A Year of Wrestling 1987

By David Mantell

Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.

All Star had finally done it. They had got a slice of ITV action and were now on a fully level playing field with Joint Promotions. No doubt they were aware too of the talk of the precarious position of the ITV slot and wanted to make the most of the time they had in order to finally overtake Joint and become the UK’s number one wrestling promotion. To that end they put together a red hot product that would keep the punters coming back for the next episode and then the next – and in good time come along to see the next live show and then the next. The three bouts shown on ITV just after the new year, taped just before Christmas at the unusually trendy location of Peter Stringfellow’s London Hippodrome saw the launch of Kendo Nagasaki as All Star’s flagship and the definite profiling of two other crucial “All Stars” – the high flying Japanese star Keichi “Fuji” Yamada – tipped as “the next Sammy Lee” and in his return to TV, after years in the indie Bermuda Triangle, the maniac himself Rollerball Rocco. While Rocco, and to a lesser extent Yamada had been staples of All Star for quite some time now, Kendo’s run with All Star from late 1986 to late 1993 is very much the start and finish of the Golden Era of All Star.

The first All Star TV bout – Yamada’s launch match – was the least auspicious of the three with Wildman John Wilkie (a low-key poach from Joint) playing enhancement talent to the Japanese star. Rocco was similarly put over, albeit by a higher profile opponent, another TV returnee, British Heavy Middleweight champion Chic Cullen (who had previously taken Rocco’s World title for a while.) Kendo, however was given the most outrageous launch of the lot – starting out earlier in the afternoon when he had brutalised beloved footballer turned broadcaster Jimmy Greaves (in footage screened in the previous programme that Saturday, Saint and Greavsie, the successor to World Of Sport’s “On The Ball” slot.) Having put loveable Greavsie in pain, Naggers had plenty of heat stocked up for when he came out to face Clive Myers in a Ladder Match – or rather a Disco Ladder match with the prize at the top of the ladder being a Phillips Lazervision disc on the end of a spare piece of gold Christmas tinsel, while the nightclub’s light system blared and the DJ played a loud set. Kendo, Rocco and Yamada all emerged the winners of their respective matches and George Gillette – now in a new City Gent look of bowler hat and brolly – promised the audience that they would see an awful lot more of Nagasaki soon. They wouldn’t have long to wait as the next two TV tapings would draw the three winners from the first show plus Myers together towards a flashpoint. Backstage at the second taping, Yamada and Myers confronted Kendo and George in a corridor and issued a challenge to him to find a partner for a tag match. Then in the ring, Myers put Yamada through an initiation ceremony with a wooden Kendo stick to confirm him as his partner, while young Fuji gained another squash victory over a mulletted Rocky Moran. To top the afternoon off, Rocco gained a controversial technical knockout over Johnny Saint in a violent match which saw Saint lose his temper and get a public warning, ending with Saint catching his groin on Rocco’s head during a running leapfrog. Pouring petrol on the flames, Rocco grabbed the mic and declared that “THE BEST MAN WON!!!” The punters at the Lewisham Theatre, Catford, soon to gain a national reputation for their unruly behaviour, predictably went wild over this. During the match, it was announced by Kent Walton that Rocco was to be the third man in the upcoming tag clash.

The big Kendo & Rocco vs Myers & Yamada showdown was held at the third All Star TV taping in Croydon. A wild belter of a match, going to within seconds of the time limit, it saw Yamada pin Rocco with a neat further press and Kendo, although at first lairy of the genuine Japanese, soon destroy Yamada for the equalising fall for his team; but Yamada battle back to nearly unmask Kendo and leave him staggering at ringside with his mask half off and in danger of theft from the crowd. Rocco in the end narrowly reversed a Yamada piledriver for the winning pinfall, setting up a new feud for TV. Kent Walton had mentioned the potential of a Rocco-Yamada solo contest and shortly afterwards at a non televised bout at the next Croydon show Yamada would capture Rocco’s World title a second time, only for Rocco to finally regain his belt on TV from Catford in June. The big tag match, incidentally, was screened as an emergency replacement for a WWF tape featuring Hulk Hogan vs Kamala which mysteriously went AWOL. Astonishingly some TV Times readers wrote in to complain – apparently they would rather have watched Hulk taking on the Mississippi Mauler , with a warm up dose of Outback Jack! Rocco and Yamada would take their feud back to Japan in time – first in a tag team match also featuring Nobuhiku Takada and Owen Hart (more on him later) and later with both men under masks – Rocco once again as Black Tiger and Yamada as a new masked hero Justin “Thunder” Liger.

