Barrow , originally a Lancashire town made the transition to Cumbria. Relwyskow gave us a break and advertised that he promoted in Morecambe , Barrow and Carlisle. Not sure if he took over or was supplying wrestlers to William Little for his Carlisle shows. But what this told me was that he did not seem to be promoting in Workington or Whitehaven. Maybe I will find them another time. Can I justify Barrow is a Nook and Crannie. Well I have passed by and looked down on the Rugby League town , but I don't recall us mentioning Barrow or having a member that way. Fleetwood and Morecambe threads brought our Heritage fans out so maybe finding Barrow will. On another thread , I put this find. Truly some effort was being put into Barrow to put Thesz on here. Not that many towns were bestowed this honour. My understanding is that the Public Hall was the old , small and original Town Hall , the later one a magnificent building , and the old Hall used for the public was a compact 800 seater. Relwyskow , I think got keen on wrestling here in late 1957. If you want history , I found Wrestling on with Boxing in 1931 at The Drill Hall. Hard to believe that Billy Riley would take part in a match with Strangler Harris with Nose Pulling , Ear Twisting and Finger Biting to display All In Wrestling as a Violent Sport , when you consider the comedy here. In the war and even the late 1940's they had some matches at the Strand Skating Rink. 1948 The Ghoul v Eric Day. and other years Vic Hessle , Jack Atherton , Cordite Conroy , Dave Armstrong and what looks like mainly Lancashire Wrestlers operated here. But from the Relwyskow era , I have picked out a few bills of note and will show some of what I collected later. Interesting that Demsey is Holder of the Relwyskow belt Nearly everyone on the above a champion or billed from another county to project the international Flavour. And below and especially for Bernard , a Trilogy of Walsh/Marino grudge matches. Virtually pre TV it is looking like this combo was one of the top matches that money could buy at that time. Very high quality. Sorry that I will never be able to see one of these. Thinking maybe Rocco/Jones Quality. And the following year Marino defending the World Title that he must have swapped and changed with Walsh several times over I bet. All for now , but more to display later.

Having looked at Inverness where Joint promotions had decided that it was worth a shot, I now go a little further North. Today you could travel along a lot of coast to the tip of Scotland along the A9, but in the 1960's there were no bridges to get across the Moray Firth , Cromarty Firth and The Dornoch Firth. The big question , “ Was it worth going further than Inverness.” As you get to Dingwall you are now in Roth Shire which today is joined with Cromarty. The first bill I come across is 1963. The Town Hall , if you put a ring in it could probably get 350 people in. I think two hundred plus was what was achieved in reality. 1965 North West Promotions had a go. Jefferson , probably one of the most tricky promoters to advertise a fair bill with genuine known wrestlers. He was always up to something. He got the girls up there very early on. I wonder what Johnny Saint thought of it all. It looks like they must have done at least break even. 1966 saw Continental Matchmakers of Manchester having a go. There is a bit of experience in there , Saint still working for the opposition and early Wild Angus , what a great career he had. I am not entirely sure who was behind this company. A little nearer Inverness I found a lone bill , unique in it's own way in The Muir of Ord. I presume in the middle of summer the Curling frozen outdoor rink or arena would not be in use. Is this even a New Type of Venue for that thread. A strange mixture of wrestlers and hard to say who was behind it. Why there??? More towns to follow.

A well known Hall but not the first venue in Warrington. That title probably goes to the Baths Hall which for sure was doing wrestling in 1939. However , there to be beaten , I believe I have a set of the first bills for the Parr Hall and during the war at that. Promoter Jack Cullen and he did some pretty good shows. Many future promoters actually wrestled on his shows. I can only show you some sample. Some very local names above , yet again as discovered my Main Mask recently , Tom Rigby fighting as Wild Tarzan. Billy Riley and Jack Atherton on there , trainer of Dynamite Kid Ted Beckley. To put the record straight Ted Betley was born Warrington 24th Jan 1922 and was a Butcher's Errand Boy at the start of the war. Betley being the correct spelling. Golden ace and Golden Boy , Norman Morrell on Cullens shows , wonder how many went to both shows on July 7th 1942 in the middle of the war. Big names like Bill Benny and Bert Assirati. And talking of Bert. Bert unmasks The Green Asp , OK , it went in the local press , but Van Wuden would have done his Green Asp again and again. I think we have 2 or 3 unmaskings of him now. As for wrestling under his own name , well next year 1943 he's back in with bert again. END OF PART 1

