These are our shorter Biographical portraits which we would like to extend if you can provide information or memories.
Giles Wacklis (Gilles Waclis)
British promoters mangled the name of Parisien heavyweight Gilles Waclis when he appeared in Britain between March 1954 and April 1955. Opponents included Vic Hessle, Joe Cornelius, Sonny Wallis, Norman Carter and Ted Betley. He was well known in European rings and his match against Felix Lamban at the Plaza de Toros de las Arenas in Barcelona on 12th August, 1952 is cited by Wikipedia as the 7th most attended wrestling match of the 1950s.
Dave Wade
Birmingham born lightweight moved to the Isle of Man and learned to wrestle at the George Barnabus Club alongside Phil Barry and Bill Kennedy in the early 1970s. The lads would work weekly shows on the island during the summer months and monthly during the winter, alongside the dozen or so locally based wrestlers and imported stars such as Klondyke Bill, Orig Williams and Gordon Corbett. We are not aware of him travelling further afield.
George Wade
Bradford’s George Wade will be remembered by most Wrestling Heritage readers as one of the top referees in the 1960s. Prior to that he was a wrestler in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Syd Wakeling
A regular worker for the independent promoters, particularly Paul Lincoln in the early 1960s. Opponents include veterans like Ed Bright and Tony Zale as well as Lincoln’s new kids on the block Bob Lincoln, Dave Larsen and Al Fontayne. On occasions Syd would pull on a mask and assume the identity of The White Angel.
Ricky Waldo
Okay, we admit to never having seen Ricky Waldo in action, but we have seen the results and those disqualifications could not have been a result of misfortune or accidental. This man was even disqualified against Jim Hussey! Not that the muscular heavyweight didn’t have credentials. Aslam Pahelwhan was said to rate him as one of his toughest opponents, and he was a one time challenger to Lou Thesz for the NWA World heavyweight championship (he lost!) At the Royal Albert Hall he faced Norman Walsh, and lost, another disqualification! Ricky Waldo was born in Norfolk Virginia, USA, but was based in Alberta Canada.
Woody Waldo
In the mid 1970s an energetic newcomer with a famous name hit the northern wrestling circuit. Fans knew the name Waldo, but this wasn’t Ricky Waldo, this was Woody Waldo. Apart from the name there were few similarities. Woody was no heavyweight for starters, he was an energetic, tough and accomplished welterweight. He worked for northern promoters Jack Cassidy, Orig Williams, Brian Dixon, and Bobby Barron in some cracking matches with Adrian Street, Mike Jordan, Marty Jones and Jackie Pallo.
Promoter Graham Brooks recalled the night Woody arrived at the hall suffering from a previous injury but not wanting to let down the fans or the promoter, ” He arrived a few minutes before bell time hardly able to move. He was in no state to wrestle two bouts with opponent Karl Mc.Grath. They were planned to be fast-moving affairs but the tenor of the bouts had to change considerably due to the state Woody was in. It was this, I think, which first pushed Woody Waldo into the position where he had to be a rulebender and it was a role which he came to relish in later years, particularly at Liverpool Stadium. A great joker and a nice guy.”
Many of his memorable matches were at the legendary Liverpool Stadium, one of them a tag match in which he partnered Adrian Street against the team of Ricky Starr and Jon Cortez. Woody was an effervescent character with a good sense of fun who enlivened many an otherwise dull bout.
Harry Walker
Harry Walker was a middleweight from Heywood in Lancashire, a battler from the end of the Second World War as we find a report of him beating Pat Brennan at Fleetwood in 1947. Other opponents around this time included Alan Colbeck, Jack Wentworth and Emile Poilve. Harry had only one eye and a wily character who liked to wrestle the hard way Harry could arouse emotions in the fans. Out of the ring he was known by friends and colleagues as a man with a great sense of humour. Sam Betts remembere one lady fan, Clara, who would regularly poke her walking stick at Harry on his way to and from the ring at one of Bill Benny’s clubs in Manchester. On her 90th birthday Clara was sat in her usual ringside seat when Harry walked in and presented her with a bunch of flowers. We last find Harry wrestling Terry Nylands at Stafford in November, 1963.
‘Sky’ Walker
He stood nearly seven feet tall and weighed 25 stones. This was at the end of the Heritage Years in 1988 when he faced Pat Roach on television. We weren’t impressed. He was Canadian though. That’s a big country, lovely scenery, friendly people.Members tell us he went on to become Big Sky in WCW. Powerlock told us he was better known as Tyler Mane and played Sabretooth in the X-Men. Count Von Zuppi told us ” I travelled and worked with him. And he stayed a few nights in the spare room at my parents’ house..” Now that’s the attention to detail you expect at Heritage.
Vic Wall
1960s Birmingham based wrestler who worked for the independent promoters. Often billed as Captain Vic Wall, sadly we know little about him. We do know he was also a referee for the independent promoters, and said to be a good one by other wrestlers because he had the talent of not seeing everything.
