British Wrestlers Reunion

During its run on ITV , World of Sport produced some fantastic wrestlers.  These men became more than simply sportsmen, they became celebrities and represented British Wrestling in a way that few have been able to since.  Here is a small selection of bios for the men who we feel had a significant impact on the greatest sport in the world - Professional Wrestling.

There are to be plenty more grapplers added to this page as time prevails, so please be patient with us. Thank you

WAYNE BRIDGES

Kent Walton was born on Aug 22nd 1917 in Cairo, where his father was a minister of finance.  He grew up in Surrey and was a keen and very successful Springboard Diver. 

Initially young Kent pursued an acting career enrolling at the Embassy School of Acting in London but the outbreak of war put a hold to Kent's promising career as he served King and country as a radio operator and front gunner.  After the war Kent returned to the stage and during this time he met and fell in love with Lynn Smith, the two were married in 1949 and had one son together.  Due to his remarkable vocal talent Kent became a sports commentator covering Football and Tennis at Wimbledon before his first wrestling commentary on November 9th 1955, he would remain a fixture on the wrestling until it was cancelled in 1988, a remarkable 33 years unbroken.

As well as being the beloved commentator on World of Sport Kent enjoyed other successes including fronting the first pop show on TV, Cool for Cats.  He also made many other television appearances providing the voices to countless television commercials over the years.

Kent always remained fond of wrestling and wrestling always remained fond of Kent, he died in Aug 2003 aged 86 years old.

Giant Haystacks was born Martin Ruane in mid 1940's London to Irish parents.  Once leaving school the larger than life lad took some early jobs as a builder and inevitably a bouncer before finding his true calling of Professional Wrestling in 1967.  During its time on ITV Wrestling attracted an average of over 10 million viewers making Giant Haystacks a household name across the globe.  His sheer girth at 6'11 tall and weighing in at a mammoth 49 stones at his heaviest made him one of the most popular fixtures on TV.

Such was his impact at the time fans of Haystacks included Beatles legend Sir Paul Mcartney and singing star Frank Sinatra who said after meeting Haystacks that "British Wrestlers are the best entertainers in the world".

In 1995 Haystacks was approached by WCW in the USA where he appeared as "Loch Ness" where he was scheduled to do battle with the American legend Hulk Hogan, unfortunately the match never took place as shortly after his debut for WCW the Giant was diagnosed with Cancer and had to retire. 

He bravely fought the disease for over two years before sadly dying aged just 52 on Sunday 29th November 1998.

Yorkshireman Les Kellet was born in Bradford in 1915. After completing an engineering apprenticeship and travelling the world as a merchant seaman Les returned to Bradford following the Second World war and established himself as one of the most successful and popular British wrestlers of all time. His wrestling trainer, Len Pickard, and promoter George de Relwyskow Snr., are the two men credited with cajoling the reluctant Kellet to follow a professional career

 

Having turned professional in 1938, the outbreak of war soon curtailed Les's wrestling career. Returning to Britain after the war, and  living in Manchester, it was a chance encounter with wrestler Joe Hill which resulted in Les moving back to Bradford and devoting his energies to a full time professional wrestling career. By 1946 he was travelling the country and attracting new fans wherever he wrestled.

 

Every fan of the Mountevans era has a favourite memory of Les, whether it be his spectacular spin  through the ropes (falling backwards through the ropes and then propelling himself back into the ring), or making his opponent look foolish by feigning semi-consciousness and then sidestepping a blow at the last minute. It was this abilty to humiliate his opponent that gave Kellet his unique flair for pleasing the fans.

 

Les Kellet was British cruiserweight champion in the early 1950s, until the newly created Joint Promotions re-organised the weight divisions and ended his reign. Frankly, Les's huge charisma and popular appeal meant that the loss of the title was of no great consequence.

 

Outside of the ring Les Kellet had the reputation of being a very hard man with a high pain threshold. Stories abound of his no-nonsense approach to life, which he publicly admitted led to him being disliked by some in the profession. Personal contentment came from running a small holding and café with his wife, Margaret. There was tragedy for Margaret and Les in 2000, with the untimely death of one of their two sons, David, who wrestled as Dave Barrie.

 

Although Les's career continued until he was well into his sixties he remained a crowd pleaser until the very end. A distinguished occupant of the Hall of Fame, Les Kellet died on 9^th January, 2002.  

 

Many thanks to Alan Bamber & David Franklin for their efforts.

