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The One Man Circus
A 1930s wrestler with characteristics familiar to fans of the 1960s and 1970s. Anticipation would build up as his delayed entry to the ring was explained as the time taken to release him from his cage. Then the music would start. Yes, back in the 1930s Tiger DeLisle had his own intro music, “Tiger Rag, ” recorded by the original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917.
More delay once in the ring as the Tiger refused to wrestle until the mat had been swept to his satisfaction. Throughout the delay the crowd, of course, would boo and catcall, enjoying every moment of the show. Then would come the over animated argument with the referee, the M.C. and selected members of the audience. For Tiger DeLisle it was a show, and an entertaining one at that. It was said on more than one occasion that as a wrestler DeLisle made a great comedian.
Once underway Tiger was no respecter of the rules but it was all in a good humoured way, a “perverted genius” according to one report, whilst another said he may not have been one of the finest wrestlers, but he was one of the finest comedians, and audiences would never tire of him. On another occasion it was reported that in a post match interview DeLisle had expressed sadness that the fans had turned against him when he was only trying to entertain them.
Tiger Jim DeLisle was a Canadian born on 7th May, 1905. He took up amateur wrestling aged seventeen and seven years later turned professional, having been taught the professional style by Eugene Tremblay, one of the world’s top lightweights at the time.
Our earliest record of the Tiger in Britain is in March, 1933, and from then on he seems to be a permanent fixture until shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War with occasional visits to France and the USA and Canada between February and October 1937. One of the lighter men Tiger had some cracking bouts in Britain against Harold Angus, Jack Dale, Harold Angus and Bob Gregory.
He departed Southampton, destination Montreal, aboard the Ascania, on 17th June, 1939. From the autumn of 1939 and throughout the Second World War DeLisle wrestled in Canada. He returned to Britain following the second world war in 1948 and 1949, with our last recorded match in Canada in 1955.
Page added 05/05/2024
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