1943 , I found a claim that this is the first pro wrestling as we know it in Stafford Town. Love these county towns , tea and toast here , with the bread cut two inches thick dripping in butter. They call the slices "Doorsteps"
Gran was from a Staffordshire Town and that was just how she cut her bread.
Might be inclined to think a boxing promoter put this show on as it's a duel advert. No wrestlers advertised on it but I can tell you that Dave Armstrong beat Francis Gregory , Van Wurden beat Bill McDonald , Dick Wills beat Hussey , and Pat Madden beat Bill Ogden.
Promoter could have been Jack Callaghan.
By the end of the 1940's Wrestling was on regular in the Market Hall. Not long though before The Borough Hall took over and continued through to the 1980's. The promoters though seemed to come and go. Here are my examples.
By the end of the 1950's the picture changes but I will save that for another post.
Another venue and another promoter for Stafford. The Sandonia was a one time cinema that had already turned to bingo when it was bought by the Midland Entertainment Agency in 1964, owned by Vic Kendrick. The same year he took over Dudley Hippodrome from Jerry Jeary.
Great stuff. None of this matters to the vast majority of the British public, but to us on here, this is gold dust. Working out who was promoting, and who was helping or turning a blind eye. Who cares?, we do!
Fascinating Bkendo1. We look forward to learning more. Sam Betts always says Max was okay to work for when he was with Norman Berry but later hasn't a good word to say for him.
My Gosh , What a tangled web , Stafford , it turns out, has a history that reveals a bit more about promoting than most places have.
Careful ? Please elaborate Steve,secrets?
Graham you made me chuckle with the big Kath memory she obviously was unaware of irony.Stafford illustrates the wars within joint.Hopefully I'll be able to shed further when I come near to completing my Wryton investigations ,funny at the time I didn't care I got paid.Mel did indeed promote using independent lads mainly put on shows at Blackpool Albert rd and Morecambe , Crabtree is another ballgame different when Berry was involved by that I mean better.The associate member of joints was a minefield ,Dales hated it and wanted it stopped,Norman had meetings at the pack horse Bolton with Wryton re the use of their guys on comission for associates.Mick was on house percentage four others wanted it.This together with Ernie loftouse asking northern lads what dales were paying ,ooops standard pay on joints.
Wonderful info Graham You make a great contribution.
My final shows in 1986/7 were staged at Walsall Football Club's social club and Pete Evans provided the ring for me and also provided some wrestlers. Chris Mc.Neil was one (I put him on with Ezra who was surprised to arrive at the venue and find he was billed as Banana Bill) and there was a brother and sister with the surname Fitzhenry (I think) who wrestled as Kid Brannigan and Trudy Saturn respectively. Trudy Saturn is not a million miles from Trudy Saffron so I detect a Pete Evans influence here.
Looking back at your 4 1970/71 adverts Ron I wonder if the two labelled WFGB could be different promoters from the other two, with the other two being Dixon and WFGB Williams or Corbett. I only saw Bob Bell billed as Veidor Bell once, and that was for Dixon. Dempsey v Doyle was another Dixon favourite.
Of course we will never know, it's all trivial but it's fun.
Another to add to the pot. Years ago I was going through the Wolverhampton papers for Ray and the promoters were Bartelli and Jack Oatley. Must have been in the seventies.
Yes I sort of expected to see girls on the Dixon stuff , very evident on the next set in 73/74 and of course Kendo was co promoter in 1974 selling that unmasking of the White Angel bout that he did at Belle Vue , Houldsworth and probably dozens of other places. He was a very poor effort , one of the most disappointing bouts I ever saw.
So the Borough Hall all the way from 1950 and certainly still finding them in 1985.
Just a little bit of History about Stafford Wrestling. Unfortunately I have about 130 bills but the galleries are not accepting new stuff.
I don't think we can assume these were Brian's. They might be as they have the style of his earlier bills and he was using Bartelli, Wildman, and Orig from the start of his promoting. The first is in October 1970 which was when Brian started, but not sure of the date in Marple. The early shows I saw of Brian's were all Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead, including the first I saw in October 1970.
Wrestling Federation of Great Britain was an umbrella name for a dozen or so independents in the 1960s. Although I remember the promoters using their own name and stating they were members of WFGB I don't recall this title alone being used by an individual promoter.
So not ruling Brian out. but I think Orig Williams another likely contender.
Pushing ahead now for a few more years , astonished that Wryton Promotions never get their name on this venue despite having Hanley and Willenhall and Crewe amongst others. That word "Combat" prevails and we have learned that Max could either promote his own show or run one with Joint Wrestlers or even the most unexpected mixture of the two that I have ever seen. Combat finally goes missing and it's just TV Stars. Rocco v Hussey in Marks earliest days. That popular StJohn V Svasjick match they did a hundred times or more.
But this was not the final Promotional name to capture this venue. The expansion of Brian Dixon , whose partner I believe was Monty Swan until Kendo came in in 1974 meant yet another taste of wrestling presentation for Stafford fans.
Below bottom right, Saints, Wonderboys , Hells Angels , Judokas , all could claim to be copies of better known ones if you ask me. Some not even named. Bartelli top left lending his name to Wrestling federation of Great Britain. Are all of the for below even Dixon ,You tell me.
It gets better Ron. The only constant in all this is the fella that owns the music shop selling the tickets.
Riss Dillan Promotions is a new one. My first thought was Mel Riss. But he was still working for Joint in 1967 so I doubt he would put his name to a bill. Anyway he would surely have connections to put on a more enticing show than this.