Al Walsh
Billed as “The tough guy from Chicago” we can’t confirm his place of birth and have our doubts. Al Walsh weighed somewhere between 13 and 16 stones according to the posters. He appeared in British rings in September, 1931 and was around for much of the 1930s, our last sighting in 1937. With a reputation for speed and aggression he was a busy worker and opponents included British champion Atholl Oakeley as well as Harry Brooks, George Clark, Golden Hawke and Charlie Green. Sounds like here was a man who could look after himself. He was certainly no textbook purist and even with the fluid rules of the 1930s he was a magnet for disqualifications. In September, 1936 Al Walsh opened the Southall Sporting Club where members enjoyed boxing, wrestling, dancing and whist drives. He was still a resident of Southall in 1940 when he was a bouncer at the Locarno dance hall but no longer named as owner of the Southall Sporting Club.
Al Walsh (UK)
The name Al Walsh resurfaced between 1959 and 1961. We found just a handful of matches in the north and midlands. Opponents included Joe Critchley, Bernard Murray, Jack Cheers and Terry Downs.
Johanes Van Der Walt
South African heavyweight champion Johannes Van Der Walt made a short visit to Britain in 1937. A tram driver in Johannesburg Johannes is said to have been discovered by Henry Irslinger. To hide his Afrikaner identity Van Der Walt assumed the role of a masked man, The Masked Marvel, voluntarily removing the mask after a 15 month winning streak. During his British visit, without a mask, we have found wins over Britain’s Bulldog Bill Garnon and Poland’s Karol Nowina. Highlight of the visit was the draw with Jim Londos at the Earl’s Court Empress Stadium in November.
Van Der Walt retired from wrestling in July, 1940. He was heavily involved in the South African political movement, and in 1942 was named in the South African Parliament as a commandant of the Ossewa- brandwag, an anti-British and pro-German organisation in South Africa during World War II. Much can be read about his political activities elsewhere on the internet.
Johannes Van Der Walt, born in Johannesburg on 9th November, 1908, died 25th March, 1943.
Otto Wanz
The giant Austrian Otto Wanz weighed in around the 25 stones mark, Born in 1943 his first sporting love was boxing, and he had a nationally successful amateur boxing career.
He turned professional around 1970, establishing himself in European rings. He is mostly remembered by British fans for his epic clash with Ray Steele in the 1984 Royal Albert Hall Spectacular, when he successfully defended his CWA championship against the Yorkshireman. Otto subsequently gained international acclaim in North America, the Far East and Europe, winning the AWA World heavyweight championship. He later returned to Britain to work for promoter Orig Williams. Following retirement Otto settled back in his native country, Austria, promoting, acting and organising strong men competitions.
Johnny War Eagle
Native Indian who visited Britain in 1974 to 1975 and gained victory in his sole Royal Albert Hall appearance over Johnny Yearsley.
Bearing a remarkable physical similarity to the more renowned Mohawk Billy Two Rivers, War Eagle was a harder hitting no-nonsense wrestler and we witnessed his humourless style in an angry televised clash with Johnny Czeslaw as well as live. In fact War Eagle had tagged with Two Rivers in North America in 1970.
Another North American tag partner familiar to British fans was Billy White Wolf . If that’s not enough add Linda, the wife of Adrian Street, who was Johnny’s partner in a mixed tag pairing when whe wrestled as Blackfoot Sioux.
In view of his name, hardly going down as one of the all time greats, we have to classify him as grossly under-rated – and possibly under-promoted due to the exaggerated nostalgic reverence the promoters had for Two Rivers’ initial impact.
A hard-hitting 16 stoner in the Jon Cortez and Albert Wall school of very realistic fighters. When back in the USA he drew with big name champions Dory Funk, Eduardo Carpentier and Gene Kiniski before going on to take the North American tag titles alongside Billy Two Rivers.
Jock Ward
The dark, wavy haired heavyweight was a post war protege of Athol Oakeley. He wrestled Ed Bright in 1952 for Oakeley’s version of the British Heavyweight Title at the Royal Albert Hall and faced Tiger Joe Robinson at Harringay in another high profile match. Other memorable opponents included Bert Mansfield, Al Hayes and Gerry Hoggarth. It was against Hoggarth, at the Royal Albert Hall in April 1953, that Jock finally dropped his British heavyweight championship. Many of Jock’s contests were for promoter Atholl Oakeley who, following the end of the second world war, strived to revive the all-in style of wrestling he had introduced to Britain in 1930, which included a twenty count for a knock-out.
Sharky Ward
The big, bruising Australian Sharky Ward made his way into British rings during the winter of 1980 – 81. He faced an odd assortment of opponents ranging from Jeff Kaye to Wayne Bridges, losing to the kent wrestler in a World Heavyweight Title eliminator at the Royal Albert Hall in October, 1980. Sharky was Australian Phil Ward who used a variety of names in Australia, USA, New Zealand and Japan. In New Zealand he was appointed coach of the national sumo wrestling team.
The Warlord (Also known as Tony Taylor)
1970s wrestler for independent promoters that frequently worked for Jackie Pallo. The Warlord was Tony Taylor of Brighton, trained by Bert Assirati alongside his brother Alec, Terry Cristel and Ray Luxford.
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