Such was All Star’s confidence this year that they even gave a once-in-a-lifetime show at the Royal Albert Hall as a special retirement match for Mitzi Mueller, the British Ladies Champion and reason for the company being founded in the first place. Having found a loophole to put a women’s match on in London – the GLC did not control the RAH, and with even the mighty Naggers taking a step down the card, Mitzi fulfilled her dream of wrestling in London, teaming with Rusty Blair to beat Klondyke Kate and “Soho Sex Kitten” Naughty Nicky Monroe, a woman whose gimmick makes one wonder if the GLC had a point after all? To Monroe’s credit, she ditched the Soho gimmick not long after, turning blue eye and falling out with Kate. With Mitzi’s British Ladies title at stake, they had something to fight over – perhaps even worthy of TV coverage. ITV wouldn’t play ball, but maybe some young documentary maker could step into the breach …

Meanwhile Kendo had new fish to fry. The World Heavyweight title and the old British Heavyweight title were accessible to TV once more now that Wayne Bridges, Tony St Clair and Mighty John Quinn were once again accessible to ITV. Frustratingly, the TV company regarded Bridges as unbroken champion since his win over Harris several years earlier and ignored St Clair’s claim entirely in favour of Joint claimant Dalbir Singh (who this year scored a disqualification win over former champion Giant Haystacks.) Bridges and StClair went head to head in a clean match and then Bridges gained a tempestuous disqualification win over Quinn in a match where Croydon showed itself to be every bit the equal of Wembley Arena. At the same taping as Rocco’s World title regain from Yamada, Bridges and Quinn would both be disqualified and eliminated from a tag match with Nagasaki and Neil Sands after what can only be described as a punch-up erupted between the two combatants, leaving Naggers to score the decider with a Kamikaze Crash on St Clair’s partner Neil Sands. All this was leading to a big “World Wrestling Alliance” World Heavyweight title showdown between Bridges and Nagasaki. The first such match, at, Croydon on 1st September, ended in a Nagasaki walkout, but the resulting controversy did held George to lobby for a second title shot for Kendo at a TV taping at St George’s Hall in Bradford, touted (like the Croydon match) as the first title shot for a masked man in UK wrestling history.

On the night a huge crowd of Kendo’s fan club – including ladies and children – were positioned opposite the camera, cheering their man on, booing “broken” Bridges as George called him, and giving a distorted impression of who was meant to be the blue eye and who was the heel. Cheered by the fans on camera and booed by others further back in the hall, Kendo conceded one fall to Bridges and then equalised before nearly finishing off Wayne with a Kamikaze Crash. Bridges fought back but knocked down the referee in the process and was caught by Kendo as he tried to help the official up. Nagasaki rolled Bridges up for the pin and a furious chair throwing performance from Bridges ensued. While Kendo retreated into the arms of his loyal fanbase, the normal fans blockaded the opposite side of the ring. Eventually he was persuaded to leave and accept that he had lost “just like he lost to Mighty John Quinn” as Walton rubbed it in. Kendo and his fans, including a young child in full Kendo mask and wrestling outfit celebrated in the ring – their man had made it to the top. Except that he had even bigger ambitions than that – as George put it in the prematch interview – “This is only a stepping stone – we want Hulk Hogan! Hogan, watch your tail, cos Nagasaki’s on your trail”. How Vince would have fitted Kendo into the WWF challenger schedule of jealous Macho boyfriends and mini skirted “Ugandans” is anyone’s guess, but at least it showed outlook and ambition on All Star’s part to make this inter-promotional challenge.

So in between this and the WWF specials, what did the main event scene back in Joint have to offer in 1987? More Big Daddy and lots of bitterness. It didn’t start off too badly – Daddy’s first big opponent of the year was a mighty muscled moustachioed Russian called Red Ivan who was actually a Canadian of Russian descent called Richard Kruppe. The feud started early with Ivan grinding Burly Barry Douglas into submission with his Comrade Crush (bearhug) and earning himself a challenge from Daddy. After he did the same to Andy Blair (fresh off a failed crack at British Light Heavyweight champion Alan Kilby). Soon afterwards in Bedworth, Daddy and Ivan met, with British/European Welterweight champion Danny Collins popping back from his annual French/Spanish tour for Roger Delaporte to team with Daddy to face the Red man and an even Redder scot – former Daddy partner Drew McDonald, now a villain and calling himself Comrade McDonald with a snazzy Pravda TV shirt to prove his loony left credentials (this being an election year).

After the two youngsters (and future tag partners in turn of the century CWA/EWP) swapped pinfalls, Daddy powerfully powerslammed and pinned Ivan to send him back to Canada – sorry – Russia. It was just the beginning for McDonald however, as not longer afterwards in Southport, a strange couple sat at ringside. A masked man and a blonde woman were picked up by the TV cameras. Kent Walton speculated that we would hear more of these two soon and indeed we would.

