list of british wrestlers of the '60s and '70s
He went on to win a clutch of wrestling awards including the NWA Midget Wrestling Championship twice and was a firm favorite with fans. In addition, he accomplished the unthinkable when he ended Sammartino's seven-year reign. These are the men who became heroes of the ring as Midget Wrestlers during the 1960s and 1970s. Armstrong's last match was for Continental Championship Wrestling in Dothan, Alabama, where he defeated The Assassin. Following that, he made sporadic appearances in various territories to eventually retire for good in the late '70s. Buy Wrestling Tickets securely and cheaply online -. The best 70s songs? After Satoru Sayama (the original iteration of Tiger Mask) retired, Dynamite Kid went on to win the WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion on February 7th, 1984, in a tournament for the vacant title. 1962-08-10 - National Wrestling Association (source: LegacyOfWrestling.com) Jack Ernest Gutteridges alter-ego had an 11-year grudge with McManus and developed moves such as the cross-shoulder backbreaker. All are heavyweight unless otherwise noted. When his three-year reign ended in 1977, Sammartino established an unbeatable record of 11 years as the reigning WWWF Champion. Little Beaver was born Lionel Giroux in Saint-Jrme, Quebec in 1935. he began his wrestling career at the age of fifteen and teamed up with fellow Canadian Sky Low Low, the pair going on to become two of the most famous wrestlers in history. Let's get straight to the wrestlers information, which we've split up in the following handy sections below: Wrestling tickets currently on offer - click to see more! He toured across America with fellow wrestlers and held several championship titles. The original Nature Boy was the total package back in the day, and he directly inspired Ric Flair with his flamboyant gimmick. Widely respected for his integrity and personal principles, Sammartino was one of the most popular wrestlers in the 60's and 70's. Born and raised in a small Italian town, Bruno Sammartino's childhood was quite tough. Cinemas were closing in large numbers and there was good reason to believe that the small screen would destroy the cinema entirely. Around this time in his career, Matthews began earning more money touring throughout Europe and Africa. Fit Finlay David "Fit" Finlay began his wrestling career in 1974, though his first mainstream exposure came when he debuted as the Belfast Bruiser in WCW in 1996. Paige. Clark was to finish the mid-1960s as the second most famous drummer in the . The pedigree of the two sports were linked; combined professional wrestling and boxing shows had taken place in the early 1930s under the auspices of the British Boxing Board of Control. After I completed my previous top 25 lists covering the 1990s and the 2000s, I thought about doing one more list with the '80s, but there are already two of those that have been published recently. Antonio Posa - World Champion Many prestigious titles and awards are under his belt, and he won Wrestling Observers Match of the Year in 1982 with Tiger Mask on August 5th in Tokyo, Japan. Over the years, the United Kingdom has produced some of the very best in professional wrestling. This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 00:57. We've officially reached peak love song." "You Light Up My Life" spent 10 consecutive weeks at No. Father of Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and the late wrestler Owen Hart. His first reign, in 1975, lasted 105 days, and he teamed up with Victor Rivera who was later replaced by Pat Barrett. Chances are that grandmother or aunt would not be quite so respectable and may well have been prone to threatening the wrestlers with her handbag, umbrella or any other inanimate object that may have been close to hand. ALL STAR WRESTLING IN THE 50's, 60's, 70's and 80'S (BCTV ) If it was not really his fault, it was still the birth of a legend. He was also a trainer at the WWE Performance Center, where he trained the newest batch of WWE superstars. Once Mia Farrow rocked the style, it was a spiral of everyone and their mother wanting to do the same. The Promoters A-Z index has been split into sections. Chris Adams first entered professional wrestling in 1978 with no proper formal training. Began his career in the 1940s. So from Joy Division to Radiohead, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, we've picked the best British rock bands of all time, listed in ascending order. People in the '60s dressed up for most occasions. He was a master of in-ring psychology and an ace on the mic who could generate heat like no others. He won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship in 1976 with one of his students, Big John Studd. He retired in 1982, worked in public relations, bought