There are many on here whose experiences and knowledge of professional wrestling leave mine standing. I did spend many years writing on the subject as Mr X, including some pieces for Ted Turner's WCW magazine and another magazine in Australia whose name I have long forgotten. Admittedly most of my writing was on the WWE/WWF, where I also worked for a London company whose job was to promote WWE events and sell the tickets;.but most of my live wrestling experience was centred around Dale Martin or Paul Lincoln and involved visiting the local swimming baths, theatres and very occasionally London's Royal Albert Hall.
And yes, following a piece in the latest issue (22 Jan) on championships and their accuracies, I have to say that was one of the reasons I gradually got sucked into WWE.
The article read: "23 January 1967 In Bradford, Bill Robinson beat Billy Joyce. There are reports that Robinson won the British heavyweight title from Joyce, but others cite he had already won the championship on 18th January in Manchester."
I have no doubt that both recorded wins were accurate! Back then, we spectators were treated like idiots. The entertainment was usually great but the joy of seeing the local hero win a title became meaningless when you went to another venue a few days later to see the same fight and result and the same guy win the title again!
Before I ever dreamed of writing, I have previously mentioned how as a young fan I used to gain free admission to tournaments by cleaning the sports car of Judo Al Hayes! This was some years before his American progression to Lord! However, during my years of writing, I met many WWE and WCW stars; some were nice and some not so nice. But you knew that if you spoke to the champ, then that's what he was. How he won the title was irrelivant; He was the wrestler that was acknowledged as Champion. Over here, you just never knew! I did once mention it briefly to Al Hayes hoping that he would let me into any secret, but he just winked and drove off in his sparklingly clean red MGB!
I still loved the sport, but something was missing when it came to championships...
In the 1960s most title matches were not televised therefore the promoters could get away with repeating the same title bout over and over again
Here is the Bradford bill:
A strange claim ( not by yourself) as all sorts get documented in wrestling. But when you mentioned a January bill in Manchester , it caught my eye because every year Belle Vue Wrestling closed for the Circus.
Here is when it opened.
Through the 60's though Joyce v Robinson for a title there was frequent.
In 1966 Robinson beat Joyce for the British Title whilst being European Camp. Joyce took the British back the following month. I bet they did this a few times.