It is not widely known that BILLY JOYCE Wrestled as BROWN MASK in late 1956-
early 1957!-This is rather an UNUSUAL Tale as his 'Run' lasted just 13 Bouts!! before
losing 2-1 to REG WILLIAMS!! BUT his first 12 Victories included a Win over ERNIE
RILEY-a Champion at the time!-How did a Top Wrestler the Calibre of JOYCE last
only a dozen Bouts before being Unmasked??
Does it reinforce the View that in those days Matches were far less 'scripted' and far
more a Proper Wrestling Match?
If so did BILLY just 'slip up' against WILLIAMS to lose the MASK?
Was he fed up already with the Restrictions of Wrestling in a HOOD after only a handful
of tries?-If so-Why did he 'DEMAND' a Re-Match with REG. in early 1957?
Why did he bother with the MASK in the first place?-All very UNUSUAL!
I have 3 BROWN MASK Programmes for his Bouts at ALTRINCHAM! Can RON find
any of the other Bills for BROWN MASK Contests? Has BERNARD heard of the BROWN
MASK?
MAIN MASK
Another reason why bouts weren't real is that they would have lasted two minutes,
But 4 bouts of 25 minutes each ensured value for money.
Hi MM. Looking at this thread again,you are on the wrong track, in your first post.
It doesn't reinforce the view that matches were less scripted then.
The answer is that for some reason it suited the promoter for the mask to come off.
The wrestler might have had some say in the matter.
Sorry Adrian, too late for me. I had never heard of him before now.
Not to worry RON-Thanx for looking anyway!-I'm fairly sure they will pop up eventually-
I've had to wait years in the past for Stuff I wanted-and then Hey Presto they've suddenly
appeared!!
I know what you're saying but I have several '50's Programmes with sometimes EVERY
Bout had a 2-0 Result!!-A rarity for Television Matches and even early '60's Contests!
Just makes me wonder?!
MAIN MASK
I can't find any Brown Mask Bills for 56/57 and as always there had been earlier ones , but I also think that Devils and Marvels get mixed up in it all due to promoters being a bit too loose with info when dealing with advertisers.
With Billy Joyce I would think you are looking at Wryton land , also Riley and Atherton.
I like my collection of bills , almost 15,000 but not easy to find my way about them.
The Plunkett index has far more but despite that I believe the wrestling fraternity does not have even 25 percent.
I don't believe that results were real. Some of the action got rough but I believe that it was very rare that the end went against the promoters arrangements. Just my opinion though.
I find it hard to believe that the bout for any belt , title or unmasking was real.
That is actually the beauty of wrestling... for a long time it seemed real and thus was reported in the papers.
Fascinating Main Mask. My inclination is to think it was a case of Billy saying. "Eeeh, aw cawnt bi doin' wi' this thing on my 'ead all neet. Tek t' thing off Reg." (apparently Billy didn't swear).
Do you have any other of the 13 matches listed Main mask?