a pub and became a porcelain expert. As his nickname "Crazy" suggests, he portrayed a deranged persona who covered his ears and claimed he was not insane when someone made allusion to his craziness. Stacks of rare and collectible music publications from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The voice of the Tetley tea ads, the father-of-two died of a brain tumour in 1997, aged 63. Wrestled in a tag team match with Jeff Justice and Officer McKenny to defeat, Wrestled in a tag team match with Shawn Blanchard and Lou Martin to defeat Bobby O, Kris Kash, Shane Starr and Justin Sane for. He also had many great matches against British wrestling greats such as Fit Finlay and Mick McManus. Despite he never broke out of the tag team division, he was very over with the fans, and he was one of the best technical wrestlers of his time. UK hitmakers The Dave Clark Five were one of the foremost 'British Invasion' acts. Wrestled in the Central States and was a light heavyweight champion. Then, in June 1971, he and Tarzan Tyler became the inaugural WWWF World Tag Team Champions. The best wrestlers (Sky Low Low, Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, Little Tokyo) mixed great physical prowess with acrobatic . She took part in a Falls Count Anywhere 2-on-1 Handicap Match against. Rex. He was a master of the heel tactics, but he was also very agile in the ring. Hawaii Five-O was a popular television series in the US during 1968 and for several years running. If there were some great female wrestlers back in the '60s and in the '70s, none of them could overshadow her, and that's why she's the only woman featured on the current list. A major star of Midget Wrestling Littlebrook was born in England in 1929. He was 52. Bruno Sammartino is the greatest 70's wrestler of all time. Backlund will always be remembered as one of the greatest technicians in pro wrestling history who built his legacy by battling other promotional World Champions several times and any comer, often very bigger than him. It is said that Warren Bockwinkel, father of, His last match was at an ECPW event, where he teamed up with Frankie Flow to defeat the team of, Most recently wrestled on October 15, 2022 for World Classic Professional Big Time Wrestling in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he teamed with Josh Benson in a loss to the team of, Last wrestled on January 25, 2020, for Continental Championship Wrestling in Dothan, Alabama, teaming with. Peter Thornleys version of the character remained a household name throughout Britain, but most Americans and Japanese fans associated the character mostly with Kazuo Sakuradas version. Collectors of British & American back issues will find some great stuff here like Beat Instrumental magazine, early 70's glam & pop magazine Music Star, The excellent Zigzag magazine, for blues enthusiast there's Blues Unlimited, Creem, Crawdaddy, Let it Rock . After a 273-day reign, he vacated the title on November 6th, 1984, leaving Japan for the World Wrestling Federation. ITVs World of Sport was a household name in Britain, where it saw millions of viewers weekly. Bobo Johnson also wrestled under the name the Brown Panther. Best known for his tag performances with Louie Louie and later Rocky Johnson, Bobo was one of the earliest Black midget wrestlers alongside Haiti Kid. 5 Times The Forbidden Door Opened in Wrestling, 10 Surprising Moments WWE Deceived Their Fans, 11 WrestleMania Matches That Surprisingly Didnt Main Event, Bruce Hart Explains How He Revolutionized Pro Wrestling, 10 Wrestlers Who Turned Scraps to Gold in ECW. Adrian Street with his valet and wife, Miss Linda. Wrestled in Germany, France, Japan and AWA. 0 comments. Owns Pro Wrestling America. Frost. We're always happy to receive your e-mails and comments regarding our British wrestler database, so please don't hesitate to shout in our lug holes if you'd like a word! 41.88, Davey Boy Smith is the 2nd most famous British Wrestler. So I decided to explore an unknown zone for me and to tackle an era I didn't witness, the '60s and the '70s. He continued wrestling until the late 1980s, when he was enshrined into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Knowing every heel tactic in the tag team action environment, he became the manager known as "Luscious" Johnny V who introduced Demolition to the WWF and who worked with The Dream Team (Greg Valentine / Brutus Beefcake) among others. In fact, he was more than a pro wrestling top draw; he was, with his size, an attraction wherever he went. The Fabulous Moolah is the longest reigning champion in pro wrestling history. In 1991, Matthews had his first taste of the then-WWF after having several try-out matches at both the UK Rampage and Battle Royal at Royal Albert Hall events, where he shared a ring with the likes of Dave Taylor and Fit Finlay. Sun Sign: Leo. Former NWA World Tag Team Champion. As of 2017, there are 42 living veterans from the "Golden Age of Wrestling" (1950s1970s) over 75 years old. 1 contender to Bruno Sammartino's WWWF Championship, but he always fell short, and he greatly contributed to put the champ over in the process. [Photo: IMDB]His enormous stature was not lifelike as he stood an astonishing 6 feet, 11 inches (1.11m) tall and weighed 685 lbs (311 kg). 