RON'S BERT ROYAL CONUNDRUM?!

Funny thing, MM, I did the same thing last night.

That Chesterfield show is the earliest listing for Bert in Ray's files.

That beats it and typically his early bouts were with Billy Howes.

Bert would have been still in his teens on this bill.

I think we have a new earliest sighting of Bert Royal.

Main Mask suggested December, 1949 in Newcastle. I'm thinking that was 26th December Main Mask.

Well, here we have Bert at Chesterfield on 2nd December, 1949.

And again in 1958, on TV tagging with his dad!

Bert Royal also appears on French TV in 1957, wrestling against Spanish wrestler Tony Olivera.

Just found Bert Royal wrestling in Paris in 1955 (the promoters had been using Assirati, St. Clair Gregory, Ray Hunter, Don Steadman, Al Hayes and others, on and off, since the mid 40's, Assirati "doing the job" on many occasions, in the main event, proving he would indeed, "cooperate"!).

Christ on a bike that has to be the most disturbing picture of a wrestler I've ever seen! Its like something out of S and M weekly.

Bert Royal one of the finest wrestlers in the UK. Fantastic career throughout the UK and worldwide. Bert didn’t need gimmicks or showmanship, his wrestling said it all.

Based on Hack's last post, maybe my father was right and he was billed as Royal blue. Well I didn't see that one coming!

This is another topic that arose years ago, no problem with that. Our good friend Allan Best wrote many years ago that he had seen Bert Royal at Blackburn using the name Royal Blue. I asked Bert's son about this and he said that he had a photo of Bert in a mask but didn't know the name.

Interesting mask, Karl Gotch had one a bit similar (it covered the nose and mouth instead).

Some really neat posts here, thanks for sharing!

My Bert Royal conundrum is that he's billed as British Middleweight champion in 1959 and 1964, but only 1964 seems to be mentioned online. The years are the same, so it is confusing.

All though 1951 Bert was advertised as the young boy wrestler , youngest pro wrestler working today.

Interesting stuff Ron!, curiouser and curiouser, as they say.........

If young Bert was wrestling as Bert Royal in 1949, it squashes his later story that he picked the name "Royal" as a ring name, in Coronation year......1953.

In the Mick McManus Book of Wrestling (1970), Bert states that he has been wrestling for 17 years.....1953 again.

Was this an attempt to cover up for the fact that Bert was a fair bit older than he wanted to appear?

Nothing wrong with growing old, it happens to all of us, just wondering why the Coronation year story was used, when he was already "Bert Royal" a few years before.

Ah....the old wrestling game.....just when you think you have solved something, it leads us off in a new direction!

Firstly I am really please that my articles do sometimes get read , that's what the website is all about really. You can just pick up an old article and gen up on it again.

I was so lucky to actually find Bert on a 1949 bill. This is priceless.

Look , right at the start of things he travels to a huge stadium and works on a show with dad.

I don't know any more about wrestling masked and in my mind I think maybe it never happened.

The article cites the possibility that he might have been Young Atlas , but somehow I now doubt that. I am no wiser today except that there were several Young Atlas's I think. Bert never boasted an Atlas type body so I have given up on that.

Bert was a very skillful wrestler who could also deliver a slug fest. I did hear somewhere that Bert did not make that much money out of wrestling and that, if true , is a travesty.

If I could actually ask Bert one thing it would be .........Who was Wild Tarzan...... He was sometimes billed in brackets as Jack Ridyard.

No such wrestler as far as I know. This guy traveled and worked with Lew Faulkner a lot and I believe a local man.

He had a gimmick , coming to the ring with a Gas Mask but could do the Tarzan Ape call as well , and yet we know little of him.

Bert would have watched this wrestler as a boy at Bolton.

Hi MM.Just a thought. When Newcastle found out that Masambula was coming, for 3 weeks on the programme we had a photo these staring eyes and a pronouncement " The witchdoctor from Africa is coming". It certainly built up the interest.I know i was there!

Knowing that Norman Morrell was an astute business man, if he thought that he had someone that he could build up, he would have pushed that hard.

Probably that photo of Bert(for whatever reason he posed like that), would have been on the front of many programmes at that time.

If Morrell paid for a studio to take the photo(They may have suggested that gimmick) he would have made good use of it.

Perhaps we are getting a little nearer to the truth now.

Hi MM. Don't stir it up too much.!

According to Ray's records for Newcastle, Bert Royals first appearance there was 31/3/51 when he was stopped by Jack Proctor. I know that he wrestled before that because my father said that he had seen Bert at Liverpool and was impressed.

He thought ,and told me, that his name was "Royal Blue."

Whether that has got anything to do with the photo in a mask, I don't know.

Hi M M. I don't know if I am misunderstanding your first post on this thread, but Bert Royal was not on Newcastle bill of 25th March 1950.

The results for that night(using Ray Plunkett's excellent service) were:-

Felix Kerschitz k.o Jack Pye

Hassan Ali Bey 2-1 Bob McDonald

Alf Cadman k o Dennis Mitchell

Tommy Mann2-1 Danny Flynn.

And for Anglo's benefit, another super Newcastle bill.