Week Beginning 17th May
17 May 1911
Birth of The Great Accra, Karam Rasul Kashmiri
Read our tribute to The Great Accra
17 May 1939
Birth of Syd Askin
Read our tribute to Syd Askin
17 May 1966
Death of Randolph Turpin.
Read our tribute to Randolph Turpin
17 May, 2020
Death of Cyril Dummer
Cyril Dummer is in the A-Z
18 May
Birth of Tony Mancelli
Read our tribute to Tony Mancelli
18 May 1949
Money for the Kids.
Wrestler Charlie Scott donated £5 to Brandlesholme House Children’s Home in Bury. He had promised to give £5 to a local charity should he fail to unmask Count Bartelli in their match at the Bury Athenaeum.
18 May 1963
The Old Master
At Belle Vue in Manchester the tutor challenged the teacher but wasn’t quite good enough. Billy Joyce retained the British heavyweight title against Billy Robinson in a no falls draw over fifteen rounds.
18 May 1966
Triple Championship Night
Triple British championship night at Leicester’s DeMontfort Hall, promoted by Norman Morrell. At lightweight Jim Breaks retained the title against Mike Bennett; at Light Heavyweight Ernie Riley retained the title against Tony Charles, and at Mid Heavyweight recently crowned champion Geoff Portz kept the belt against John Allan. Portz had acquired the title on 23rd April when he knocked out Bill Howes in Newcastle to win the championship vacated by Norman Walsh following injury in a car crash.
18 May 1974
Local Hero
At the Victoria Hall in Hanley the local wrestler Bobby Ryan defeated Jim Breaks by two falls to one to win the British and European lightweight title.
18 May 2002
Death of British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith
Read our tribute to Davey Boy Smith
19 May 1916
Birth of Dave Armstrong
Read our tribute to Dave Armstrong
19 May 1937
Birth of Pat Roach
Read our tribute to Pat Roach
19 May 1938
Mud, mud, glorious mud. Or not.
Wrestling rarely made the pages of the national press. So when it made the front pages it just had to be bad news.
Not a good word was written about the first display of mud wrestling at Blackfriars. Six inches of mud was spread over the mat, with a topping of crude oil as a final dressing, before Karl Pojello and Manuel Garcia slithered around covering themselves and ringside fans with mud.
Members of the audience were provided with newspapers for their protection. Thank goodness Max Crabtree didn’t bring this one back.
19 May 1940
Title Retained
Jack McLauchlan retained the World Cruiserweight title by defeating Max Martinschutz by two falls to one in Newcastle. Martinschutz took the lead in round three, with McLauchlan gaining falls in rounds five and six.
19 May 1946
Birth of Jean Ferre
Read our tribute to Jean Ferre
19 May 1949
Wrestling Is Back
Wrestling returned to Plymouth after the war. Anaconda knocked out Harry Brooks in the third round when wrestling returned to Plymouth, promoted by Leo Lightbody’s British Wrestling Enterprises.
19 May 1962
Mann’s the Man
Tommy Mann defended the British Middleweight title against Bert Royal at Belle Vue in Manchester.
19 May 1980
Rocco Belts Goldbelt
Having beaten Rocco in their April encounter Brian Maxine challenged Mark Rollerball Rocco for the British Heavy Middleweight title at the City Hall in Hull. Rocco retained the title.
19 May 1981
Knockout
At the City Hall in Hull the British welterweight title match between Alan Dennison and Jim Breaks ended in a double knock out, Dennison keeping the title.
19 May 1982
Champions Take Home The Belts
Double championship night at the Drill Hall Lincoln and both champions kept hold of their titles. British welterweight champion Alan Dennison defeated Jim Breaks, and British Heavy-middleweight champion Alan Kilby kept his title against challenger Johnny South.
20 May 1914
Birth of Joe Hill
Read our tribute to Joe Hill
20 May 1959
Walsh Win In Lincoln
At the Central Market Hall in Lincoln Norman Walsh retained the British mid heavyweight title against Geoff Portz.
20 May 1968
Serjeant Regains Championship
At the St George’s Hall in Bradford Alan Serjeant stopped Jim Breaks to regain the British welterweight title.
20 May 1982
Wrestling Out For The Count?
The future of wrestling at Banbury’s Winter Gardens was thrown into doubt when the centre was sold for £600,000 to a London based development company who said their plans were to turn it into a shopping centre.
20 May 2008
Death of Ben Wojtkowski/Chief Thunderbird
Chief Thunderbird is in the A-Z
21 May 1931
Oakeley In The USA
The Daily Mirror reported that Atholl Oakeley had won his first two matches in the United States.