1960 Summer - Wrestling Revue Men (Heavyweight): Pat O'Connor ( NWA World Champion) Killer Kowalski Antonino Rocca Lou Thesz Edouard Carpentier Don Eagle Buddy Rogers Dick Hutton Don Leo Jonathan Gene Kiniski Women: June Byers ( World Champion) Judy Grable Lorraine Johnson Tona Tomah Rose Roman Kathy Starr Barbara Baker Lee Chona LaClaire Out of traveling carnivals, circus acts and sheer ambition, these wrestlers started a sport that was followed by hundreds of thousands across America, Canada and England. He died, aged 52, in 1998. His hard-hitting persona was hard not to hate as he would do anything to win, even if it meant cheating. In 1978 DeNucci enjoyed his second reign with Dino Bravo as his partner, and they held the belt for 104 days. It was all very respectable. Martin Austin Ruane (October 10, 1946 - November 29, 1998) was an English professional wrestler of Irish descent. Marty Jones perhaps might be the least known of the names mentioned on this list but is one of the best all-around grapplers of the bunch. It was a detective/cop show starring Jack Lord. You play to your strengths in this game and my strength is as a bald, rough-looking Yorkshireman, he said. Also, the rarer the item the higher the gear score will be within the gears tier range. Photograph: David Redfern/Redferns Swinging. The best British wrestlers: From Big Daddy to Mick McManus, what became of our wrestling stars The mostly overweight men in leotards, often facing off at The Dome in Brighton, were a world. His run as the World Champion officially lasted 2,083 days, and it took him less than one year with the company to win the title. Wrestlers fell in two categoriesthe goodies and the baddies, who would either seek the cheers or loud disapprobation of the audience by skill or pantomime cheating. Frenchy Lamonte heading for the ring in Tampa 1970. From Martinique wrestled for Pacific Northwest and Stampede Wrestling. Apr 21, 2020. This ultimately proved to be a waste of his ability during a time when he didnt have many years left in the squared circle as a performer. He did it so often that he was named the PWI Most Hated Wrestler in 1977. We have them all, from the 1980's, 1990's, 2000's, including Legends and Brits of note. [Photo: mirror.co.uk]Nagasaki had superhuman powers, such as the power of healing and the ability to hypnotize. The legendary Lord Littlebrook (aka Eric Tovey), in Milwaukee July 7, 1968. For many, including myself, that name is totally unknown, but he left a big mark on the WWWF from 1966 to 1975. Legendary British wrestling anti-hero Mick McManus. Wrestling stars of the 60s/'70s4 of 18 . Wrestling stars of the 60s/'70s. Oldest person to wrestle ever at 87 years old. Oldest in the wrestling industry ever verified. Some of his best moments in the ring came when he tag-teamed against Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy in a tremendous feud that saw one of British wrestlings most prolific segments occur as he unmasked himself in 1977. On April 7th, 1986, at WrestleMania 2, The Bulldogs dethroned Greg The Hammer Valentine and Brutus Beefcake, successfully capturing the WWF World Tag Team Championships. His father was an alcoholic and his abusive and violent behavior towards his son led the teenage Murray to run away from home. Kowalski, who opened a pro wrestling school after he retired in 1977, trained none other than Triple H and many others. The Russian Bear was with the WWWF for only two years, but he claimed the most shocking world championship victory of all times when he defeated Bruno Sammartino on January 18, 1971. British wrestler Dynamite Kid Tom Billington was one of the best to lace up a pair of wrestling boots. News. Oldest surviving Mexican women wrestler. Click here to watch Bobo Brazil taking on his nemesis, The Sheik. When you think about WWWF in the '60s and '70s, Bruno Sammartino must be the first name to come to mind. Wrestled his last match for NWA Wrestle Birmingham, in Birmingham, Alabama. If you're looking for rock-solid results backed by data (not just my opinion like every other article on the internet) on the best Muscle Cars from the 60s and 70s, keep reading..Discover the definitive list of classic American Muscle Cars that dominated the 1/4 mile charts from 1964 to 1974. Back in the days, most wrestlers moved from one territory to another, or in other