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The Man From L.A.
Credit due to Master of Ceremonies Lee Bamber. He provided the title and the smile when he told us “I used to love introducing Mike Jordan to the fans as ‘The man from L.A.’ .. that’s Lower Ancoats.”
Mike was always called Flash Jordan, and for good reason. Speed, skill and agility made a young Mike “Flash” Jordan something of an overnight sensation when he hit Northern rings in the early 1970s.
His entry into the business was an unusual one. Eddie Rose told us: “Mike, or “Little Mike” as we knew him, rang me up out of the blue and asked would I teach him to wrestle? He said he was eighteen but probably fifteen! I met him at Ancoats Lads Club and he tried pro style – badly. I advised him to go to the YMCA and join the amateurs then come back to me. He did just that and I introduced him to Grant Foderingham at Panther’s Gym. The rest is history… he went on to become a top class wrestler and a great lad. One of the best to come out of Manchester and well liked and much missed by us all.”
On 2nd September, 1987, an eight round win over Johnny Saint at Croydon took Mancunian Mike out of the shadows and handed him the World Lightweight title. Heritage member Rasit Huseyin told us, “Mike Flash Jordan was a very underrated wrestler and tragically died so young. I was actually at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon in the summer of 1987 when he surprised everyone by defeating Johnny Saint for the World Lightweight title.”
Until that time Mike had spent the previous fifteen years as a popular lightweight, but largely overshadowed by the likes of Saint and Breaks. Jordan held the title for eight months before losing it back to Saint on 24th May, 1988.
Over the following few years he matured into a harder edged wrestler whilst retaining the speed that had made him famous and an ability to hold his own with the best in the business.
Outside the ring Mike’s day job was as as a joiner. Mike trained actresses Sarah Harper to wrestle for the play Trafford Tanzi and Shreela Ghosh for her part in the play Totterdown Tanzi, based on the original Trafford Tanzi.
We last came across Flash Jordan in 1990.
Mike Jordan died on 20th February, 2003.
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