TARDIS TRAVELS-LINCOLN-DOCTOR DEATH!!

Dear Members,

I hope that this my first post finds you all well.

I have joined today, as my biological father was Tony Kolokotronis (Ellis) and I have just found out that he was a wrestler.

I have only just been united with his 2 sons and their families, so information is flooding in, but no photos.

I would be so grateful if anyone could share any information or photos of my father.

Thanking you all in advance and awaiting for any information that could be afforded to me, with much anticipation.

Adriana Decaro.

Dr Death won both those bouts (Pallo & Veidor).

Great stuff, Al, revealing that Dr Death faced several new opponents in 1969: Viedor, Pallo ...

Fascinating to see McManus even on a non-DM bill commanding second bout, to be away before the interval. This must have mattered so much to him.

Dr Death at Kingston Granada in 1969

Great bill. Gotta love the write up telling us that Capelli would win - only for him then to lose. Nice.

DR DEATH V STEVE LOGAN at Tooting in March 1969

Alan

But it couldn't have been in 1972. Maivia had long gone. I would guess it was 1966 when Dr D made a few appearances for Dale Martin but probably no longer cared much about his brand.

As far as I know, the original unmasking of Doctor Death, by Peter Maivia, was in Colchester.

James Morton is having problems logging on at the moment. he has emailed to say:

Although memories can play tricks James is absolutely certain he's right about this one.

James continued, with reference to the Milo v Peters poster:

Thanks James.

In light of those recent posters, I guess it's a fair possibility that our Dr Death at the Seymour Hall was Tony Cassio?

Yes, MM, it was sad for us all. We had invested a lot of years and interest and energy and enthusiasm wrestling, often in the face of the "knockers" - so plucking up the courage to turn our backs on it wasn't at all easy - though those promoters made it easy for us, unfortunately.

My memories remain of when it was all so good, so structured, seemed so important. And the small doses of clowning and underhandedness were the spice within the context of a serious sport, and therefore believable.

It sounds like 1974 was pretty much a water-shed year. Dale Martin's had fought off and bought out the few competor promoters they had in the south over nigh on 25 years.

Now with the likes of Pallo and others, lots of people had a go at promoting: Tony Skarlo, Nagasaki - maybe even Cornelius? Some were just fly-by-nights. Othersb like Pallo developed a proper structure.

Within this context of widespread disgruntlement with the new DM set-up, erstwhile trusties like Yearsely and Viedor were not averse to moonlighting in 1974.They also felt they could get away with it as it was in the DNA of the new northern managing brothers at DM.

I'm not really being very helpful with this. I do recall that it was in the early seventies and I think the M.C. was Mal Mason. I further recall that Yearsley and Kowalski beat two blue-eyed masked men in white outfits in their tag preliminary and that the team losing to Veidor and Sands included The Wildman of Borneo. There were two contests not in the tournament and one featured an Indian wrestler versus a masked man.

This thread is what we are all about.

Hack's research that Tarzan Johnny was elsehwere that night is telling; especially as DM trusties like him just didn't moonlight.

Wells had a history of moonlighting, so this doesn't surprise. I would guess that Wells brought up a buddy from Portsmouth, and it could easily in fact have been Peter Wilson.

Whether he's billed as Dazzler or not maybe doesn't matter. Joe retired young and could easily have resurfaced seven years later as a one-off. (But no doubt we'll find others ...) Maybe he just felt he had lost his dazzle at that age, or he'd lost his gown. In the 21st Century we'd consider a copyright issue that the name Dazzler belonged to Dale Martin, but we probably don't need to go there in 1974.

Add to this, considering the "promoter" has bent the truth quite liberally, it wouldn't take much to imagine Joe appearing in the ring, all Greek glitz and jewellery, with an arm in supposed plaster, only to be replaced by Joe Blow.

The Wild Man being 18 stone clearly tells us it's not our beloved light-heavyweight original.

The bill is getting more and more Greek and Cypriot. Probably cooked up by Joe. Dr Death probably unmasked that night - but not Lincoln, of course. I bet it was a Greek!

Seymour Hall was such a Dale Martin bastion that the bill is intriguing in our overall picture in understanding how Dale Martin lost its grip on a major venue at a time when we know the overall structure of wrestling was changing radically. And DM was losing its grip left, right and centre.

Happy May Day to all.

I really wish that I'd taken notes of the shows I saw. In the early seventies I attended an independent show at London's Seymour Hall which featured a four team heavyweight K.O. tournament which concluded with Steve Veidor and Neil Sands defeating Johnny Yearsley and John Kowalski. I can remember little else of the show unhelpfully.

That makes three of us, as I too questioned the lack of Dazzler on the poster. I don't think I ever saw Joe Cornelius referred to without the Dazzler prefix. As for the promoter I suggested Tony Ellis, wrestling on the bill as Tony Kolokotroni.