Wrestling Heritage

By Graeme Cameron

A British History of Australian Wrestling
By Graeme Cameron

Part 18:
THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING ERA BEGINS

Early in 1964 American promoters Jim Barnett and Johnny Doyle visited Australia to determine whether an American-style promotion was viable. Determining that it was, they returned later in the year to set up the promotion they titled “World Championship Wrestling”. This promotion debuted on October 24 at Sydney Stadium and would dominate pro wrestling in Australia for almost all of the next 14 years. It featured many top names and past and future champions from North America. 

George Gardiner continued to promote periodically, featuring mainly locally based wrestlers of European heritage plus the massive Hungarian King Kong. He delivered three notable cards with Elias Panagos v Curtis Iaukea (1965), Spiros Arion v King Kong (1966) and Wadi Ayoub v King Kong (1967) as the main events, but simply didn’t have the financial resources to compete with Barnett and Doyle. 

Hal Morgan’s club-based “Top Pro Wrestling” (TPW) thrived, running cards five nights a week all over Sydney and supplying local wrestlers to Barnett and Doyle to work as preliminary wrestlers and do their duty to the big stars on TV.

Wrestlers familiar to Heritage readers who appeared in Australia between 1965 and 1970 were Spiros Arion and Curtis Iaukea (who worked for both WCW and Gardiner), Con Papalazarou, The Mighty Hercules (Pepe Cortez), Johnny Kostas, Karl Gotch (Istaz), Jim Hady, John DaSilva, Billy White Wolf, Eric Froelich, and Dory Dixon. Notable was the 1969 tour of Billy Robinson. All worked for WCW exclusively.

1965 saw the return of Roy Heffernan after a ten-year absence. Other Australian wrestlers known to Heritage readers who were active during this period were Kangaroo Kennedy, Braka Cortez, Ron Fury, El Greco and Arne Saari. George Pencheff had retired in 1964 after suffering a serious injury in India. Making their debuts were Mark Anthony and Emil Wolf. 

One current, one former and one future world champion toured in this period. After George Gardiner had failed to sign him in 1966 Barnett and Doyle brought World Wide Wrestling Federation champion Bruno Sammartino out twice, once in 1966 and once in1967, though he did not defend his “world” title so as not to undermine the local “world” champion. In 1968, former American Wrestling Association world champion Dr. Bill Miller toured (a genuinely qualified and experienced vet), as did future NWA world champion Jack Brisco. Billy Robinson apart, the British presence was restricted to the undercards of stadium presentations, TV and “Club Wrestling”. We begin the profiles this time with a couple of names well known to Heritage readers.

ARTHUR OPENSHAW (1965-67)

The British and Australian careers of Salford’s Arthur Openshaw are well covered in the “People” section of this web site.

A light heavyweight, the tenure of Arthur Openshaw was brief, lasting only from 1965 to 1967. There are 14 recorded appearances for WCW, 12 of them being in support matches on stadium cards against other light heavyweights. He also worked on the Melbourne independent and Sydney club circuits. His first recorded appearance was at Sydney Stadium in early December 1965 in a draw against former German amateur champion Reinhardt Molitor.

His most frequent opponent was Ken Medlin. He had four matches with Medlin, losing the first then winning the next three. One of these matches was billed as being for the Australian Light Heavyweight title, but it appears to have been something done on the night for the crowd. There’s no record of Openshaw ever defending the title. 

Openshaw’s record was 8 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws, the only other singles loss being to his long-time friend also from Salford, Spike Robson. He also teamed with Robson twice, the first time losing on TV against the newly crowned WCW tag team champions and former AWA world tag team champions Larry Hennig and Harley Race in May 1966. This was Openshaw’s only recorded TV appearance. He also teamed with Robson to defeat Ken Medlin and Noel “Grumpy” Davis at Sydney Stadium on September 15, 1967. This was his final recorded Australian appearance but it’s not the end of his story. To see what happened next, go to the “People’ section of this web site. 

