Last week on the quiz show the chase a female contestant was asked by Bradley Walsh what she does in her spare time , her reply was, I like to watch wrestling I went to the last Wrestlemania and I'm going to the next next one. Bradley then asked who is your favourite wrestler Seth Rollins was her reply. Finally Bradley asked who is your all time favourite wrestler Big Daddy she replied.
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Sounds about right Bill, the connections between boxing and the underworld are well documented especially back in those days.
A good friend of mine once told me a tale about a well known boxer who was on £1000 (a lot of money at the time) for a fight against B***n L**d*n ,he was also on a bonus...£2000 if he lost...Name obscured for obvious reasons.
Those were the days Mate, So many great boxing matches to watch (and all for free) still just about some wrestling left, Football hadn't yet been properly ruined by the money men and even snooker was massive! We were spoilt compared to today. Still, at least we have Nigel Benn's comeback to watch and lets hope he doesn't tarnish the legacy of the truly great warrior he was. Agree with you about the selective promoting but I think most of us were aware there were and probably still are a lot of dodgy characters evolved behind the scenes and a lot of brown envelopes doing the rounds.
I think Daddy could have begun the pantomime matches earlier. He was in with top talent for way too long. I agree his undisputed topbilling did massive harm to the building of new stars and new feuds. I still think there was a place for his style of late 80s pantomime match.
As for Ebuank. He showed himself to be a true warrior as his career wound down, but post Watson and pre Benn 2 and Steve Collins, there were a lot of selective promoting.
Not for me Paul, his tired old ridiculous 20 minute build up, 30 seconds action routine was a huge nail in the coffin of what was UK wrestling we all knew and loved. I preferred the kind of atmosphere that was generated by say a Rocco v Jones match where you got proper value for money from two wrestlers who could work a crowd without the hype.
I can't really compare wrestling to boxing purely because wrestling was scripted and boxing was real. Agree with you regarding Bruno, but have to take issue regarding Chris Eubank, anyone who can stand toe to toe with Nigel Benn (and beat him) has my total respect. I know he wasn't a all round purest but his defence was second to none. Bruno had a massive right hand and plenty of bottle, but sadly a glass chin and very little technicque.
And back to wrestling, if the business had been built around some of the wrestlers I mentioned earlier it would have gone on a lot longer than it did. For me The Crabtree clan milked it dry and once they couldn't shake anymore money out of it, it was left for dead.
All the best to you my friend.
I can understand to hostility, but dont begrudge Shirley the fame. As with boxing, its not always the purest talents that are most successful. Chris Eubank and Frank Bruno are prime examples. Joe Bugner won a world title in his fifties. Starmaking is about more than raw talent, it needs something to capture the public imagination. I saw Daddy live a few times in the 80's and no one can deny the atomsphere was second to none. Like boxing, showmanship is a large part of the game. No one would claim he was a stellar athlete, but he had a following, wrestling is not alone in that being enough. At the end of the day its a numbers game.
This is the woman in the episode this month, Tom.
Are these Daddy's latest tag opponents? Ive got a great idea for this match, strap in you'll like this ...
How about we team Daddy up with a lovable lightweight who gets the crap beaten out of him for 2 rounds by two really nasty bad guys then Mr nice but useless just manages to escape and tags Daddy so ole wobble bott can enter the ring to rapturous applause by his half wit fans while the bad guys take it in turns to run at his belly and bounce off, he can then fall on top of one of them and win the match! We could dress him up in a giant baby grow and a sparkly hat and lead him into the ring surrounded by children (throw in a token disabled person too for good measure) and maybe play some daftass song about not being moved.
Just an idea mind, do tell me if its already been done ? Then we can scratch our heads and wonder why people have stopped coming to the wrestling? Why build the business around Nagasaki, Jones, Rocco, Finley ect when we can turn a walking hamburger into a super hero!
Since she's being discussed so much....:
....and the host getting excited about Les Kellett.
Like Superman? Wouldn't want to see Shirley boy in a pair of tights that's for sure! and as for seeing him fly through the air, only when he heard the fridge door open.
I think this lady was a child who perhaps was taken by her parents to see Big Daddy who to her was like Superman. But this lady is still watching wrestling which can't be a bad thing.
I concur! Those who made the wrestling so good are pretty much forgotten by Joe Public, and yet the Big D circus show lives on. I think Mick would have been over 100 by now!
Sadly he's the image that so many remember from the old days. Even sadder is how old we have to be to remember Pallo, Logan, Kellett, McManus on tv.
Big Daddy fav wrestler? She must have been dropped on her head as a baby!
If you can answer which wrestlers Bradley said he liked the best, you can win the latest Heritage Quiz!