GWA and North East Lincolnshire Wrestling

North East Lincolnshire. Not a name or place that you think runs in the veins of wrestling history, but for me it does and hopefully, for a generation of new fans, wrestlers, bookers and performers it will do again for a long time to come. You see the Grimsby Wrestling Academy and by extension their promotion GWA are doing great things. They offer professional classes with a wide ranger of trainers and have brought in seminar specialists like Kid Kash. Just looking at their website will tell you they value high quality production which is essential in the modern wrestling market not just in the UK but world wide. They clearly understand what needs to be done. I should offer a disclaimer here I haven't been to one of their shows or a session this is a first glance look at the promotion but as a long time fan I am very impressed and pleased that this part of the world has a new champion for its strong wrestling heritage. Their next show will feature The Homicidal, Genocidal, Suicidal Death Defying Sabu and marks a return to NE Lincs offering shows of very high quality. A true case of “If you build it, they will come”. 

You see back in the day, when I was a wrestling fan at the beginning of my obsession I was in North East Lincolnshire one Sunday every month. Now GWA offer their shows at Grimsby Central Hall, but it was down at the Memorial Hall in Cleethorpes where I got my first long term fix of monthly pro wrestling. Back in the early eighties, in one of Joint Promotions boom periods, and just before the Crabtrees take over of that particular company, the shows on a Sunday night where immense. I got to see everyone that mattered in the wrestling world and it set my mind on what good wrestling was from a young and impressionable age. The main eventers of the time Dave “Fit” Finlay, Chic Cullen and my personal hero Marty Jones all wrestled there on a regular basis. They where not the only ones, I sadly just missed out on seeing The Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart and Saturo Sayama who also wrestled at that venerable hall. Little did I know I was watching guys who would have a major influence on not just British wrestling in the TV era, but world wide. Dave Finaly became Finlay, now a road agent for WWE and the driving force behind the great Diva's division of the early 2000's. Saturo Sayama went on of course to be Tiger Mask and his matches with The Dynamite Kid reinvented Junior Heavyweight pro wrestling in Japan. He also went on to be a founder of the original UWF which was a massive influence on shoot fighting and was part of the many things that brought us to the MMA world of today. Dynamite and Bret? Well you know what happened there. Marty Jones went on to train William Regal who you hear weekly on FCW programming and is a great influence on the training regime of the WWE. So for a while there Cleethorpes turned out to be the wrestling capital of the world. Maybe not as romantic as the NJPW dojo, or The Businessman's Gym in Saint Louis (Lou Thesz's home gym) or even The Snakepit in Wigan, but just as important to me because that is where my home of wrestling will always be.

However back to the present day, it is great to see a new wrestling business that is taking care of doing the right things and impressing at first glance. They are also at the moment encouraging take up with offers and promotions on wrestling lessons. So if you are in Grimsby go see a show, or take a lesson. This is a great opportunity to build a foundation for wrestling in North East Lincolnshire. With things looking strong nation wide an opportunity that could mean work, and more wrestling for all of us fans to enjoy. Tickets for their EXTREME! Show on the the 30^th of August are £8 for full whack with some concessions and considering what you are getting that is great value. You get to see Sabu for eight quid. You lucky, lucky people.

Have a good time till next time grapple fans.

Grimsby Wrestling Academy on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/grimsbywrestling

and on the general web @ http://www.grimsbywrestling.com/home

Six of the Best; Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Welcome back grapple fans, last time we looked at the iconic match that made both Mark Rocco and Marty Jones big players in the UK mat game. So how did they do after that? Well they both left the British title scene behind and moved on to world titles at Heavy Middleweight and Mid Heavyweight respectively. This was really the icing on the cake that proved they could deliver the goods against any opponent they may come up against. But obviously they couldn't wrestle each other all the time, what was needed was some occasional spark to liven things out of the the non title match gloom. Marty had the perfect opponent waiting for him at Mid-Heavyweight; we shall look at that legendary series next time. However this week we welcome back someone missing from the UK scene for a while. The Dynamite Kid was in Calgary building a reputation as a stellar worker, and was easily ranked by no less an authority that Stu Hart as "The man who made the most money for Stampede Wrestling." His icon status was still a way off though in the early eighties and between matches for Stu and his trips to Japan to build the biggest legacy of his career with Tiger Mask he had to time to fly home and put in a few favours for old friends like Mark Rocco and Marty Jones.

