22 March 1974
Death of Walter Magnee
Read our tribute to Walter Magnee
22 March 1978Rocco Wins On Injury
With honours even at the DeMontfort Hall in Leicester Bert Royal retired injured and Rollerball Rocco kept the British Heavy Middleweight title.
23 March 1888
Birth of Henry Irslinger
Read our tribute to Henry Irslinger
23 March 1933
Oakeley Wins
Atholl Oakeley retained his British title when he defeated Len Franklin at the New Victoria Hall
23 March 1939
Tiger
At the Civic Hall in Exeter Tiger Daula wrestled George Boganski in a defence of the British Empire Heavyweight title.
23 March 1939
Monarchs of the Mat
At the Grand Cinema Edinburgh, and elsewhere around the country was a film of the World Heavyweight championship between Bronco Nagurski and Gus Sonnenburg.
23 March 1953
A Win For Lawrence
In Altrincham Tony Lawrence successfully defended his British welterweight title against John Foley, winning by two falls to one.
23 March 1962
Scots Terrier Wins Title
Chic Purvey defeated Tommy Mann at the Kelvin Sports Arena in Glasgow to win the British Middleweight title.
23 March 1963
And One Year Later Purvey Does It Again
Chic Purvey defeated Tommy Mann in Grantham to win the British middleweight title. Purvey took the lead in round five with a folding body press, with Mann gaining an equalising submission courtesy of a single leg Boston in the eighth. The end came in the ninth when Mann appeared in command when Purvey came back to take the winner.
23 March 1988
Big Daddy To Fight On
Big Daddy announced that he would continue wrestling after being diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy.
24 March 1930
Birth of Peter Szakacs
Read our tribute to Peter Szakacs
24 March 1936
Promoters Killed in Crash.
Thick fog was the backdrop of a fatal crash between a car and a lorry on the London Road, St Albans. Among the three killed in the car was John George Abbey, aged 49, the boxing and wrestling promoter professionally known as Jack Dale, and father of the brothers who were to launch Dale Martin Promotions. The men were returning from a boxing show in Rushden when the crash occurred at around 3.30 a.m. Also killed were the driver of the car, Samuel Witte, and a second passenger, Alfred Smith.
24 March 1939
Guilty! London Club Fined £100
The company Harold Lane (1938) Ltd was fined £100 and 30 guineas (£31.50) for admitting members of the public to the London Club at 88 Blandford Street, Marylebone, without a licence.
The prosecution stated that members of the public (council officials) were admitted to two exhibitions.
In defence the club said that on payment of membership fees and could be invited by the Directors as guests. This had been the case on the nights in question.
The prosecution argued that the club was in debt and admitted members of the public as a means of securing additional revenue.
Mr Dunne, the Magistrate, accepted the argument put forward by the prosecution and said that membership was a sham to fortify finances from non members. He imposed a fine of £100 plus costs.
24 March 1941
Preston Wrestling Cancelled for Good.
One of the most reliable promotions for many years had been at the Majestic Skating Rink in Preston, which had succeeded in putting on profitable tournaments without the unsavoury elements often apparent throughout the 1930s. An announcement was made on 24th March 1941, “Owing to circumstances beyond our control we regret to announce that as from today skating and wrestling has ceased until further notice.” The announcement came to a shock for those reading the local newspaper, a show had taken place only three days earlier the following promotion had been announced: Ray St Bernard v Dave Armstrong, Billy Joyce v Eric Askins, Cliff Belshaw v Fred Norman, Jack Alker v Scotty Ambrose. Ringside seats cost 2/6 (12 ½ p).
24 March 1948
O’Brien Misses Out
Jack Dale retained his British middleweight championship at Chelmsford Corn Exchange when he defeated local wrestler Bob Archer O’Brien by the only fall scored. Dale took the lead in the fourth round. O’Brien became more aggressive as the bout neared it’s end but Dale end on for the full sixth round. No mention was made of O’Brien winning the British welterweight title at Bournemouth just three weeks earlier, presumably for a different promoter.
24 March 1953
World Title Clash, Of Sorts
In a match billed as the World Heavyweight Championship Felix Kerschitz, the champion, retained the title against Ernest Baldwin at the Caird Hall in Dundee.
24 March 1954
Colbeck Euro Champ Still
Alan Colbeck retained the European welterweight title against Johnny Stead at Lincoln.
24 March 1965
Wrestlers In Crash
Mick McManus and Steve Logan escaped without injury in an accident on the Great North Road at Weston in Lincolnshire.
