By Ron Historyo
I can promise you this, The Kings Hall Belle Vue was not Manchester’s first wrestling venue. It was the dominant one and rightly so, but much has been said about the Kings Hall. What I wanted to know was what about all the other wrestling in the Manchester area especially in the Golden years of the 1960’s. I was inspired by Eddie Rose’s two books that have so much detail about wrestling around Manchester , some of it Independent and some of it with Joint promotions.
This inspiration was to get into some of Manchester’s past and see what exactly could be recovered to back up the legendary tales that will only become more deeply shrouded in mist unless someone makes the effort to shed a little light.
So in this series I am not including King’s Hall or Wryton Stadium.
Every city has it’s History and Geography and as a Mancunian I will try to be clear about the places that I describe.
Way back in 1819 there was a Corn Law Protest with over 60,000 people protesting and local magistrates called in the Cavalry to disperse what was seen as a mob. In what is now viewed as an absolute disgrace, the cavalry charged the crowd on horseback with sabres drawn and 15 people were killed and 400 plus injured. The site was St Peter’s Field. Taking the idea from Waterloo in 1815, this was to be known as the Peterloo Massacre.
This is the very site of the Free Trade Hall.
The Free Trade Hall was built between 1853 and 1856 and in 1858 became the home of the Halle Orchestra. In 1904 Churchill delivered a speech on Free Trade. During the second World War it was blitzed and only the outer façade of the building survived, the insides being rebuilt and it was 1951 before it opened again. On the left a picture of the Free Trade Hall about a Hundred years ago.
The capacity of the hall was 2500, Bob Dylan played there twice in the mid sixties and it was finally closed in 1996. Today it is a Radisson Hotel and a listed building.
Even before the Kings Hall had been built it was easy to find George Hackenschmidt performing at the Free Trade Hall.
Easy also to find Hackenschmidt before his fights with Madrali. To get a flavour of things you need to see an early wrestling bill.
Next in the time line I can find Oakeley promoting at the Free Trade Hall before the war. He seems to have kicked things off in February of 1939 as a new venture. He runs a “World Title Eliminator Series” winner to meet Sherry.
Typical of Oakeley you could get in at Belle Vue for as little as nine pence, but with him and the Free Trade Hall the price was a minimum of one shilling.
And instead of doing a different night he had to clash with Belle Vue. Still you did get Jack Sherry for your money. Oh, and of course Oakeley, who it was advertised that this was his return to the ring after a four year absence.
Some famous names there, but lets fast forward to a golden decade and let me analyse some of what I could find.
I collected as good few dozen bills, some in poor condition. Maybe I should have known but at the end of the 1950’s the wrestling was being presented by Bill Benny Enterprises and a few years later in conjunction with Man Mountain Benny was Paul Lincoln. I did not realise that Manchester had been treated to such a regular set of shows by Lincoln. The chance to see regular Doctor Death as well as go to the Kings Hall on other Saturdays.
Of course Billy Benny died in the early 1960’s and for a while Lincoln promoted on his own.
In 1961 I also found a bill with the Matsport Promotions running things. That got me checking Heritage as I could not have told you that Eddie Capelli, Joe D’Orazio and George Kidd were using this name possibly with boxing promoter Peter Keenan.
Then there were the wrestlers themselves. Such a pleasure to find an early Johnny Saint who I went on to see make his Belle Vue debut much later. Early Wayne Bridges, Kurt Vidor, Jim Foy, Dominic Pye possibly putting on his own shows, Mike Marino, Zoltan Boscik, Pat Roach, and don’t think the Independents were ever a poor second. Along with Dr Death and Al Hayes and Co top men were brought in like Ricky Starr and George Gordienko.
In 1966 I found “Cape Promotions” which was Danny Flynn and Fred Woolley, again I gleaned this from the encyclopaedia that is Wrestling Heritage.
Back to observations on Paul Lincoln, he had that something extra that you did not get at Belle Vue, just that little extra special guest. I found an appearance of Tony Holland, do you remember Opportunity Knocks and the Musical Muscleman act. Not afraid to present Midget Wrestling either.
There was also a 1960 bill where Grant Foderingham was the referee, this made me a little suspicious that he also promoted this show. A show featuring Judo and Weight Lifting . I remember these names so well. Paul Wynter Mr Universe. Louis Martin World Weight Lifting Champion and Basil Grant, Mr Barbados. Contest to find Mr and Miss England.
If I could just pick one bill from my gallery that might have been the one I most wanted to see then I will go for the on the left.
That looks a great tag match and the chance to see Klondyke Jake. Not least the chance to see The Zulu (Ezra Francis), a man who constantly reinvented himself with differing names on his travels.
I can’t go on naming them all, some very familiar names that Eddie Rose had mentioned crop up and when you really look at it, that decade produced one hell of a rival roster.
A couple of bills in my gallery also tie up with two reports that Eddie Rose wrote for the Manchester Evening news, featured in All Our yesterdays. One a Marino v Al Hayes match and the other The Monster and Professor versus Dominic and Casey Pye, both bills in 1963.
I have been asking about, some of my older mates and found a couple who went to some of these shows. Both told me that they were well attended, not sold out but much more than half full. With attendances like that and the facilities it would have had the beating of a night at the Wryton Stadium.
Heritage is a Nostalgia site, I am pleased to bring you some of it back where it can be preserved and enjoyed, at least for the time being.
Historyo
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