WHEN SHOWMEN MEET-1-PALLO VS. STREET!!

Thanks for your really interesting input Frank. It is very similar to my own experiences..,, Adrian wrestled Jon Cortez at the Pembroke Hall in Walkden at the time I lived less than a mile away so of course I went. I can not confirm the date except it was late seventies possibly 1978 or 79: The difference was Street was the winner. Both Street and Cortez were great to watch put on a fantastic show. I never saw Pallo in the flesh and because they left tv wrestling particularly Pallo there is little left behind. The charisma comment irritated me as it is insulting to champion wrestlers. But, honestly, it is not without some truth in Streets case. As a character he was larger than life and BIGGER and remembered more than 99% of the other wrestlers arguably only McManus had a higher public profile. You do mention some thing that gives me some concern. Your telling of the Liverpool bouts and the weird two matches due to a weight issue......is exactly the same as the Bill Ross wrestling scenario in Scotland. For some reason which they say was weight there were two matches. When I read it on the Scottish blog I assumed it was just that being a title bout they were very strict on weight and if one was overweight it could not be a title contest. That the same happened in Liverpool is puzzling. BUT Street went on to a successful USA career and I read somewhere he is now back in the UK hopefully happy and healthy.

@poolstead hi Poolstead. Many thanks for your reply. I was lucky enough to see Jackie Pallo live against Adrian a couple of times.. Both humdingers. Jackie did win a British title I recall from Bert Royal I think? But conceded in his much vilified biography "You Grunt, I'll Groan". That similar to Adrian, he didn't need "titles" to get ahead in wrestling, where Adrian had pure wrestling skills & charisma + Jackie relied more on charisma than wrestling and was i quote: "Ever so happy when he "lost" his title two weeks later. Jon Cortez actually won the middleweight title at Liverpool in the eliminating series against Johnny Palance, after Adrian had been "stripped" of his title following the weigh in rumpus, similar to what happened in Scotland. All part of the script I would suggest?

I did say at the start of my comment that the papers say he left due to money and I do not doubt that. But Street was a major wrestling star not just another wrestler. So unless he was asking some outrageous figure I don’t know why they let him go ultimately they did not value him as much as he did himself and I suspect it was their mistake. Promoters can be greedy too. And I also said my comments on whether he was popular with the promoters was conjecture, speculation on my part you can see some like McManus Were popular with them. Thats what made me think of titles Kent said Often in the sixties that Street was the Welsh lightweight champion whilst others some he beat regularly were British, European etc.I suspect that Street was not a stupid man but if he was of the same opinion as yourself that they were for lesser men with little charisma at best this is a nieve view. The dictionary definition of champion is to be the best of in wrestling it would mean the best in your weight category. I understand that Street viewed the wrestling world from the inside so he knew himself how good he was. But there is another side ...I refer to Joe Public and it mattered greatly to all the wrestling fans this should not be underestimated. And honestly I think most wrestlers recognised that fact too Brian Maxine added GOLDBELT to his name as soon as he became a champion, I thinks lot valued it. Even today titles change hands all the time and it’s a big buzz and selling point for professional wrestling. Even in those long ago days of the golden age we like to think the champions were among the best around that the titles did mean something, On this site they never fail to mention in a wrestlers bio if they held titles at any time. Was Street different? He was certainly worthy of a national title at this time. Two thoughts occurred to me .....one is that THE TITLES ARE OWNED BY THE PROMOTERS NOT THE WRESTLERS SO ULTIMATELY THEY HAVE FINAL SAY. Remember at the time Street was beating Johnny Saint, Jon Cortez, Bill Ross etc on a regular basis he was beaten by Vic Faulkner in his challenge for the British Welterweight title. My second thought is if Street felt like you that he was bigger than titles ( as only necessary for men with less charisma) why did he quickly become a champion when he left joint promotions? I read somewhere that he held a version of the world middleweight title and just before he emigrated he travelled to Scotland to wrestle old rival Bill Ross. They wrestled twice for his championship, apparently the first time there was a weight problem so they wrestled again. Bill Ross became the new world champion and Street moved to the USA. I assume as he was emigrating he was happy for an old pal to become the new champ. And very shortly afterwards Bill Ross retired himself do not think he ever defended his title. But he ended his career on a high as a world champion and I bet that mattered to him. Sadly Bill was one of the many overlooked men who never held a British title you would have thought he would have been the natural successor to his compatriot George Kidd but that title went to Johnny Saint. Ross lost to Saint in one of those tangled in the ropes in the ring injuries and could not continue.....but he did not travel like Johnny Saint stayed north and as I said these titles belong to the promoters. But ask yourself would he have bothered wrestling for Streets world title and then to retire himself if it meant nothing to him?

I was at This Show at BOLTON's WRYTON STADIUM-One of My Old

Stomping Grounds!

Great Nite-Great Main Bout!-STREET How I will always Remember him!

Who else saw JACKIE PALLO Fight ADRIAN STREET Live then??

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