24 March 1968
Faulkner Beats Pallo
Vic Faulkner kept hold of the European Middleweight title when Jackie Pallo was disqualified in Halifax.
24 March 1970
Also Rann
At the Fairfield Halls in Croydon ClaytonThomson beat Peter Rann to keep the British Middleweight title.
24 March 1975
Maxine Win
Brian Maxine beat Spencer Churchill to retain the British middleweight title.
24 March 1976
Nagasaki Unmasks Kung Fu
Kung Fu faced Kendo Nagasaki at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which at the time was the prime wrestling venue in the country. Filled to capacity, this match was witnessed by some 5,000 people. Using his famous ‘Kamikazi Crash’, Kendo took the winner in Round 4 by a knockout. Being a ‘loser to unmask’ contest, Kung Fu had no alternative but to reveal his identity as Eddie Hamill.
24 March 1978
Crusher Crushed
A Wrestling Enterprise (Independent) show at Liverpool Stadium and Pete Curry defended his European heavyweight title against Crusher Mason. The bout ended with a No Contest verdict and Curry retained the title.
24 March 1979
Euro Draw
In a European lightweight title clash in Hanley Jim Breaks held on to the belt despite being held to a one fall apiece draw by Steve Grey.
24 March 1980
All Saintly
Johnny Saint kept hold of the World lightweight title when Bobby Ryan retired injured in the tenth round at the Victoria Hall in Hanley.
24 March 1982
Rollerball Rolls On
Mark Rollerball Rocco retained the World Mid Heavyweight title by defeating Marty Jones at the Drill Hall, Lincoln.
24 March 1996
Giant Haystacks Last Match
Giant Haystacks almost certainly had his last match, billed as Loch Ness, when he lost in just two minutes against The Giant at Tupelo Colosseum in Tupelo at the WCW Uncensored event. Some websites cite an event in Manchester four days later where it was said Haystacks could make a surprise appearance, but we think it very unlikely that this took place.
25 March 1896
Birth of Masutaro Otani
Read Our tribute to Masutaro Otani
25 March 1908
Birth of Gentleman Jim
Read our tribute to Gentleman JIm
25 March 1920
Birth of Arthur Kellett
Arthur Kellett is in the A-Z
25 March 1943
Death of Johannes Van Der Walt
Johannes Van Der Walt is in the A-Z
25 March 1949
A Grand National Hurdle
Riding in the grand national. Riding the favourite no less. So you fancy a quiet relaxed night before the big race? Not many would chose How about a ringside seat at Liverpool Stadium to watch Jack Pye? Not the most obvious night of relaxation but one chosen by Anthony Mildmay, rider of Grand National favourite Cromwell. He (not the horse) made the front pages of the national press on Saturday morning after Jack Pye hurtled through the ropes and headed towards him. Mildmay, the second baron of Fleet who is said to have got Queen Elizabeth II’s mother interested in horse racing, jumped from his seat leaving it vacant for the flying wrestler to occupy. This was his second escape of the week, having fallen in a race three days earlier. Let’s not blame Jack Pye but Mildmay and Cromwell finished fourth. In the unlikely event of anyone being remotely interested the winner was Russian Hero ridden by Leo McMorrow.
25 March 1963
A Charitable Occasion
The entire proceedings from Frank Woodhouse’s wrestling promotion at the Kings Hall in Derby were donated to the British Empire Cancer Campaign. It was reported that Mr Woodhouse had already donated more than £25,000 to charity. Main event was between Count Bartelli and Henri Pierlot.
25 March 1967
Kidd Wins Return
Jim Breaks had beaten George Kidd at the New St James Hall three weeks earlier. A return match with Kidd’s world lightweight title at stake took place in the same venue. Kidd retained his title.
25 March 1980
Saint Keeps Title
Johnny Saint defeated Steve Grey in Guildford to retain the World lightweight title.
25 March 1987
Colourful Night For Grey
Steve Grey retained the British lightweight title against Mal Sanders in Hertford.
26 March 1914
Birth of Jim Foy
Read our tribute to Jim Foy
26 March 1921
Birth of Jim Zando Zabo
Read our tribute to Zando Zabo
26 March 1953
Title Unification
Jack Dempsey defeated Tony Lawrence at the Victoria Baths.in Nottingham to unify two versions of the British welterweight title. Lawrence took the lead in round six with Dempsey coming back in rounds eight and ten to win the title.
26 March 1953
Baldwin’s Shining Starr
Ernest Baldwin retained the British heavyweight title by defeating Dave Starr at Scunthorpe.