The Spoiler and his German Nazi manageress Doctor Monika Kaiser were soon on TV in an all masked tag team with King Kendo, that veteran impersonator of All Star’s top star, to face Daddy and Blair. After Blair was knocked out, Daddy scored an equalising pin on the Spoiler and then pulled his mask off to reveal black nylon underneath. As he fled the ring, Daddy went after Clarke, grabbing him by the Nagasaki-style ponytail – which came away in Daddy’s hands, it being a weave! The next time Daddy and Spoiler met, partnered by Kashmir Singh and Rasputin, a pre match assault from Haystacks softened another Singh up for an opener, before Daddy knocked out the Spoiler and demanded the referee unmask him as per pre match stipulation. (In fact, the score was only 1-1 although “yeller” Rasputin refused to fight on.) Spoiler was unmasked again and this time revealed as Drew, fleeing the ring with Monika, in a sundress and floppy hat this time – the SS Frau uniform had been just too much for the IBA. In a severe case of Huckster vs Nacho Man syndrome, Max Crabtree had King Kendo fight rather a lot of squashes against Daddy that year as did another Naggers wannabe, “Samurai” Rex Strong. One regular partner of both masked swordsmen against Daddy was King Kong Kirk.

Mal Kirk’s death in the ring, teaming with King Kendo against Daddy and Greg Valentine at a rather different Hippodrome, the permanent circus in Great Yarmouth, was the big black mark over Joint Promotions and all of wrestling that year. It was a tabloid and TV news sensation as journalists got the newly widowed Ilona Kirk to spill her guts over Kirks poor pay levels and generally used his death as an excuse to say all the nasty things they ever wanted to say about wrestling. Kirk had earlier in the year formed a tag team with Haystacks – a two match series on TV against Marty Jones and the Birmingham Steve Logan which saw referee Dave Reece knocked out by a Jones drop-kick in the first match, before the big men got the win in the rematch in Leicester. Mucky Mal and King Kendo had also taken part in the FA Cup Final battle royal won by Haystacks. Kirk was planning to retire at the time of his death and move into being a pub landlord. But the show must go on and so Daddy got back in the ring and fought on. (One big show he wrestled that year was the debut of John Freemantle’s Premier Promotions – at the time just a crumbs-off the table Joint satellite, nowadays (2017) the second oldest promotion in the UK and a historical preservation society for how things were done in the Good Old Days.)

All this talk of death and imposters overshadows more positive developments further down the card on Joint. Mark “Kid McCoy” Boothman, hotly tipped lightweight (and at one point seen as the heir to Johnny Saint as Saint was to George Kidd.) scored two big landmark victories capturing the British Lightweight title from veteran Steve Grey and winning the Golden Grappler tournament. The former was achieved by a knockout in Adwick Le Street, the latter with a win over Mal Sanders (replacing his injured semifinal opponent Richie Brooks) in Bridlington left quite a few people with noses out of joint. Sanders was irate at the nature of his loss (due to more public warnings – the price of fouling McCoy all the way through). Brooks felt robbed due to his injured ankle. And a proud father Philip “King Ben” Boothman would nonetheless warn his son – “Next year, that will be me!” this would prove to be prophetic words …

Mc Coy and Yamada were not the only hot young prospects this year. For a start there was Peter Bainbridge, schoolboy star trading the European Lightweight title back and forth with Jim Breaks, (the man every young whizzkid got to beat for a title sooner or later.) Also, 1987 was the year Robbie Brookside got onto TV at long last. After a tag match as the Young Ones with Wayne Martin, Brookside really hit the jackpot with his classic 2-1 loss at Catford to Johnny Saint, a match which has long been praised as a state-of-the-art Clean Match and which in the early 00s would develop cult status among American tape traders after Lo ki, studying the match as research for facing Brookside, fell in love with the bout and sung its praises to all and sundry. while Saint not long afterwards lost his World Lightweight title to Mike Flash Jordan, Brooskide would have another classic clean match against Chic Cullen, whom he had last faced on video courtesy of a Butlins camcorder with a redcoat making a fool of himself at ringside. After Cullen’s win however, he was attacked in the ring by All Star newcomer Fit Finlay (who had redeemed his thorough Daddyings the previous year with a win over Caswell Martin on the way out of Joint.) This set up an epic title match in Bradford – taking up an entire episode of ITV’s show – where Finlay won back his old title from Cullen, doing so by TKO after causing a severe swelling on Cullen’s face in the eleventh round.

