Palais Fan Goes Down The Palais
“The buzz of expectation in the crowded entrance, in the late 50s and early 60s, was like no other. Two thousandish people inside to see anything from George Kidd against Mick McManus to Hans Streiger versus Joe Cornelius, or even one of those new fangled American tag matches – Ken Joyce and Eddie Capelli against Les Blousons Noir or The Black Diamonds. The heat and humour in the crowd, was second to none.”
Such are the memories of Palais Fan who watched wrestling at the Palais from 1958 to 1969, and watched ITV/WOS wrestling.
Wrestling at the Palais goes back to 1951, though the history of the venue itself stretches back much further. A medieval building known as the “Gate House” was demolished in 1906 to allow building of the Wimbledon and American Roller Skating Rink, which was to become the Wimbledon Palais de Danse in 1922.
Under new management in 1950 the venue began to to promote itself as a venue for popular culture, with an emphasis on concerts and, of course, wrestling.
The first wrestling show was presented on 25th January, 1951. Bert Assirati topped the bill, defeating Abdul the Turk, and was to top five of the first six fortnighly bills that were presented by Herbert Devereux.
Only two months after joining the wrestling circuit the Palais hosted the Empire middleweight championship with Vic Coleman winning a knock out tournament. Count Bartelli, rarely one to journey too far away from his Cheshire home in those days, made a couple of appearances in 1955. Jack Dempsey and Bob Sherry, others not renowned for travelling, also ventured to the south.
Palais fan has vivid memories of many of the wrestlers he saw when his dad took him along to the wrestling aged eight.
“The Ghoul was a frightening sight to a young boy, thinking about him used to keep me awake at night! He was built like a story-book giant, twenty stones or thereabouts, dressed all in white and a mask that revealed a ghoulish grin when his opponent was in trouble. “
The Ghoul had made his Wimbledon Palais debut in 1954, a straight falls win over Tony Mancelli, and was a regular feature on the bills in those days when masked men were a rarity in southern rings. The Monster was another 1950s masked man in the Palais ring, and the promoters unusual status of an independent with Joint promotion connections meant that Doctor Death wrestled at the Palais prior to the 1966 merger of Paul Lincoln and Dale Martin. The Zebra Kid made a dozen appearances, losing to Joe Cornelius on one occasion. Palais Fan remembers another loss for the masked man, this time against Danny Lynch.
“Danny Lynch beat the Zebra Kid at the Palais on 28th December 1967. The Zebra Kid eventually took his mask off at the insistence of the MC, Gus Guthrie. Little did we know at the time that ZK was being regularly unmasked, at venues up and down the country.”
Unsurprisingly Mick McManus was another regular. He appeared on that first bill and was to step into the Palais ring on more than a hundred occasions over the years. Usually a winner, of course, with Bert Royal, George Kidd, and Alan Colbeck being amongst the few to defeat McManus at Wimbledon. Old big ‘ead himself, Jackie Pallo, also had his off days amongst those that were mainly “on,” going down by straight falls to Jack Dempsey.
It wasn’t just the villains that made an impression.
“The undoubted ‘king’ of the ‘scientific’ wrestlers was (as far as the Palais crowd, Kent Walton, my Dad and me were concerned) the World Lightweight Champion, George Kidd. To give you an idea of how popular George was at that time, if my Dad was tired after work on a Thursday and was thinking of giving the wrestling a miss, the sight of George Kidd’s name in the Palais advertisement in the evening paper, was enough to get him out of the house and on the bus and tube to South Wimbledon with yours truly in tow. We used to arrive just as the show was about to start and if George was on the bill, the foyer would be packed with people trying to get tickets. Dad would speak to the commissionaire, an old army buddy, and he would produce a couple of tickets from his back pocket, and in we would go!”
Long time Master of Ceremonies at the Palais was Graham Guthrie, with referees over the years including Tiny Carr, Bobby Palmer, Joe D’Orazio, Harry Geoghegan, Johnny Peters and Johnny Dark.
Over the years just about every big name in British wrestling appeared at the Wimbledon Palais, and many of the lesser ones also. Assirati, Kidd, McManus, Pallo were there, and a few supporting artists – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, and The Kinks.
Now long demolished the Wimbledon Palais is no more, but memories remain sixty years after that first wrestling show.
Wrestling Heritage 