Opponents: Reinhardt Molitor, Tony Zorro, Ken Medlin, Spike Robson, Albert Dunn, Haji Baba

SPIKE ROBSON (1966-74, 1977)

Also hailing from Salford, the career of Spike Robson is covered in some detail in the “People” section of this web site. He emigrated to Australia in the mid-1960s.  As mentioned in the “People” section his first recorded appearance was at Sydney Stadium in January 1966, losing to the much heavier Johnny Boyd. He worked for both TPW and WCW from 1966 to the end of 1974, with a brief comeback in 1977. There are near 120 match records for Robson in WCW, but the number is likely higher as the records are incomplete. The number of appearances for TPW and other independent promotions may well number over 1,000. His most frequent opponent in WCW was Alan Pinfold (yes, the same Alan Pinfold who was Allen Sherry’s tag team partner in 1954). Other opponents he met multiple times were Johnny Boyd, Billy Dundee and Braka Cortez.

Robson was usually billed as being 15 stone but was obviously lighter. In WCW, he was often used in opening preliminary matches against wrestlers of similar size or in catchweight matches against lighter weight wrestlers. He had a fairly good win record in these matches but fared less well when matched with heavyweights. Prior to 1969 there are only two recorded TV appearances, both tag team matches, the above-mentioned match with partner Arthur Openshaw, and a match in which he paired with Dutch immigrant Jan Jansen, losing to future WWF world tag team champions Professor Tanaka & Mitsu Arakawa in May 1966, which was his TV debut. 

He was one of 12 wrestlers who broke away from Hal Morgan’s TPW in 1970 to form a new promotion after Morgan denied them a pay rise. From 1970, he appeared on TV much more frequently, doing his duty to what seemed like an endless stream of much heavier villains in both singles and tag team matches. He appeared less frequently on stadium cards. 

His technical knowledge was highly respected as shown by the fact that Billy Robinson, Les Thornton and American Ron Fuller all chose him to assist with holds demonstrations on TV.

The final match record for Spike Robson was in late July 1974, a drawn match against Greek George Zorbas at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. Now well into his Eighties, Spike Robson lives in quiet retirement in Sydney 

Opponents: Johnny Boyd, Alan Pinfold, Arthur Openshaw, Roy Heffernan, George Lackey, Nick Bockwinkle, Noel “Grumpy” Davis, Braka Cortez, Reinhardt Molitor, Ken Medlin, Tony Zorro, Sonny Dalton, Billy Dundee, Les Roberts, Ron Fury, Con Tolios, Murphy the Surfie, Steve Rickard, Ron Miller, Bruno Massi, Don Carson, Sharkey Ward, Johnny Gray, George Barnes, Stuart Henderson, Fred Burgher, George Zorbas, Al Costello, “Killer” Buddy Austin, Red Bastien, Gary Hart, Bulldog Bob Brown, Tiger Jeet Singh, Killer Karl Kox, Les Thornton, Bulldog Brower, The Stomper, Tarzan Tyler 

BILLY DUNDEE (1967-75)

Billy Dundee was arguably the most successful British immigrant as a wrestler to come to Australia since William Miller, but his success did not come in Australia itself.

He was born William Cruikshanks (or Crookshanks) in 1943 in the county of Angus, Scotland, though the exact place is not known. When he was 10 years old, the family emigrated to Australia, settling in Melbourne. By the age of 16, he was performing as a trapeze artist in a circus. He made his debut as a wrestler in 1962, working on the Melbourne independent circuit. He made his first recorded appearance for WCW in late March 1967, defeating Greek light heavyweight Harold Kalivoris at Festival Hall, Melbourne. For his first two years, he worked mainly on stadium undercards in Melbourne, making the occasional appearance in Sydney, the first being a win over New Zealand’s Albert Dunn at Sydney Stadium in October 1967. In 1969, he moved to Sydney. The first record of a TV appearance is not until March of that year, defeating Jan Jansen.

Of similar size and weight to Spike Robson, he was used in much the same way, matched with wrestlers around the same size or catchweight matches with lighter wrestlers, the only difference being that Dundee was a villain. Dundee’s most frequent opponent was Spike Robson, with 8 recorded clashes and likely many more unrecorded matches. Other frequent opponents were Murphy the Surfie, Ken Medlin and Johnny Gray. In a sign of things to come, he teamed with Sydney wrestler George Barnes for the first time on Sydney TV in May 1973, losing to Spiros Arion & Sheik Wadi Ayoub, the two men teaming several more times after this. 

