When it comes to history Rusian the only thing you can be sure of is that it's all in the past. But yes, collecting results for a predetermined exhibition seems like a pretty uninspiring thing to do. But hey, that's just me. One of the nice things about W H and the forum is the wide range of interest that members have.

I'll just put my two pennyworth in here and then keep quiet. All In, Professional Free Style, 20th century catch, Catch As Catch Can Rules of 1930, Lord Mountevans. All were, if you like, different "brand names" for essentialy the same "product". Of course, a promoter or group of promoters would want to protect their "brand" and have their own champion. I think that a wrestling style is something different. It implies a set of rules and a way of competing that has developed differently to other styles. Regarding champions I think that part of the problem looking back is that so many of these appointed champions ended up believing their own publicity and of course some could actualy wrestle. There was a willing army of fans and historians keen to perpetuate the mythology. Still is perhaps. Oakeley and Dale had two quite different business plans. One wanted to put on big wrestling extravaganzas at famous venues and the other flood the market with good quality bread and butter shows all over the place. I think that by the time Dale (and Joint) were top dogs Oakeley had had enough anyway and wanted to get on with his sailing holidays and Lorna Doone stuff. I'm sorry, I have responded to half a dozen threads that all started with Bert and Ernie.

Thanks John. This is a gem.

No, I would have remembered if it was NME. This was a sports paper that covered football, boxing. racing etc. At least that's how I remember it sixty odd years later.

What a great find John and yes, Fred would have loved Wrestling Heritage I'm sure. Charles "Spider" Mascall has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Before The Wrestler, he used to write the program notes for Dale Martin and also had a full page of wrestling news ( well, Joint puff if truth be told) in a sporting paper that I can't remember the name of and have never been able to trace. But who was Charles Mascall ? Was he an ex wrestler who got into journalism? He was around for a long time and seemed to know everybody.

Happy Birthday Ron and welcome to the wonderful world of Old Gits. Seriously, the work you have done for W H is just outstanding. Many Happy Returns.

Can't find any mention of weights in Blue Blood on the Mat but the old All In website gives us - Heavyweight over 191 lbs. Light-Heavyweight 174 - 191 lbs Middleweight 158 - 174 lbs Welter 146 - 158 lbs Lightweight 135 - 146 lbs Feather 124 - 135 lbs Bantam under 124 lbs

Ah!. The Brawl in Porthcawl. Thanks for bringing back those memories guys.

Paul Anderson, perhaps the greatest lifter of all time, had a good go at wrestling. Less successful was his short boxing career.

Another cracking year for Wrestling Heritage. Thanks as usual to Riot Squad and all involved. HAPPY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.

This subject could run and run. Perhaps rightly so. I suppose that all of us on here are a reflection of public attitudes to pro wrestling. We probably all passed through a spectrum something like....... It's all 100% competitive but with a lot of showmanship thrown in. Some of it is worked some of it real and you never can tell. Most of it is a work but occasionally you get the real thing. It's all fake now but there was a time when it was all legit. (The Golden Age Myth) It is and always was a total con but a highly skilled and sometimes very entertaining one. I can't remember the last live show that I saw. I think it might have been Bridges as HW Champion of The World. I do know that I continued to take an interest long after I had arrived at the final stage of awareness. I did stop watching WOS tv wrestling for all of the usual reasons (Big Daddy, small roster, same old same old) and that was a shame because the likes of King Ben and Pat Roach were still doing good work. One final thought - When I got to work and train with wrestlers and ex wrestlers I came to realize that if the product was not to be taken seriously, some of the people involved certainly had to be! It was a monster con but that, and the characters who worked it, was part of the charm.

Brings back a few memories. Great track. Thanks Alan.

No one is going to top that Bernard.

On this day 1942 I was born. In Hammersmith. just down the road from Chick Knights old stamping ground. I wonder if there was any wrestling going on in the area at that time.

I saw this in Monti Carlo in the late 60's. It was truly dreadful. The wrestlers were rowed out to a ring floating in the middle of a swimming pool. It must have been pretty difficult to work as the ring rocked violently at the slightest movement. It was all milked for all it was worth. The only show that I have ever walked out of half way through.

We have all learnt so much over the last fifteen years. Wrestling history was never going to be an easy nut to crack but what really pleases me is that we have not put anyone down or disrespected those wrestlers who gave so much pleasure to our younger, and perhaps more naive selves. Thanks Hack and Anglo. Here's to another 15 years. Blimey! I'll be 95.

Dale Martin in it's heyday was an amazing operation that covered just about every town of any size in the south. I knew about their in house printing and transport fleet but had no idea about the B&Bs. Were these to provide accommodation for wrestlers?

The entry for Joe on Heritage has been much improved since my early efforts some years ago now. On the wall of Joe's gym in Brighton was a framed poster for his Albert Hall match with Cadier. I wonder what ever happened to that. But framed on my wall is an original Prof. Jack Robinson Dan grade certificate ( signed by Joe rather than the Prof ). Among the many yarns that Joe spun me was that when Errol Flynn visited London Oakeley was seriously up for asking him to wrestle Joe on one of the big shows. Joe had to point out that even if the star agreed the money he would ask would break the bank.

I'm with Saxon all the way here. The Greco Roman at the 2012 Olympics was a a grand day out for my son and self and the pro wrestling that I enjoyed the most was always the matches with lots of straight wrestling moves. But yes, we are a minority. Fine words (and straight wrestling) butter no parsnips.

Happy Christmas to all Wrestling Heritage members and thanks as usual to Hack and Anglo for all their efforts. Stay safe everyone.