Eddie Rose reflects on his long wrestling career.
Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.
I recently looked through my notes and records that I had kept during the years I wrestled professionally and I was quite surprised to see that I had wrestled for some forty- plus (40+) different promoters between the years 1966 – 1984. Some came easily to mind; others were half remembered…. and a couple best forgotten!
Starting off in wrestling
My first promoter and mentor was Grant Foderingham, the Black Panther, who had a gym in east Manchester. I walked in one day and told him I had six years amateur experience and wished to become a professional. A heavyweight with a well muscled body, Grant was very friendly and helpful. Yes I could come to the gym. No he would not charge me but would expect some help around the gym. I could not believe my luck! I had my first paid bout for Grant’s Unique Promotions, an eight round draw (1-1) versus Micky Coen of Ireland. I always feel a great debt of gratitude and friendship to Grant for his help, advice and training. A great influence on my wrestling development.
Another big influence on my wrestling at this time was a good mate, Gentleman Jim Lewis, who promoted in the North West for many years. He took me to many shows and introduced me to several other promoters and encouraged me during my “apprenticeship” period. Sadly, Jim became ill and moved from Manchester to Leicester. Good friends, Jimmy and his wife Joey and remembered with affection.
Local promoters
Three promoters lived within a couple of hundred yards of each other in Levenshulme, a south Manchester suburb; Grant Foderingham, Jack Atherton and Josef Szabo. I did a few bouts for Josef, a Hungarian by birth and a cheerful but disorganised type and he soon disappeared from the scene. Jack Atherton was quite the opposite. He had a long history as a wrestler (Three Cornered Jack on account of the difficulty opponents had in breaking his balance or turning on to his back). He was for many years a trusted promoter along with Bill Riley, the Wigan legend. I worked for Jack on a semi-permanent basis for most of my career after meeting him at the World Amateur Wrestling Championships held at Belle Vue, Manchester in the mid 1960s. It was the start of a long and much valued friendship that lasted until Jack’s death. Jack supplied me with many bookings over the years in places as far apart as Dumfries, Derby and Redruth. He paid very good wages and expenses and it was always a learning experience working on his shows.
Cowboy Jack Cassidy
Cowboy Jack Cassidy, also a Manchester promoter, offered me some bookings in local clubs. It was the start of another long and fruitful relationship with this larger than life character. For nearly twenty years Jack ran shows in Manchester clubs, often five nights a week and it was not unusual for him to have two or even three shows on the same night. The result was a steady flow of bookings. I was a PE teacher in a Manchester school and Jack gave me a perfect set-up: wrestle regularly each week and with no interference to the day job! Longer distance wrestling could wait for the school holidays to come round. The wrestlers I met in the ring included Ian Wilson, Pete Lindberg, Roy Fortuna, Mark Wayne. Ezra Francis (the Zulu Witchdoctor) and Alec Burton all of whom became good friends. There were many others: Monty Britton, Brendan Moriarty, Kevin Cawley, Paul Carpentier, Bill Blake,, Mike “Flash” Jordan, Billy Graham, Steve Allan, the Haley Brothers, Bob Sherry, Buddy Ward. amongst them, all good lads and good wrestlers. And lets not forget Jack’s hard working referee, Dai Glynn! My record evening with Jack was three bouts at three different clubs on one night. All three venues within twenty minutes of home – and well paid, too!
Joint Promotions and Jack Atherton
About this time I started attending Wryton Stadium in Bolton on Sunday mornings for training sessions with Jack Atherton and Ken Cadman in preparation for Joint Promotions bookings. Others who attended included Ian Wilson, Paul Mitchell, Barry Ryan, Paul Duval and Casanova plus, an added attraction (?), Alan Woods and Jack Fallon, two established wrestlers whose main job was to toughen us up via the Wigan style of submission wrestling. Even after years with the amateurs I found this very hard and often painful work. We had to do an hour of submission wrestling before we were allowed to get on with professional wrestling moves! This was hard, bruising work, too.
