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When we watched the wrestling in the 1960s it seemed that Eddie Capelli had been around forever. We weren’t far wrong. London born Eddie Capelli was a stalwart of British wrestling for around thirty years. Although well past his prime when we came across him in the second half of the 1960s it was evident that Eddie was a class act. He seemed equally at home sharing a ring with experienced men like Mick McManus (who must have spent more time with him than with his wife) or giving a helping hand to newcomers such as Robby Baron.
We are confident he was wrestling professionally as early as January 1948 and succeeded Harold Angus as the new British welterweight champion. Eddie was recognised as British champion in southern rings by 1950 and although we haven’t found confirmation The Wrestler magazine stated this was a result of winning a tournament in Maidstone in December, 1949. Eddie Capelli was reported as having said that as a youngster it was a contest at Blackfriars between Harold and George French that had inspired him to take up wrestling. These were pre Joint Promotion days and a Dale Martin publication of the time said Capelli was recognised by the Southern Wrestlers Board of Control, which was, of course, a fictional body. By 1951 Dale Martin Promotions were identifying Mick McManus as British champion.
We can conclude that wherever the start and end of his championship reign it was only short. But this is wrestling, and titles didn’t really matter that much.
There was one other fleeting whiff of honours. When Eddie, George Kidd and Joe D’Orazio hopped over to the independent promoters to form Matsport Promotions Eddie was again nominated British welterweight champion. When that rebellion fizzled out a unification contest with Joint Promotions champion Jack Dempsey was arranged at the Royal Albert Hall on 21st February, 1962 . Dempsey defeated Capelli by two submissions to one fall. Having taken the lead Capelli submitted to a leg and toe hold in round six and again at the start of round seven.
In the 1960s and 1970s Eddie remained popular, and a change of nature to become a baddie of the ring never quite seemed to ring true. Our 1960s and 1970s memories are of a good supporting role wrestler, still coasting on that championship status that was forever touted by television commentator Kent Walton.
For many years little was known about the personal life of Eddie Capelli. Even the name remained a mystery as outside the wrestling ring no one of that age or name seemed to exist. As is so often the case we had to turn to Ron Historyo to uncover the finer details of Eddie Capelli.
Ron has told us Eddie Capelli was a genuine Anglo Italian. The was just an alias similar to what Joe Dorazio and Mike Marino had all done.
Eddie’s grandfather was Vito Antonio Bottone from the town of Scala in Italy. He married an English woman who had been born in Southwark in 1902. Grandfather was a fruiterer and lived long enough to possibly see Eddie wrestle.
Ron’s clue to discovering Eddie’s real identity was his marriage to Avril Loxton in Ealing in 1981. Whilst the marriage was recorded no record of a corresponding birth could be found. So ingenious Ron reversed the search and checked the marriage of Avril Loxton. He found that Avril’s marriage registration was in triplicate. On that same day she had married Eddie Capelli, Giovanni Woods and John Woods.
Case solved. Eddie Capelli was born Giovanni Woods, later Anglicised to John Woods. Back to the records and there he is, Giovanni Woods, born in the Southwark district of London on 28th January 1926 (and not 1927 as most sources state). His father was a John G Woods who had married Giovannina Bottone in 1923 .
Good guy Eddie did help raise money as part of the Lord Taverners Cricket Team, and regularly played charity matches for the Southern England Wrestlers team. Our memories found Eddie in the preliminary contests, often providing a stepping stone for future stars, no less a star for that role.
Eddie retired from the ring around 1976. In 2003, two years after his death, widow Avril accepted an award on his behalf from the British Wrestlers Reunion.
Eddie Capelli: Born 28th January, 1926; died in the second quarter of 2001 in Brent, aged 75.
Page added 08/05/2022
Page revised 12/02/2023
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