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Max Crabtree is generally reckoned to have been the best of the three Crabtree brothers when it came to wrestling ability. The less than generous may well retort that that’s not saying much but we do have it on good authority that Max was a very competent light heavyweight of his day.
It was his wrestling ability, blond hair and looks that made him a very popular wrestler in the 1960s. Shirley was already established as BWF heavyweight champion when Max made his debut towards the end of the the 1950s, working initially for the independent promoters against men such as Black Butcher Johnson, Doctor Death, Quasimodo and Leo Demetral.
In the late 1950s Max began to promote wrestling and established himself as one of the most successful of the independent promoters. Success was based on Max’s inventiveness and his ability to create and develop new wrestling stars. In the early 1970s as wrestling audiences went into steep decline Max was appointed manager of most of the Joint Promotions circuit. New faces, creative matchmaking and the higher profile of championship matches resulted in renewed interest amongst the fans. The reprieve was short lived and by the mid eighties audiences were at an all time low with Max continuing to promote until 1994. A controversial figure Max Crabtree was undoubtedly one of the most influential people in British wrestling.
Max Crabtree died on 2nd April, 2023.
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