Which two wrestlers fought each other the most times?

Even before the digital age this phenomenon was exposed with visits to the seaside when the same two wrestlers would appear at several resorts all in one week!

I'm surprised there has been no mention of a Scottish pair? Their circuit was limited and the pool of Scots wrestlers also.

Or did they all end up facing English cannon fodder?

Tibor Szakacs against Bruno Elrington seemed to crop up quite often.

Johnnie Kidd v Blondie Barrett was a very frequent pairing.

I think that Brian Maxine vs Mick McMichael could be a candidate for one of the most frequent bouts. They seemed to fight each other on TV quite regularly.

Hi Anglo,

Just to clarify. They were training 3 times weekly in the gym, but not always against each other. Sometimes others such as Don Plummer, Bob Bannister would be showing them/us various other moves.

Cheers

Yes, Mike, I saw you wrote "training" three times a week. I was trying to establish direct relevance to bouts, which is what we are focused on here, so I imagined you meant "...and then off they popped to a venue."

It beggars belief why those two would have wanted to be training with each other three times a week....clearly couldn't get enough of each other in the groin.

Well I am not going through Ray Plunkett's entire index , so what I will say is that my own collection thus far is about 25,000 bills. It is a perception , but I am quite convinced from my own sampling that Svajik v St John is much more abundant than Colbeck McManus. Who knows though , maybe some rattled up hundreds against big Daddy. Maybe Marino had someone , but it would have to be over 20 plus years and not Dr Death or Al Hayes.

Indeed another question. HOW MANY WRESTLERS HAD AN OPONENT THAT THEY WORKED WITH OVER A HUNDRED TIMES.

I bet there were a lot , dozens , if not a few hundred wrestlers. Such is the nature of the game. All exposed here in the digital age.

What I wrote was "two of the most repeated billings" i.e. that's what was in a newspaper advertisement or printed on a poster. Unless you have results that all the bouts took place as printed then the best we can do is estimate.

But Ron, as The Ost reconfirmed, we already established Colbeck v McManus was number 1. When I wrote 5 times a month I genuinely feared I was under-egging it.

And Mike Augusta reduces the other pair to thrice weekly. This deliciously brings them down to 1,500 like the two veterans.

So it's all to play for. Neck and neck.

Have to agree with RON on this one. My late friends St John v Svajik would take some beating.

The thesis from Anglo that if they fought 5 times weekly for 10 years, that makes 2'500 bouts. I can definitely say that this was not the case. In the early years when both were semi pro's, we would be training 3 times weekly in the gym. This being up until 1967, when I left the UK, what happened after this I'm not sure, but even so they did have a fantastic run.

Cheers

I very much doubt McManus v Colbeck would be 5 times a month. They had prolific patches , almost ridiculous , but I also think distance dictated that there were rest periods.

Only my opinion , but I don't think we have anywhere near half of all bills. I have tried to follow some wrestlers careers especially tourists and always there are great big gaps.

But I will concede that McManus v Colbeck was one of the most prolific.

Mick Mc Michael must have been used a lot to put certain wrestlers over and the Royals had some massive repeat matches.

Tough one to make any sense of.

I disagree, Hack. I think we can know.

I agree we have not had access to 100% of bills over the 30 years in question. The percentage may be somewhere between 60% and 80% in my opinion.

But I think that this 70% is enough to be going on with to determine the "winning" pair.

Regardless of all that, I do agree with you that St John v Svajic and Colbeck v McManus will run out the winners. Longevity against shorter-lived intensity. Again we can turn to mathematics.

If McManus v Colbeck was five times a month over 25 years that's 1,500 bouts.

If St John v Svajic was five nights a week over 10 years (I need guidance on the duration, please) that's 2,500 bouts. But I don't think it was that intense, weren't they part-timers?

When all is said and done, and at the end of the day - a close-run thing. This is why it is indeed worth analysing the data to hand, rather than fretting about the smaller percentage of bouts we are not aware of.

I can't agree with The Ost. It's hard to agree with anyone because we don't have the evidence. Okay, many rely on Ray Plunkett's lists but even they only scratched the surface. There were far more shows than have been recorded. Clubs would have handwritten bills listed for their members, often with Joint men moonlighting. My own guess is of two likely answers. McManus v Colbeck because it lasted over so many years. But they had many, many other opponents. And St John v Svajic which went on for a decade or more night after night. I'd go for the latter, but none of us know.

Last time we looked, McManus vs Colbeck and McManus vs Kwango were two of the most repeated billings.

Kellett v Arras must be a contender.

Les Kellett vs Bobby Graham was a fairly regular occurrence on the circuit

The above entries are mentioned with affection and nostalgia.

Not mine:

It was impossible to root for such a dour, flat-footed blue-eye as Alan Colbeck. Fair play to both, they strove to keep it fresh each time. But when you'd witnessesd the match several times, it was just the same old routines.

Never mind, they didn't have internet nerds like me to worry about 48 to 73 years ago. I don't think the other entries will match this pair's 25-year fling.

Above and Below-MARK ROLLERBALL ROCCO against KUNG FU- BOTH

Contests at COLSTON HALL in BRISTOL!!

Both Top of The Bill!!

MM

Yes PETER S.-DOCTOR DEATH Fought MIKE MARINO Hundreds of Times!!

Here's One Encounter at GRANADA HARROW!!

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