortez was in Trowell on the 25th, can't see him after that for the rest of the month. Parkes I don't see until June 1st in Edinburgh. Maybe the latter two were unavailable?

Let's forget all this nonsense about northern promoters re-alignment of bouts. This is tosh that has been disproved time and again by those who were there, Substitutions on northern bills were no greater than in the south.

But we have no reason to doubt The Ost which means there is something very odd about this bill.

We had three no shows - Parkes, Cortez, Arras. That's unusual. All reliable workers. I don't recall one substitute at a Morrell show. There may have been one, but not being able to recollect any at all shows this was very unusual. Could this being a Friday night in Newcastle led to confusion?

So we had a promoter with three places to fill at short notice and only two substitutes - Simpson and Coulton. To my mind both good local boys could have taken up the singles matches leaving a vacancy for the tag. Who for the tag? Wall/Graham? Davies/Graham? Pallo/Graham? None of these seem impossible pairings to me.

We do seem to have taken a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

So maybe it was a case of the tag contestants refusng to play ball.

Really?

This wasn't some independent promoter who could be pushed around. This was Norman Morrell, the most influential promoter of them all. Anyway, Morrell knew these wrestlers really well. He wouldn't have made the mistake of billing them in matches they weren't willing to take part in. Would he?

Joyce might be willing to stand up to him? But would Norman stand down? Joyce was nearing the end. If he upset Norman over this would Norman have wanted him a British Light Heavyweight champion soon after?

I just don't see this. Joyce was a pro; he knew the game. Should we focus on him? Jack Fallon didn't have the limelight of Joyce but he was just as legitimate. Let's not assume he was willing to go ahead with this tag. Did Jack Fallon do tag?

It's all odd. Are we reading too much into it? Friday night. Was Ernie Lofthouse in charge? Or was someone else looking after things that night?

Yes Powerlock, his then home town. The promoter missed a trick there, too, billing him from South Africa.

The MC will have earnt his money that night trying, if he did, to make the farce into something serious.

I can just about remember the Pallo /Brooks bout because of the dq, it was probably the highest profile win for Brooks and in his then home town, very random the drop outs and all from different areas wonder if it was a case of double bookings or drop outs in their particular areas they had to fill for those, The local lads Coulton and Simpson brought in along with Foley pulling a double shift

Oh dear. So this brings us full circle back to the accusation that northen promoters often promoted one set of bouts only to rejig very drastically.

Couldn't happen in the south.

I would have travelled to see Gwyn Davies, Ray Parkes, Jon Cortez and The Untouchables.

From ecstasy to excruciating shame ....

At least the programme was usually printed relatively recently (as opposed to the poster.) The programme sometimes picked up changes.

Match didn't happen. Davies beat Fallon and Wall beat Joyce in singles bouts.

Tag match was Miquet & Foley over Graham & Simpson

Rev Brooks beat Pallo (DQ) and Foley b Coulton in the other bouts.

I think I might have been at this show, I was 13 and was starting to go to shows by myself when my grandad or dad didn't want to go. Rocky Wall v Gwynn Davies plus Jackie Pallo Vs Rev Michael Brooks who lived a 20 minute drive from the City Hall were the big draws, it wouldn't have occurred that l was seeing something unusual seeing Billy Joyce in a tag match, possibly wondered why their team didn't have a name.

What a stonking bill!

Just slightly diluted by three nearly meaningless descriptions as "Challenge" contests.

Overkill - and tell us why it's a challenge. I was prepared to believe anything in 1971, but at least they needed to tell me a story.

No that's a turn up Main Mask. Jack Fallon would make a good partners for him. I didn't consider Leon a baddie. A great entertainer.