More than anyone else I am doing this one for SaxonWolf , he's been on here longer than I have and if I am not mistaken , a Sheffield Guy. We touch so often on BelleVue , Liverpool , Newcastle , many places familiar to members , even Fleetwood and Morecambe or Isle of Wight. Members everywhere it seems. I don't remember Sheffield getting a hit. Here we go. Not even early days at the Somme Barracks. I don't know when they started but have bills back into 1949. A great long Hall , do I assume a Drill hall that could seat 2500. If you look at the bills above , the final one bottom right is for The City Hall. I believe it was the 2nd ever bill , can't yet find the first one a week or two before. Why the move , well , it does not look like the prices , but pictures of the City Hall inside look vey comfortable , great view. Talking of Relwyskow and Green , the wrestling was not every week , but they also looked after nearby Rotherham. Here advertised together. The City Hall at this stage was to showcase some events , still running side by side with the Somme Barracks. But it maybe that the City Hall was better for TV filming. Within a couple of years though the Barracks came to and end , prices were up but no complaints on the quality of the bills. Took a few years for Kendo Nagasaki to hit Sheffield , but when he did, What a breakthrough Finally a couple of bills showing typical cards in 1970 with a massive 25shillings now to view. Wonderful performers that we saw so much in colour on TV. Along the way back in 1964 the council banned tag wrestling. I don't know what happened but it seems, to have two wrestlers outside the ring holding the strings so to speak , was deemed to put them too near the audience. Too much of a risk that Audience and wrestler might get embroiled with one another. I think the ban lasted a few months and was round the time of the City Hall Switch. The City Hall maybe more secure. Who knows.

The Eldorado Stadium at Leith was being run in a very unusual way in 1962. Clearly Joint Promotion Workers , but Joint Promotions PLUS !!!!. I have hear that Max Crabtree ran some of Scotland for Joint and I guess by 1962 he might have wrapped up his 2oth Century promotions Venture. Max liked colourful workers and very much masked men. I have a few examples here. A lot of names to take in there. I will also mention I found a full season of 42 weeks with July and August looking like a break. So why do I mention Max. Well I give you some examples of Max and brother Shirley , who had left Joint probably about 57/58. A young Veidor and Andy Robin , Veidor even teaming with Max. But there is another character used on these shows and ok, Joint had copied Dr Death on odd occassions but not as often as this. THis is not paul Lincoln , it is a blatent copy as Lincoln was reaching the peak of his powers. Dr Death is tagging with Leon Arras and Max is staring on what seems like a free hand as the promoter. This must be Max promoting. Who was this Dr Death. Well the fans of 1962 in the Eldorado were about to see his face which is more than we can. Here is the account of the unmasking but it leaves us guessing and wanting more. But I don't think I have seen a Roster quite like this anywhere else south of the Scotish Border back in 1962. Unless anyone knows otherwise , I suspect Max Crabtree was having the freedom of all promotional Freedoms as Joint's Manager. He even had himself as star man.

I guess it's a case of being old enough , but Brian London was a massive name in British boxing. Battled with Our Henry Cooper and even fought Muhammed Ali. So he is at Belle Vue on a Monday night in 1961 , big fight with Billy Hunter of USA. A brutal contest with Hunter stopped in the 8th round , bludgeoned to bits. So what does a famous boxer do afterwards. He has a night out in Hulme's Russell club. How would he know about it. Maybe from Jack Pye who also lived in Blackpool. He gets a thanks from the Russel club on the Thursday , overshadowing the Evenings Wrestling Bill. But also look at the bottom of the Belle Vue advert and you could get tickets from two other Wrestling venues. Princess Theatre Club in Chorlton and The Russels Club's rival , The Luxor Club.

Talked about Bertie before and his colourful career. I would have thought he would have had a Jeeves. Perhaps his most famous helper was his valet Ponsonby. But the mind boggles when you think a valet is helping him do the dirty sneaky stuff. For a while he came up with the persona of a gamekeeper which was much more sinister. Mellors. ( can't be Clark Mellor can it) But some of the old English names like Fothergill and Willoughby were also used. Could not quite understand the choice of Mahoney for a valet , but maybe that's just me. Have I covered it , was there just the five employees from his vast country Estate or were there more. Who played them. I seem to remember one was a member on here at one time. Was there more than one long serving Ponsonby. Can you believe it.

Not long ago I found Bartelli beating Kendo in a return match in 1966 and supplied the evidence. Well back in 1951 and a long way from Wryton Land in Aberdeen Bartelli lost to Mike Marino. No chance of the news traveling very far south.

Paul Mitchell wrote. the elusive Adam king ,Adam King had a stable of women wrestlers trained above a pub near the Bijou cinema,Adam was a barber and according to my uncle they were no Hollywood blondes, try he old Trafford barber tried in vain to generate interest but the ladies lacked how shall I say ,visual appeal. It was great that paul spotted Adam at the Ardwick "Blood Tub" Stadium AS far back as 1907 I can find King wrestling such people as Irslinger , and Jack Carroll in the Music Halls and here he is again with Carroll and at that time he is 54/55 years of age. Also he wrestles Peter Gotz and presents him in the Music Halls , and yet one press report suggests that Gotz and King are the same man. I find it hard to buy that so maybe I will just leave it open for now. here are Gotz v King wrestling in 1907 and in 1931 King with the Hairdresser link bankrupt in Manchester. . Click for Larger view. King actually wrestled at the 1908 Alhambra Show with the best there was. That year Jack Carroll was the Lightweight catch Champion effectively of the World. same year uncle Joe Carroll beat Peter Gotz for the middleweight crown. But was Adam King....Gotz. How could he be. I think Adam King died in Salford in 1944 age 65. Despite the Bankruptcy King went on to show his Lady troupe of wrestlers round the country in Music Halls. He must of thought The Blood Tub was worth a punt as well. (Click for larger view) Well connected in wrestling circles with Gotz , Reginski and Assirati in the Music halls. And the troupe Click for larger view.

