Does anyone recall watching a bout and thinking he looks better on TV than he does on the halls.Why I ask I remember a dressing room conversation where a workers efforts were questioned and the consensus he put more into it on TV.I passed opinion as I hadn't worked with the guy and I also took into account travelling and type of full time employment if a semi pro.I do know however of a pro heavy who always put less in on TV because he always wrestled stiff on the halls.just wondered was this noted from the seats.
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The suggestion in your original post Paul doesn't seem supported by us fans. Maybe we were just star struck. Time to come clean. Do you think most wrestlers put more effort into a tv bout? Did you?
Being part of a live wrestling show was by far the better experience however I have to say that generally I enjoyed both genres. Surely in the early days of TV wresting it was all live? I remember one Saturday around 1964 when the hall was half full when the wrestling started at 4pm but very soon began to fill up as Kent Walton explained that a number of the punters had been elsewhere watching The Grand National. Conversely I am still amazed that Billy Howes' unmasking of Kendo was recorded as I have never seen an example of in-ring brutality surpassed.
One applicable point has just sprung to mind: Nagasaki turning his eyes red.
How widespread was this off tv?
I always thought that live wrestling was far better than tv, which was pretty sterile in comparison. The whole sound and vision atmosphere was obviously a big part of it but I can't think of ever considering I'd been undersold at a live event because of the lack of a tv audience. More likely the opposite.
Thanks BKendo. Two Rivers doesn't get great comment on here from anyone, glad to see it established that we were perceptive.
Thanks so much Paul, appreciate. Looks like they used different venues for those eliminations, not just Bolton's Wryton Stadium. We now have Hanley in the list as well. I'll try to get more wrestling ads/programmes from the 72/73 Wryton season, that will help to see the bigger picture. If they had quarterfinals...then they had at least 8 different groups of 4 men each, winners of which succeeded to the quarterfinals. Though Johnny Saint elimination contest v Deep River was not a group of 4 it was a single match elimination.
Thanks Paul , I never saw Vines enough but he looked awesome to me.
Ruslan I'm sorry Iv racked my brains but just can't remember the tourney by then was not as high profile as it had been I'm sure Steve Wright and Mike Dallas were in semis if I got year right.
Great observations Anglo Ronnie Pencecoff looked at Two Rivers after a bout and said not a bit of bloody sweat on yon mon.
Power in those days if you didn't give 100 per cent your name came off the list at Kirkgate chambers.
Ron your bang on with Don Vines he like Billy Howes both got told to tone it down.
Interesting point Paul , but I have to say I can't think of anyone who fits.
Much enjoyed live wrestling rather than TV.
Maybe a Don Vines performance I once saw at Belle Vue would not have been shown on T.V.
He seems to have had a better career abroad.
I generally found that matches were generally stiffer in the halls depending on the participants. wrestlers knew that attendances would decline if fans thought the wrestlers weren't giving their all. Wrestlers made their money working night after night around the halls not on tv so generally worked hard to keep the fans coming back show after show
I remember years ago, BKendo, that I suspected this would be the case, that you'd get a watered down show in the halls.
I have to say that the opposite was the case. If ever there were any disappointments in live matches, it usually just had to do with the lack of chemistry between the pair, but this was rare.
It's actually easier for me to go upbeat here and list a few aspects of live shows that were better:
- the noise and the sweat
- hearing what the wrestlers had to say
- feeling the bumps
- seeing the ring move when Mal Kirk was posted.
- appreciating the audience's reactions and comments and catcalls much much more.
- wrestlers perhaps nervous on tv, or wrestling within certain constraints (no fighting outside the ring)
- knowing it was live, for me, and absolutely anything could happen whether it was a work or not.
- seeing them absolutely whacked on the way back to the dressing rooms having given their all.
That's what kept me going back for more.
I attached the bill and matches report from December 16th, 1972 Victoria Hall in Hanley. Saint beat Deep River for that title.
Dear Bkendo1, thanks for posting. I need your help. Season 1972/73. Do you remember who won the Annual Wryton Belt elimination series? Thanks in advance. R.