I always looked forward to watching Jimmy Breaks wrestle on the TV. In the lighter weights he was always in the thick of it, titles, controversies and constant TV exposure. His arguements with Kent Walton (particularly in one particular Jon Cortez bout) added to the rage he created. For me he was one of our greatest villains ever in British wrestling, In his peak he was up there alongside the latter work of Rocco and Finlay. But before they reached their peak and kick started real interest in the upper middle weights, it was Breaks in the lighter weights that always held my interest. His opposition of course in the time I watched it were all first class; Johnny Saint, Jon Cortez, Vic Faulkner, Zoltan Boscik and of course Steve Grey whom I think he had some of his best matches with. I missed out on his 1960s days. Jim was also so reliable due to his hated reputation for beating up the young newcomers. Yet he was so good at putting over all the new youngsters coming through the ranks. Bobby Ryan, Dynamite, Young Dave Boy Smith and then in later years Danny Collins and Peter Bainbridge. Breaks played his part in making them all stars. Looking back on his style it could be said his way of getting the crowd baying for his blood was simple yet it was very clever. He was hated due to his great skill, that everyone secretly admired, yet mixed up with his cocky demenour, his stone faced sneers, his fantastic scathing one liners he frequently shouted to the audience in quiet lulls, his behind the ref punches and his vicious wrist locks and overhead suspension submission all added to becoming the ultimate villain and gaining the extreme heat. His reading the audience and his timing was impeccable. Watching him on the TV I'm sure the whole nation used to wince in unison when he did those snapping wrist locks, combined with his little 'eee' shrieks he uttered as he did them. At the time no one sussed how the snap noise was made, yet it created even more sympathy for whichever hapless blue eye who was on the receiving end. Everyone was convinced that wrists would be broken. For good wrestling to be even better we now know how it always takes two to tango, and the 'selling' his opponents did was everybit as intergral to the way Breaks was portrayed. For me he will always be remembered as the one to watch on the TV, the man we all wanted to see beaten. I rank him much higher than McManus and Logan and definately up there with Quinn, Rocco and Finlay as one of the greatest bad boys on the TV golden era. Its a shame things ended as they did for him, not a lot we can add to that, so we should remember him for being a truly great wrestler and well deserved champion. Happy New year all !

The Dave Larkin on the poster was Brian Trevors son Dave, who wrestled as Dave Larkin, is it the same person who has passed away ?

and Mike Bennet turned out to be a great villain !

Brian Maxine switched from villain to blue eye....always better as a villain I thought. Alan Dennison was another....although he was a great blue eye, particularly against the likes of Jim Breaks !

In latter day World of Sport, the best wrestlers not to hold titles I would say were Terry Rudge, Pete Roberts (OK he held the Mid heavy weight World title for a day or two...), Skull Murphy, Mike Bennet, King Ben, Tally Ho Kaye, Mick McMicheal and Kung Fu

