Steve Davis here.
No, not the former professional snooker player, but a genuine lifelong supporter of professional wrestling that was broadcast on the ITV World of Sport on Saturday afternoons from Nov 1955 to Dec 1988.
Yes, I remember very well the good old days of wrestling, when the likes of Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, King Kong Kirk, Kendo Nagasaki, Jim Breaks, Mick McManus, Johnny England and Steve Grey to name but a few, regularly entertained us by filling our TV screens with their exciting and flamboyant styles of wrestling at 4pm on Sat afternoons.
I first became a lover of professional wrestling and its theatrical performers in the early 1980's.
My family were living in Blackpool at the time, and on a regular basis my Dad used to take me to watch wrestling at the world-famous Blackpool Tower at 7pm on Sunday evenings.
On the evening of the event it was really great to meet and chat to some of the wrestlers who had been billed to appear that evening, and over the years I have collected a multitude of wrestling memorabilia, including show programmes, photographs and even some old event tickets, all of which I have kept in a box file at home.
So yes, I became completely hooked on the sport, an infatuation that has continued to captivate me to this very day.
In 2001, I was a regular supporter and contributor to Gerald Fleming's Wrestling Fanzine magazine, and was once picked out of the audience by Brian Dixon at the Stockport Plaza to work as a second in a programme that featured James Mason and the Liverpool lads.
I still like to visit live wrestling events whenever I have the opportunity, although like all other sports, the ongoing pandemic has meant that wrestling has sadly had the wind taken out of its sails over the past year.
I like to play wrestling catch up on Utube. The latest match I saw was a singles contest that featured Jim Breaks V Adrian Street, the latter of whom, although I am aware that he at one time regularly tagged with Bobby Barnes, I have seen very little of him even when he was in his heyday. Nevertheless, the match with Breaks was in my opinion a highly recommendable one, featuring two wrestlers with enormous talent, both of whom our members will of course be familiar with, but for those who have never before seen these two superb athletes in action together, I won't give the result away.
I wish to pay tribute to those great characters of British Wrestling who have made the sport what it is today, and take pride in saying that wrestling is still very much in my blood today.
Finally,
Thanks to the organisers of this website who have taken the time and trouble to compile the TIMELINE section, this of which I am reading with tremendous interest and am currently up to the year 1950, so I have a few years to go yet before I reach the end.
That’s all for now folks,
Keep safe and well.
And in the words of Kent Walton,
Have a good week until next week.
Steve.
Welcome aboard Steve.