Reading the Feb 5th issue remanded me of what a servant to wrestling was Mike Marino. I never saw the bout for the World Junior Heavyweight belt in 1951 against then-holder Mike DeMitre, but neither had I ever heard of an American-style bout back then - 100 minutes without a fall? Wow! I'd have loved to have seen that. More to the point, in the same article it tells of Marino defending his then World mid-heavyweight belt in February 1981 - 30 years later - against Le Grand Vladimir at the age of 60! I saw him fight many times, although mainly after he signed with Paul Lincoln, and was lucky enough to speak with him for an article. I agreed to use his ring name because writing about wrestling back then, you almost had to think like a wrestler! Most on here will know what I mean. So how sad was it that whilst he was still active as a wrestler and still holder of three belts including the World, European and British mid-heavyweight titles, that in that same year of 1981, he should suddenly die just before a scheduled bout against Big Jim Harris. Did he go on too long? Probably. But he certainly died as a wrestling legend and the Mike Marino Shield was the very least that his legacy deserved. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me using his real name now, so a million thanks to Mike Harrison for the years of pleasure he gave wrestling fans....

There are many on here whose experiences and knowledge of professional wrestling leave mine standing. I did spend many years writing on the subject as Mr X, including some pieces for Ted Turner's WCW magazine and another magazine in Australia whose name I have long forgotten. Admittedly most of my writing was on the WWE/WWF, where I also worked for a London company whose job was to promote WWE events and sell the tickets;.but most of my live wrestling experience was centred around Dale Martin or Paul Lincoln and involved visiting the local swimming baths, theatres and very occasionally London's Royal Albert Hall. And yes, following a piece in the latest issue (22 Jan) on championships and their accuracies, I have to say that was one of the reasons I gradually got sucked into WWE. The article read: "23 January 1967 In Bradford, Bill Robinson beat Billy Joyce. There are reports that Robinson won the British heavyweight title from Joyce, but others cite he had already won the championship on 18th January in Manchester." I have no doubt that both recorded wins were accurate! Back then, we spectators were treated like idiots. The entertainment was usually great but the joy of seeing the local hero win a title became meaningless when you went to another venue a few days later to see the same fight and result and the same guy win the title again! Before I ever dreamed of writing, I have previously mentioned how as a young fan I used to gain free admission to tournaments by cleaning the sports car of Judo Al Hayes! This was some years before his American progression to Lord! However, during my years of writing, I met many WWE and WCW stars; some were nice and some not so nice. But you knew that if you spoke to the champ, then that's what he was. How he won the title was irrelivant; He was the wrestler that was acknowledged as Champion. Over here, you just never knew! I did once mention it briefly to Al Hayes hoping that he would let me into any secret, but he just winked and drove off in his sparklingly clean red MGB! I still loved the sport, but something was missing when it came to championships...

I was just looking through the A-Z section to look up the history of Docker Don Steadman but - and it's possible I just missed his name - I couldn't see anything there. Did I just miss his name or did he not warrant a mention? I did find a brief sentence under The Bermondsey Boys, but nothing else. He was often on Paul Lincoln promotions during the 1960s - often up against Judo Al Hayes, Bob Kirkwood and other 'faces' of the day. Did I just miss his entry, which wouldn't surprise me as my years advance at a rate of knots...!

Fascinating article on the anniversary of Paul Lincoln's death. It brought back many memories of my early days watching wrestling, some of which will go against the pure wrestling members of this group. It was around 1961 and I was in my third year of going to White Hart Lane to watch Spurs. Of course that third year of 1961 saw my team win the so-called impossible 'double' - the league championship and FA Cup. As a 16 year old who was just starting work, my free money was pretty much tied up with Spurs. But one afternoon on my way out of the company I worked with, I saw a wrestling poster stuck on a nearby wall. There was always a wrestling poster on that wall but none had ever caught my eye before even though I had gone with some friends 2 or 3 times in 1959/60 but could take it or leave it. I later realised that the posters I usually saw were Dale Martin and to someone not particularly interested in wrestling and not knowing who the wrestlers were, they looked rather uninteresting. But on this one day I looked at the poster and it drew me in. What was the reason? I remember it to this day, over 60 years later. It was a Paul Lincoln promotion for Poplar Baths in East London and the top of the bill was Dr Blood v Dr Death. That in itself looked "interesting" even though I hadn't heard of either at the time. Then underneath in bold letters came the clincher - the loser MUST unmask! As I said, I wasn't really interested in wrestling yet I knew I wanted to see this and booked tickets. I became an addict soon after that first event and went to any Paul Lincoln promotions within reach of my home by public transport. That was usually the Hackney Empire (on the stage), Poplar Baths and occasionally the shows at the Granada group (Edmonton or Tooting). I tried Dale Martin bills but in all honesty I didn't find them as exciting although 6 of us used to have the same box each month at their Royal Albert Hall promotion. I always thought that Paul Lincoln Promotions success against their much bigger opposition was because, whether the bills were better or not, they appeared to make those bills look so much more interesting and exciting. As I became more drawn in, I realised that in reality the DM wrestlers were probably better at the sport but less colourful. Of course my view was wrong but that didn't matter because if that's how I saw it back then, that's how it was TO ME! It may be that I just didn't know what I was looking at, but I think that Paul Lincoln saw posters in a different light to Dale Martin or even later to Joint Promotions - the bill isn't just to inform, it's to draw punters in and PM did that far better than their opposition. For those that haven't read any of my previous posts, that loser must unmask contest saw Dr Blood lose his mask and revealed Geoff Portz underneath it, although members of this group have since informed me that he wasn't the regular Dr Blood. At that time I had never heard of Geoff Portz but knew that I couldn't wait to go again and within 12 months I was cleaning 'Judo' Al Hayes MG convertible in exchange for tickets and the occasional introduction to other wrestlers. Off the subject but while I remember it (as you get older, that's something you have to do!!!), I remember being amazed when Al introduced me to Mike Marino and he sounded like a cockney. Of course, so far as I was concerned, he was billed as coming from Milan! Life was so much simpler back then! Once again, thanks for the article...

