Wrestling Heritage

Professional wrestling reached mass audiences in the 1930’s, mainly appealing to working class families who benefited from the low ticket prices.

Throughout the 1930s shows were presented at town halls and theatres around the country.  Even without the aid of television a handful of professional wrestlers became household names, and the likes of Jack Pye, Bert Assirati and Douglas Clarke were known throughout the land.

Professional wrestling in the 1930s was a very different sport from the Mountevans style wrestlers to whom this site is dedicated. The business was unregulated, and whilst there were many honourable promoters there were others that simply wanted to capitalise on the money making opportunities of a rapidly growing business. Eager to gain success at the expense of their rivals promoters increasingly gave wrestling fans more of what they wanted, which seemed to be extreme violence and blood. Similarly, amongst the many reliable wrestlers there were those who lacked the necessary professionalism and disappointed fans by accepting double-bookings and then failing to appear at venues as advertised.

This combination of some unscrupulous promoters and wrestlers meant that wrestling gained popularity amongst fans but became increasingly discredited. Local councils began to take more than a passing interest in wrestling promotions, and some decided these events were no longer desirable and withdrew licenses to promote. The ultimate humiliation came when wrestling was banned throughout London.

Following the disruption and destruction of the second world war professional wrestling in the 1940s was inevitably a shadow of its 1930s heyday. In the first half of the decade most professional wrestlers and potential audiences were serving in the forces, and the number of shows dwindled. Occasional shows took place as the nation attempted to retain as much normality as possible during the war, but only those wrestlers willing to work whilst on leave, serving locally, or not called up for one reason or another, were available to appear.

Following the war the infrastructure of professional wrestling was in a weakened state. Some of the promoters, and many of the wrestlers, had reached retirement age or passed away. Fans had lost the habit of attending weekly shows, and the negative image of wrestling in the latter days of the 1930s made it difficult to attract new fans.

On a positive note there were opportunities awaiting those willing to invest their time and money to develop the business.

Those wrestlers returning home were in need of work at a time of high unemployment. The potential audience had increased to pre war levels, and there was a need for low cost live entertainment in days that pre-dated television for the masses.

So it was in the months following the end of the war that the established promoters again assembled their wrestling personalities, many of whom capitalised on their service experience and were now billed as Bomber, Captain, Gunner, Sailor and the like.  Established stars such as  Jack Pye, Bert Assirati, and Bulldog Bill Garnon continued where they had left off and topped bills around the country.

Youngsters like Count Bartelli and Les Kellett, who had taken their first tentative professional wrestling steps in the months shortly before war began, returned to pursue long and successful careers.

The heyday of the 1930s could not simply be recreated. For one thing that heyday had already passed and brought the sport into disrepute. Also, the post war years were popularly regarded as a new era, and the British population sought changes in all aspects of their life.

Professional wrestling as it was known now seemed faded and old fashioned. Change was necessary.

One of the first, and dramatic, steps was to introduce a new set of rules. The blood and glory image of the pre war years had discredited the professional wrestling business, and rumours were rife that results were pre-arranged. The new  rules are largely credited to the hand of Norman Morrell, a successful pre war amateur and professional wrestler, and by then promoter. These rules would re-establish credibility to the sport, and enable the development of a faster, more athletic style that would have greater appeal to the post-war fans.The rules were given added status by being drawn up in the committee rooms of the Houses of Parliament and given the name of one of its members, Admiral Lord Mountevans.

For a time the pre and post-war rules co-existed. A combination of the energy, of the post-war promoters, the fans thirst for change, and the effects of the re-invention process meant that by the end of the decade the Mountevans style was dominant.

Still to be addressed, though, was the issue of a small minority who continued to bring the business into disrepute. These included unreliable wrestlers who failed to appear, wrestlers with little training or amateur background, and promoters who sought short term gain and were willing to mislead and disappoint fans. Some form of organisation was necessary, but for that we would have to wait for a new decade.

Regulation of a kind came to professional wrestling in 1952 with the formation of the Joint Promotions organisation . Until the formation of Joint Promotions anyone could wrestle and anyone could promote.

In one sense the formation of Joint Promotions changed none of that. Many promoters could, and did, exist successfully outside the Joint Promotions organisation. What did change, though, was the overwhelming power of the Joint Promotions organisation, and this was used to bring a quality, reliability and credibility to wrestling shows that had been hitherto unknown.

The concept was simple, but innovative. The promoters carved the country into territories, each controlled by one of them without competition from the others. Dale Martin covered the south, Wryton Promotions in the midlands, Billy Best, Jack Atherton, Norman Morrell, Ted Beresford, Relwyskow & Green in the north and Scotland. Hundreds of wrestlers were contracted to appear regularly on their shows. In return for regular work the wrestlers had to agree to wrestle exclusively for Joint Promotions and receive pay considered by many to be restricted by the power of Joint promotions.

Viewpoints differ as to whether not Joint Promotions laid the foundations for success or lacked the vision to fulfil the opportunities presented to them. The fact is, though, that they provided the basis for the post war wrestling revival. It is that revival, and all those who made it possible, to whom this site is dedicated.

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