Bookings with both Jack Atherton and Wryton Promotions followed after about twelve months of hard training on Sundays. Jack picked my first wrestling name for me -Wat Tyler, a name from the Middle Ages of a revolutionary English left winger! Jack also created a durable tag team -Les Diables Rouges that later changed to the anglicised version of Red Devils that kept Pete Lindberg, Ian Wilson and me well occupied for so long.
I mentioned earlier that I was a teacher at this time and I found that I often had to refuse invitations from Joint Promotions. I worked at venues in the North and the Midlands and even travelled to Redruth for Jack Atherton and enjoyed a bout with Mick McMichael. Jack continued to give me work for years but bookings with other Joint Promotions generally petered out due to my reluctance to travel during term times. Martin Conroy did however send me occasional bookings for many years whilst he worked in Wryton’s office.
Two great promoters: Brian Dixon and Orig Williams
Two other promoters who provided a variety of bookings in many parts of the country and who gave me some leeway regarding my teaching commitments were Orig Williams and Brian Dixon. Orig was a character and he could intimidate people, often unintentionally, by his sharp tone of voice and even sharper wit. I got used to his special greeting “ Here’s another English bastard !” I replied with the same greeting and exchanged “Welsh” for “English”. It did not stop the greeting on future occasions but it was always accompanied with a smile from Orig. A memorable character!
Brian Dixon I knew from my very early times in wrestling: he ran a wrestling fan club, I think the “A-Z” club from memory. Then he appeared variously as a second, a promoter’s assistant, a referee and an MC: jobs that he always did well and with a friendly manner. Then he became a promoter and the rest is history. Brian Dixon became a huge success amongst independent promoters and eventually took over a lot of wrestlers and venues that had been dependent on Joint Promotions. I always valued Brian and Mitzi, his wife, as good friends.
Kevin the Kitten (as my four year old daughter used to call him)
Kevin Cawley, a Manchester lad, was another very good friend who ran quite a lot of wrestling shows. He had good promotional ideas and ran his shows without fuss. Kevin was obsessed by wrestling in a mask and built quite a reputation amongst the fans. He died in the ring in London unfortunately from, I believe, a sudden heart attack, before his promotional career came to full fruition.
My very good friends in Scotland
Amongst my favourite promoters were Spartan Promotions of Ayr. I met Dale Storm and Bruce Welch on a Fred Woolley show at Rothesay and we became friends from the start. Dale was outgoing and very sociable whilst his brother Bruce was more circumspect and reserved but together they were always good company. We kept in touch and not long afterwards Fred Woolley ceased promoting and Dale and Bruce took over the venue on the lovely Isle of Bute. He sent me and Mark Wayne some dates which we gladly accepted and this was the start of a long-lasting friendship that exists to this day.
They had a gym in the village of Mossblown which has produced dozens of top class wrestlers over the years. Mark and I travelled frequently during the holiday season, often in the company of Ezra Francis (The Zulu Witch Doctor) and Romeo Joe Critchley and, as well as great wrestling venues, the Bryden family (Dale and Bruce’s family name) we enjoyed fabulous hospitality from the family – no cheap B&Bs for us on these trips but welcome quality stays in their family homes! The main venues were Rothesay, Oban, Campbelltown, Newton Stewart and Ayr itself plus smaller towns and villages in Scotland where the venues were full of noisy (and sometimes a tad discriminatory fans on hearing our English accents!), And we received very good wages, too.
….and the pick of the rest
There were so many really good promoters in the ’60s and ’70s. Jack Oatley & Count Bartelli, the great Gordon Corbett in Birmingham and the Midlands. The gracious John Ford who ran excellent shows in the Stoke area. Ted “The Wig” O’Leary in Lancashire where one of his venues did not have a ring! A large mat secured on a wooden stage sufficed at the Cavendish Club in Blackburn where the wrestling was on Thursday nights before the cabaret.