 

 

 

Pat Roach was born in Birmingham in 1937 and by the age of 22 had gained a black belt in Judo.  From this impressive achievement the 6'5 tall near 20 stone giant went into the rings of Great Britain becoming an instant hit due to his size and skill.  Even though Pat was one of the largest athletes in the ring he was able to match holds with some of the smaller and more technical men of the era, this combined with his immense size made him a devastating opponent for anyone.

In 1971 at the height of his wrestling fame Pat Roach made the then unheard of leap into the movies starring in Stanley Kubricks A Clockwork Orange appearing in the movie as a bouncer.  He would work with Kubrick again in 1976's Barry Lyndon.  In 1977 Pat auditioned for the part of Darth Vader in Star Wars, narrowly missing out to that other legend David Prowse.  This audition had impressed George Lucus so much that when he was working on the Indiana Jones Trilogy he offered Pat several roles in the films.  In 1988 he was offered a part in another Lucus production Willow.

Other screen credits for the big man include Never Say Never Again opposite Sean Connery, Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja opposite Arnold Schwartzenegger who become a close friend and wrote the foreword to Pats biography, and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.  He also found time to play the role of "Bomber" on the hit BBC show Auf Wiedersehen Pet.

Throughout all of these accomplishments Pat still worked in the rings of Britain when his schedule allowed and ran a fitness gym in Birmingham.  Serving on the British Reunion Committee Pat's loss from cancer in July 2004 hit all within the Wrestling world really hard.  

He is sorely missed by all.

In the history of professional wrestling few men have had the global impact on the sport as the Dynamite Kid.  Born in Lancashire in 1958 young Tom Billington was apparently destined to become a boxer until at the age of 13 he met Ted Betley.  In 1975 he left school and began to ply his trade in the ring as the Dynamite Kid, after merely a year he had become the British and European champion.  During this time he had a chance encounter with Bruce Hart of the legendary Hart family, it was this meeting that prompted Dynamite to head to Calgary Canada and a future in Stu Harts Stampede Wrestling.

After many memorable matches in Stampede Dynamite travelled to Japan where his career was really about to take off.  His matches with Tiger Mask have since become the stuff of legend and set new standards for professional wrestling. 

When arriving back in Canada in 1982 the Dynamite Kid got married and began the next chapter in his legendary career when he started teaming with his young cousin Davey Boy Smith another native of the UK.  In 1984 Dynamite defeated both Davey Boy and the Cobra to become the NJPW Junior Heavyweight Champion.  At this time Vince Mcmahon persuaded Dynamite and Davey Boy to join the then WWF as the British Bulldogs, they would go on to become one of the greatest teams in the companies history.  At Wrestlemania 2 the pair would become WWF Tag Team champions, however disaster was about to strike.  Nine months after winning the titles he sustained a severe back injury requiring surgery.  A mere five weeks later, and several months early, the Dynamite kid struggled back into the ring in what can only be described as a superhuman effort to drop the straps to the Hart Foundation. 

After months of rehabilitation and against the advice of doctors Dynamite returned to a full time schedule, this schedule took its toll on him and he made his final appearance for the WWF with Davey Boy at the second annual Survivor Series in 1988.  After leaving the WWF he went back to Japan briefly before retiring in 1990.  He made several sporadic appearances back in British rings in 1996 and a tour of Michinoku Pro Wrestling.  During this tour the world would see the final match of the Dynamite Kid.  Just a year later this legend of the ring would be confined to a wheelchair after giving so much to the sport of Professional Wrestling.  He will truly go down in history as one of the greatest wrestlers to ever live, his style still lives on in the dozens of wrestlers who cite the Dynamite Kid as there main inspiration, and its easy to see why.

Alfred Hayes was born in August of 1928.  As a youngster this phenomenal athlete trained in the art of Judo alongside fellow legends Joe D'Orazio and Steve Logan, where he was to become the youngest man in history at that time to gain a black belt in the sport.  Following his Judo success Alfred was trained in the sport of professional wrestling by Sir Athel Oakley making his in ring debut in 1950, he quickly made a name for himself with classic bouts with the likes of Bert Assirati, Mike Marino and Dr Death.  During this time Alfie and his then tag partner Ray Hunter helped to introduce tag wrestling to Europe from the USA, this form of wrestling became so popular that the pair were able to command huge salaries.

Throughout the 1960's as 'Judo' Al Hayes he had a successful run as the British Heavyweight Champion defeating his trainer and mentor Sir Athel Oakley for the strap.  The next phase of his illustrious career saw him turn to promoting alongside Paul Lincoln with whom he filled halls all over Britain.  By the early 1970's Alfred had achieved all he could in Britain and set his sites across the pond to the USA.

