Journalist and wrestling enthusiast Thomas Brace produces the Headlock History podcast series, exploring the history of British professional wrestling from the golden era to the present day.
"After 1965, Hack? That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Okay, I didn't express myself well. I only remember "after 1965" and they were good years, quality starting to deteriorate around 1976 or 77 I would say. Maybe even a year or two later as I was happily paying my money until 77 or 78.
What I was referring to was that from when I started going in 1965 audiences were visibly reducing. Preston Joint shows went from fortnightly to every three weeks, to monthly. The listings on the back page of The Wrestler showed this was not isolated. Compare the number of shows in 1965 to 1972 to see just how they reduced. Then look back to 1962, and see that 1965 was already on a downward trend. Televised shows sometimes seemed to be less than capacity, I don't recall that being the case in 1965.
So it was not a comment on quality, but I definitely always thought the writing was on the wall.
After 1965, Hack? That's a bit harsh, don't you think? For me there were ten or twelve more very good years in general, with only the occasional ridiculous elements (Catweazle, 1972.)
I can't remember before 1965 but I do remember loads of men crowded around our tv to see The Outlaw against Steve Viedor in November 1965. That was all very serious, very believable, and absolutely sensational. Strangely, albeit irrelevant, I remember they all wanted to stay to see My Three Sons after the wrestling.
When Hack and I were interviewed for the BBC show, we were filmed speaking for well over three hours and the BBC selected just a few snippets, obviously out of our flowing contexts. But it was all right.
Professor Tom here, you may be interested to know, filmed us for over 100 minutes. He must have had a right time editing out all our references to the memorabilia we referenced and displayed. Listening to the podcast, you can't tell that we were all looking at each other, I believe.
Tom still holds out hope of sharing the whole 100 minutes on film. So if he does ever manage to share this, it would just about equate to the second instalment that some Members have requested.
Thanks for joining us britwrescent. I've no great knowledge of the 1980s period but my opinion of the part played by American wrestling in the cancellation of televised UK wrestling is no more than it was a cheap product to buy in in the 1980s.
For those watching at any time after 1965 it became obvious the writing was on the wall..British wrestling was becoming tired and the 1970s promoters response was to make it less believable and insult the intelligence of fans leading to a poor product and dwindling audiences.
Time did fly. Hack and Anglo Italian were as entertainable and knowledgeable as I would expect. More surprising was that the interviewer showed an understanding of old British wrestling, which is unusual these days, but gave Hack and Anglo Italian time to expand their opinions. Although they do come from different perspectives it was clear there is a real warmth and friendship between Hack and Anglo Italian. One hour was not enough. Can we have a part 2 please? I shall listen to the rest of this series, but this will take some beating.
Hi Tom, glad you enjoyed the podcast episode! I'm also glad I was able to show an understanding of the Golden Era hahaha, especially given as it makes up a key part of my dissertation. I've learned a lot over the past 3-4 months about British wrestling - I've actually picked up a lot even since this podcast was filmed. I strongly feel it is something more British wrestlers and fans of today should be aware of.I would be down for a part two at sometime in the future! Though I cannot and would not like to speak for Hack and Anglo, I can say for myself that I would thoroughly enjoy digging a bit deeper into some of the topics we discussed and some new ones as well.The other episodes of the podcast include an episode covering the time period between the Golden Era and now, an episode with a modern day wrestler and an interview with Ben Litherland, an academic with whom I was able to discuss British wrestling from a socio-cultural and political angle. Hopefully these can be of interest to you as well!https://www.youtube.com/@BritWresCenthttps://open.spotify.com/show/1WdBOaS62s1G4ehA7uByDf?si=9dd07f0e91d045e7
Just listened through a wonderful nostalgic hour , and in a way it scratches the surface as I think you could sit down and talk for 10 hours with more memories. Well done Hack and Anglo for trying to nominate most memorable matches . There really were so many. As there were wrestlers who stood out for each of us.
As a historic point I doubt that American wrestling had anything to do with the decline. By 1972 it just seemed to go down year on year. I guess to be fair this was alluded to.
Thought the championship belts might have got a mention , but there are so many aspects , it just is not possible to get it all into an hour.