How sad to read that Mark 'Rollerball' Rocco had died. Whenever he was on the bill then you knew you'd get at least one blockbuster fight! And if that happened to be against Marty Jones then you were in for a real treat! I remember one particular bout at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon in around 1978 where you just couldn't believe the violence they were showing towards each other. The whole bout was just years ahead of its time and whenever I saw them both on a bill against each other, I would try to go. Sincerest sympathies to his family. We;ll miss you Mark...

I enjoyed reading about the Paul Lincoln creation of the Wild Man of Borneo. It must have been around 1960 when I first saw him at the Hackney Empire against - from memory - Judo Al Hayes with the result being a double DQ after Hayes had been busted open quite badly. On the same bill, Ray Hunter was up against Mike Marino and towards the end, in ambles the Wild Man of Borneo to knock out Marino. The whole theatre was up in arms against this new "freak" but couldn't wait to see him again. Just one of the reasons why I always preferred Paul Lincoln to Joint Proms back then...

One former wrestler who not only rarely got any publicity but more often than not, got NONE was Zoltan Boscik. The story was that he escaped from Hungary during the 1956 uprising and I don't think I ever heard anything that disputed that. What I did know was that while he was rather small, he always gave a performance and would have given George Kidd a fight in how many ways there were to roll yourself into a ball!!

Great link to the piece on Haystacks in the latest issue. I remember meeting him during a tour of the UK by Ted Turner's WCW company. I was doing some work for an agency that was struggling to sell many tickets because most of those that enjoyed US wrestling had only heard of the (then) WWF. The show was at London's Olympia and the afternoon of the show saw me wondering around pretending to be talking about ticket sales when in reality I was a real fan and knew who all the WCW wrestlers were. Back then, guys such as Ric Flair were unknowns to most UK fans, but to me he was almost a God and seeing him standing there was a (then) highlight of my year! Sadly for me, I was too taken aback at seeing him and couldn't think of anything to say! Not that long afterwards he signed for Vince McMahon and everyone suddenly knew who he was! But I did speak to several others including Sting (really friendly guy) and "Ravishing" Rick Rude (not quite so friendly). However, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Giant Haystacks, who I had spoken to a few times before, although unsurprisingly he didn't remember me! I knew he wasn't on the bill and asked if he was working for WCW and his answer was "not yet!" He wouldn't say anymore about the topic but was happy to chat generally about the British wrestling business - which was really struggling at that time. But going by the article, I assume he went over to the States to try his luck. What surprised me about Haystacks was his quiet demeanour as against the rather brash US guys. So, rather nervously, I asked Sting and Rude if they would mind me taking some photos. Sing was great but Rude said he was pushed for time! Thankfully Sting asked him to pose and he did. After a few individual pics and seeing Haystacks standing around watching, I asked if I could set up a pic with the three of them - suggesting that Haystacks stood in between the two wrestlers keeping them apart. Sting called out to someone to ask if there was any problem with that particular photo as Haystacks wasn't signed to the group. Whoever that person was just nodded ok and I took a photo that I really am proud of; Sting and Rick Rude trying to get to each other with Haystacks keeping them apart. Afterwards I had to promise the guy that had earlier nodded an 'ok' that I wouldn't send it to any US wrestling mags and of course I agreed to that. Other than my own collection, the only other public sighting there has been of that photo is in the Gallery section here under Alan's photos. And yes, it is the only photo anywhere featuring those three guys. And out of interest, I also remember seeing Dr Death v Dr Blood at the Poplar Baths in East London. It was definitely Paul Lincoln as Death, but Blood turned out to be Geoff Portz! Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to everyone...