During the 1970's he made an astonishing impact on the business in the USA claiming many of the NWA's top titles in the process.  In 1982 Lord Alfred Hayes made his debut in Vince McMahons WWF however only a year later was forced to retire from the ring due to severe Arthritis, brought on by years of wrestling.

He eventually re-signed with the WWF as a manager and announcer managing some of the top teams of the time.  His career highlight as an announcer came when he called the main event match of Wrestlemania 2.  Throughout the 1980's he was a permanent fixture on WWF programming conducting interviews with all the major names of the time such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and the British Bulldogs.

In 1990 Alfred was hit by a speeding car while crossing the street outside the WWF TV studios and was left seriously injured.  His injuries eventually led to him having several vertebrae removed from his spine shrinking his height from 6 feet to 5 feet 6 inches tall.  At the end of 1993 after an amazing 43 year career Alfred Hayes retired to his ranch in Dallas Texas.  On 21st July 2005 Alfred passed away peacefully after battling a long illness, he will go down in history not only as being a true innovator of the sport but also as one of the legitimately hardest men to ever lace up a pair of wrestling boots. 

A man of great vision who had enormous influence on the golden years of Pro Wrestling, principally from the 1950's to late 60's.  Pauls innovative ideas as a promoter, and his personal in ring portrayal as Dr. Death are legendary amongst grapple fans from that era. 

Paul Lincoln arrived in the UK as a young Pro Wrestler from his home of Sydney, Australia in the mid 1950's.  He had wrestled in boothes in Australia, which included taking on any young sheep shearers who fancied their chances, and en route to the UK had wrestled in Singapore.  It was some years later that he donned the infamous mask as Dr Death. 

Pauls entrepreneural abilities were also evident in the beginings of the British rock scene.  In partnership with Australian wresler Ray Hunter the 2'I's coffee bar was purchased and Paul began to promote Rock music in the cellar.  It was from this now famous, small venue that Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Lionel Bart and many many others were discovered.  Paul himself became the manager of Terry Dene and Wee Willy Harris.  He also became a promoter of concerts and organised the first ever Rock across the Channel.  Along with Ray he became a part of the restaurent business and later in the 1960's they were joined by Bob Anthony and fellow hall of famer Al Hayes in the legendary "Cromwellian Club" which was very much the "in" club of the swinging London era.

Although Paul easily could have carved out a successful career in music, or the club/restaurent world, his first love has always been Pro Wrestling.  His promotions under the banner of Paul Lincoln Managements were recognised as classics, and drew the talents of some of the greatest stars of the British Wrestling scene.  In the Heavyweight division their was Ray Hunter, Al Hayes, Mike Marino, Wayne Bridges, Dave Larson, Bob Kirkwood, Dennis Dean plus in general opinion the greatest masked wrestler of all time Dr Death.  Paul Lincoln Management also drew some of the cream of Lightweight talent in the form of Harry Fields, Tony Charles, Eddie Capelli, the Cortez Brothers John & Peter, and the Anthony Brothers Bob & Chris.  Many of the top foreign wrestlers of the time were attracted to the already steller Paul Lincoln lineup.  From the USA came Ricky Starr, Sky High Lee.  From Spain came Quasimodo & Modesto Aledo.  From France came Isha Israel, Jean Corne and from Japan came Togo Tani & Chati Yakouchi.

Many of the Paul Lincoln promotions were housed in the opulent surroundings of the Granada Theatres, including Granadas showpiece theatre in Tooting.  It was here that Dr Death had his momentous match with the White Angel.  The final exposure required to change the face of British Wrestling forever was TV.  The existing World of Sport presentations were contracted to the well established Joint Promotions.  Paul Lincoln Managements almost secured the new mid week slot, but instead it went to Joint Promotions.  The different style of Paul Lincolns match making would have contrasted favourably for wrestling and helped to maintain interest in the public.

Paul loved the challenge of virgin territory, and ventured with wrestling promotion in places that it had previously never travelled.  Amongst these were Malta, where Randy Turpin was matched Boxing against the Maltese Middleweight Champion, plus a full wrestling bill.  Africa was also tackled, plus Hong Kong, in 1966, where the opening date in the Happy Valley Stadium was delaying with the onset of the famous Kowloon riots, with the wrestlers confined to their hotel under curfew.  However once underway the month long tournament attracted the attention of an influential promoter from Thailand, and the promotion was extended into the Thai Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.  Another intrepid promotion that Paul undertook was Italy.  Their the plan was to operate throughout the north of Italy in a circus marquee which would travel to various towns.  Unfortunately the local organiser had not secured the necessary permits, and consequently the police shut down the promotion after the first night.  Paul was not to be put off by this, and frequent trips were made to the authorities in Milan, with help from a top ranking Italian policeman, who on his police business visits to London always visited Pauls Italian restaurant in Soho.  Eventually the promotion continued, with the wrestlers very fit from their short holiday in a hillside hotel in the Italian lakes, where the owner (another friend of Pauls) had a very good supply of weight training equipment.  Wrestling was entirely new to these places except viewed on TV.  The live shows drew a great reaction.

