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Unpredictable!
Unpredictable.
That was the word for Mad Mike O’Hagan. He would be the one standing in the corner wearing a black tailed morning coat, top hat and huge grin. When he stepped into the ring no one was quite sure what would happen. The fans, the opponent, the promoter … we are not sure even Mad Mike himself knew what was going to happen next. Whatever it was the fans would love it and go home having enjoyed a good night out.
With Irish heritage Michael O’Hagan lived in the Ayrshire village of Mossblown, and whatever his persona suggested there was nothing nonsensical about him. His frienship with two other Ayrshire villagers, Andy and Bill Bryden, led to him becoming one of their stable of fighters at the Mossblown Village Gym. The “Wee Leprechaun” was what Andy called him, “A lovely fellah, and very funny too.”
Andy told us the story of a car that Mike had bought, a car that was the love of his life.
“I can’t for the life of me remember the make, but it was green, and it was one of those classical European designs, with the big kind of bug eyed head lamps! Anyway, he was telling me he’d been home to visit his old dad. He couldn’t believe his son could afford such an expensive car! And those big head lamps!. ‘Be Jesus Michael, those lights are so big, you could see right out of sight and right over that hill, up the road there!…With the likes of one of them, and that’s for sure!…But you’re even luckier, because you’ve got two O’ them!’ Whether that story is true or not, I don’t know, but you’ve got to admit, it is funny! “
In fact when Andy opened the doors of his gym in the Ayrshire village of Mossblown it was only made possible by the help of quite a few of his trainees and Michael donated many of his own sets of weights to the club, supplementing those bought by Andy and his brothers.
Mike was never going to be one of the big names in wrestling. He was a part timer whose day job restricted his work to the west of Scotland and the independent promoters. But he was none the less enjoyable for that.
As he entered the ring Mike would wear a black tailed morning coat and top hat. We told you this man was a bit on the unusual side. Once the bell sounded the fireworks started and Mad Mike lived up to his name.
Fellow wrestler Eddie Rose described Mike’s sense of humour as “impish.” We are unsure if this would be the first word that sprang to mind when he entered the ring at the height of the IRA troubles carrying a large parcel with the letters IRA written on the side. We understand the management of the hall were none too pleased.
“I just loved his ring persona” Eddie Rose told us.
A fervent republican, Mad Mike often teamed up with Teddy Bear Taylor, a strong loyalist, which demonstrates once again the boundaries broken by wrestling. Fans were prepared for the unexpected when Mike took to the ring against the likes of Dale Storm, Big Ian Miller and Farmer John.
Popular around Scottish independent rings in the 1960s and 1970s Mad Mike wrestled rarely ventured across the border into the country south, which was our loss and the Scottish fans gain. On occasions he would pull on a mask for Spartan Promotions and wrestle as The Scorpion. At the time of adding this tribute February 2025) the impish leprechaun can still be found in the Mossblown village.
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