This is one of those favours, a late night booking while visiting parents. It features numerous things that had become hallmarks to their styles, but equally the changing approach in British wrestling from week to week booking, who wins wins with no consequence or reason and TV matches do not matter to, I-have-to-watch -next-week-to-see-what-happens-booking. And they did, a 1981 card from Cleethorpes Memorial Hall would undoubtedly mean a match from one of the six with a possible import like Dynamite or Bret Hart. Hard to think that my local wrestling hall was in the best in the world, but for artistic impact and legacy nothing beats Cleethorpes.

So seconds away . . .




The state of the art chain wrestling that starts this bout could not last for long. To much heat to be had and to much story to tell. The shared qualities of Rocco and Dynamite are already showing not long after the bell, Dynamites not-far-from-heel persona that carried him through his occasional visits gave him a reputation as a tough guy who would stand up to bullying in the ring. There was no way Rocco could out manoeuvre him in the story of this bout because Dynamite would just hit harder, very well then  Rocco shall have to hit harder to. None of their matches from this period are what you could term slow. This one has the chain wrestling start and the easily riled Rocco is swift to move onto the dirty tactics, heat getters true but there for a purpose. The story of the Rocco Jones matches where that Jones was susceptible to Rocco's attack, the story of these matches was that Dynamite was willing to cheat to win as well, which would serve him well in his occasional matches with Marty Jones as he had to turn full on heel to be able to put together an entertaining match. What is interesting is that they do announce the Kid as the World Junior Heavyweight Champion, a title he was not to win for another three years, or maybe they meant the Stampede Mid-Heavyweight title which Stu made up when Dynamite couldn't take the NWA belt from Nelson Royal. Anywho, back to the match. Kent does mention his trips to Japan claiming that Dynamite would be wrestling Antonio Inoki, which I don't think he did but I am sure he woudl have gone out of his way to make the boss look this good. Kent would of course been struggling to fin Japanese names familiar to UK fans, before the days of video and tap trading what you saw is what you got. it was another four seven years before anyone ever saw any WWE in the UK and another nine before WCW made it to these shores on TV. We thought what we where seeing was the best in the world because we where told so. Looking back now the commentators where not far wrong. Certainly we had some of the best workers, but would these matches work in Japan? Yes. North Carolina? Possibly. Memphis? Probably not. In fact Dynamite was once asked to go with Davey to Memphis for a series of matches after impressing Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Valiant in the All Japan Real World Tag League Tournament not long after this match. Dynamite replied, "I am not being funny Jerry but have you got anyone as good as the boys there because we can't do the same things with them as we can with these guys." Tape does exist of one match between The Bull Dogs and the Rock N Roll Express that would be Dynamites only venture into Southern style wrestling, even then it was in the AWA.

Going into round two tempers are at fever pitch and Dynamite hits out. Rocco in response heads to the top rope, this is slightly bizarre to see Dynamite, the man who brought high risk to the WWF hampered by the rules of Mountevans, thankfully referee the venerable Max Ward is oblivious enough to proceedings and let them go. Rocco gets his first public warning as he gigs away at Dynamite to get a cut going, a desperation move on Rocco's part. The pay off has to come though and dynamite heads into his comeback with a vicious looking posting . . .





The fact is British fans where not used to seeing faces be this tough. Dynamite was used to giving more to get a response in both Calgary and Tokyo so when he came home and wrestled the same style in front of UK fans it truly was something special. Even the top faces where gentleman, but Dynamite a heel everywhere else but here, knew how to get his hands dirty. Max Ward's interest in the cut above Dynamites eye is a potent warning of things to come. However the first fall comes out of nowhere after Dynamite is back on the defensive he produces a series of moves that are now world famous, Diving Head butt, posting, Belly to Back in a crisp series worthy of the legend.  And that is it, rather disappointingly, Dynamites cut is to bad to continue, yeah of course it is. Anyway, it protects Rocco, gives Dynamite the upper hand for when he comes back, if he comes back, and you have a ready made feud. If only he wanted to come visit his Dad while we have this hot angle by accident . . .  what's that you say you're coming home? Are you doing anything Friday?



