Also known as Sheik Abdul Singh
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The Sheik of Kings Lynn
Making an impression in professional wrestling was about much more than an abundance of skill in the art of combat. Indeed all the big names of wrestling offset their wrestling skills with more than a touch of colour, showmanship, razzamatazz, call it what you like. Which brings us to a young man from Kings Lynn, who by day worked in a canning factory and by night was transformed into one of two near idenitical personas, Sheik Michael Taylor or Sheik Abdul Singh.
Michael Taylor was born on 29th December, 1936. He was, to put it mildly, what was known locally as “a character,” and years after his death we have still heard tales of the Kings Lynn man who made his mark and everyone seemed to like.
Did you see Sheik Michael Taylor wrestle? There’ll be no uncertainty; if you saw him you will remember. We have two memories of him, one in the ring and one outside. We first came across the self styled Sheik (the title was allegedly bestowed by one of his yoga teachers) when he appeared on the Dave Allen chat show. He demonstrated pushing hatpins into one cheek and out though the other cheek without bleeding. As a follow up he smashed and ate a glass bottle! He explained these feats were possible through meditation, which enabled him to withstand intense pain, a useful attribute for a wrestler.
Mind you, when we next saw Michael Taylor, in the ring on an independent show at Blackburn, he was fairly ordinary in the ring after dispensing of his costume and allowing a couple of members of the audience stand on his chest as he lay on a bed of nails. Whether the nails were rubber, the men were hollow, or there was some truth in what Michael claimed we shall never know.
Martin Campbell, at the time a second at the wrestling in Wisbech, recalled “He would lie on broken glass in the ring (a nightmare for the seconds, like me, to clear up.) He lay on beds of nails. He said he could control pain. Sadly this control appeared to desert him when the bell rang and his limited wrestling abilities really did put the onus on his opponents to carry him through to a reasonable finish.”
So, not one of the country’s greatest exponents, but in the world of professional wrestling that mattered little. He was a man who intrigued the fans, with recurring rumours that his act was all an illusion, but there are recorded instances of things going wrong on occasions. He was suspectible to burns, did suffer cuts but insisted the power of yoga prevented him from feeling pain and enabled the power to control the loss of blood.
Following his appearance on the Dave Allen show Michael was taken up by Joint Promotions, given a bit of a push, but never really made the grade to find long-term success and was soon back with the independent promoters. He was able to take credit for training Terry Goodrum, a wrestler who was himself to gain some notoriety with an involvement in copycat Kendo Nagasaki appearances.
Away from wrestling Sheik Michael also performed his usual feats in entertainment shows, alongside his other talents, which included hypnosis, fire eating and juggling. On one occasion at the Corn Hall in Kings Lynn his performance included a fire eating attempt to break the record for the world’s longest flame. Attempt one, not long enough. Attempt two, still too short. Of course it was. This was entertainment and the Sheik needed to build up the tension. More fuel was obviously required. Sheik Michael took another swig and prepared for his record breaking attempt. Unfortunately, a bit too much of the fuel had settled in his beard. As the flame entered his mouth the beard caught alight with reports that the audience roared with laughter as attendants attempted to save the beard and Michael’s blushes.
A well known and popular character around his home of Kings Lynn Michael Taylor was known for buying and selling all sorts of goods and owned a tattoo shop, reputed to be a very good tattooist.
He died on 27th April, 2011 with his artistic work surviving on the body parts of many of the good people of Kings Lynn to this day.
Page added 14/04/2024
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