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9th January 1942
Wartime Hostilities In Chester
With the nation having just endured the third wartime Christmas the good people of Chester turned their attention to another epic confrontation. Wrestling fans were asking the old question of what would happen in the ultimate battle between two masked man? Well ,they were about to find out.
The main event at the Broadway Palace brought together the Green Asp and the Dark Owl. Who would win this epic battle of the masked men? The match was set with a 100 minute time limit, the winner would be the man with most falls, loser to unmask. The Green Asp had been around for three years. The people of Chester were probably unaware, and unlikely to have cared, that he had previously been unmasked in Newcastle in 1939. The Dark Owl had been around since 1936, so these were two career masked men.
Everything was even for the first half hour, and then, in the thirty-second minute the Dark Owl tripped the Asp and followed it through to pin his man with a folding press. The crowd, mostly on the side of the Dark Owl, cheered wildly.
The match resumed. Time and again the Green Asp attempted to apply his speciality neck and back stretch, but each time the Dark Owl managed to escape. Until the sixty minute mark, that is, when the Green Asp applied the hold, dropped the Owl to the mat and followed it through with a pin.
On resumption of the contest the Green Asp attempted to repeat the move but the Owl managed to free himself. Twenty minutes to go. The Dark Owl threw the Green Asp into the ropes, caught him on the rebound and pinned him for a second time.
With the Dark Owl leading by two falls to one the contest resumed. The fans became more excited as the 100 minute time limit approached and they anticipated the unmasking of the Green Asp. Then, disappointment. Ninety-one minutes had passed when the Green Asp applied a leg stretch and the Dark Owl shouted out his submission. With nine minutes remaining neither man could gain the deciding fall and the referee declared it a draw.
Both men lived to fight another day. Many more days in fact. And it was so good they did it all over again ten days later in Hanley. Yes, it was another draw.
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