Jim Armstrong wrestled as a masked Mad Monk at that time. Jack Little was a Jack Taylor wrestler. And the rest?
I can't see that pulling them in.
Combat were still about in 1967 , but not on all the bills.
One year on they were to do Bartelli attempted revenge over Naggers that sold well for many years. That photo of Kendo was still very common in 1972 , I have a signed one somewhere.
One unrelated intruder to the Borough Hall is this one. No idea on this , just someone got a slot and had a go?????
Have we heard of this promoter.
Maybe some of these can go on that 1960's "Little Known " List
Brilliant finds Ron.
August and September 1965 are in the wrong order which is a shame.
Put them in the right order and you see August Max has put on a Joint bill, as I said from 1962. But one month later he's using independent wrestlers and no mention of Joint Promotions.
What happened in the summer of 1965?
I was not quite sure of my facts but it was certainly looking that way and as I work the timeline you can see slight changes of branding illustrating Hack's explanation. 1964/1965 now.
A third Variant on the left and a Rare picture of Young Mal Kirk and Joint promotions below.
Shirley still about in 1966 with Brian. And some of the earliest Lady wrestlers since the short 1930's failed venture.
Yes I can explain Ron. At the beginning of 1962 agreement was reached between Joint and a group of independent promoters - Kidd, D'Orazio, Devereux, Conrad Davis, Max's 20th Century and I think Frankie Price, but I would need to check if Price was later. There was talk of Paul Lincoln being included but he didn't join them, maybe he still had hopes for TV. Exactly what the deal was I don't know but those opposition promoters began working with Joint, so in 1962 these would be Joint shows. There was one reunification title match, Capelli v Dempsey, that being the only one I've heard of.
Max always had a complex relationship with Joint. He mostly seemed to work as Relwyskow's rep in Scotland but always seemed to have the right to put on his own shows, using Joint men, as 20th Century or Combat Promotions.
1963 , Shirley , Max and even Brian are still there working with Joint people.
Still the Brand is Twentieth Century.
It's a right mix. Midge Cowan Cropped up recently , not sure if we thought he never worked for Joint. Can't remember. Warrior Nigel became Zimba.
Cadman and Colbeck in there. What's the game. Elrington and Campbell.
What an absolute super yarn Graham and we have sqeezed that memory out of you just because I started a Stafford Thread. Maybe you can tell us roughly the capacity of the Borough Hall. was the wrestling upstairs.
Moving on to 1962 Twentieth century still seem pretty much a Max Rota. Bit did wonder at Ernie Riley in there. here is the start of the year.
Shirley and Max still starring. devils and Scorpions typical of Max's imagination.
But then I was taken aback by this bill.
Suddenly these are "Joint" men.
Bartelli was Wryton and if you think about 1962 Pete Ginsberg and Roy StClair were just starting out , often found cutting their teeth in the Russell Club in Hulme for Wryton. The Yorkshire men were Morrell.
Is this a one off.
Later in the year it was pretty regular , Young Vic Faulkner , Mann , Martinelli , a right mixed Roster . Could it be that Twentieth Century were doing work for Joint.
Look at the bottom of this bill. All Wrestlers are members of Joint.
Why would Joint advertise Shirley as British and European Champion.
Well Hack , I think you wrote Men In Suits.
Any ideas what this is all about.
The most frightening night of my life occurred at The Borough Hall, Stafford, in the late 1970s when promoter Stuart ("Big Boy") Miller engaged me to be the "crooked manager" of Doctor Blood (Bill Clarke). I had previously been M.C. for Stuart and , fools going where angels fear to tread, I fully embraced the role of crooked manager and decided to play to the prejudices of the good Stafford folk by addressing the audience (just like George Gillette) but being blatantly homosexual. I forget my actual words but I do recall going on about seeing Doctor Blood's bottom in the showers and what a beautiful bottom it was to the boos of the crowd.
As the bout progressed I was to produce a block of wood from under my jacket which I handed to Doctor Blood to use on his opponent (Harry Palin). No sooner I had passed the block to Blood than a large West Indian man on the front row jumped up and punched me in the face. Harry Palin saw the incident and jumped from the ring to forearm smash me (protect me) all the way back to the dresssing room. He then returned to the ring to be smashed over the head by the block of wood whilst referee Miller took his eye off what was happening in the ring to appeal to the crowd to resume their seats. He turned round to see Blood covering a "knocked out" Palin making it another win for the evil doctor.
Back in the dressing-room I was shaking as a mischievious Ian Wilson was trying to persuade me to go back out again ("You've got them in the palm of your hand."). Plans were afoot to attack me after the show by waiting at the dressing-room door for me to come out. The West Indian had a walking cane and had snapped it in two and was sharpening one of the broken ends to a fine point using a bowie knife he just happened to have with him. Al Miquet helped me to escape by lending me one of his kung fu masks. I also switched tops with Stuart Miller and managed to walk past the baying group outside and into the car without being recognised.
Stuart thought the whole thing was a huge success and employed me to be Sir. Percival Pinkwhistle (that was my "crooked manager" persona) a month or so later for a show he was doing for Preston North End football club in their social club but I bottled it and did a comedy gay persona with a silly high voicewhich caused the punters to laugh at me but did not inspire the hatred which I had drummed up in Stafford. I remember "Hellcat" Haggetty being on the show (wrestling her sister Lolita Loren) and telling off both Stuart and myself for my performance saying that we were flushing the image of professional wrestling down the toilet (although not expressed quite so gracefully).