   

Slap and tickle before the bell you say? Why why not Sir, and we are off and running. If anything this one is even stiffer, and judging by the hair a little before Dynamites famous shaven headed 1983 WWF Jr. Heavy tittle win. A title both men would hold. So we are off and running straight away, cheating, back drops stiff postings just where they left off. The disadvantage to these matches from a promoters point of view was how conservative it made everything else look. How could they compete? Rocco never took a step back neither did Dynamite and they where wrestling each other for what was essentially fun, they where helping each other out so they went hell for leather every time. But when you are wrestling for £15 a night why would you risk everything? Of course everyone can get carried away. Dynamite seems to forget the rules for a moment and delivers a beautiful series of floor attacks which gets him his first public warning. In Round 1. This is going to get hard fast. Things build to a crescendo in round two as Rocco piles on the punishment, first getting a public warning for his trouble, his second in round two, before building up to the double suplex finish that has the fans oohing and ahhing as no one had ever seen anyone get dropped on the top rope before but then would have thought of that bump before?
 




So the first fall is Rollerball, the Maniac, the Mean Machine Mark Rocco. A man with so much personality needs many names. The legit stitches shown off by Rocco go to show tough the six had made the British game at this point. The Dynamite comeback features the missed posting defence that cause Rocco the stitches in the first place, again showing his incredible resilience and lack of fear, much needed when Dynamite drops knees like that. Crowned with a now everyday Belly to Back suplex Dynamite shows his viciousness. Leaving Rocco in a bloody heap on the floor is a good way of being forgiven for leaving. Hopefully the Rock can do the same to John Cena. The vicious assault continues as Dynamite heads for the finish taking Rocco with him. His NJPW finishing sequence is of course illegal here but he uses it to good effect and puts Rocco away with a side suplex to seal the deal and set up the rematch should Dynamite come home.

These matches where of course few and far between. As good 'Ole JR stated on Legends of wrestling this week. Promoters hate having a big blow off because they feared a dip afterwards. When Bill Watts built towards the Superdome shows that made so much money for Mid South, he factored in there would be an inevitable drop off in interest and would have to start rebuilding programmes. 

So to add some suspense we shall look at that match another time, but next week we get to see one of my all time favourite feuds, one I got to see in person and lead me to be the wrestling fan I am today.

Six of the Best; Goldbourne's Finest

If you grew up in Lancashire in the nineteen sixties there was really three things you could be in life of note. A minor, a Rugby League player or a professional wrestler. Lancashire was one of the hot beds of pro wrestling and as I got onto the internet in the mid nineties and started researching the things that I liked more closely it appeared to me there was three places down the years that always attracted the best practitioners and had the greatest reputations. As far as hookers where concerned the original place to learn your craft was The Business Man's Gym in Saint Louis Missouri, home of one Lou Thesz. As the shooter dominance shifted Lancashire began to take over that crown. Straight up shooters and hookers like Billy Robinson and Billy Joyce spread the reputation of Lancashire through the business. Trainers like Billy Riley and Ted Betley enhanced that reputation  built on the grass roots of traditional Lancastrian amateur style, a need to wrestlers to protect themselves in a hostile environment and a willingness by the new trained workers to get away from the world of mining and Rugby League by putting the best matches on the card they could.     

The Dynamite Kid Tommy Billington in my mind exemplifies that standard better than anyone else of that era. Tommy was small when he started and in the matches we will look at he wrestled first at lightweight and then at welterweight, very quickly becoming a star and a champion in both divisions. This early match also shows that he was destined for great things, not for its quality, though it has a kind of rustic charm, but for his tag team partners and the way he was billed.





Six man tags where rare on UK TV, they had to be kept in a glass cabinet marked "break only in the event of being desperate for a TV draw". Much could be said of the Royal Brothers at this point. Fine singles wrestlers in their own right, they where the biggest drawing card in the North of England as a tag team. The cool, calm and clinical Burt contrasted the happy go lucky but unstable anger management of Vic. They where essentially a scaled down Funk Brothers. For Bert read Dory Funk Jr. for Vic read Terry Funk. the matches they had though where phenomenal, they where lightning fast when quick tags where an anathema to UK wrestling. They where the money. So when Dynamite is introduced as their hand picked partner he is getting the biggest of all main event rubs.

