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You will by now surely have guessed the identity of the Heritage number one official.
Max Ward is the No. 1 Wrestling Official of the Heritage Years
Preceding Pat Roach as the Midlands Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, burly Max Ward was a cornerstone of the success of Paul Lincoln Promotions in the early sixties. Just as Lincoln had a colourful stable of heavyweight villains, his main referee took a leaf out of the book of the at that time very popular Harlem Globetrotters professional basketball team. They always had referees in striped shirts and tried to pull the wool over their eyes with dubious moves. Max Ward’s style was to remain outwardly in control, and to react animatedly whenever he realised he had been outwitted by a villain. See in our 1966 review of the year a shot of Ward officiating a most significant bout between erstwhile promotional foes, Doctor Death and Mick McManus: it was clear that this brylcreamed scalp was one that Dale Martin Promotions were set on utilising to the full after the 1966 merger.
Ward was catapulted to Royal Albert Hall responsibilities, and even took control of this high profile matching of Ricki Starr and Mick McManus. The familiar Ward burr warrrned villains, and was the perfect butt for Les Kellett antics.
In tag action too Max Ward set the template for being in the wrong position at the right time, particularly having had early sixties tag match experience at a time when the television promoters had remained reluctant to introduce tag wrestling. He could equally become the “accidental” target of an attack as one wrestler side-stepped another’s attack, or he could get embroiled in a 5-man melée, to the audience’s delight.
Max Ward gesticulated skilfully, and used a delightful flattening out of his hair to indicate he had just settled some serious unrest. But you’ll be very hard pressed to find any bout where he actually comes off his feet to kneel or crouch to count off a fall. In the mid-seventies, he gamely came out of retirement for a series of bouts against villainous Syd Cooper – but in truth the pair shared a flat in south London.
We place Max Ward at Number One for managing discreetly to remain unobtrusive and let the wrestlers retain centre stage, whilst giving that little extra of himself to enhance, the ensemble performance.
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