Yes 2000 web pages.... Heritage is the place to be if you want the info , dig in and read.
Listened in this morning and as Ron said the surface was barely scratched, I though you were both really getting into your stride and then the hour was up. Very enjoyable but not long enough.
Glad you enjoyed the episode Ron, and I totally agree that the episode could have been double or triple in length! The point about American wrestling has been an interesting one. One of the key research questions in my dissertation is determining what led to the cancellation of wrestling off of ITV in 1988, and whilst some have said the expansion of the WWF as a point towards this, others have debunked it as well.Going into the belts would have been good - and would have been interesting to compare their use to modern wrestling, where they are more of a prop for the storytelling with notable exceptions.
"Thought the championship belts might have got a mention , but there are so many aspects , it just is not possible to get it all into an hour."
No one really researched them, except for myself...I am very serious about it. I was the first person on this forum who brought BELTS subject up...that happened in 2017, I think, around that time. Prior to that there was great silence re belts on Heritage.
Anglo Italian
1h
"After 1965, Hack? That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Okay, I didn't express myself well. I only remember "after 1965" and they were good years, quality starting to deteriorate around 1976 or 77 I would say. Maybe even a year or two later as I was happily paying my money until 77 or 78.
What I was referring to was that from when I started going in 1965 audiences were visibly reducing. Preston Joint shows went from fortnightly to every three weeks, to monthly. The listings on the back page of The Wrestler showed this was not isolated. Compare the number of shows in 1965 to 1972 to see just how they reduced. Then look back to 1962, and see that 1965 was already on a downward trend. Televised shows sometimes seemed to be less than capacity, I don't recall that being the case in 1965.
So it was not a comment on quality, but I definitely always thought the writing was on the wall.
After 1965, Hack? That's a bit harsh, don't you think? For me there were ten or twelve more very good years in general, with only the occasional ridiculous elements (Catweazle, 1972.)
I can't remember before 1965 but I do remember loads of men crowded around our tv to see The Outlaw against Steve Viedor in November 1965. That was all very serious, very believable, and absolutely sensational. Strangely, albeit irrelevant, I remember they all wanted to stay to see My Three Sons after the wrestling.
When Hack and I were interviewed for the BBC show, we were filmed speaking for well over three hours and the BBC selected just a few snippets, obviously out of our flowing contexts. But it was all right.
Professor Tom here, you may be interested to know, filmed us for over 100 minutes. He must have had a right time editing out all our references to the memorabilia we referenced and displayed. Listening to the podcast, you can't tell that we were all looking at each other, I believe.
Tom still holds out hope of sharing the whole 100 minutes on film. So if he does ever manage to share this, it would just about equate to the second instalment that some Members have requested.
Thanks for joining us britwrescent. I've no great knowledge of the 1980s period but my opinion of the part played by American wrestling in the cancellation of televised UK wrestling is no more than it was a cheap product to buy in in the 1980s.
For those watching at any time after 1965 it became obvious the writing was on the wall..British wrestling was becoming tired and the 1970s promoters response was to make it less believable and insult the intelligence of fans leading to a poor product and dwindling audiences.
For once we can't blame the Americans.
Time did fly. Hack and Anglo Italian were as entertainable and knowledgeable as I would expect. More surprising was that the interviewer showed an understanding of old British wrestling, which is unusual these days, but gave Hack and Anglo Italian time to expand their opinions. Although they do come from different perspectives it was clear there is a real warmth and friendship between Hack and Anglo Italian. One hour was not enough. Can we have a part 2 please? I shall listen to the rest of this series, but this will take some beating.
Just listened through a wonderful nostalgic hour , and in a way it scratches the surface as I think you could sit down and talk for 10 hours with more memories. Well done Hack and Anglo for trying to nominate most memorable matches . There really were so many. As there were wrestlers who stood out for each of us.
As a historic point I doubt that American wrestling had anything to do with the decline. By 1972 it just seemed to go down year on year. I guess to be fair this was alluded to.
Thought the championship belts might have got a mention , but there are so many aspects , it just is not possible to get it all into an hour.
Yes 2000 web pages.... Heritage is the place to be if you want the info , dig in and read.