On the heel side we have the colourful Tally Ho' Kaye whose gimmick was of a horsey hunting land owner type, which was cool and interesting but kind of came undone when he opened his mouth and came out with broad Yorkshire. Sadly I can not tell you a lot about Ken Hogan, I've never seen him before or since this bout so its pretty safe to say he wasn't going to the hall of fame. Finally the perhaps least successful British heel of all time Blackjack Mulligan. Of course as a completely uninspired gimmick as most copyists tend to be he was never going to be like the original Blackjack Mulligan and aided the theory that a cool name and a beard isn't everything. People have to care about you one way or another, sadly few people cared of Blackjack was in the match or not so long as he got beat up as usual. Here has the opportunity to hone that skill dropping the first fall of this best of five match (best of five in a 20 minute match are you mental?) in the first twenty seconds.

Ah but I promised you focus on Dynamite so we shall, he tags in and delivers the crispness that he was to become known for. Precisions throws and escapes and finally has the wind taken out of him with a posting that turns the match. However that gave off the other side of Dynamite, the bump machine that made his name, he makes Hogan look great before taking over again and taking the fall in smooth fashion. Of course the heels have to have their comeback and its Dynamite that will be on the receiving end, burying a bunch of guys three nil would be to high a price to pay especially on TV. Even Mulligan and Hogan could be useful somewhere.

So as the heels beat on poor Tommy they get more and more vicious to the point of Max Crabtree having to employ the beard pull to get Mulligan of the Kid. A tactic I'd like to see used on Daniel Bryan more often. What is impressive is Dynamites ability to sell everything often something over looked in UK rings. As I mentioned in the last Blog Steve Logan's underselling of the Riot Squads offence took something away from the match but everything Dynamite does makes sense and enhances the story, building to the hot tag. When Burt gets tagged in from the dramatic back-breaker submission its house cleaning time for both Royal's, a dropkick and a bodyslam seal the deal.

So this shows the rise of a young star, still having to make others look good but the top of the mountain was not that far away for Dynamite. In 1977 he would defeat perennial British Lightweight Champion Jim Breaks for the belt. Breaks moved up a weight to feud with Vic Faulkner over the British Welterweight title only to be beaten by Dynamite again who took home two belts. One of the few British wrestlers to hold titles at two weights at the same time. Then Calgary came calling. The Hart brothers in the eighties became frequent visitors to UK shores, the matches they had hear became part of their training and understanding as to what would work back home for Stampede wrestling. With the tight nature of promoters of the time, it also gave chance to meet up with New Japan alumni like Satourou Sayama and Akira Maeda. Bruce and Bret liked what they saw in Dynamite and offered him a job. Off he went on a short tour that was suppose to last a couple of months and wound up being fourteen years.

However he would come back from time to time to show us what he had learned. Next time we look at one of those matches from an era when British wrestling was the place to be (if you where under twenty stone).

Till next time grapple fans. 

Six of the Best; The Riot Squad

Welcome again grapple fans, today we look at tag team action. British wrestling featured tag teams just from time to time, and just to keep things special, not that often. In '82 someone must have upped the budget because they put a whole tournament on TV. The key element in out current six of the best being The Riot Squad. The Riot Squad in the long term ended up being a group of top notch workers who would have their biggest impact on WCW and WWE. The original Riot Squad composed of Dave Fit Finlay and ultra heel Skull Murphy. We talked a lot about Dave in the last blog, but this tag team would be the one that drew the most money for Joint Promotions in the early 80's through their TV battles with Marty Jones and any number of partners. Here they are in a tournament for the World of Sport Top Tag Team title and apparently belts against The Jets. How Alan Kilby and Steve Logan came up with The Jets I have no idea, neither of them moved that quickly. Kilby was the then British Heavy Middleweight champion. A deaf wrestler who used it to his advantage in matches but was as clean as country water. This Steve Logan is not The Steve Logan of Steve Logan and Mick MacManus fame, another Steve Logan who also happens to be a Middleweight. Because that's not confusing at all.