The Burnley Connection
Sid Vickers, a Burnley man, ran shows in east Lancashire and especially he put on shows outdoors at some of the many agricultural shows in this area. The Burnley wrestlers comprised a trio of hard cases: Dangerous Danny Clough, Dirty Dave Reynolds and Sid himself. So many of their bout began with an unexpected forearm or even a fist that took us by surprise. Welcome to the genteel country life! I remember being involved in an incident at Burnley Horse Fair. Some local lads showed their disapproval of the tactics by throwing some of the many lumps of horse dung that littered the grass. Showing solidarity, all the wrestlers joined in retaliation and threw the items back at the crowd. It was chaos for some time until the police arrived to spoil the fun.
Two later quality promoters in Manchester
Later on the wrestling scene, but not in partnership, were two good local promoters; Graham Brook and Harold Weller. Graham promoted many shows at North Western venues and persuaded good quality wrestlers to appear. Harold Weller from the Manchester end of Bury also had a handy gym and encouraged local wrestlers and a squad of good girl wrestlers, notably Terri Kruger from South Africa and a Bury girl called Jodie Lee . Again Graham and Harold were good, honest men who strived for quality wrestlers for their shows and fair treatment for all the wrestlers taking part..
Also worthy of note
I was lucky enough to wrestle for many good, honest promoters who paid well and promptly;
Jack Taylor, Cyril Knowles, “Dodgy Dave” Shillitoe (Bobby Baron) at Blackpool, Lord Bertie Topham, Jackie Pallo, Freddie Woolley, Ezra Francis, Alec Burton (an old friend who died tragically when his ring van collapsed on him whilst he was trying to repair it on a motorway service area on the M62). Ron Farrar and his lovely team of Yorkshire wrestlers who were always a joy to wrestle and not forgetting the Barnsley lads, too.
Two of the very best
Towards the end of my career I was privileged to be engaged many times by John Allan and Eric Taylor. They were first class human beings as well as excellent promoters. I especially liked their summer tours of the West Country holiday towns. It was a tight schedule but the company and the environment was exceptional and they paid very well, too!
The down side
There was occasionally a down side. Sometimes this was down to lack of good communication. For example, Mike Landis had a very poor command of English and this could often lead to misunderstandings and misinformation being passed out. I wrestled quite a few times each Summer at Scarborough but never met the promoter, Don Robinson who seemed to act through his more junior associates. Similarly, Wryton Promotions communicated through office employees. No real problem because they were good but it would have been nice to meet the main man, Arthur Wright apart from one very brief encounter before setting off at midnight on a Butlins Camp tour; he appeared in his dressing gown for ten seconds to see us on our way up to Ayr.
Money was occasionally a problem, too. There were rumours that cheques had bounced and when Bertie Topham gave Ian Wilson and me payment by cheque we were apprehensive, On this occasion there was no problem and the cheques were honoured. Payment at Scarborough was by cheque which had to be presented at a pub down the road and which was cashed over the bar by the landlord. It worked well enough but we always wondered if it was some kind of misdemeanour to avoid tax.
More blatantly, after a show at Hyde town hall the promoter dashed into the changing room where the whole bill patiently awaited their wages. The promoter threw a small roll of notes on the table and shouted “That’s all there is!” He then dashed out again and left the premises quickly. The sum total on the table was £8 which worked out a £1 per wrestler for their labours!
On another occasion, my bout was the last one on the bill and during the second round the promoter walked casually by the ring and shouted “See you again lads!” before disappearing through the exit. No wages at all that night nor did he ever settled up with us at a later date.
In Conclusion
The great majority of the promoters were good to work for and paid us the agree rate for our work. Many became good friends even to this day many years on. My thanks to them and I trust they were equally well rewarded for the work they put into making wrestling such an interesting and satisfying way of life for so many years.
Eddie Rose (aka Wat Tyler and one of Les Diable Rouges – The Red Devils tag team).
Wrestling Heritage 