F

Ten more names to remember from the Mountevans era, and we move on to the letter F.

Who have we missed?

Vic Faulkner is pictured applying a toe hold to Ted Hannon

Jack Fallon

Jack Fallon was a stocky mid heavyweight of the sixties and seventies. His style never caught the  imagination of fans and he remained an undercard wrestler throughout his career. The truth was that Fallon was a very underrated wrestler. He was an extremely tough and rugged man who had learned the trade the hard way in the Lancashire style. Much respected by his fellow wrestlers he could have done many of them a great deal of damage if that had been the name of the game. Fallon, real name Billy Chambers, ran his own gymnasium and wrestling training school in Wigan, and the many fans should be grateful to him for his influence on  one of the most successful British wrestlers, Dynamite Kid.

The Farmer

There may have been many farmers in wrestling but mention the name of  “The Farmer” and there is only one, George Broadfield. George was the older, and heavier, brother of Harry Fields. He was a professional of the pre-war all-in days who returned to the ring following the second world war. George  found championship success at the highest level, holding the World Mid heavyweight title from 1947 until 1949.

Vic Faulkner

The younger of the Royal brothers Vic Faulkner was handsome and popular with fans, but allegedly not so much with wrestlers because of his reluctance to let them look good. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, Vic was the son of Lew Faulkner, better known as heavyweight wrestler Vic Hessle. Although a skilful wrestler, Vic supplemented his skill with speed, so much so that he could be tiring to watch. A favourite move was to play “dead” up to the count of nine before springing to his feet and attacking his opponent. To be honest, Vic was just too sickly nice! During his career Vic held both the British Welterweight title and the European Middleweight title.

Jean Ferre

To say that Jean Ferre’s physique brought gasps from the crowd may well be an exaggeration, but his size was certainly a surprise to fans seeing him for the first time. André Rousimoff, a Franco Bulgarian, had wrestled in his native land under  the French fairy tale character’s name Geant Frerre (The Iron Giant). Joint Promotions missed the point and mangled his name into the Jean Ferre form that took him around Britain on two late sixties tours. 

His initial tour resulted in 100% success and the follow up visit just about reversed the statistics against largely the same pool of opponents.  He is pictured left with a headlock on Mick McManus.

This Iron Giant was undeniably big.  Standing almost seven feet tall and weighing around twenty-two stones,  his physique did nothing for his performance as a wrestler. He was simply too big and clumbersome, but his strength and size did result in considerable success, both in terms of his record and a box office attraction. He honed his skills with winning and losing streaks against Britain’s best and appeared once on television against Jumping Jim Hussey.  (See a review in Armchair Corner).  In the United States he later  ballooned and changed his name to Andre the Giant to become one of the World’s greatest, until his untimely death in 1993. Read more.......

Harry Fields

True skill of the traditional style expected by post war fans. Here was a wrestler whose reputation was dependent on his ability rather than flashy gimmicks. Harry Fields was the younger brother of George Broadfield, the Farmer. Harry turned professional just after the war, aged sixteen years old. He was something of an overnight sensation at a time when rings were dominated by heavier men, many returning to the ring after a wartime break. This early success allowed Harry to travel early in his career, and he worked in Mexico in 1948. Harry was a popular wrestler throughout his career, which extended into the late 1960s.

Dave Fit Finlay

He was called the Belfast Bruiser and his wrestling style showed why. He was trained by his father, a former wrestler, and ventured across the Irish Sea to pursue his career in Britain in 1978. Finlay was a quick learner and was soon trading blows with the best of them and became a television favourite. Like many others Finlay left Joint Promotions and worked for Brian Dixon’s All Star Promotions. He began working with his wife, Paula, who acted as his manager. Finlay won British titles at four different weights, and went on to gain further success in Germany, Japan, Mexico and the USA.

Charlie Fisher

One of the six family Fisher brothers who started their sporting careers in a ring of a different kind, the boxing ring.  Charlie  hailed from Poplar, and was seen very much as a South London boy. Tough and rugged, he usually just about stayed inside the rules. Charlie wrestled on and on, becoming a much respected veteran of the ring. Even after retiring he carved out another as one of the most popular master of Ceremonies in wrestling.

John Foley

Trained at Billy Riley’s Wigan gymnasium John Foley was one of the hardest and most skilful 1950s and 1960s middleweights. He came into wrestling after working  as a coal miner. His first professional bout was against Tommy Milo. Well regarded as a one of the country’s top middleweights his greatest notoriety came as a member of the Black Diamonds tag team, partnering Abe Ginsberg,  John Foley also wrestled as the masked wrestler, The Katt, with the real mystery being why a wrestler of his calibre needed to have his identity concealed.  Later in his career he travelled to Canada and Japan, achieving further success. John’s son in law was Ted Heath, and when the two of them wrestled as a tag team in the USA they called themselves “The British Bulldogs,” predating another higher profile British Bulldogs team by quite a few years.

Leon Fortuna

It always seemed appropriate that welterweight Leon Fortuna, who seemed to have a permanent smile, came from the Friendly isles. Born in Tonga it was in 1951 that the eight year old first stepped foot in the UK. In 1960, following a short amateur career, he turned professional for Paul Lincoln, but within weeks was signed up by Dale Martin Promotions. His fast, skilful style was hugely popular with fans in the South, where he mainly wrestled, and it wasn’t long before he became a nationwide favourite through the miracle of television.  In 1970 he formed one half of The Sepia Set tag-team which foundered with partner Linde Caulder’s departure two years later.

Ray Fury

In a sport filled with hooded terrors, colourful characters, the weird and bizarre it was always the case that fans were more than willing to appreciate the wrestler who relied on ability and hard graft. Such a wrestler was Dagenham’s Ray Fury. He was neither flamboyant or dull, just a more than competent wrestler who would entertain fans by skill alone. Born in Istanbul and spending his childhood in Greece, Egypt and India meant that his personal life was more colourful than his professional one. Ray turned professional in 1961, eleven years after entering Britain. It took just twenty-five months for him to win  the Southern England Light Heavyweight Title and simultaneously established himself as a tv favourite. He left Joint promotions around 1970 to go into the promotional side of wrestling.