Anyway; seconds away . . .




This bout occurred not long after the Davey Boy Smith match we looked at last time, but already Finlay has changed his style and has headed full on heel. The disrespectful early striking and attacking his grounded man the easiest way to get heat in a British ring. Then we get to see our first look at Skull Murphy, a light heavyweight here but showing signs of heading up to the heavy bracket, his submission style on display from the start. Kent nicely explains the rules to us, the combined weight in each corner can not exceed 450lbs, well that's nice to know, someone presumably didn't try and enter Big Daddy and feather duster. This did mean close competitive action though as opposed to the usual super-heavyweight tag matches of the time.

Skull and Finlay are clearly trying to work the American style of tag match, the quick tags that everyone is now used to, get it done in the five count. The only thing is that it is illegal under Mountevans rules so it just gets them heat, no bad thing for those concerned. That is the problem with Mountevans tag matches though. With matches few and far between on TV, great teams like the Royal Brothers managed in spite of the rules apparently disallowing excitement of any kind, but The Riot Squad are already showing a flair for showmanship that would raise the ire of a thousand hand bags. Young Logan does look incredibly out of his depth against the methodical Riot Squad, though he shows a bit of fight in his early sequences. The rather limp head to the knee of Finlay highlights how slow they where going in comparison to the stiff encounter with Davey Boy. Twenty minutes and best of three falls? Good Lord, get you're work done boys this is a tournament match. A brilliant Waltonism as well in session two "the person who lost the fall must continue into the next session first, unless he's unconscious" right, no unconscious people wrestling got it. So Logan starts his comeback to the hot tag, which suffers some credibility issues as he recovers looking in about as much pain as Jeff Hardy after a weekend on extra strong vitamins. In contrast to Logan, Finlay sells the fall like he's been shot. This is the crispness I always enjoyed in his work, as Bobby Lashley recently pointed out "Every thing Finlay does is for a reason and there is no wasted motion" Lashley claimed he learned more on match with Finlay than at any other time in his career. The downfall of this match starts about 0.35 seconds after Logan tags back in. You could announce it. "Ladies and gentleman the jobber will now be beaten". In efficient and as heelistic a style as possible. What we do see is an early version of Skull's standing submission the 'Gator. There was a change in psychology pushed by these two men, Marty Jones, Dynamite and Davey Boy. They all had definitive finishers, guaranteed to put a man away holds. Marty developed his Power Lock later used effectively by Shawn Michaels after being taught it by Jones protege William Regal. Prior to that everyone had a few regular moves that where considered deadly, but nothing like these over powering finishers.  

So grapple fans on to the final; yes two matches in one post!

Some poor fools have to take these two belts home that appear to have been designed by Adrian Street on a gin bender.


       


The unfortunate finalists are The Fighting Wilson Brothers (it would be really unhelpful if they didn't fight, and I'm sure the Passive Wilson Brothers never would have caught on).  Europe's number on referee Max Ward? That really shows the lack of ambition in pro-wrestling at the time, Max Ward was easily the most recognisable ref in joint Promotions but they could only find the heart to pronounce him best in Europe. Which is the equivalent of announcing him as "above adequate". Combined weight of only 450lbs? The Wilson brothers must have had a few pies after weigh in. But Skull and Dave make it all worth it turning on the bump machine for heavyweight veteran Johnny Tarzan Wilson. Which makes the lack of logic in this match all the more perplexing. The part time Peter Wilson who clearly isn't in his brothers power bracket takes on most of the match and drops the first fall, protecting his brother one might add, when you get the feeling Johnny could have handled them by himself.    

The continuous neck breakers (another American move import, you get the feeling Dave watched a lot of video tape) set up for the finish. Fit and Skull take the belts home where I assume they had a special place on the mantle. The meaning of the match though was much deeper than two belts, the dominated two heavier opponents who where an established tag team, two falls to nil. They had arrived.

The next instalment of six of the best features this man . . .




   
Still the best Dynamite tribute video ever, you can't whack a bit of Our Lady Peace.

Have a good time, till the next time.