In other title news that year, another “Nazi” , Steve Wright in his Bull Blitzer getup and villainous tactics opted to disappear into thin air, leaving the World Mid Heavyweight title vacant. The former Wonderboy probably deserved a more dignified World title reign, but Jones defeated iron Frenchman Jean Paul Auvert in an eliminator before defeating that year’s Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie Of The Year, Owen Hart, to take back his belt. Hart’s older brother Bret had gone down to Jones in a semifinal for the title some years earlier and a few years later against Danny Collins, Hart would have another classic unsuccessful Mountevans World title match. Jones meanwhile consolidated on his victory by winning the Southport Knockout Shield, beating Skull Murphy in the final. His old Masters Of The Powerlock tag partner Pete Roberts would take the Grand Prix belt for that year, beating Tom Tyrone in the final.

The man of the year however remained Nagasaki. He was back. He was All Star’s biggest Star. He was slaughtering Daddy at the box office and in the ratings like Daddy slaughtered King Kendo in the ring. And in the ring he was a world champion, and tag partners with another wild World Champion, Rocco. 1988 would see the box office success continue. However, in the ring, it would all explode to create THEEE feud of the post TV era.

Rasit Huseyin Continues

1987 – A year of change. New theme tune to the wrestling programme, All Star Promotions, after years of trying to get theirs shows broadcast by ITV they finally succeeded, screening one show a month. Occasional WWF shows also arrived, as well a graveyard slot in the early hours of the morning once a week.

The first show of 1987 on TV was by All Star, at the London Hippodrome, Leicester Square. FujI Yamada made his debut on the small screen with an impressive win over John Wilkie, and the bill also saw the return to ITV of Rollerball Rocco, after a four and a half year absence, Rocco triumphing over arch rival Chic Cullen. In the last bout, Kendo Nagasaki returned after an eight year absence, in a “Disco Ladder Match” against Clive Myers, Kendo winning a rather underwhelming match. It would have been better if it was just a normal match, this “Disco Ladder Match” didn’t impress anyone.

At Oldham, at the end of January, Marty Jones beat the Belgian contender Jean Paul Auvert in an eliminator for the vacant World Mid-Heavyweight title. Alan Kilby successfully defended his British Light-Heavyweight title, beating Andy Blair soundly by two clear pinfalls. At the end of January at Catford, Fuji Yamada’s impressive form continued as he despatched Rocky Moran, making Moran’s return after a long absence a misery. Two more top heavyweights returned to the small screen after a long absence, Wayne Bridges and Tony St Clair, in a battle between the World Heavyweight Champion and the official British Heavyweight champion. The match ended in double knockout. The second half of the show was broadcast a month later. A talented young Liverpudlian Rob Brookside and Wayne Martin defeated two vastly more experienced campaigners in a tag match, Bobby Barnes and Blondie Barratt. Jon Cortez beat Jackie Robinson in a one-fall lightweight contest, followed by a sensational catchweight match between Rollerball Rocco and Johnny Saint, won by Rocco after Saint suffered a groin injury.

In February at Hereford, the semi finals for the Grand Prix Belt were contested, Tom Tyrone beating Johnny Wilson and Pete Roberts beating Skull Murphy on a points verdict, Murphy having gained two public warning to Roberts’ one. At Croydon in March, Kendo Nagasaki and Rollerball Rocco beat Clive Myers and Fuji Yamada 2-1, Rocco getting the winning fall just seconds before the end of the bout. A few weeks later, Yamada gained his revenge by ending Rocco’s long reign as World Heavy-Middleweight champion in an untelevised bout at the same venue. In the second half of the show, all the old wounds between Mighty John Quinn and Wayne Bridges were opened up, Bridges winning the bout via a disqualification verdict. Johnny Saint beat Mike Flash Jordan in a technical knockout in a match for the World Lightweight title, Jordan suffering from a cut head, and the match was stopped in Saint’s favour. A couple of months later, though, in an untelevised match at Croydon, Jordan stunned the Fairfield Hall by deposing Saint as World Lightweight kingpin.

At the end of March, the broadcasting of first half of the bill at Huddersfield Town was postponed due to the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, and the second half of the show was broadcast before the first. Fit Finlay beat Caswell Martin in his last televised show for Dale Martin, in the quarter finals of the Golden Grappler Trophy, Mal Sanders beat Pat Patton, and temporarily reverted back to being a face again. Dalbir Singh beat Giant Haystacks by disqualification. In the final of the Grand Prix belt, Pete Roberts beats Tom Tyrone to win the Grand Prix belt, and in the second quarter final heat, Richie Brook beats Mick McMichael by disqualification in what turned out to be McMichael’s last TV appearance, McMichael took the verdict calmly and sportingly.

