Eddie Rose reflects on his long wrestling career.
Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.
It’s a long time since I was last in a wrestling ring, almost forty years ago and when I think about wrestling the moments that always come into my mind are the comedy events and happenings. Wrestling was a happy time, a time of laughs, jokes, comical events hardly ever clouded by sadness or misadventure. On reflection I think this characterised wrestling: the wrestlers, the shows, the audiences, the promoters…..
My first experience of wrestling was as a spectator on Saturday evening after I had finished work at Belle Vue in Manchester. I was given a contact who was on the staff. “Ask for Mrs Dixon. She’ll get you in” was the order. She was one of the staff who showed customers to their seats and she knew which ones would be vacant on the night and all it cost was a bar of chocolate or some such trifle (a double G & T perhaps)!
This was the era of Jack Pye, perhaps the most infamous of ring villains of all time. He appeared at least twice a month at Belle Vued to work his devilry in front of 6000 spectators. After several shows I noticed a pattern emerging. After Pye’s bout the promoters followed the explosions of anger and rage with a bout featuring two clever wrestlers who provided passages of comedy in their bout. Bradford’s Bernard Murray was such an example. Bernard knew how to make an audience laugh and with the laughter came a relaxation and the feelings of outrage and anger disappeared from the audience. Calm was restored.
Some wrestlers introduced their own form of comedy into the ring and entertained their fans famously. I was lucky enough to share the ring with them on occasions. Catweazle was a firm favourite because of his unusual garments, his beard and hair, his raspingly loud voice and his general demeanour in the ring. My favourite moment happened when I dodged round the back of him and slapped him in the middle of his back with quite some force. It knocked the wind out of him plus it caused his false teeth to fly out across the ring and into the hands of a spectator who whooped in delight and promptly disappeared back into the crowd. Teeth never to be seen again!
A number of wrestlers carried on conversations (if that’s the correct word) with audiences, often quite sharp repartee. Good examples would be Jackie Pallo who had a very quick wit and an old friend, Leon Arras who could cause an audience to explode with laughter or anger, depending upon his intention. Leon was brilliant at instant witty, sometimes biting, responses to loud mouthed fans. Similarly, Buddy Ward would not hesitate to respond to audiences that criticised him and would carry on an argument with a member of the crowd whilst continuing to wrestle his opponent.
Comedy reached new heights with Pedro the Gipsy from Barnsley. Pedro was funny in appearance, in movement and in his loud outspoken comments. He did not let up and on occasions his comedy had even more effect on his opponent than on the audiences, Several times he reduced me to tears with his antics and once the unmentionable happened: I literally wet myself with laughter mid ring reacting to his antics!
Another wrestler who, unexpectedly, was capable of reducing a hall to laughter was Romeo Joe Critchley from Wigan. Unusual because Wigan lads tended to be dour and silent but Joe could suddenly erupt with a frenzy of words and antics that had everyone laughing and shouting with delight. I travelled quite a lot with Joe and really enjoyed his humorous view on life; he helped pass the tedious hours driving back to Lancashire from Inverness!
What about Les Kellet you might ask? Les was certainly gifted but I always felt wary and cautious. He did make me laugh on occasions, especially with his quick movements when appearing to be cornered by an opponent. I felt he was unpredictable and I do remember he once hit me, I acting as referee in this bout, harder than I can ever remember being hit because I did not react quickly enough to his antics! Not so funny! Les was somewhat paradoxical and certainly unpredictable in the ring. He was capable of great comedy moments but could change persona in a flash and become a fearsome personality.
I would include several other wrestlers as capable, on occasions, of introducing enjoyable moments of comedy into their wrestling. Jack Cassidy, a wrestling rogue, was a warm personality who usually employed dubious tactics but also enjoyed himself and had a treasure trove of quick-fire quips that amused audiences countrywide. Mad Mike O’Hagan, domiciled in Ayr but of Irish descent capered around the ring in a high spirited manner with words and actions that raised smiles and laughs from his opponent as well as the fans. This characteristic he shared with the likes of Ian Wilson, Tally Ho Kaye, Kevin Conneely and even super star Adrian Street!
Perhaps some of the best comedy took place other than in the ring. In the pub perhaps. But no, rather in the car during travel to venues some of which seemed endless for example up to Campbelltown or down to Redruth. With travelling companions like Ian Wilson, Mark Wayne. Jack Cassidy, Peter Lindberg, Ezra Francis and Tiger Delmonte or referees like Don Branch, Emile Poilve, Carl Dane and Ian MacGregor weary miles passed more quickly as jokes and stories came in endless stream and each one trying to outdone the one before!
I always enjoyed the “fun moments” and I remember them with a smile and great memories of some very good friends.
Eddie Rose
Manchester
Wrestling Heritage 