Six of the Best Part 2; Young Lions

As Mark Rocco and Marty Jones moved on through the ranks that would lead to world title glory, the next round of young contenders where making they're way up the ranks. Davey Boy Smith, cousin of The Dynamite Kid, Ted Betley trained and building a reputation was an incredibly ambitious young man making a splash much the same way his cousin had done a couple of years earlier. Dave Finlay another second generation wrestler was equally  making his mark as a heel. That is important to note because it wasn't the fashion of the time. In this early match Finlay isn't even really a heel. Faces far out numbered heels and as most of what occurred in British Wrestling was well within the rules, heels where far worse off. By the early eighties, maybe the fans where craving something different. This match highlights the early stages of careers that where become synonymous with success and quality bouts.

We join the action in round one, an eliminator for the British Heavy Middleweight title now relinquished by Rocco and resting round the tried and tested Alan Kilby a very safe pair of hands.   




The first thing you notice aside from how young both of them look (baring in mind Davey's last WWE run was when he was in his forties and Dave's when when he was over fifty) is the size. But Davey was even smaller when he first went to Stampede. This was a rare trip home and already he has filled out natural, but he is still a long way away from his early nineties size hay day of around 260lbs. Though both would change their styles later in their careers, Davey to the power game demanded by his size and Finlay to his brawling demanded by being a tough old so and so, they are super smooth here. They both knew the advanced mat game well, something which stood them in good stead in New Japan, where both of them would had great success.

At the end of round one Finlay was on the receiving end of some well deserved applause, over the next ten years that wouldn't happen often. The heel persona is starting to develop in this match, note the snap to the wrist lever. The execution was something Finlay took pride in as a trainer even in his later days while looking after the Divas division in WWE. In fact given Finlay's later in ring character which didn't really change that much face or heel from 1983 until, well now, its virtually impossible to perceive him as the the clean cut title contender he portrays in this bout.





I love Kent Walton's remark "the more we see of Finlay the better", given his heelish ways in the future I'm sure the faces of the next ten years wouldn't be so keen. Davey was on his way back and between Stampede, NJPW and the UK at the time. His NJPW excursions courtesy of cousin Dynamite meant he was building technique in totally different environments which doesn't really show here. He was back to the old British style in no time, even if his tights may as well have "Stampede Junior Heavyweight Early Eighties" written on them. Dynamite by this time was not a regular tag wrestler, the Bulldogs would be a ways off, in fact Marty Jones would often go to Stampede to tag with Dynamite, as would Giant Haystacks (I am not making this up). Sadly only matches of Dynamite and Jones with each other are available on Youtube. At this point may I pay tribute to the wonderful wrestling archivist Tellyumort for looking after the legacy of great British wrestling.

The head on posting, a stampede wrestlers stand by, most notably took by Bret Hart in nearly every title match he ever had, makes an early appearance here. Bret always claimed it was more realistic and safer to take because you could see what was coming. Here Finlay uses it to get back on top while Davey sells like a good 'un. Finlay was showing in this bout what a great "wrestling heel" he was, as Dynamite puts it in his book a wrestling heel is just really good at being a wrestler, they lack the viciousness to use straight violence. As later matches will prove young Finlay got over that fairly quickly.

How these two told their story was through gathering intensity. There was a lot of truth to what Max Crabtree said about Mark Rocco, who wants to get sliced and diced when you are only earning £10 a night? However in this match both are showing things that are a little bit stiffer and a little bit harder. They would both prove their worth with some of the hardest bumps and stiffest bouts ever seen in the long run. By the early eighties crowds where demanding it. As Dynamite said in his biography, once you have come off the top rope once you all you can do is keep going up there because the next bump has to be bigger. You could argue this was a down hill slide in the terms of safety and it is something that worries Nigel McGuinness greatly after his career appears to have been cut short by an overly stiff style. He worries about his legacy, I don't think he should, he did many great things to revitalise the business we love and continues to do so. However this match was all between the ropes and has been contested in a fair style. The high risk offence of the Bulldogs and the Bruiser was yet to emerge.




