Yes, less than half the flight time in fact, when comparing trips from London to Athens or New York.
I think Adrian Street said that Spiros was going home and came via the UK, as I said, I would have to dig his book out again and see if gives more detail.
Perhaps Spiros Arion was already living in Greece in 1979.
Arion finished his long 1978 WWWF tour in December that year. It appears that Arion may not have wrestled again until his British bookings in 1979.
I believe that even in 1979 it was a much quicker plane trip from Athens to London than from, say, New York to London. Maybe Max Crabtree settled on a wrestler who could believably play the role of a World Heavyweight Champion and could be flown in from Greece rather than North America.
It is also probable that Arion's asking price was less than that of a relevant American or Canadian wrestler of that era.
Without digging out my Adrian Street books on Kindle, can anyone remember if Adrian explains how Spiros Arion ended up being the Wrestler that Max/Joint claimed was the World Champion? I think we have discussed this before on the old forum, but can''t remember if we ever got anywhere with the answer?
In 1978, Spiros Arion had a very long and successful run in the old WWWF, wrestling on an almost daily basis, twice a day in some cases, and beating a lot of the big stars of the day. He won way more matches than he lost that year, and had at least three title matches against Bob Backlund.
In fact his last match there (that I can see) appears to be the end of December 1978, where he loses a title challenge to Backlund.
As always, in those far off, pre-email, pre-internet, pre-mobile phone days, I am curious as to how he ended up coming to the UK. Who decided that he should be approached (Max?), who actually approached him? I assume a British wrestler that was in the USA, that Max knew (or a Canadian), but can't see anyone on the WWWF roster of 1978 who fits the bill.
Any ideas anyone (before I go and find my Adrian Street books!)
As mentioned in the previous posts by SaxonWolf and Ruslan, the WWA World Heavyweight Title held by Spiros Arion had no connection to the Worldwide Wrestling Associates of Los Angeles (1958-1968) nor the World Wrestling Association of Indiana (1964-1989).
In one of his books, Adrian Street stated that Arion's belt was devised by Max Crabtree, who booked Spiros to play the role of the world heavyweight champion in England.
The title had no lineage and, as such, Arion had no claim to being a recognised as the world heavyweight champion in 1979.
In answer to op54nessie's opening post, Spiros was well-liked by those who met him in Australia. In retirement, Arion settled back in Greece and is said to enjoy a relatively quiet lifestyle.
the one on the left side looks a little damaged, it lacks figures of two wrestlers in relief.
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Unknown member
Feb 15, 2019
The red/white/blue belt is Wayne's personal property and in real life always has been. He bought the thing and once Quinn had defected to Orig/Dixon, he won his own belt over Big Jim "Kamala" Harris at Wembley He later followed Quinn and Tony St Clair to All Star and eventually beat Quinn to unify the two titles. When Bridges left All Star for a while in early '86, Quinn beat StClair on Screensport to win the old belt but Bridges returned to become champion again in late '86. He later made it a condition of his dropping the belt to Kendo that he would soon win it back. (Personally I think Brian Dixon should just have privately handed Bridges back the physical belt and let Kendo continue as champ with the old belt - he could then have been the defending champion against Stax in Croydon '91). Anyway Bridges took his belt home to his pub and hung it on the wall and the two of them lived happily ever after. Awwww ....
Francis C. Price of Birmingham (born 1902) in 1947 established company called British Ring Sports Ltd. for the purpose of running boxing and wrestling championship matches in London. He was promoter and organizer of the World Hwt Wrestling Championship Tourney at Harringay Arena. Prize money were 2000 pounds, winner to receive 650 pounds. Price never applied for license so he didn't have British Wrestling Board of Control approval. His tourney was never recognized by any British Wrestling governing body. But if we consider that title legit, then yes of course Bert Assirati was world champion wrestler in 1947, style was advertised as American Catch-as-catch-can Rules.
Wasn’t there some mention on here that Wayne Bridges actually had the one on the left made after Quinn took off with the other one, and now has it on display in his pub?
Hi Ruslan, Wayne Bridges won the titles from Spiros Arion, and lost it to John Quinn. John Quinn jumped from Joint Promotions (Max Crabtree) and joined All Star Wrestling (Brian Dixon, the main competitor), and took the belt with him. A second belt was created by Joint Promotions and Wayne Bridges won a tournament for that belt. I think Wayne Bridges also jumped to All Star, but others on here can correct me if not.
That would be why there were two similar belts.
A lot of the Mount Evans belts ended up in All Star as well.
Ruslan, this may be something interesting for you to look into. When Spiros Arion came over to the UK, he was billed as the WWA Heavyweight Champion. This is not the same WWA as Dick the Bruiser's promotion. We have discussed this on the forum before but I can't remember if we came to a conclusion.
Was the belt that Spiros Arion arrived with, a belt that was made for Max Crabtree, or was it one of Arion's old belts, maybe a tag team one?
Hi Ed
Yes, less than half the flight time in fact, when comparing trips from London to Athens or New York.