At Stockport in April a great technical match between Danny Collins and Kung Fu ended in a draw, Collins getting the equalising fall in the final round. Red Ivan made his TV debut, crushing Barry Douglas in an easy win by a knockout. However, Big Daddy entered the ring at the end and challenged Ivan. Andy Robin also made a return to the small screen after an absence of well over 1 year, minus Hercules the bear, and beat Mel Stuart by technical knockout, Stuart unable to continue after being on the receiving end of Robin’s powerlock submission. In the remaining two quarter finals for the Golden Grappler trophy, Kid McCoy beat Jackie Turpin, and Ian McGregor beat Eddie Riley. At the end of April, at the Queens Hall, Bradford, Marty Jones became the World Mid-Heavyweight Champion, beating Owen Hart in a sensational final for the vacant belt. Richie Brooks beat Mal Sanders by a technical knockout in the first semi final of the Golden Grappler trophy, while in the other semi-final Kid McCoy beat Ian McGregor. Red Ivan destroyed the much lighter Andy Blair in a catchweight contest in a knockout victory, and Dalbir Singh and Skull Murphy are both disqualified in an ill tempered clash.

At Bedworth, Big Daddy and Danny Collins beat Red Ivan and Drew MacDonald in Ivan’s last appearance on TV. The following week, the last ever Cup Final Day bill was broadcast, Giant Haystacks winning a battle royal that included Pat Roach, Scrubber Daly, Terry Rudge, Johnny Wilson, King Kendo, King Kong Kirk and Colonel Brody.

In June at Catford, Rollerball Rocco regained the World Heavy-Middleweight title, beating Fuji Yamada. Kendo Nagasaki and Mighty John Quinn joined forces to take on Tony St Clair and Neil Sands, his was Sands’ second and final appearance on TV, the first was 12 years earlier! Nagasaki and Quinn emerged victorious, Quinn and St Clair were both disqualified, and Nagasaki KO’d Sands with his Kamikaze Crash special move. Fit Finlay beat Sandy Scott in an unremarkable, one-sided match. At the end of June at Adwick Le Street, Kid McCoy defeated Steve Grey by a knockout to become the new British Lightweight champion.

In July at Nottingham, a tag match between Giant Haystacks and King Kong Kirk v Marty Jones and Steve Logan ends in a no-contest, referee Dave Rees inadvertently knocked out by a drop kick from Jones. A fortnight later at Leicester, Haystacks and Kirk won the re-match 2-0, in what was Kirk’s last appearance on TV. Kirk suffered a heart attack and died during a tag match against Big Daddy at Great Yarmouth not long after that.

At Bridlington in August, KId McCoy won the Golden Grappler Trophy, beating Mal Sanders on points in the final. McCoy was due to face Richie Brooks, but Brooks suffered a broken ankle in a previous bout and was replaced by the man he beat in the semi final, Sanders. McCoy won the match due to Sanders getting two public warnings, which was just as well, because McCoy took a huge battering from Sanders. Colonel Brody beat Ray Steele by disqualification, Brody posted Steele while referee Martin Warren was replacing the corner pad on the post. At Walthamstow, Chic Cullen successfully held on to his British Heavy-Middleweight title, defeating Rob Brookside by a knockout, but was challenged by Fit Finlay at the end of the bout for the title, Finlay earlier having won his bout against Pete Roberts, a disappointing bout given the quality of the two wrestlers.

At Southport in September, Ray Steele avenged his controversial defeat against Colonel Brody by beating Brody in an underwhelming special “knockout only” challenge match. Marty Jones won the Southport Knockout Shield, beating Skull Murphy by the only fall in the final.

In October, at the St Georges Hall, Bradford, Fit Finlay won the British Heavy-Middleweight title from Chic Cullen by a technical knockout in the 11th round of an enthralling contest. Kendo Nagasaki won the World Heavyweight title off Wayne Bridges in controversial circumstances. Bridges was helping the referee up up after he landed on him, but Nagasaki pounced on Bridges unawares and pinned Bridges for the winning fall. Bridges was incensed, furiously attacking Nagasaki and chasing him towards the dressing room, as well as protesting to the referee. At Wallasey, in the last show of the year, Dave Taylor and Pete Roberts draw in an excellent heavyweight clash, despite three of the six rounds not recorded, which was a shame, but was followed up by an exciting tag match between the Belfast Bruisers Fit Finlay and Rocky Moran versus The Martial Artists Kung Fu and Clive Myers. The match ended in a draw, Kung Fu getting the equalising fall on Finlay right at the death.