By round 4 things are getting a bit needly, Davey actually starts breaking the rules first and is of course forgiven the less photogenic Finlay gets the heat. How anyone could call this match boring is beyond me, but there you have it no pleasing some people. Then again the same heckler does off mild racial abuse, so maybe he is just an idiot. The striking, usually the sign of desperation in a British match starts coming into round 5, the build up to the Celtic Cross that would be the Finlay finisher for the next 30 years. The slow build to these style of matches also helped Finlay build a philosophy of wrestling that undoubtedly maintained his career. When working as a road agent for the WWE and being an on screen talent, The Sandman reports that he was once berating a young star for taking to many bumps in a TV match. To prove his point he went out on Raw and had a twenty minute match taking only one bump and keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats. The Sandman, who lets face it never met a beer or chair shot he didn't like stood on in awe. The impact of the finisher is surprising as well. No one was using finishers at all in UK rings, submission was the thing, a high impact finisher was a suplex. Things where changing.

The crowd are won over by round six, the xenophobic buffoon leading and eng-er-land chant which really seemed fitting for a guy who mainly spit his time between Canada and Japan, but anyway the comeback for David is quick and so on to the last two rounds. Next we see the early days of the running power slam, not yet perfected but clearly on its way to invention and apparently not as decisive as the Celtic Cross.  





The final rounds start going back to the mat as the striking doesn't seem to work for either man. Even a very safe looking Back Drop Driver, (neither of these guys for the money they where on where going to take Misawa like risks they had work next day)  could not get the job done for Davey. The reversed Regal plex though (and the fact that everyone now calls it a Regal-plex says a lot about the future of British wrestling) shows where this and its bordering divisions are going in terms of stiffness and high impact offence. The continuing forearms from the knees though offers such a great visual, these guys want this match bad, the referee showing no understanding of drama breaks them up. The stiffness continues with an unheard of at the time Texas style pile-driver a-la Terry Funk, they wouldn't have liked that in Memphis Davey, but here its building to a climax and they are giving the impression they are pulling out all the stops. Which makes it all the more odd that Finlay puts Davey away with a straight suplex, but there you go. A fine actual wrestling contest with no rule breaking just bending.

Next time we shall look at Skull Murphy and his rise to infamy and start charting the influence, resilience and wrestling style of one Tommy Billington.

I had a kind word for my writing today from Mr. Simon Heath so thanks for that I shall keep on going with this labour of love.

Bye for now grapple fans.       

Six of the Best

Back in 2002, Paul Heyman was given the book for Smackdown while managing Brock Lesnar. A relationship that continues to this day, but it was slightly, and only slightly, further down the card that what made Smackdown the must see brand for that year. The Smackdown Six as they became known; Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo), the full on face team of Edge and Rey Mysterio  and the tweeners of Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle thrown together by Stephanie Mcmahon in the story line despite feuding as singles wrestlers. Heyman had a gift for hiding the negatives of each performer in his heyday as the ECW svengali, but in this situation he really did not have any negatives to hide. Six superlative workers and a seemingly endless series of combinations. It worked very well indeed, revitalised the tag team division making the belts seem something more and elevated five of the six to future world title runs.

Having a strong wrestling base in your main event had worked well before, elsewhere. There are some striking parallels with what was happening in the UK in the late seventies to early eighties as match quality rose thanks to a small pool of workers in the Heavy Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Mid Heavyweight divisions. Thanks to the long term nature of title booking in the UK it would have an effect world wide. The six involved would go on to redefine pro wrestling over the next forty years and build stellar reputations that would take them to Budakon Hall, Madison Square Garden and Wrestlemania. The six where Marty Jones, Mark "Rollerball" Rocco, The Dynamite Kid Tommy Billington, Dave "Fit/Belfast Bruiser" Finlay and Skull Murphy and Davey Boy Smith.

Like most wrestling around the world the heavyweights where the key draw in the UK and always had been. From Bert Assarati to Giant Haystacks they filled the halls, but to a young impressionable fan it was these six that determined my viewer-ship every week. They easily had the best matches, the stiffest moves certainly, and while I loved watching the lighter guys move at incredible speed, their hard hitting style gave it that extra sense of realism. There was also that mix of attitudes that the Smackdown Six enjoyed. Jones and Smith where the only two true faces, Finlay and Murphy where real heels throughout their UK careers and Dynamite though a good guy in the early part of his UK run sensibly wrestled as a heel to help the match whenever facing Jones. Rollerball was Rollerball, the fans hated him but always respected his skill so when he went off to All Star promotions in the late 80's taking the World Heavy Middle Weight title with him and turned face on Kendo Nagasaki the fans adored him with more fervour still.