words, there was no promotion exclusivity. He was a muscular 6 feet, 6 inches. Frenchy Lamonte was also known as Rolly the Rocket, the Little Hawk, and Little Evilborn. His nickname is used by today's wrestlers as a tribute to his legacy, and they are now known as Superstars. This is a list of oldest surviving professional wrestlers. The events of the 1960s affect the lives of two families, one white and one black. The fact that Jones was responsible for training a young William Regal speaks to this. On February 20, 1978, Bob Backlund reached the top of the mountain when he won the WWF Championship against "Superstar" Billy Graham in what was declared "The Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Joint Promotions was a collection of promoters who became all powerful by using their collective force to create a stranglehold over all those who worked for them. Formed in 1952 Joint Promotions was a syndicate of a handful of promoters based around the country. The former NWA World Champion Jack and the former Stooge Jerry both began in the late '60s and had careers that spanned decades, including winning the NWA Tag Team Championship several times during their career. while others continued to bill Byers as the title holder. For some, it was obvious because there's a lot offootage available, but for some others, very little stuff could be found. Fashion Square in Santa Ana in the 1960s long before it became what is now Mainplace Mall. His reign only lasted 21 days, but with only six different WWWF Champions in the '70s, it means a lot. Voice of World Class Championship Wrestling. You can also click here to watch another poor quality video (Sammartino defeating Stasiak for the WWWF Title). I found no WWWF footage of The Sheik, but you can click here to see the hardcore legend in action against Dusty Rhodes in the '70s; or, if you're curious, click here for a match between him and Chief White Eagle in the late '50s or early '60s. For most Bleacher Report readers, Mr. Fuji is that iconic manager of the '80s and '90s who led Yokozuna and Demolition to the gold. Strongbow will probably be most remembered for his Native American gimmick, with the complete outfit, including his famous traditional headdress than for his achievements. Drama. Here is where he would meet Robbie Brookside. Admittedly, we've had a lot of fun putting this wrestler information together and we hope you enjoy reading it too! First African-American promoter & manager working under Vincent J. McMahon. However, he never got his break in what was, at the time, the top promotion in the world, WWE. One of their biggest stars went by the name Big Daddy.. For most, there were no high spots; the German suplex and a bodyslam were finishers, and nobody knew what a hurricanrana, five-star frog splash, Swanton bomb, and outside dive were. The duo, called The Executioners, holds the distinction to have not actually lost the belts since they were stripped after a third Executioner interfered in a match. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. He fought as part of a tag team and was often picked to fight 6ft 10in 350lbs wrestler Blackjack Mulligan who would wallop Bruiser onto the canvas. As might be expected, Jones is now a trainer for several British-based wrestling promotions and, in recent years, even mentored multiple members of the current NXT UK roster. Those I ranked are only the tip of the iceberg because other legends and pioneers existed before them. The iconic villain had a mysterious past, Samurai skills, supernatural powers and a cheap red face mask. I also considered the longevity with the WWWF, a point not very important after the early '80s and the death of the territories concept. flickr/Orange County Archives. Birthdate: August 17, 1992. Click here to watch Johnny Valiant teaming up with his brother Jimmy in 1974 and click here to watch him and his other brother Jerry in the late '70s. After his face run, he ended his stint with WWWF as a heel, but it was not before earning the 1975 PWI Match of the Year award against Bruno Sammartino and to win a long feud against Jay Strongbow. Like everything on Wrestling Heritage this is a developing project and we welcome additions and corrections. He later quit because of back pain and died in a auto accident in 1995. The 10 best music producers of the '60s By Simon Arblaster ( Future Music ) published March 04, 2016 MusicRadar users have voted, so here's the countdown. Extreme Record Collecting: Confessions of an analog vinyl snob, A long, rambling blog post about my Nico obsession (+ some astonishing, seldom seen TV performances). The Wrestling Heritage A-Z of Wrestling Promoters catalogues hundreds of those who did make it happen, including (despite the misleading title) female promoters Kathleen Look, Jessie Rogers and Anne DeRelwyskow.