26 March 1961
Man Mountain Tells All, Which Wasn’t Very Much
Sunday newspaper, The People, revealed the utterances of Alf Dean, who had wrestled as Man Mountain Dean, though not the real Man Mountain Dean obviously. Alf promised to tell all about the illusion of the mat game, which in all honesty turned out to be not very much. In the first instalment he revealed how he had “carried” a friend in a wrestling bout, and taken a dive in a boxing match when he was fourteen. Sounds more like the dodgy world of Alf Dean than the dodgy world of wrestling. No names were given, no one was hurt.
26 March 1973
Bartelli Beats Curry
At the Civic Hall in Nantwich Commonwealth Heavyweight champion Count Bartelli successfully defended his title against Pete Curry.
26 March 1980
Big Pat Felled
Tony St Clair retained the British heavyweight title by defeating Pat Roach in Banbury.
26th March 1983Tears for Cry Baby
Steve Grey beat Jim Breaks at the Leisure Centre in Mansfield to retain the British lightweight title
26th March 1983Championship night in Hanley.
At the Victoria Hall Marty Jones retained the World Mid Heavyweight title by defeating Dave Finlay by two submissions to one. In a British welterweight title match Alan Dennison retained the title when Vic Faulkner retired injured.
26 March 1986
Death of Tony Ancell
Read our tribute to Tony Ancell
26 March 2018
Death of Jacques Lageat
Read our tribute to Jacques Lageat
27 March 1930
Birth of Gordon Nelson
Read our tribute to Gordon Nelson
27 March 1933
Ladies Please
The “Imperial Troupe of Lady Wrestlers” appeared at the St James Hall, Newcastle, advertised as Catch as Catch Can style. An estimated 1,500 fans turned up to watch the spectacle. The ladies were enthusiastically applauded when entering the ring in their woollen bathing costumes. It was reported that they revealed some tricky methods of getting out of difficult situations but their skill was lost on the crowd who laughed most of the time.
27 March 1940
Birth of Alan Bardouille
Read our tribute to Alan Bardouille
27 March, 1947
Deserter Hands Himself in, Twice!
Londoner John Buckingham, who had wrestled before World War 2 as Big Ben, the Canadian Lumberjack and an army deserter, had an appointment to hand himself in at 11.30 am. When he turned up ten minutes late at Great Scotland Yard, headquarters of the military police, the officers were none too pleased and told him to go away and return at 2.30pm. Big Ben had deserted from the Royal Army Service Corps in July 1940 after escaping from Dunkirk.
27 March 1953
Unlucky Scot
At the St Mungo Halls in Glasgow Dennis Mitchell defeated Jim Anderson to retain the British light heavyweight title.
27 March 1961
Light Heavyweight Stalemate
The British light heavyweight title match between the holder, Ernie Riley, and challenger, Clayton Thomson, went the full fifteen rounds and ended in a one fall apiece draw.
27 March 1962
Joyce King of Europe
Billy Joyce retained the European heavyweight title against challenger Tibor Szakacs in Leicester.
27 March 1968
A Royal Celebration
At the DeMontfort Hall in Leicester Bert Royal retained the British Heavy Middleweight title against Peter Preston.
27 March 1971
Joyce is Back.
Billy Joyce beat Tony Charles at Blackburn to win the vacant British Light Heavyweight Championship previously held by Ernie Riley. Riley had been fairly inactive as a champion for some time and fans were keen for a new champion to be found. The story that circulated was that Ernie was unwilling to hand over the physical belt unless a worthy successor could be found. That man was Billy Joyce, the former heavyweight champion, who had lost weight whilst recovering from serious illness contracted in Japan . Interestingly, when we spoke to Billy Joyce’s daughter and son-in-law they referred to this return as a champion as an “exhibition” in contrast to his previous reign as a “real champion.”
28 March 1933
Protests Against Female Wrestling.
The Chief Constable of Hull decided that a six round wrestling match at the Fulford Rooms, would be offensive and ordered that the match was cancelled. The planned match was between Jennie McDonald, alleged champion of Scotland, and Flo King, so called champion of England. Protests in Middlesbrough against a planned female match were led by the Rev G.P. Lester and M.P. Colonel Leonard Ropner. Ropner was M.P. for Barkston Ash, over sixty miles away, but his father lived in West Hartlepool. Home Secretary, Sir John Gilmour, said he was not yet in a position to say whether legislation to ban women wrestling was necessary but assured the House he would give the matter very careful consideration.
28 March 1935
Birth of Lee Sharron
Read our tribute to Lee Sharron
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Wrestling Heritage 