For me as a kid, I only saw Haystacks once. I can recall seeing the dressing room door open at King's Lynn Corn Exchange and this enormous character loom out from the shadows, what a presence. For awesome heat and great expectation was seeing Quinn v St Clair at the same venue not long after they had defected from Joints. The queue went right across the adjoining car park and the atmoshere was electric. Quinn was hated more than any other villain at that time I care to remember. What chemistry those two had. The only disappointment was quite a quick double knockout decission, but the action before that was immense. Another moment of heat that nearly saw the hall explode was when Neil Sands jumped the ring in his regular clothes to challenge a devious Johnny Kincaid at the end of his bout. Kincaid promptly grabbed Neil's watch and smashed it to smithereens....very sadly Neil's watch was an engagement present from his wife...according to the MC. At that point the hall erupted and set them up nicely for a return match....It was the talking point for weeks after, how rotten and horrible Mr Kincaid was !! Greatest 4 man KO tornament - again at Kings Lynn....would be everyones dream these days to have witnessed it. Rocco V Danny Collins first semi. Rocco wins after an awesome battle. He was being booed and shouted at but not with the usual venom and vigour. Secretly everyone was willing him on.No one wanted either Finlay or Rocco disqualified in their matches as they were all praying for the inevitable final. Would it happen was the thought as the 4 men were inroduced at the start ? By the time of the second semi, Fit Finlay v Steve Regal, the atmosphere was wired. Another titanic battle that Finlay dictated and won. The match was most memorable and filled with high drama as a punter jumped the ring and walloped Finlay (for real). As Finlay held Regal in a strangle hold, the bloke smashes Finlay in the cheek. Finlay shook himself, where most mortals would have been kocked out, rallied against the ropes and then unleashed himself. He went mad yet in a cool and calm way, smashing his assilant into next week as a bemused Regal stood watching with a wry smile on his face. The punter left via the back door, with a black eye, a swollen cheek and a bloody nose, threatening to bring back half of King's Lynn to finish Finlay. Needless to say he never returned. So the highly anticipated battle occurred; Finlay v Rocco. Strangely i can't recall who won, except it was everything you'd expect. I had seen them battle it out at Norwich weeks before too. Strangely this is where wrestling crowds and psychology of those in the ring sometimes are at odds. Despite all the expectations and the brutality being dished out in the ring, the crowd were a bit lost. Good v evil went out of the window as evil faced evil. Rocco was suddenly the 'blue eye'. It was great don't get me wrong, but no where near the reaction when Finlay or Rocco faced Cullen or Yamada or Collins or Jones, arguably 4 of the finest opponents they had. Most humerous moment was seeing Catweazle v Magnificent Maurice (pre military Colnel Brody). Catweazle managed to do what no one imagined they d see in a Kings Lynn ring...shockingly hilarious at the time but deeply embarrasing for the Magnificent fellow, as his trunks got pulled right off, he got thrown with his trunks tangled around his ankles before Catweazle rolled him up for the winning pin !! Many of the women nearby in the crowd shouted out you aren't so magnificent after all..... Danny Collins v young Irish Tony Stuart was one of the most spell binding, scientific, clean wrerstling matches I ever saw. An 8 round draw - you could hear a pin drop, such was the captivation of the crowd. Most shocking entrance at the time...was American Dream Chris Colt as he entered to take on Kung Fu. Ring entrances were hardly that striking at the time (apart from Big Daddy), but in he came with Highway to Hell by AC DC blaring out, swigging back beer spitting it high into the crowd, with a joint hanging out of his other hand, sudded dog collar around his neck, Alice Cooper make up weaping down his face - here was the man banned from TV wrestling ! Needless to say he was disqualified after a riotous affair. Hardly the ninth wonder of the world he was billed as but very entertaining and shocking at the time ! Most worrying moment was seeing a second sent sailing through the air after taking the full force of Chic Cullen's boot as he tried to prevent himself from taking a Rocco posting on the metal turnbuckles. The second had jumped up to re position the padding right at the wrong moment. He sailed through the air, landing in a heap in the aisle unconscious - it was definietly real - luckily he escaped serious injury - even Rocco looked concerned, well for a little while, until the bout was then announced as abandoned as the ambulance people carted the poor ol second to the QE hospital. Another great bout with huge heat, fully packed crowd and long queues to get in was Rocco v Yamada in a title match - what a battle that was ! no quarter given by either. Huge bumps, inside the ring, outside the ring, blood, highs, lows, it had verything and more that Rocco bouts usually had. What a match. Thats my lot for now !