If you have been round a long time you will probably know that Dark owl was Billy Riley and passed the torch to his son Ernie. I think in his book , Count Bartelli said how he could have never have beaten the original Dark Owl and that fighting the son was a better prospect. Well here I have found , I Think , The Launch of Son of Dark Owl. Dark Owl the 2nd had a long run before Bartelli , the master of unmaskings was to beat him. Afterwards , it was an open secret of who he was. And he remained unmasked. UNTIL But this is wrestling and news did not travel from Hall to Hall or make national papers very often. So a few years later they did it all again in Kings Lynn. Wonder where else they did it.

Not sure if you have covered this one Graham. But do tell. Go on , who was your Outlaw.

Thought I would share this with you and not in my copy of Ray's Index. Ray does list this as probably the first show. 1931 January 24th NEWCASTLE Henri Irslinger 2-1 Bert Assirati .... Douglas Clark 1-1 Owen Duffy .... Andy Powers 1-0 Carl Dodge .... Half Nelson Keyes 2-1 Billy Harrison The 2nd show and the next one with the actual advert. We have so little from early 1931 and these bouts really are pretty much a duplicate of what was put on round the country in the early months of 31.

Recently I brought to our attention the Potteries Night Club La Boom Boom and we went on via Anglo to talk about types of venues. More and more night clubs come to light and I have just found one called Bunny's Place. The mind boggles , but actually Bunny was an ex Trawler Skipper called Bunny Newton. Here is some wrestling. Click and open for bigger image in new screen. Plenty about the club if you trawl the web (Pardon the pun) https://www.pressreader.com/uk/grimsby-telegraph/20180810/282389810308777 https://www.grimbarians.com/grimbarians-through-time/bernard-newton Also recently we talked of the Acker Bilk connection to Wrestling , even a competition for his Golden Bowler. Well by 1978 Acker was still connected.

Off the top of my head I don't recall mask v mask matches in the 1930's and I am wondering if Bartelli with Wryton was actually the pioneer of them. He certainly did plenty to build himself up. I would not take much notice of the 7 year undefeated streak , I think at this stage after the war the Count had done less than 2 years with a mask after being Jess Condor before the war. This example is the earliest I have found of Bartelli doing mask v mask. Shame there have been so many masked marvels. A wonderfully descriptive Report.

If you never saw an unmasking , I think this one sits pretty good in terms of a piece of history.

Good write up in the A-Z on Lou Thesz's visit to Britain and it did cover this bill at Hull. However A-Z does ask for any souvenir memorabila from any of the shows. NIce write up of his night with jack Pye.

The Zebra Kid was here throughout 1960. As the sixties went on I know he unmasked for quite a few of our wrestlers. Exactly when that started , I have never looked into. I can't find any other examples. Can anyone explain to me why on this night he should wrestle under his own name and I assume unmasked.

I always thought after Kendo unmasked Bartelli in 1966 that Bartelli tried in vain to get his revenge. At this stage neither man ever went on TV. So this went under the radar. Enjoy the moment folks.

1966 was a big year with England winning the world cup. Soon after Gordon banks transferred from Leicester to Stoke City. But at the Victoria Hall Hanley we had an iconic moment for Wrestling fans. Wrestling was going great guns. Kendo was to defend himself in a return match about 8 weeks later and was tested a couple of times by Billy Howes that year and also Hans Streiger. Four miles up the road in the Potteries town of Longton there was a nightclub that put on more wrestling shows that year than the Victoria Hall in Hanley. When I wrote the Manchester series , I spent time on Old Cinemas being converted to stadiums and the Manchester nightclub scene. At the time I said that no other town was quite like it. Now I have come across a Cassino club known as La Boom Boom. Whilst hanley was Saturday nights La Boom Boom was Thursdays. Enjoy these and click to open bigger in another screen if you need. Maybe the Dr Death is Ted Beech , it won't be Lincoln. But look at Pete Roberts and Bertie Topham , John Hall , so prolific. Roberts was on one occasion billed from South Africa. Lady wrestlers too in 1966 , that was pretty early. Some inventive billing. A different Gorgeous George in with Roberts above , not Kendo's mate. And Pete Roberts v Dr Death Alas the Boom Boom hit a lot of trouble. With meals served to 1.30 am the club ran very late indeed. It had a huge car park and people leaving were very boisterous , local residents complained. The club was raided many times trapping underage drinkers. The police also got to work on the breathalyser and eventually something had to give. By March 1967 the license was revoked and never granted back. The club limped on after that doing bingo and disco , but it led to the end of an era for wrestling there. No longer having Galleries to show the bills , I share just some of what I found. I wonder who organised the supply of wrestlers.