Paul Lincoln as an innovative and constructive promoter plus his tremendous wrestling ability in the guise of Dr Death as well as his ability to draw crowds truely deserves his place in the British Wrestling Hall of Fame.

George Kidd was born in 1925, in Hill Street, Dundee. As a young boy George went to the local boxing club to learn how to look after himself. The story goes that he was ridiculed for his size and severely beaten by the other lads at the club. In one fight, soon after he joined, George claimed that the boy he was fighting landed a hard punch on his nose. George dived at his opponents legs and dragged him to the canvas wrestling style, and by the time the club officials dragged him off. George had got a little of his own back. George Kidd, the would be wrestler, had arrived.

After his flirtation with boxing George decided to study physical education, fitness, stretching and weight lifting. He also studied Ju Jitsu, self defence and yoga in great detail. The Yoga may go some way to explaining George’s famous flexibility and some of the weird positions he put himself into while escaping from holds, bamboozling his opponents. and entertaining the fans.

In 1943, George enlisted in the Royal Navy, where he began to wrestle competitively. In 1946 George left the Navy (he trained as a mechanic in the Fleet Air Arm) and it was at this time he decided to become a professional wrestler. George’s major problem was his height, 5’ 6" and his weight at the time, of around 9½ stone. Most good judges thought he was too small to become a professional wrestler. Keen to prove people wrong, George arranged to meet George de Relwyskow, the famous wrestling promoter, in Dundee. It was George de Relwyskow who gave George his first opportunity to pursue his chosen career of professional wrestling.

In May 1947 George Kidd competed in a tournament in Edinburgh and defeated Tony Lawrence to claim the Scottish lightweight title. Before he won this title George had fought 60 contests losing only 10. In the famously cold winter of 1947, he decided to go to Bradford to meet Norman Morrell (the ex-Olympic wrestler who competed in the Berlin games of 1936, and went on to promote). George went to Morrell’s gym in Bradford where he was once again ridiculed for being so small.

George had heard that kind of comment before and decided to challenge, a still reasonably fit, Norman Morrell to a few rounds in the gym. Within minutes of entering the ring with Morrell, George was caught in a face bar hold and he struggled hard to escape until he heard something crack! The training bout ended suddenly with Morrell apologising and making it clear that he was greatly impressed by George and he offered to train and coach him. George worked with Norman Morrell for 18 months – he claimed it was the hardest period of his career. Every night Norman made George do 100 bridges and by the time his training with Norman Morrell was finished, George’s neck measured 17½ inches.

At Morrell’s gym one of George’s tutors was the British lightweight champion of the day Joe Reid, and during a non-title fight with George, Joe made it clear that no mercy would be shown. However, George soon managed to apply a figure four-leg lock on Joe, but Joe would not submit. This resulted in Joe’s leg being badly injured. Joe recovered well and eventually lost his British title to Jack Dempsey (later, the long reigning British welterweight champion).

In 1948, George fought Jack Dempsey in a gruelling match, to win the British Lightweight title. George now set his sights on the European crown. In May 1949 George travelled to Paris to compete for the European Championship. George beat all comers in a tournament and returned with the European Lightweight title. This left only one title to aim at …..Champion of the World.

The man generally recognised as the world lightweight champion at that time was Mexican, Rudy Quarez. The bout was arranged and George eventually defeated Quarez. Annoyingly, some important wrestling associations of the day, most notably the American Wrestling Alliance (AWA), refused to recognise George’s win. The spectacular Frenchman Rene Ben Chemoul, stood between George and world-wide recognition as lightweight champion, or at least as close to world-wide recognition as it ever gets in professional wrestling.

George wanted to take on this final leg of his relentless pursuit to become recognised as world champion throughout the wrestling world and, in February 1950, Morrell arranged for George to fight Chemoul in Dundee. Kidd claims to have spotted that Chemoul had a pattern of set moves and George began to anticipate what would come next. George managed to defeat the Frenchman and complete his quest for the title. For the next 20 years and more, George successfully defended his world lightweight championship title against approximately 50 different challengers. Among the greatest challenges came from Adrian Street and Jim Breaks.

George’s last bout was in 1976 and he retired from professional wrestling still claiming the World Lightweight title. George passed on some of his expertise to other wrestlers as he approached retirement, most famously to Johnny Saint.

