VIC FAULKNER'S FIRST EVER BOUT?

I remember Vic’s style of wrestling well. Especially the great move off the bottom rope, and out of trouble. Bert would use the same impressive move, and come back into a full Boston Crab to the delight of the crowd. Great wrestling from the Bolton brothers.

Just as an answer to Leonards earlier post re Bert and Rocco,whilst I was never a "Royals" fan ,In my opinion Bert in his prime could have given Rocco a "real arse kicking " had he chosen to.Rocco was all energy,but Bert was a far superior wrestler.Just my opinion

Just going back to this old thread as I have found another 1960 Vic Faulkner Bill

Vic and Jim were doing this bout years later. Amazing.

The temptation of a pre Christmas purse would make the journey well worth while

So, did Vic travel with Arthur and Cyril? Bolton to Newcastle is quite a journey for a 16 year old.

Well done The Ost so Vic wrestled even before he was sixteen and a half and we can deduce that he was initially kept away from Belle Vue and probably even Wryton. 1960 for sure.

Another Newcastle one:

Dec 17th 1960;NEWCASTLE;Faulkner bt Dennison;Oakley 1-1 Graham;E.Taylor bt Tony Olivera, Branch/Johnson bt Ryan/A.Cadman

Vic had some great bouts versus Jimmy Breaks, especially when he won the belt back in a close contest. When Bert placed the belt around Vic’s waist, the whole audience just erupted into applause, and clearly an emotional moment for Vic.

Vic Faulkners singles matches were always more impressive than tag matches for which he is more remembered now

Fair play and also Foley v Tom Faulkner was a welter weight contest. Doubt if Lew could pass as Welter.

So was Foley actually helping Vic Faulkner when Vic was 16.

John Foley had not been wrestling long here , perhaps 2-3 years (I think)

Could Tom Faulkner actually be Lew Faulkner , who by now was probably part time.

Had Lew took him up to Newcastle for big stadium experience.

Good Clue Ost and you certainly have a point.

This really puts the cat among the pigeons

Maybe someone can verify/discount this one, we have a few Newcastle gurus here:

October 15th 1960;NEWCASTLE;Colbeck bt Lucon;Foley bt Faulkner;Kaiser bt Graham;Mitchell bt Kuti

That means at the time of his first TV appearance in April 1962 he was seventeen

Wrestlingdata.com have him 14th June 1944 . That's probably correct.

At least this thread shows that he was top of the bill before and after his tag team years

Just checked another angle. That date of birth of 14th July 1944 is wrong.

It is not much out but Vic;s birth was registered in quarter 2 of 1944 so birthday between April and end June.

Apologies , my mistake MM.

Anyway thus far we have him at sixteen years and three months. Not many have ever beaten that.

Main Mask.....Your Banbury bill WEDNESDAY FEB 14th equates to 1962 on the calculator. (not 1961)

Just for the love of god don't start a Johnny Saint tread ...

Apologies Hack if my comments about the Royals crossed the line. You are of course right, just because I didn't like them doesn't mean everyone else feels the same. They did indeed do a lot for the sport as did many wrestlers I didn't particularly enjoy.

You'll never know how hard that was …

Also surprising that in 1961 he was in the second bill on the card versus Adrian Street

The right type of nepotism, I'd say, Saxonwolf.

Due to wrestling's very special secret circumstance.

He got the push, got McManus. But the lads knew he could be relied upon to stick around and not let cats out of bags.

That he developed so well - credit to the individual, down to him.

What is interesting to me is that, if early 1961 is really his start date for wrestling in front of an audience, then he seems to have "fast tracked" to facing McManus in six months?

Just the family connection of Dad and Brother, or did the promoters really see something in him that would make him popular, especially with the growing TV audience?

There is a feature here on Vic https://www.boltonrevisited.org.uk/p-vic-faulkner.html

born 14th July 1944 and they say turned pro at 17.

My Russel club bill beats age seventeen by about three months.

1960 looks a big ask .

I have checked Newcastle 1960 as Ost suggests but no sign of him there.

Very unusual for a wrestler to wrestle at 16 , but Vic did it by a few months. Remains to be seen if he did it any younger.

I can see matches for him in October & November 1960. Wakefield, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Eltham, Preston.

It might be a matter of double checking to ensure none are 1966 mislabelled.

I do find it hard to see Vic wrestling in 1960.

It is just an opinion , but the Russell club in Hulme was a standard route into Wryton Wrestling.

April 61 seems to be his first time although I could have missed one , in fact I am not sure how many bouts they put on. They usually advertised just two with cabaret.

I don't think he would have wrestled in many other venues before this , but just maybe they did put extra bouts on before advertising these boys.

It could also be that he was accepted into the Wryton School in 1960 with the intention of a bout as soon as ready.

Someone out there will have a a much better idea than me what really went on.

I've often said I wasn't a fan of the Royals. Nothing wrong with them, I just found their squeaky clean image quite nauseating. But I do feel uneasy at reading some of these opinions and feel the need to defend. Thousands of fans (millions if we count the armchair fans) loved them and they brought enjoyment into peoples lives for more than a quarter of a century. Not everyone can be our favourite but they should have credit for their skill and entertainment.

Great thread and I can help a lot with the picture here.

If You are Wryton , the tryout place is the Russel Club in Hulme and the other consideration would be Vic's home town of Bolton.

At this time many were learning in the Russel Club such as Ginsberg , and then Joynson , Cutler and Roy StClair who I find working with Vic.

1960 is very early but certainly 1961 I can do you proud.

The bill below is a cracker with father and two sons in their home town

June 23rd, 1961, Mick McManus beat Vic Faulkner, will see if I can find anything earlier than that.

Ha ha.Hi Adrain. Never warmed to these two, they didn't look like brothers either. I remember Bertie boy doing his tired old face slap routine on Rocco at Fairfield halls back in the day. He hit Rocco one too many times and you could see Mark was annoyed so he gave Bert one back only about five times as hard which dazed him, I laughed like a drain Bet that one left that huge ego brused. I also saw his doughnut of a brother refuse an autograph to a kid of about ten, there was nobody else asking and it would have taken him all of five seconds but he was obviously far to important for that.

He had singles bouts well into 1984 including a televised match from Wolves against Dave Finlay broadcast in October 1984