Unfortunately bad language as crept into most sports these days and is now looked on as the norm, boxing is probably one of worst next to football, great shame as once over it was the norm not to swear in front of women/children or an audience. A case of society in decline i'm afraid.

From what i've read Bob Roop appeared to be a good, tough wrestler with a solid background in the amateur ranks and not to be messed with, but i believe he was black balled in the American business towards the late 1970s having participated/released an expose documentary on professional wrestling called "Plan B" (i think) stating he'd never participated in a genuine professional contest and that the entire business was fake. There are a few of his contests on Youtube, and even the "Plan B" documentary pops up from time to time. Shame really as like Rick Hunter he looked the real deal.

Mighty John Quinn took Joint Promotion's original World Heavyweight title belt with him when Orig lured him over to the Independents. Tony St.Clair then followed suite and took his British Heavyweight Title with him. A year or so later Wayne Bridges departed for the Independents and took the second version of Joint's World Heavyweight title with him. Now from memory 🙂 i believe at the end of the first season of Reslo Quinn lost the original Joint title to St.Clair, who kept both the British & World Heavyweight titles. The second season of Reslo saw Quinn defeated by St.Clair again via a stoppage (head cut) in the return contest. Both of these contests are virtually the only two bouts which have never surfaced to buy, you could say Reslo Platinum. Weeks later Bridges enters the ring at the end of a St.Clair bout with his second version of the World title and states "he" has the legit version not St.Clair. I think Orig declares one version to be the WWA and the other the WWF (Or similar).So at least at this time The Independents had both versions of Joint's world title along with the British heavyweight title. Quite the coup!

Loved to hate him during the 70s, still remember Mick McMichael smashing Maxine's guitar over his head at the end of their bout much to the approval of a jubilant audience. Like Brian's leotard slogan proclaimed he was a "superstar." RIP Superstar.

Off topic but, only discovered Frank Randall since watching TPTV and thought to myself what have i been missing. He made about half dozen films and i had to have them all on dvd. The late comedy actor John Inman was a big fan of Randall and he pays tribute to him on "Youtube." There's also footage Of John Inman playing Frank Randall's character the old hiker from "The Good Old Days" also on youtube, very good too. "I'm 92 you know, i would've been 93 but me dad was shy!" There's a story that Randall & Formby were on the same bill at Blackpool. Formby's wife wasn't happy that Randall was top of the bill and Formby below him. She thought Frank was crude and common and didn't deserve top billing, she moaned that much to the manager that the billing was changed. Roughly five minutes before Formby was due on stage Randall nailed George's dressing room door shut and beggared off to the pub to get plastered.

Thanks Ken, Would loved to have seen that Jones/Bridges clash along with the Marino/Rudge contest. Wonder if this poster was around 1980 as Bridges is wearing the original World Heavyweight belt in the picture, and below describes him as the former champion.

Strangely enough there's also an Adam's .v. Colt bout on youtube.

An absolute HUMAN DYNAMO of a wrestler, loved to watch him.

Well deserved

Terrific wrestler and entertainer. The lyrics of Bob Hope's old signature tune says it all for me "Thanks For The Memories."

It will be a long time before he's forgotten. R.I.P

I have an old TVTimes schedule which has Mal Kirk billed from Canada! Possibly Mal had returned to Blighty from a tour of Canada so a misunderstanding emerged.

Here's the below enlarged;

2 From Ebay

Very sad news indeed. The following are few items from my collection. I do remember Mr.Yasu Fuji having a half dozen or so televised contests while working for Joint Promotions before leaving for the (non televised) Independent Circuit (probably for better pay). Commentator Kent Walton stated Mr.Fuji was ranked in the world top 10 during his stint with Joint. He was part of a successful tag team partnership with Canadian Mighty/Big John Quinn in the U.K and was Quinn's ring second during Quinn's challenge for the British version of the World Heavyweight Title. In a memorable televised contest against British Heavyweight Champion Tony St.Clair he thought he'd gained a 2-1 victory over the Champion only to have the fall disallowed for placing his feet on the ropes as leverage. Mr.Fuji then walked out of the contest. Another occasion Mr. Fuji delivered a chop to the head a restrained Big Daddy during a challenge by Big Daddy. Before each contest Mr.Fuji would go through the Sumo ceremony of stomping, bowing and salt throwing. Hope you find more mementos of your Dad. BELOW - Taken from The Sun Newspaper 1980. All below taken from RINGSPORT magazine.

A superheavyweight by the name of "The Great Antonio" billed at around 6' 5" and weighing about 30 stones toured Japan in 1977 and before being defeated by Antonio Inoki he regularly competed in 1 against 3, 4 even 5 matches. Heaven knows how entertaining these contests were but he wrestled stiff against Inoki and paid the price.

There is/was an interview with Bruno on Youtube which i have previously mentioned on another thread on "Heritage" where he stated that while wrestling in Japan against Antonio Inoki the Japanese star tried to shoot on him while wrestling in a bout for Giant Baba's promotion. Sammartino states he knew what Inoki was up to as Inoki was about to jump ship and form his own promotion with Karl Gotch. Bruno believed Inoki and Gotch had colluded to try and make him along with Baba's promotion look bad before leaving and forming their own organisation. This backfired as Sammartino realised what was happening in the ring and was too strong for Inoki. He states he never trusted Inoki or Gotch again.

Not sure i go along with that statement. Dynamite comes across as a bitter man to me. Great wrestler with little man syndrome.

You're welcome lads. Yes Ellen worked with many artists Jim Steinman put a girl group together in the late 1980's called Pandora's Box which included Ellen the album featured the song "It's All Coming Back To Me" several years before both Meatloaf and Celine Dion had hits with it. She also worked with Blue Oyster Cult.