Wrestling Heritage

Wrestling's

Most

Influential

The winner!

Norman

Morrell

It is to the former wrestler and promoter, Norman Morrell, that Wrestling Heritage bestows the title of Wrestling’s Most Influential.

Whilst the decision may well come as a surprise to some it is one that we have reached with the utmost consideration and confidence.

Morrell receives the accolade because no one in British wrestling has influenced the sport at so many different levels. As a wrestler, trainer, matchmaker and promoter the impact of Norman Morrell is unequalled. His wrestling credentials are without question, and his amateur record demonstrates that here was a man whose skill equalled anyone and excelled most. For four consecutive years, from 1933 to 1936, Morrell won the British  featherweight championship. The achievement was unprecedented at the time and it was inevitable that the Yorkshireman was chosen as the British representative in the 1936 Olympic Games. Morrell represented his country with vigour and fortitude, but was disappointed to come away from Berlin without a medal.

Following the Olympic Games the inevitable decision had to be made whether his future remained in the amateur ranks or a move to the professional side. The answer we all know, and the advance of Norman Morrell in the professional ranks began shortly before the outbreak of war. It was an impressive transformation, and even the legendary Harold Angus was overcome by Morrell as he established himself as a top professional. Professional experience afforded him a valuable insight into the workings of the wrestling business, and there was much about the business that Morrell disliked. To his mind wrestling was a pure sport, and there was little pure about the professional side of the game.

The wrestling business had fallen into disrepute prior to the hostilities and many wrestlers and promoters had left the business during the war years. Whilst the outbreak of peace changed little it did provide an opportunity to break with the past.

Morrell was certainly not the only one to realise that peace brought opportunities and challenges, but of all those in the business he was the one of whom it could most be said that he took the opportunity to seize the moment. 

He realised a dramatic break with the past was necessary for the sport to gain credibility. Wrestling outside the ring, bloodshed and gimmicks such as mud wrestling had brought the sport into disrepute. In practical terms that dramatic break with the past  meant a new set of rules to replace those adapted from the American style and introduced into Britain in 1930. 

The new rules were a clear indication that wrestling had changed and that the bad old days of wrestling had been left behind.   

Norman Morrell penned the new rules of post war wrestling that were to form the basis  of our wrestling entertainment for the following fifty years.

He realised, however,  that as well as the new rules a very public statement was necessary if fans were going to take note. Nowadays we would call it a defining moment.

Morrell may not have thought in such terms, but he did realise that some sort of grand gesture was necessary  for wrestling fans to be able to look back and say that this was the moment of change.

Enter Lord Mountevans, KCB DSO, a former Antarctic explorer who had been created a Baron in 1946. Mountevans was persuaded to put his name to the new set of rules, thus enabling  Mountevans champions, forever an echo of the coveted Lonsdale belt in boxing. Furthermore, Committee Rooms in the Houses of Parliament were hired for some of the deliberations to take place prior to Morrell creating the final set of rules.

It is as neither wrestler nor grand architect that most people remember Norman Morrell.  For most fans Morrell will be mostly remembered as a stalwart of the Joint Promotions organisation.

We take no credit away from the other members of the organisation, they each held together the often tension ridden partnership which ruled British wrestling for forty years.

Each of the Joint Promotions members not only presented wrestling tournaments they also developed new talent. We present, therefore, another facet of Norman Morrell, as that of trainer at his Bradford gymnasium. George Kidd went to Bradford to train with Morrell in 1947 and later said it was the hardest eighteen months of his life.

Where Morrell does stand head and shoulders above his contemporaries, though, is the way in which he robustly defended the professional sport, risking his personal reputation and finances to protect the business he loved.

When Sir Athol Oakeley made derogatory comments about post war wrestling in “Blue Bood on the Mat” Norman Morrell went on the offensive and vigorously defended the sport. Oakeley had not named Morrell in his accusations, and the show to which he referred could have been that of any number of promoters. Morrell risked his own money and began legal proceedings against Oakley which were eventually settled out of court with Oakeley being forced to make a humiliating, public apology in wrestling publications around the country 

“Sir Atholl does feel that Mr. Morrell is entitled to a full apology and that it was incorrect to say that the rules of Lord Mountevans were copied from the 1930 new rules. Likewise the Author wishes to assure Mr. Morrell that it is quite incorrect for anyone to assume that he was the Promoter referred to on Page 148 nor can he understand how anyone could assume this was so.There was no such intention and Sir Atholl trusts that Mr. Morrell will accept these assurances and apology in the spirit in which they are given.”

On another occasion referee Don Branch was behind an expose of professional wrestling in the national press. This must have been a moment of personal sadness for Morrell, who had employed Branch as wrestler and referee. Again Morrell aggressively rebutted the claims and issued a public challenge to Branch to face any wrestler in the ring. Whilst such a challenge was pure theatre the ploy worked perfectly. Throughout the country the impression was created that not only had Branch made outrageous claims for personal gain but that he had failed to back up his words and subsequently fled the country.

At a time when the judgement and intelligence of wrestling fans was forever under scrutiny it was immensely important to them to see a man such as Morrell defending not only his own integrity, but theirs also.

With that we rest our case, and  are pleased to confirm that Wrestling’s Most Influential was a wrestler, trainer, matchmaker, promoter, and shrewd business man .

His name was Norman Morrell, the most influential individual in the Mountevans era.

We look forward to hearing your comments.

Just one entrant to our competition shared our view, 

and so we do have a clear winner of our competition.

Click here to find out who….. 

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