In the UK scene from pretty much the second world war onwards there where really no blood feuds of long term significance. TV changed that because and issue could be publicised. In a certain hall there maybe a long running series of matches, but now with TV two wrestlers could have one inconclusive affair on TV and run the matches around the loop. As the elders of the group Rocco and Jones began their TV feud in the mid seventies. It would essentially go on for the next five years. The two middle weights where sharp well trained Lancashire amateurs. The Snake Pit still loomed heavy over Wigan and Billy Riley's shadow loomed even larger. The Lancashire great Billy Robinson was serving time as All-Japan PWF Heavyweight champ between runs as Verne Gagne's enforcer in the AWA. A heavy reputation to uphold for your county, but equally meant you had the best training.

A couple of matches on TV kicked things off;





As Kent states, the two had a previous match where Rocco had walked off in disgust at his inability to beat Jones. Here he shows the same traits sticking to the rules until his frustrations get the better of him. Rocco was a fourth generation wrestler his, father "Jumping" Jim Hussey. As Kent relates, Jim had the best drop kick in all of wrestling. Oh for the days when a drop kick was a finisher. Jones on the other hand came through the amateur ranks from the age of seven, but it was in the pros that he would have most effect. His run in this year culminated in winning the vacant British Light Heavyweight title that had been vacated by Snake Pit alumnus Billy Joyce.

This match was the start of the feud but the story told in it would be a recurring theme for both men. Rocco's frustration boiling over at a slow and steady pace with mat wrestling being the key device that linked everything together.





These matches where a precursor to other feuds that both had world wide. Their success in Europe was mirrored by success in Japan, and the two opponents all of the six had in common; Satoru Sayama the original Tiger Mask, and Keiichi Yamada the one and only Jushin "Thunder" Liger. We will look at those matches in future editions of Seconds away . .  but for now back to the match.

Jones is starting his comeback, never a clear cut issue in the UK style, everything is slow build. A style of wrestling Shinya Hashimoto would employ as IWGP champ. The rounds system also tended to cut into flow a little bit. The striking begins to get into harder and heavier hitting the knee lifts and forearm smashes harder each time. Max Crabtree, referee here and future Joint Promotions owner who really deserves a book by himself, complained that Rocco was to stiff on many occasions. "Mark's trouble was that he always wanted there to be a fight, so he'd split somebody open and we'd have to send him to Japan for a few weeks to get him off TV". What may have not been great for TV in the executives seventies and eighties was great for me as a fan. Heavyweight title bouts where few and far between. All Star had that title and it was rarely defended on TV. The lightweights where great for action but drama came much more realistically in between. Much later on in a one-more-time-for-old-times-sake kind of rematch in All Star promotions in the late eighties Jones gave one of the most heated promos I have ever heard and it still rings in my ears today "If I don't split you here, I'll split you in the car park" and demanded two more rounds after Rocco had been DQ'd with blood pouring down his face. Something Brian Dixon was not scared of showing on TV. In the mid seventies these two where just getting started and starting to collect title belts. The next year Rocco went on to his first run with the British Heavy Middle Weight title which would culminate in another Jones feud which we shall look at next time. So on to the finish Marty is wrestling one handed after a series of arm weakeners (there is a term you won't here very often any more);


 


Kent Walton's selling of the arm injury over commentary was helped by the fact he had a couple of minutes off between round time to explain things. The breaks could be used as an advantage but where horrible for fans at times, as the faces rallied and where cut off by the bell. Marty's comeback is complete with a two fall victory after coming back from impossible odds. This was match wasn't as stiff as later matches on TV but you can see already the fans where so far into it the eruption at the end after an afternoons polite clapping along to moves shows where these two guys could take and audience. So how do you top that?

Next on Seconds Away, Round One . . . Title belts start to mount up, two youngsters make their name, the southerner and the Irishman start to take over breaking rules along the way and Jones receives impossible task after impossible task.

Have good time, till the next time.