Eddie Rose reflects on his long wrestling career.
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I had a wrestling career that spanned the years 1960 to 1984 before a combination of injury and advanced age called a halt.
Most wrestlers were good lads; straight, trustworthy and friendly. Very few were not. My earliest friends were from the Panther’s Gym in Manchester and included Mark Wayne, Johnny South, Tiger Delmonte, Bill Blake, Paul Mitchell, Mike ‘Flash’ Jordan and Johnny Saint. Others pre-dated the gym and included lads from the amateur clubs around Manchester: Ian Wilson (Hollywood AWC), Jackie Robinson (Failsworth AWC), Max and Tony Shacklady (Barton AWC) and, of course, from my club, Manchester YMCA.
As I progressed through the professional world, I was lucky enough to meet people like Jack Atherton, Grant Foderingham and Ken Cadman who helped me enormously with my wrestling education and the editorial staff at The Wrestler Magazine who published my articles on a monthly basis.
Wrestlers helped each other and formed a close-knit community. Top billed men generally treated everyone else as equals and there was very little discrimination between groups or individuals.
I always regarded Jackie Mr TV Pallo as a good mate despite the fact that he was on TV every other week and I was doing “warm-up” bouts to settle the fans in their seats. I worked on his shows and he always treated me with warmth and respect despite referring to me as “Fodder, fodder for the star.” His joke was received by me in the manner it was given.
Adrian Street was a great guy. Full of fun and always accommodating to a new face. Ada was a strong and skilful wrestler but never took liberties with the less experienced. He always seemed to be positive and inventive in his approach to wrestling and, whilst being an extrovert in his ring appearances, never took any liberties with lesser known opponent. I always found him and Linda to be friendly and helpful.
Bert Royal and Vic Faulkner were rightly regarded as “Bolton’s Best” by their townsfolk and the wrestling community. Both men were lively and inventive in the ring and at the same time managed to bring out the best from their opponents in their many tag matches.
Tiger Delmonte was a long-standing friend from our time at Panther’s Gym in Manchester. Perhaps not as well-known as the wrestlers mentioned above, Del was an ex-professional boxer (Del Willis) who fought men like British and Commonwealth Champion, Dave Charnley. Del was a lightweight and often had to fight men a couple of stone heavier than himself. He was tough, fast skilful – and full of mischief!
Ian “Mad Dog” Wilson was a near neighbour from Stockport and an amateur at Hollywood AWC. I knew him from about the age of fifteen when he used to accompany his friend Judo Alf Margates (later Marquette) to judo and wrestling shows. Ian was fast and durable in the ring and had a very long and successful career. He was christened “Mad Dog” by Skull Murphy who witnessed a remarkable show of impatience and a temper after an incident at a venue in. And the name stuck! This was quite uncharacteristic in real life but became part of his ring persona. He was a true and dependable friend over many years and I still smile when I think of the many stories and jokes that we shared on so many long car trips to Norwich, Bristol Cornwall, Scotland and other distant venues. He is still working in wrestling a respected and polished M.C.
There was a special group of wrestlers who were really good friends; The Barnsley lads. They were always a pleasure to meet at venues around the country. Pedro was perhaps the funniest wrestler in the business. I laughed at his antics so much one night that I literally wet myself in the ring. His mates, Stoker Brooks, Butcher Goodman, Max Raeger, and not forgetting big Sam Betts (Dwight Ingleburg) were all skilled workers in the ring and good lads out of it.
Gentleman Jim Lewis was a near neighbour in Manchester and very helpful in my early days, probably the main reason I started wrestling with the “Independents”; Jim was a leading promoter in those days but with no connection to Joint Promotions. He introduced me to many useful contacts in the business and encouraged me to go to Grant Foderingham’s gym. Grant, alias The Black Panther, was another good friend and mentor who, in turn, introduced me to Jack Atherton who was a great influence in an 18 year career.
Another friend from 60-odd years ago until his death a couple of years back was Roughouse Alf Cadman, an amusing companion who along with his brother Ken formed a successful tag team. I had not seen Alf for some years and on a visit to Silver’s Gym in Bury I came across him in the weights room. “Just keeping fit in case Joints ring me with a sub job” claimed the 75 year old fitness fanatic.
I was lucky enough to be offered some dates by Scottish promoters Dale Storm and Bruce Welch, with Big Ian Miller and the boys from the Mossblown Gym in Ayr became life-long mates. As I write this Dale in celebrating his Golden Wedding to his lovely wife Lillian (Diamond Lil).
There were so many good friends: Jack Dempsey, Colin Joynson, Eric Taylor, Terry Downs, Eric Taylor, Mike Dallas, Peter Lindberg, Roy Fortuna, Gordon Corbett, Jack Cassidy, Paul Carpentier, Brian Dixon, Romeo Joe Critchley, Count Bartelli: and the list goes on – so many good friends.
Eddie Rose (Manchester)
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