Salt Cottaurs

Reading through this piece again tonight, every time I read it I find something new, two names known to British fans that I don't think have been mentioned before - Syed Saif Shah and Rashid Anwar, the latter as a referee.

Most likely that was Constantin Popescu, he later wrestled in Australia. Wadi Ayoub & King Kong Czaja brought a lot of these names over to Australia later on (George Gardiner was the promoter).

Here's Bill.

Bill's Verna and Joyce at Dale Martin's yard (photo by Dave Cameron):

Who was "George Constantine", do we know? If I had to guess, I would have said a young George Gordienko. I seem to recall reading somewhere that big George had been to India in the 1950's.

This article demonstrates that all those years ago, when international travel was neither easy or cheap, just how extensively professional wrestlers travelled. There really was no limit to the travels of some of the big names.

Also interesting to see the emergence of Dara Singh, who ten years later we were all reading about as a sort of God of Indian wrestling.

As an aside, moving away from Salt Cottaurs, about 400 miles away, I came across a report from Mysore where a riot in 1953 had resulted in three deaths and thirteen injuries. The cause of the riot was that the local authority had allowed untouchables to take part in the wrestling.

Really neat stuff Ron. I have scattered Indian & Pakistan results from this time, so this will help fill in some gaps.

Dave Cameron said Bill Verna told him he was from Perth, but he hadn't been able to confirm it. I know Shirley Cameron said he was one of her favourites, especially among the heavyweights.

Tiger Ray Holden was a different guy. A regular in Australia at that time along with Alf Greer and Charlie Gamage.

Arabet Said also wrestled in the UK.

Magnificent stuff Ron.,Thank You

I did not look at this guy either , Kid Zamboa from Portugal. He was out in Asia a long time , for sure after India in 1953 I can find him in Pakistan in 1954/55. Also Dacca which is now Bangladesh.

He was wrestling in Europe back in 1948

We get him in 1956/57 and again in 1962/63 when he works for Jack Taylor and also Paul Lincoln.

One other thing. I noticed on one of the bills, the name of Angelo Papini. That rang a bell. He came to Newcastle once and the name stuck. Another rough,tough boy like Verna but not as big.

I don't think that I can help too much on Bill Verna. he was not a regular visitor to Newcastle. I think that he only came 3 times between 1950-54. He was a fairly big man ,well built , yes blonde hair. I do remember parts of a match with Bert Assirati in May 1952. A hard fought match with a bit of rough stuff on both sides.

I had seen Red Kirkpatrick and said that he would be handy in a street fight .I think the same applied to Bill Verna.

This is a monumental piece of research. We love remembering Nagasaki, McManus, Rocco etc and tell ourselves it's about the memories, but this is the sort of piece that gives depth and enrichment to Heritage.

We can now see the false impression given by The Wrestler magazine (just as you've previously uncovered the fallacy of their Stampede cover).

Brilliant Ron, and now Christmas is over I hope everyone will read this piece of wrestling history.

Thanks so much Bernard , I do feel it is a breakthrough. If You have any memories of Bill Verna , Ron Harrison or Kid Zamboa who came here in 1956 after Asia then I would love to hear them. I had no idea Verna was even Blond. I don' think he wrestled in Austrailia before here in 1950 , I believe he learned here.

I have put a link on to a Dara Singh match with King Kong, don't know where or when.

If you look at the bills , in particular the 6th of December They break the prices down into Gallery , Benches and Class of seats. The first 25 seconds of the video show evidence of this same thing. These stadiums were not as we know a stadium today.

I have written some more on 1960, 62, 64 and 68 mainly because we no longer have the galleries to display the bills. These smaller stories should be on Heritage over the next couple of months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GndzUBLMhU&t=22s

It's a good step forwards for data collectors.

Hi Ron. This is a monumental piece of work. It must have taken ages for you to find all of these bills and results.

Very helpful to worldwide wrestling historians. Well done.