Wrestling Heritage A-Z
See all wrestlers in section E
Mike Eagers ...Don Eagle ... Johnny Eagles ... Mir Zaffer Ealam ... Kennet Earlsa ... Ebony Kid ... Flash Lee Edwards ... Joe Egan ... Wolfgang Ehrl ... Jim Elder ... More ....
Made a couple of television appearances in the autumn of 1986, one in which he tagged with Johnny Wilson, and the second facing Birmingham's Steve Logan. Not to be confused with the original and highly acclaimed Don Eagle, who died in 1966.
Only one wrestler entered the ring with a geisha girl on each arm. Yes, and an eagle on his chest, a tiger and a couple of soldiers. The wrestler was Johnny Eagles, the popular Mancunian welterweight whose body was covered with a dozen tattoos, geisha girls included.
Apart from those tattoos Eagles was known for a rather snazzy range in dressing gowns, and some lightning speed dropkicks. Born in 1935, with the name Roy Boyd, he was destined to become one of the most popular and successful 1960s wrestlers, cheered on by fans as he was robbed yet again by the dastardly McManus and Pallo.
During his national service Johnny found an interest in wrestling, and after leaving the army he began to learn the professional style under the watchful eye of Dick the Dormouse. Johnny Eagles made his professional debut by losing to Ray Kimba at Hyde Town Hall.
Johnny was an imposing figure in the ring; a combination of athleticism, skill and looks. During the 1960s his speed would bewilder opponents, making him one of the most popular figures in British wrestling, especially facing up to villains McManus and Pallo in singles contests or the dastardly Dennisons and Black Diamonds as one half of the White Eagles tag team.
Away from wrestling Johnny was briefly involved in the music scene, managing a Manchester pop group, The Big Three, on their tour of Sierra Leone.
Wrestling took Johnny around Europe, Africa and America, where he set up home and pursued his wrestling career. Johnny Eagles died on May 12th 1999, aged just 64.
Doncaster's Ernie Bowman was trained in the early 1970s by Yorkshire wrestler/promoter Cyril Knowles. In the mid 1970s he began wrestling for Cyril and independent promoters of the north. After a couple of years he was signed up by Max Crabtree for Joint Promotions where he sometimes used the name Al Diamond. 
His career continued well into the 1990s. The Ebony kid died of cancer in December 2013. Photo (left) was taken when we met Ernie at the Leeds reunion in 2011, on the right he is in action against Red Brocco, and the poster features him using the name Ebony Kid on a Joint Promotions show.
Heritage reader Rob Hans wrote:
Ernie was an employee of mine in the late eighties. A lovely bloke, he was a driver for a waste management company I was brought in to manage, he worked with a guy called Dave Adams (who also wrestled under the name `Grizzly Adams`).
Ernie was hard-working, loyal and a devoted dad. All the people I inherited at that particular depot were lazy and worked to meet their own agenda, and ended up gone. Except Ernie.
I put him through his Class 1 HGV (which he failed about eight times!) but you couldn`t give up on the guy as he was just so willing and enthusiastic he was a pleasure to have around. What you saw was what you got.
Ernie became a friend, rather than an employee, and he came up from Askern near Doncaster to Halifax to do some plastering for me. He brought his daughter with him and she was amazed at the hills where we are (Askern being very flat). She was an absolute credit to him.
We eventually lost touch (as you do....), but I often wondered where he was and tried to track him down with little success. Anyone meeting him just couldn`t help but be captivated by his massive beaming grin and smile, and his huge and hearty laugh.
I never saw him wrestle, but a quarter of a century on, I still feel a better person for meeting him, and that applies to very few people I`ve met, believe me.
Rob Hans
Just one look that's all it took. 
Lee Edwards had the ability to upset the fans before he entered the ring.
Long before, in fact, as his entrance was often interrupted by frequent stops to sneer at the audience and give them that familiar Lee Edwards “look.” It was a look of arrogance and conceit for those around him as he swaggered towards the ring. The crowd reacted in just the way he intended.
Once he eventually made it in to the ring Edwards would slowly removed his satin robe. As the ring lights caught the sequins of his robe and the wavy blond hair fans would have no thoughts of later more famous sequined blonds because Lee Edwards pre-dated flamboyant blonds by quite a few years.
As was to be expected by his entrance Edwards wrestling style paid little attention to the rules; he was a tempestuous brawler who appeared in a hurry to end his bouts as quickly as possible.
A regular in British rings from the mid 1950s onwards (encouraged in the early days by Marjorie Assirati, Bert's wife) Edwards was at his most prominent when he became a regular on the Paul Lincoln independent shows of the early 1960s.
German Wolfgang Ehrl was a scientific wrestler who visited Britain in the mid 1950s defeating George Kidd amongst others, and often matched with far heavier opponents including the likes of Ernie Riley and Les Kellett.
Ehrl's credentials were outstanding, being a silver medallist in the 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games and European champion in 1934. Born in Munich on 4th March, 1912, seventy seven year old Ehrl died on 11th June, 1980.
Dundee’s Scottish Lightweight Champion seemed a very promising prospect in the early 1960s.
A skilful wrestler he rarely travelled far south of the border, though the geography and size of Scotland makes even working within it's boundaries a challenge for any wrestler.
He entered wrestling following completion of his national service and trained in Dundee alongside other Scottish professionals such as George Kidd, Ted Hannon and Chic Purvey.
Jim’s professional career was shortened by other interests, and the world of wrestling prematurely lost another potential star.
We have been told that Jim emigrated to the United States in the early 1970s.