21 May 1936
Birth of Sue Brittain
Read our tribute to Sue Brittain
21May 1963Joyce Euro Champion
At Hove, a Continentale Promotions, and Ken Joyce beat Julien Morice in a defence of his European welterweight title.
21 May 1965
The Beginning and The End of An Era
“And next on BBC Television, professional wrestling.” The beginning of a new era? Or the end?
Read The Beginning and End of An Era
21 May 1979
Breaks Marches On
At Wembley Jim Breaks retained the British welterweight title in a match against challenger Steve Grey.
21 May 1986
Roach British Champion
In Birmingham challenger Ray Steele retired injured and Pat Roach retained the British heavyweight title.
21 May 2007
Death of The Great Marcus.
The Great Marcus is in the A-Z
22 May 1933
Clark World title Eliminator.
Douglas Clark returned to the Leeds Town Hall to take on Belgian Edward Rotthiers in a match advertised as an eliminator for the World Heavyweight title, the winner to meet champion Laurent Gerstman. Clark did a good job of building up the event in the local press as he described Rotthiers as one of his toughest opponents to date, a training regime that left nothing to chance and that a win would take him on to a match with the other British heavyweight champion, Atholl Oakeley, which we think was never on the cards.
The Town Hall was packed out and the match lived up to expectations, noted for clean and clever wrestling throughout and no showmanship from either man. The Belgian had a height and two stone weight advantage and showed a determination from the start. This did nothing to unsettle Clark who quickly demonstrated superiority in both skill and ability.
With scores level at the end of round one the match livened up in the second round with Clark attacking with a succession of cross buttocks and arm holds. Two minutes and forty seconds in to the round a body press gave the first fall to Douglas Clark.
The third of the ten minute rounds was again dominated by Clark who took another fall after eight minutes forty-five seconds to win by two falls to nil.
Following the announcement of the result, in another touch of dramatic wrestling fiction, Adam King, who was described as Gerstman’s manager, told the crowd that Clark had not done enough and would have to beat three more contenders before granted a world title match. His statement was unsurprisingly greeted with derision, but cheers for Percy Fox when he announced that Brunswick Stadium would offer a £350 purse for the match to take place.
The battle lines were drawn.
22 May 1933
Birth of Roy “Mr Big” Parkes
Read our tribute to Mr Big
22 May 1935
Wrestling On The Up!
That’s what the Daily Mirror said beneath their headline “All-In On The Up-and-Up.” Their reporter, who admitted to not being a fan, reported that wrestling was gaining popularity and could one day prove more popular than heavyweight boxing.
22 May 1953
Baldwin Cements His Claim
In a return contest Ernest Baldwin retained the British heavyweight title against Dave Armstrong at Levenshulme Skating Rink.
22 May 1954
Frankie Hughes Keeps Title
British middleweight champion Frankie Hughes retained the title at the Victoria Hall in Hanley against challenger Alan Colbeck.
22 May 1963
A Royal Blessing
This was the day that wrestling received Royal recognition.
Read Royalty at the Royal
22 May 1971
A Right Pair of Villains
BBC television devoted prime time to professional wrestling when the documentary series “The Philpott File” featured the Klondyke Brothers. The programme followed the pair around the country for a week and interviewed the wrestlers themselves, Klondyke Bill’s mother, girlfriend, opponents and promoter Orig Williams. Fame for fifteen minutes but the two wrestlers turned out to be friendly, down to earth sorts and nothing like the characters they portrayed.
22 May 1976
Evergreen Marino Beats More Evergreen Count
Mike Marino defeated Count Bartelli at Belle Vue, Manchester, to retain the World Mid Heavyweight title.
22 May 2013
Death of Mick McManus
Read our tribute to Mick McManus
On The Trail of Mick McManus
Read our Newsletter Special
22 May 2017
Death of Tony Francis
Read our tribute to Tony Francis
23 May 1913
Birth of Jan Gotch
Read our tribute to Jan Gotch
23 May 1932
Open Air Wrestling
The first open air wrestling tournament in London was staged at the Lea Bridge Speedway Stadium. Douglas Clark made a rare London appearance and defeated Half Nelson Keys in the main event.
23 May 1966
Nottingham Title Matches
At the Nottingham Ice Rink Kidd retained the World Lightweight title against Jim Breaks. On the same programme Alan Colbeck kept the European welterweight title when challenged by Mick McManus.
23 May 1967Skill Outdoes Skulduggery
At the Fairfields Hall in Croydon Peter Rann retired injured and Clayton Thomson retained the British middleweight title.
23 May 1975
Wrestler Awarded Damages
Kendo Nagasaki, at the time living in Goldthorn Hill< Wolverhampton, was awarded £242 damages plus costs in the County Court. The award was against wrestler Bill Clarke and promoter Terry Goodrum, for advertising and performing as a fake Kendo Nagasaki.
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