I've sent you an email with my last update. There will be another one towards the end of this year.

No autograph, unfortunately:

the schoolboy bout was amateur wrestling, but they were pros by the end of the decade

Black Hawk Black Tiger Golden Eagle Red Eagle Spider Webb Spider Harvey (referee) Spiderman Tarantula Ronto the Bull Bull Coleman Sharky Ward Kiwi Dean Lee

I would also like to know, I don't have results for either show.

It was a Major Contest apparently. Perhaps Johnny (Major)?

(In regards to Abbey vs Hitler) Occasionally I find funny names like these on an old bill. I presume they hadn't finalised the last match, so the promoters created some names for the promotional material that gave themselves a laugh.

MM, Al Hamilton may have actually taken his name from the town of Hamilton (Scotland, not New Zealand). His real name was Al Spittles.

Nice one MM, i've seen Kilkenny Cat on lots of results but never on a poster.

Woodlow are you using Ray's files or do you have access to my updates? I've added a lot to that timeframe, particularly all the research Ron on the site here has done.

In the 1930's there was a wrestled billed as the Moonraker Kid. I was confused as Bond wasn't a thing then, but have since learned Moonraker refers to a historical term for smugglers of the Wiltshire area.

too many words for a poster, yet i'm still interested in buying what they're selling.

I guess defining Cowboys & Indians as historical may depend if the inspiration was a popular movie/tv show/novel of the time or not. Also, Natives (aka "Indians") still exist today, so they can be both topical and historical.

In attempt to link two strands together, by the mid 1980's it seems as though Max may have thought his monikers for repackaged wrestlers as topical, but in reality they came across as historical.

Andre Bollet

(More of a side topic) During the Second World War, many of the wrestlers would be billed with their military rank: March 3rd, 1943 – Accrington, England [Accrington Town Hall] Sgt Charles Green vs Jack Pye Sgt Hill vs Sgt Beresford Bill McDonald vs Eddie Flash Barker Sgt Vic Hesselle vs Sgt Bob Silcock Referee: Jack Bennett Everybody was a Sergeant on this one, but there were many other ranks displayed.

A nice guy too, I got to meet him at the Bridges Wrestling Reunion.

Very sad news, RIP Eddie.

I agree with Ron. It was two different philosophies perhaps, but also I don't think the wrestling promoters were going to spend much money on programmes during the war. Maybe Belle Vue didn't need it. Take your word MM that you've never found anything, you would be the person to find anything if it existed! Belle Vue could be looked at as the home of wrestling through the war years, gave the wrestlers regular work most weeks. Then there was the 'Holidays at Home' initiative later in the War that probably helped get more patrons along.

As the article mentions Jack Solomons was a notable Boxing promoter.