Wrestling Heritage
The home of classic British wrestling. Contact us: theriotsquad@hotmail.com
Independent We Stand -
A Tribute to the Independent Promoters
Most of those who remember the golden years of British wrestling made similar choices and formed allegiances when young. Dinky or Corgi? Beatles or Stones? Sindi or Barbie? These were the big decisions of the day as we grew from childhood to adolescence. As adults choices became more fundamental. Beer or lager? Do I tell the wife or not? Many choices were made arbitrarily, as was usually so in the childhood made, but lifelong binding, decision to favour
One choice made by many young wrestling fans was whether to favour Joint Promotions or the independents. Often the bond was formed by the first experience of wrestling, and so for the majority this meant a leaning towards Joint Promotions, which was the wrestling they saw on television. The tiny black and white screen with a couple of channels had much to answer for.
Myths evolved that the independent shows were in some way inferior, the wrestlers not as good and the shows were promoted by men whose character veered somewhere between unreliable and dishonest.
The myths were, for the most part, just that. Myths, speculation and nonsense based on a pound of rumour, a quarter of ignorance and a spoonful of truth. Admittedly there were bad eggs in every basket. Joint Promotions set the highest of standards in reliability, integrity and professionalism. Any unreliable fly-by-night merchants were inevitably to be found amongst the independent promoters. Fortunately such businesses were few and far between and tended to have short life spans.
For the most part the independent promoters were every bit as good, and often better, than their Joint Promotion colleagues. They needed to be, because they did not have the power of television to showcase their wrestlers and attract fans to their shows.
He had a point. Independent shows tended to be a bit more glamorous in every respect. Fearsome looking characters like the Wildman of Borneo, masked marvels such as Doctor Death and the gruesome Undertaker would loom out large from colourful posters. Vivid descriptions would detail each and every weird, wonderful persona. Once the wrestling started the proceedings were much the same as that found in Joint Promotion rings, namely a balanced programme of entertaining wrestling.
Throughout the fifties and sixties competition between the independents and Joint Promotions was intense. Joint Promotions could not out-manoeuvre their opposition despite the overwhelming advantage of exclusive rights to the nation’s television screens. Spoiler tactics would be used by promoters, such as booking halls years in advance to keep out nother promoters, or switching dates to scupper a lesser known rival.
The competition between the camps could be used to their advantage by wrestlers, particularly main eventers. Wrestlers could, and did, use the threat of a move to the independents as a bargaining tool when seeking a pay rise. The top stars knew that there were enough independent promoters around for them to continue making a good living, and that despite the inevitable threats they would most likely be welcomed back by Joint at some later date.
Even the top wrestlers needed to be careful. They too could fall victim to the minority of unscrupulous independent promoters and find their bookings cancelled at short notice only to discover later that the show had gone ahead without them.
Independent promoters were for the most part genuine, hard working, professional businessmen who wanted to provide pleasure for the public and make a bit of money along the way. Some of the best, in an effort to more effectively compete with Joint Promotions formed a loose alliance under the banner of the Wrestling Federation of Great Britain. This never had the strength or efficiency of the Joint Promotio
n organisation, and there were always strains, made no easier with the increasing power of Paul Lincoln Management
Another myth about the independent promoters was the view that they were insignificant and no more than an irritation to Joint Promotions. At any one time the independents had at least as many, if not more, wrestlers working for them than did Joint Promotions. (Photo courtesy of Wryton)
These wrestlers were, for the most part, every bit as good as their Joint Promotion counterparts, and movement between the two camps was far more common than Joint Promotions would have us believe. Some wrestlers would work for both circuits simultaneously, which was strictly forbidden in those days, and use different names to hide the deceit.
Most of the biggest names in british wrestling wrestled for the independent promoters at some point in their career. George Kidd, Eddie Capelli, Mike Marino, Al Hayes, Ray Hunter, Paul Lincoln, Jim Lewis, Count Bartelli, Syed Saif Shah, Danny Lynch, 
Ricky Starr,
The independent promoters played a valuable role in developing young professionals. Youngsters like the Cortez brothers, Borg twins, Young Robby, and Johnny Saint were to transform wrestling in the early sixties by introducing a faster, acrobatic style. Others who were introduced to the professional ranks by the independents included Al Marquette, Wayne Bridges, Johnny South, Pat Roach, Wild Angus and Giant Haystacks
Add to these names the many wrestlers who joined Joint promotions towards the end of their careers and it is apparent that the real difficulty is finding those professionals who worked only for Joint Promotions.
Wrestling Heritage is a tribute site to all those decent, dedicated men and women who made wrestling the sport we loved. A listing of most of the major independent promoters can be found in our feature entitled The Management.
Our tribute to the independent promoters is intended to re-dress the balance by addressing many of the unfound myths that surround them.
