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In days when wild haired Peruvians, stetson wearing Americans, and east Europeans with unpronounceable names were familiar features on our wrestling bills it seems ironic that such great interest could be aroused among fans by British wrestlers working outside their customary region. Such was the case when Scottish lightweight Jim McKenzie ventured south of the border; he brought his own touch of magic. It was on one of those occasions we interviewed Jim way back in 1970 and wrote at the time, “…. not for him sensational gimmicks, flamboyant gestures or such, he’s simply a good, hard-working wrestler who climbs into the ring, wrestles to the best of his ability, and nine times out of ten wins,”
McKenzie was an accomplished wrestler, a regular worker and popular performer though he never quite made it to the dizzy poster inch heights of Saint, Breaks or Kidd.
Don’t let that take anything away. Born on 1st January, 1935 Jim McKenzie was a class act, a meticulous technician, a human chess machine. After nine years as an amateur, and winner of the Scottish championship, he turned professional and made his debut against George Kidd in Glasgow. It wasn’t long before he defeated Jim Elder to win the Scottish lightweight championship. For the next ten years the title was to rotate between Jim McKenzie, Jim Elder and Bill Ross.
Although most often seen in Scotland Jim not infrequently travelled south of the border, working mostly for Relwyskow & Green and Morrell Promotions. In the 1960s Jim became a familiar face to television fans with matches against Adrian Street, Brian Maxine, Jim Breaks Jon Cortez and more than a dozen more of the big names between 1965 and 1972.
In tag team action he could often be seen in partnership with Bill Ross Tom Dowie or Chic Purvey. The pairing with Ross, known collectively as The Flying Scots was particularly successful with memorable matches against the likes of the Royal Brothers, White Eagles and the Black Diamonds.
Outside of the ring Jim and his wife ran a cafe in Glasgow for many years, and later a small hotel in the Borders area of Scotland. He died on 14th March, 2004.
In October, 2021 Jim McKenzie was inducted as the seventh member of The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame for Scotland.
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