Week Beginning 5th July
05 July 1933
Arm Broken
Seventy seconds, that was all it took until the match was over between Jack Pye and Dave Armstrong at Lane’s Club in London. Attempting to break free from an arm lock Armstrong fell badly and broke his arm. The crowd, unsurprisingly, were not happy. An extra match was arranged between Pye and Atholl Oakeley. This was more to their liking, a thrilling contest reported the press. They fought like wild cats and battled to a sixty minutes one fall apiece draw. Well, they could hardly complain about that.
On the same night Izzy Van Dutz attacked referee Spider Hardy and was told he would be banned from Lane’s Club. We wonder how that worked out.
05 July 1936
Birth of Wayne Bridges
Read our tribute to Wayne Bridges
05 July 1940
Birth of Jon Cortez
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05 July 1977
Come On Bro
With ringside encouragement from brother Bert that distracted champion Jim Breaks Bolton’s Vic Faulkner beat Breaks by two falls to one in Leicester to win the British welterweight title.
O5 July 1987
Death of Cab Cashford
Read our tribute to Cab Cashford
05 July 1994
Death of Harry Bennett
Read our tribute to Harry Bennett
06 July 1914
Birth of Bill Case
Bill Case is in the A-Z
06 July 1938
Wrestling On The Wireless
Canadian Earl McCready successfully defended the British Empire Heavyweight title at the Holborn Stadium. In a match staged under Catch as Catch Can rules McCready defeated challenger Tim Estelles in four rounds. McCready took the lead with a submission in the third round when he applied what he described as an Octopus Death Lock, a combination of a leg scissors and an arm lock. When the bell rang for the fourth round Estelle signalled that he was unable to continue. Commentary of the match was broadcast on the BBC National Programme.
06 July 1963
Vive la France à Belle Vue
In a match billed as the French welterweight championship Rene Ben Chemoul retained the title when he stopped Julien Morice in the fifth round at Belle Vue, Manchester.
06 July 2004
Death of Hermann Iffland
Herman Iffland is in the A-Z
06 July 2012
Death of Alf Cadman
Read our tribute to Alf Cadman
06 July 2017
Death of Vic Faulkner
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06 July 2021
Death of Sid Cooper
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07 July 1932
Birth of Pepe (Hercules) Cortez
Pepe Cortez is in the A-Z
07 July 1934
Birth of Lorant Baranyi
Read our tribute to Lorant Baranyi
07 July 2014
Death of Ken Else
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08 July 1932
Birth of Eric Cutler
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08 July 1933
Wrestling Goes West
All In Wrestling arrived in the West Country when the first match was staged as part of a boxing programme at the Drill Hall in Falmouth. Bob Adams, known as the Black Eagle wrestled Percy “The Butcher” Smart over eight five minute rounds. After being on the defensive for most of the fourth round Adams took the lead two and a half minutes into the round. Smart equalised in the sixth round. With both men level after eight rounds an extra round was contested. With no further score the outcome was declared a draw
09 July 1903
Birth of Jack Pye
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09 July 1908
Birth of Bert Assirati
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09 July 1943
Birth of Leon Fortuna
Read our tribute to Leon Fortuna
09July 1972
Saint Marches On
European lightweight champion’s title match against Johnny Saint at Cleethorpes ended in a double knock out with Breaks retaining the title.
10 July 1933
A Seaside Grapple
Professional wrestling continued to expand with the first professional show in Skegness. It was a mixed wrestling and boxing show. In the two wrestling matches Bert Mansfield beat Bill Stark of Scunthorpe on a disqualification and Harold Angus defeated Tony Dawes of South Africa by two falls to one in the fourth round.
10 July 1937
Birth of Honey Boy Zimba
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10 July 1938
Mud, Mud, Not So Glorious Mud
We’ve never subscribed to the view that 1930s wrestling was all bad. It was advantageous to post war promoters to create a negative image of pre war wrestling to contend they had brought about real change. But we have to admit that when it came to authenticity and credibility by 1938 it wasn’t going too well. The national press had mostly given up on wrestling. They were willing to make an exception to their indifference when Frances Eagle and May Brewer slithered their way to the front pages in a mud wrestling match. Two five minute rounds at the Devonshire Sports Club in Hackney were probably more than enough, with Frances complaining the mud was very hard to clean off. This was after May had dragged her face down by the ankles before the two of them stood slapping handfuls of the stuff at each other. Highlight of the second round was the downing of the referee into the deepest part of the mud and keeping him there. Frances told the Daily Mirror she had been wrestling for four years. We are not sure many of those fans would have been convinced.
10 July 1959
Death of Tommy Tucker
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10 July 1976
Another White Angel Unmasked
Count Bartelli had been King of the masked men for twenty years until his unmasking in 1966. Now unmasked and known as local hero Geoff Condliffe, he was matched with the White Angel in his local Hanley Hall. We doubt if there was much anticipation amongst regular fans. This was obviously not going to be one of the two great White Angels of the 1960s. He certainly wasn’t and there was never any doubt about the result. The White Angel was dutifully counted out and revealed to be Gypsy Joe Smith, something of a serial masked man.
10 July 1980
Wrestler Speaks of Tragedy
Johnny Czeslaw gave an interview talking about the illness that ended his wrestling career and caused his blindness. Johnny told how he was lucky to be alive following a brain tumour. Specialists at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol had given him little chance of survival.
10 July 1980
School Benefits
Amateur wrestlers from Harlow Amateur Freestyle Wrestling Club raised £40 for Purford Green Infants School when they put on a professional style show. The Sadists won the main event when their opponents, The Terrible Two, were disqualified.
10 July 1989
Death of Prince Barnu
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10 July 2022
Death of Bill Robertson
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11 July 1922
Birth of Trevor Rees
Trevor Rees is in the A-Z
11 July 1931
All In – All Out – KO’d by the Clergy
A pioneer of three decades earlier, Johnfesson, continued to draw them in by inviting challengers of the All-In style. But he came up against tough opponents in Scunthorpe when the local clergy objected to All-In wrestling. Two thousand customers turned up to the Old Show Ground to watch Johanfesson take on four challengers. Following the protests the matches went ahead under Catch as Catch Can rules. Johanfesson defeated Carl Romsky, Kid Johnson, Tiger Clarkson and O’Neil.
11 July 1953
Sands Keeps Lightweight Crown
It took nine of the fifteen rounds for British lightweight champion Eric Sands to defeat Fred Woolley in Newcastle and retain the British lightweight title.
11 July 1968
The Duke is Back
Prince Philip returned to watch wrestling at the Royal Albert Hall. He must have liked it the first time!
11 July 1968
Miquet Beats Hungarian
Al Miquet defeated Zoltan Boscik at the Royal Albert Hall to retain the British lightweight title.
11 July 2020
Death of Mike Shannon (Kent)
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