For 8 years, Dundee toiled on the undercard of stadium cards and did his duty to the big names on TV. Like many Australian wrestlers, he looked destined to remain in this role for the rest of his career, until he and Sydney wrestler George Barnes decided to head to America. Dundee’s final recorded stadium match was in August 1974 at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, losing to the much larger Les Roberts. His final recorded TV match was on Brisbane TV in January 1975, losing to Greek George Guliovas.

Just a month later, the team of Dundee and Barnes debuted in Memphis, Tennessee. It was to be the beginning of storied career for Dundee. Dropping the “y” from his first name, Bill Dundee became a legend of Memphis wrestling with a career that lasted another four decades, his final recorded match being in July 2019.

It began with Dundee and Barnes winning the Southern tag team title. They were soon joined by Johnny Gray to form a stable of Australian villains after blue-eye Gray turned on his partner, local hero Jimmy Golden. Gray and Barnes eventually returned to Australia, but Dundee chose to stay. It would be the best decision he ever made. What truly established Dundee was his rivalry with Memphis icon, Jerry Lawler, also a sometime tag team partner. This rivalry lasted into the 21st century, only ceasing when age and failing health finally caught up to them. 

Dundee, won numerous titles, became matchmaker and eventually part-owner of the Memphis promotion. He held the AWA World tag team title with Lawler in its dying days and in the American WCW, he was briefly “Sir William”, Lord Steven Regal’s manservant. His two sons, Brian and Kevin, also became wrestlers.

Sadly, it has been recently announced by his son that Dundee, now aged 83, has severe dementia. Bill Dundee is a true legend of Memphis wrestling. There’s a great deal of information on-line about Dundee’s American career should readers wish to know more.

Opponents in Australia: Harold Kalivoris, Albert Dunn, The Maltese Falcon, Paul Aspiotis, Con Tolios, Wally Brock, Ron Fury, Bill Rawlings (Bobby Burns), Johnny Boyd, Murphy the Surfie, Noel “Grumpy” Davis, Len Holt, Spike Robson, Ken Medlin, Tony Zorro, Roy Heffernan, Rocky Romero, Emil Wolf, Dennis Ligouris, Leon Sirocco, Jerry Brisco, Col Peters, Johnny Gray, Jan Jansen, John Tolios, Mario Milano, Con Dandos, Johnny Scott (NZ), Tommy Seigler, Pat Barrett, Danny Little Bear, Bulldog Brower, Reinhardt Molitor, Chris Peters. Akim Manuka, Eddie Graham, Spiros Arion, Ron Miller, Andre Francois, Larry O’Dea, The Great Kabooki, Paul Graham, Les Roberts, Guy Mitchell 

FRANK/EARL BLACK (1967-69, 1977-80)

Once again, you can read the story of Earl Black in the “People” section of this web site. As mentioned there, though billed as being from Australia in the UK, he was actually from Sheffield and trained to be wrestler in New Zealand. On his first visit, he was in Australia for three years. 

There are surprisingly few records for Earl Black’s time in Australia. On his first stint in Australia, he mostly worked for Hal Morgan’s “Top Pro Wrestling” in the Sydney clubs as Frank Black (his actual name being Justin Frank Earl). John Marshall recalled “those tattoos coming at me” but any other opponents are unknown. He did make four recorded appearances for WCW. In 1967, he lost TV matches to Pat Patterson and The Beast (Rudy Kay), both Canadians. In 1969, he appeared twice at Sydney Stadium, defeating local wrestler Bill Kirby and losing to Murphy the Magnificent.

What is little known is that he returned to Australia as Earl Black in the late Seventies, working for the Sydney-based independent promotion of another British immigrant Steve Rackman (whom we’ll meet in a forthcoming part of this series), remaining in Australia through 1980. Known opponents were Dominic Bianco and Kevin Martin.

With fellow wrestler Jan Jansen, Earl Black appeared in a comedic wrestling-themed pop music video for the song “Welcome to the Universe” by Flash ‘n The Pan, a performer alias of Hall of Fame Australian singer/songwriter duo, Harry Vanda and George Young. You can view this on YouTube.

For more information about Earl Black’s career, see the “People” section of this web site 

Earl Black died in May 2025.

Opponents: Pat Patterson, The Beast, Bill Kirby, Murphy the Magnificent, John Marshall, Dominic Bianco, Kevin Martin

Page added 26/04/2026

25551