So, what we keep forgetting is how insanely popular Big Daddy was for a huge part of the audience. As a kid I was one of them. As i grew older it lost its appeal ....but....for a time the audiences came, they loved it and as has been said many times the Daddy roadshow created bookings in halls and work for the others on the bill. Now that everyone seems to know everything about the business it seems easy to ridicule, but watch some of the American stuff from a similar and later era and there was just as much show orientated performances that could be deemed equally cringeworthy. I just watched the above tag and can see its merits, not as bad as some might portray. I think what i think equally or more insulting to the business is some of the modern coriographed stuff. Great athletics, yes, but wrestling of the style many on here predumably love, there is very little to be seen. But again its the evolution of the spectacle i

Here you go, a picture from a mid 6os Wrestling Review No 327. (no date unfortunately) of an early Spiros Arion on his first visit to the UK

King's Lynn and Norwich Corn Exhanges were both very popular venues. Dale Martins initially then Brian Dixons Wrestling Enterprises in late 70s before becoming All Star Promotions into 90s. In the 80s Dale martins still had the odd show at King's Lynn but thier shows lacked the intensity of Dixon's and their popularity wained, so Brian had the monopoly. The same could be said for Yarmouth, All Star capitilized when Dale Martins finished there. In the 80s and into the 90s both Norwich and Lynn became renowned on the circuit for crowd trouble such was the heat generated. It is very difficult these days whilst witnessing any modern wrestling thinking that anyone in a crowd could get so incensed to want to get involved, but it seemed the norm then. Testament to the style, the rules (to be broken) and the talented psychology wrestlers of that generation employed.

Back in my wrestling days as a beginner in the late 1980s I was matched with a heavier opponent at Norwich Corn Exchange who had been on the telly a few times ( I wont name him) and he'd started to gain a bit of heat locally. Basically it was one of those nights where everything went wrong, i got knocked about fairly as a consequence before finally my opponent left the ring frustrated more than anything I believe, leaving me a very unikely 'winner'. It was the shittest match I ever had and I felt terrible, felt like quitting, but I did nt and had many better matches thereafter. Part of a learning curve for me I guess. The crowd however were left very puzzled and bemused as to what really happened......

I'm pretty sure he was also in a Carry On film the other week too, wrestling Bernard Breslaw ? Carry on Loving I think it was

Pat Barrett was a great wrestler, talker and performer. I only saw him in the mid 80s when was he was back wrestling for All Star against the likes of Bridges, Quinn, Bill Clarke and of course Rollerball Rocco. His bouts with the latter were brilliant, brutal brawls. Totally believable not as technical perhaps as some of Rocco's usual opponents but raw aggression from both. Far better than their bout on Youtube. At King's Lynn Bridges wrestled villain and walked out after a few rounds. I heard from a good source that an earlier tour saw him wrestle the likes of Kincaid, Bill Bromley and Yasu Fuji at Norwich and these too were bouts that created much heat and brutal memories for those who witnessed them. Would liked to have seen him in the 60s when he was young taking on the likes of Billy Robinson etc. For anyone who has nt seen his screen sport tag match alongside John Quinn, track it down ! Great interview by the two of them with Quinn demolishing some fish and chips (!) whilst in the said match Barrett takes out some punters who unwisely decide to have a go.... Here's a pic I took at Norwich in the mid 80s challenging Bill Clarke to a rematch. RIP Bonecrusher

In the late 80s in and around the Norfolk scene I 'm pretty sure heavyweight Dave Daring wrestled as The Mummy...later the outfit got used by a Norwich wrestler Johnny Silver. Dave might have been one of the East Anglian versions on the posters, but not sure. he did a fair bit in masks, took on Rocco at king's Lynn as maybe the Assassin....and in early 90s tagged with Suffolk wrestler Cloin Craig, both under masks as part of Dale Martins shows and daddy tags. They may have been called the Invaders ?

Interesting subject going on here. I must say I absolutely love all his books, although his last one seemed a bit rushed I thought. The 60s/70s UK scene and all the characters and Adrian's frank writing style seems to be the best insight yet written on the era. Why are people dissing them ? How do we know there are lies and embellishments ? I read them believing them to be an honest account. But who am I, I also really enjoyed Atholl Oakely's book too and the Dynamite Kid's and Steve Regal's...the best UK wrestling books in my eyes.