I think Adrian Street said that Spiros was going home and came via the UK, as I said, I would have to dig his book out again and see if gives more detail.
Perhaps Spiros Arion was already living in Greece in 1979.
Arion finished his long 1978 WWWF tour in December that year. It appears that Arion may not have wrestled again until his British bookings in 1979.
I believe that even in 1979 it was a much quicker plane trip from Athens to London than from, say, New York to London. Maybe Max Crabtree settled on a wrestler who could believably play the role of a World Heavyweight Champion and could be flown in from Greece rather than North America.
It is also probable that Arion's asking price was less than that of a relevant American or Canadian wrestler of that era.
Cheers!
Without digging out my Adrian Street books on Kindle, can anyone remember if Adrian explains how Spiros Arion ended up being the Wrestler that Max/Joint claimed was the World Champion? I think we have discussed this before on the old forum, but can''t remember if we ever got anywhere with the answer?
In 1978, Spiros Arion had a very long and successful run in the old WWWF, wrestling on an almost daily basis, twice a day in some cases, and beating a lot of the big stars of the day. He won way more matches than he lost that year, and had at least three title matches against Bob Backlund.
In fact his last match there (that I can see) appears to be the end of December 1978, where he loses a title challenge to Backlund.
As always, in those far off, pre-email, pre-internet, pre-mobile phone days, I am curious as to how he ended up coming to the UK. Who decided that he should be approached (Max?), who actually approached him? I assume a British wrestler that was in the USA, that Max knew (or a Canadian), but can't see anyone on the WWWF roster of 1978 who fits the bill.
Any ideas anyone (before I go and find my Adrian Street books!)
As mentioned in the previous posts by SaxonWolf and Ruslan, the WWA World Heavyweight Title held by Spiros Arion had no connection to the Worldwide Wrestling Associates of Los Angeles (1958-1968) nor the World Wrestling Association of Indiana (1964-1989).
In one of his books, Adrian Street stated that Arion's belt was devised by Max Crabtree, who booked Spiros to play the role of the world heavyweight champion in England.
The title had no lineage and, as such, Arion had no claim to being a recognised as the world heavyweight champion in 1979.
In answer to op54nessie's opening post, Spiros was well-liked by those who met him in Australia. In retirement, Arion settled back in Greece and is said to enjoy a relatively quiet lifestyle.
Cheers!
the one on the left side looks a little damaged, it lacks figures of two wrestlers in relief.
The red/white/blue belt is Wayne's personal property and in real life always has been. He bought the thing and once Quinn had defected to Orig/Dixon, he won his own belt over Big Jim "Kamala" Harris at Wembley He later followed Quinn and Tony St Clair to All Star and eventually beat Quinn to unify the two titles. When Bridges left All Star for a while in early '86, Quinn beat StClair on Screensport to win the old belt but Bridges returned to become champion again in late '86. He later made it a condition of his dropping the belt to Kendo that he would soon win it back. (Personally I think Brian Dixon should just have privately handed Bridges back the physical belt and let Kendo continue as champ with the old belt - he could then have been the defending champion against Stax in Croydon '91). Anyway Bridges took his belt home to his pub and hung it on the wall and the two of them lived happily ever after. Awwww ....
real or a copy...
Francis C. Price of Birmingham (born 1902) in 1947 established company called British Ring Sports Ltd. for the purpose of running boxing and wrestling championship matches in London. He was promoter and organizer of the World Hwt Wrestling Championship Tourney at Harringay Arena. Prize money were 2000 pounds, winner to receive 650 pounds. Price never applied for license so he didn't have British Wrestling Board of Control approval. His tourney was never recognized by any British Wrestling governing body. But if we consider that title legit, then yes of course Bert Assirati was world champion wrestler in 1947, style was advertised as American Catch-as-catch-can Rules.
Wasn’t there some mention on here that Wayne Bridges actually had the one on the left made after Quinn took off with the other one, and now has it on display in his pub?
Hi Ruslan, Wayne Bridges won the titles from Spiros Arion, and lost it to John Quinn. John Quinn jumped from Joint Promotions (Max Crabtree) and joined All Star Wrestling (Brian Dixon, the main competitor), and took the belt with him. A second belt was created by Joint Promotions and Wayne Bridges won a tournament for that belt. I think Wayne Bridges also jumped to All Star, but others on here can correct me if not.
That would be why there were two similar belts.
A lot of the Mount Evans belts ended up in All Star as well.
Ruslan, this may be something interesting for you to look into. When Spiros Arion came over to the UK, he was billed as the WWA Heavyweight Champion. This is not the same WWA as Dick the Bruiser's promotion. We have discussed this on the forum before but I can't remember if we came to a conclusion.
Was the belt that Spiros Arion arrived with, a belt that was made for Max Crabtree, or was it one of Arion's old belts, maybe a tag team one?
Actually it was quite hypocritical considering how Max devalued the role of champions once he got his feet under the table
Wasn't the belt made up by Max Crabtree?
Where an when takes its origin his 'world heavyweight title' also held by John Quinn and Tony St Clair?