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31 March 1939
An eagerly anticipated fight between two unbeaten masked wrestlers took place at the Majestic Ice Rink in Preston. It was a no round contest with the loser to unmask. In one corner was The Wizard and his opponent was The Brown Mask Marvel.
The Wizard had appeared twice at Preston, with wins over Black Butcher Johnson and Vic Hessle. The Brown Mask Marvel was a far more familiar figure all around the country.
The Wizard was the crowd’s favourite and was on the offensive from the start with little resistance from the Brown Mask Marvel for the first two minutes. It was only when one of the Marvel’s kicks caught The Wizard in the eye that the Marvel began to assert himself by throwing The Wizard repeatedly across the ring. The Masked Marvel failed in an attempt to deliver a pile driver and was rewarded by a punch to the stomach.
For the most part it was a clean, fast moving contest. As it was a no rounds match the two wrestlers had gone seventeen minutes without a break before the stalemate was broken. The Wizard hoisted the Marvel onto his shoulders and went into a terrific aeroplane spin. He slammed the Marvel to the mat, followed it through and the referee counted to three and awarded the first fall to the Wizard.
When the match resumed The Marvel showed that he was the better wrestler and began to gain the upper hand. In the 22nd minute a pile-driver put The Wizard down for a count of eight. As he rose to his feet the Marvel repeated the move and The Wizard was counted out.
The crowd waited in anticipation for the ceremonial unmasking to reveal to reveal the features of Gil Knutson, who had been wrestling in Britain since his arrival from Canada in 1937.
In supporting matches Joe Robinson beat Hercules Boyne, Rod Fenton beat Tiger Tasker, and Jack Atherton beat Wild Tarzan, all ending two falls to one.
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