One of the major highlights of his career was wrestling in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Albert Hall in 1963. George was awarded Grampian TV Personality of the Year in 1965 and was honoured by an award from his home town of Dundee. In his retirement George supported Scottish youth and on 5th January 1998, aged 72, he passed away. Very few wrestlers have come close to George Kidd for skill, agility, flexibility, tenacity, inventiveness and single-minded determination to get to the top and stay there. A true great in the history of professional wrestling.

Steve Logan was one of the toughest and yet nicest men ever to grace our great sport, both in and out of the ring.  At the young age of 14 Steve served his apprenticeship for smithfield meat market.  It wasn't long before Steve progressed to a butchers shop in East Street market, in those days Steve's main love was Boxing at the fisher downside Boxing club.  His skills allowed him to quickly climb the amatuer rankings.  Unfortunatly for Steve he was discovered training with the Pro's, which was not the done thing in those days, it was at that time that Steve was called up for service in the Army.  He couldn't have been put in a tougher regiment as one of Monty's men and at the spearhead of the campaigns in Sicily and the Italian mainland. 

Once Steve returned to civilian life he tried his hand at Acting but we must now thank his lifelong friend Joe D'Orazio for talking him into Wrestling, he was a natural and was soon in great demand by promoters throughout the land.  It didn't take long for promoters on the continent to hear of Steve's rough tough style and offers came pouring in for Steve to work in the infamous German tournaments of the time.  Such was Steve's style he became a top draw wherever he appeared.  Once back in England promoters gave him an amazing deal to stop him wrestling abroad and keep him to themselves!

The legendary Mick McManus, with a style very similar to Steve's, was barnstorming the halls of Britain and so a tag team was formed.  This pairing of McManus and Logan turned out to be one of the most successful tag and best known partnerships ever formed.  The Royal Albert Hall was a mecca for perfomers of all trades and no Wrestling bill there was complete without Steve Logan appearing as one of the headline attractions.  Another feather in Steve Logans cap was the fact that he was one of the first wrestlers to appear at King Hussains Stadium in Jordan along with Tibor Szakas.

Inside the ring Steve was seen to be a rough tough competitor, outside of the ring he was a gentleman, a kind and gentle man liked by everyone who knew him in the business.  Always a word of advice and help to any young wrestler aspiring to be the next big star just starting out.  He was also one of the witiest wrestlers i have ever met.  I had just started out in the business and was at Reading town hall, we were changing in the dressing room where there was a massive table pushed against the wall.  During my match preparations i was leaning against this table doing some press ups when Steve walked by smoking a cigarette, he cooly said to me "You won't move that son, its up against the wall!"

Steve Logan truely was one of the pioneers of this great business and will always be regarding as one of the greats!

 

 Mike Marino was one of the most beloved Professional Wrestlers to ever to put on a pair of wrestling boots, he was loved in equal measure by both the fans and the wrestlers alike.  Never without a smile on his face i cannot remember ever seeing Mike in a bad mood.

During the hey days of British Wrestling most wrestlers would travel in excess of 1,000 miles a week and if you were fortunate enough to be travelling with Mike Marino then you knew you were in for a treat.  You'd be laughing all week as Mike was able to tell jokes and play pranks from Lands end to John O'Groats. 

His love affair with Wrestling was second to none and Mike was most happy when he was wrestling around the halls of Britain and passing on his seemingly endless knowledge to his trainees.  He was never happier then when he was teaching young hopefuls his trade.  Many of these young hopefuls going on to be main event stars and champions in their own right.  In the glory days of wrestling any promoter in the land that knew you were one of Mike Marino's boys would book you sight unseen, simply on the repuation and respect that this great man had earned from his years in the sport.  He was so good that he was know as Mr Wrestling by the fans, promoters and wrestlers. 

I was fortunate to have had the pleasure of knowing Mike personally for over 30 years and i can never remember a time when he wasn't top of the bill.  Another loved and respected man in the business, was Mike's cousin Joe D'Orazio, who can remember Mike being top of the Bill in the 1940's!  In that era the man to beat was Bert Assirati, one of the toughest and hardest men ever in wrestling.  The blood bath matches that these two greats had at that time are still talked about to this day at the reunion by some of the old timers.  As are the classic matches he had with Judo Al Hayes amongst others, these matches will go down in the history books as being some of the most technically proficient and scientific displays of wrestling of all time. 

The sad passing of Mike Marino occured following a seizure, while he was travelling home from a show with some of his boys including Mal Sanders and Mel Stuart after a show, it was a sad sad occasion for all.