Does anyone know if there old Stampede recordings from Canada out there ? Would be great to see some of the 60s/70s stuff with wrestlers such as Portz, Thornton, Robinson etc in their heyday

I have a friend who is a relative of Bert, whom I was hoping could pose some questions to him. However it seems Bert is not in the best of health as he must be getting very old. He said he had received no letters or Christmas cards in recent years, whereas he had regularly in the past. Don't know if anyone closer to him can add anything further ?

I enjoyed the book too. It was the era of wrestling I grew up in, I too at the time meticulously recorded all the bouts and results in note books. I guess this book could be described as that - a fan's view of what happened throughout the 80s, nothing more, nothing less. It is very easy to criticise, but I think Tony should be applauded for creating such an 'almanac' of all goings on. It does come across as a bit samey , but it would be difficult not to, such is the nature of trying to encapsulate so many bouts with descriptions into one book, it must have been quite a challenge and would have been for anyone attempting that. I suppose more pictures of the wrestlers would have been good, but as I guess we all are on this site, I always find old posters truly fascinating time capsules of what happened around the country or should we say what should have been happening around the country? Bad News Allen Brown v Wayne Bridges.....what a bout that would have been. Was the hard hitting American really booked to appear of was this another fictional pipe dream of the promoters I wonder ? What really comes across in this book is how very sad TV wrestling started to become. Say what you like, this seems to be purely down to Max Crabtree and his lack of respect for his audience. The more you read this book you realise how he really shafted his own audience. Big foreign stars who were nt foreign, promised bouts that never happened, stars billed who never were going to be there, repeated bouts, repeated finishes and so it goes on. It really was insulting to those who wanted to see great wrestling...of which there was still plenty of, make no mistake. TV formatting left a lot to be desired and was undoubtedly as much to do with the demise as the quality of the wrestling some times. The Big Daddy 'show' was of course always slated latterly and put down as the reason for the demise. To my eyes there was more to it than that and that's quite clear upon reading this. The other great dilema with wrestling in the 80s was of course the upward trajectory of Brian Dixon's promotion and his stealing all Crabtree's greatest talented wrestlers. Being a regular at his shows through the 80s, they just seemed so much better, more exciting than what we were seeing on the telly. Its a real shame that the 2 promoters did nt work together throughout that era, because the tops stars on both promotions mixed up as they would have been in the distant past would have made unmissable viewing. I think St Clair and Rocco for example were at their peak when they left Crabtree. Similarly after TV wrestling finished completely, Dixon's shows in the halls were still fantastic with a great selection of wrestlers. It was a big shame the TV era did not go a bit longer as we would have seen some great bouts with Finlay, Taylor, Collins, Cullen etc then at their peaks. Back to the book, I'd liked to have seen more mention of Dixons shows off air, but it was great to see mention of the Screensport shows on cable. Despite what has sometimes been said on here about them, I thought they were brilliant. A different style of entertainment, show, theatre, call it what you will, with more violence than ITV and a bit more American influenced without totally going down a WWF circus route. And personally I liked the commentators.. a bit of humour thrown and very different from our Kent !

I think we should all read it first, rather than being judgemental...covers sell books...but many covers are not necessarily totally representative of the contents. It sounds like an interesting read from an era that I grew up with and at over 300 pages its got to be worth a go ?

Of course but as fanatical teenage wrestling fans in the UK who believed everything we saw, read or heard we wanted those big names to take on our World champ - at the time it seemed like the real deal to have Wayne Bridges as World champ...

I guess when Spiros Arion and John Quinn came and went and Bridges was World title holder it created a new buzz for fans. Moose Morrowski was supposed to be next to appear, but never did. I guess it would have been great at the time if the US claimants such as Nick Bockwinkle, Ric Flair, Bob Backlund etc would have come over. We got glimmers of info from Wrestling magazines about them, it would have been great to have seen how good they all were in that same era. I always think the promoters missed a trick in not getting some bigger better names over. It would also have been good to have seen the likes of Les Thornton and Billy Robinson back when Bridges/Quinn/St Clair were champions