Wrestling Heritage

Jacobo was a Spanish strongman type, domiciled in Argentina.  Trained by Quasimodo.

He toured the UK in the early seventies at a time when many hispanic visitors appeared to be replacing the French and Germans who had regularly visited in the sixties.  Unfortunately, this trend also brought with it a rise in no-shows that had been a rarity previously.

Light heavyweight Arthur Jackson hailed from keighley, Yorkshire, and was a regular feature of Northern bills  throughout the 1950s and into the early sixties. Arthur was born in 1923 and was a milkman in his youth.

A keen swimmer Arthur has twice during his life rescued others in danger, the first time being when he recued a drowning boy when he was just 19 years old.

Arthur turned professional wrestler in 1952 and was particularly popular at Belle Vue and the New St James Hall, Newcastle.

He tagged with  Ron Jackson on occasions but we do not believe the two were related.  His opponents were the best in the business and although his success was mixed he took the decision over Eric Taylor, Tommy Pye  and Cyril Morris on occasions. Arthur retired from the ring in 1964.

See Mick James

Ron Jackson
Having turned professional in 1944 Ron Jackson was well placed to take advantage of the post war wrestling revival and from the end of hostilities was a regular worker in Northern rings meeting the big names that included the Pyes, The Farmer, Charlie Scott, Dave Armstrong, Ernie Baldwin and George Gregory. 

He shared his wrestling commitments with that of running an off-license in Hartlepool. 

In the early 1950s he appeared at Belle Vue almost weekly and could also be seen regularly at Blackpool Tower and Newcastle.

The poster on the left advertises Ron in the mai event against the Farmer, George Broadfield, in a 1946 Norman Morrell Promotion.  Note a young George Kidd on the "Bottom of the Bill." Also note Black Butcher Johnson using his name Arthur Johnson.

Born in London Peter Jacobs moved to Great Yarmouth, which was fortunate as it was here that he met wrestler and promoter Brian Trevors. Trevors trained the fourteen stone  youngster and encouraged him to turn professional, working throughout East Anglia mainly for Trevors. A fast wrestler for his size Jacobs showed a great deal of promise in the early 1970s but we lost contact with his development soon afterwards.

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Hooded Spain-based French terror who visited the UK in December 1962.  Amongst his ko victims were the at-that-time high-flying Billy Howes at Smethwick, Warwickshire, and conjecture remains rife at Wrestling Heritage that Gwyn Davies may have been avoiding the encounter by virtue of his non-appearance.  Jacquerez faced many other top heavyweights that month including Tibor Szakacs, Josef Zaranoff and Roy Bull Davis.  We noted three years later that Bull Davis was a favoured opponent of a remarkably similar visiting French masked man, and for details of our thoughts see letter L .........

A young lightweight on the southern independent circuit who was to transform into the Dulwich star Jon Cortez.

In the latter half of the 1960s Mike James (who also wrestled as Mick Jackson) seemed to be just about everywhere, well in the North and Scotland he seemed everywhere at least.

A popular welterweight ho was a regular worker on Morrell and Beresford bills and seemed to have a very bright future. Hardly surprising as the young Leeds based wrestler was trained by erstwhile British champions Eric Taylor and Ernie Baldwin at Jack Lanes Wrestling Club in Leeds.

His professional debut followed four years in the amateur ranks. Fast and  skilful we thought he was really going places, but lost sight of him in the early 1970s.

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Alf Jenkins was the first professional opponent of Wigan maestro Jack Dempsey, and it is a contest between these two in which we record Jenkins first appearance, in Belfast on 19th July, 1946. In the months and years that followed Jenkins became a regular feature on bills in the North and Midlands, wrestling the likes of Tommy Nelson and Tommy Demon. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he could be seen regularly at “The Bloodtub,” formally known as the Ardwick Stadium, Manchester.

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Leicester's Taffy Jenkins was one of the youngest wrestlers in the country when he turned professional in 1961. That first bout was against his friend Mick Collins, and both youngsters had been trained by Jack Taylor, wrestler and owner of International Promotions. An apprenticeship of puttting out the chairs, selling programmes and doing just about anything connected with wrestling, plus being thrown around the mat to learn the tools of the trade proved a good foundation for a promising career. Taffy was a fast and skilful wrestler who    Mick Collins told us deserved to gain much more recognition. He did work for Joint Promotions but disappeared from the wrestling scene around 1970 and is thought to have joined the police force.

He was known for his speciality,which was a ferocious savate kick that often collided with an opponents chin, resulting in a knock out.

Arthur Johnson, known as Black Butcher, was one of the great characters of the pre and post war wrestling scene. He began his career working for Atholl Oakeley in the 1930s and was still wrestling regularly well into the 1960s when he also promoted under the name Ring Promotions. 

In 1954 he defeated Norman Walsh in Aberdeen to take the World Mid heavyweight title, before losing it to Mike Demitri.  Holder of the World Light heavyweight title from 11th April, 1955 (defeated Norman Walsh in Edinburgh) until February 1956 when he lost it back to Walsh.

Butcher’s brother, Bully Johnson, went on to great things in another guise, but you’ll need to keep reading our pages if you want to find out who he was.

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The brother of Black Butcher Johnson who dedided that the similarity of name reduced his individuality and so changed to a name known throughout the world, Johnny Kwango. So you didn't need to keep reading for long.

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A first rate heavyweight from Hartlepool who worked on bills throughout the north from 1946 until 1961. Opponents included the likes of Billy Joyce, Francis St Clair Gregory, Eric Taylor and Billy Howes.

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Marty Jones arrived on the wrestling scene in 1972, at a time when technical abilty was giving way to an excess of showmanship and gimmicks.

This wasn’t the case for Marty Jones, who was one of a handful of 1970s newcomers that could have more than held their own with professionals of any age.

The eighteen year old novice had been trained by Bill Robinson, and it showed. Younger fans will no doubt want to tell us that Marty was a great villain who could generate the wrath of fans through his deeds and microphone skills.

Maybe so, but none of this should allow us to overlook the fact that Marty Jones was one of the last great real professional wrestlers, a man who didn’t just look as though he was hurting an opponent, but could really hurt him if he put his mind to it.

Marty’s feud with Dave Finlay is the stuff of legends, matches that often ended in blood, sweat and maybe a few tears.

Like so many of his generation Jones took the opportunity to travel and demonstrated his special brand of wrestling to the fans of North America, the Far East and the rest of Europe. 

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Transatlantic travel was something of a rarity in the 1950s, but that didn’t stop London’s physical cultural marvel, David Jons, travelling to the USA and challenging the great Lou Thesz for his world heavyweight crown.

Although unlucky against Thesz the Londoner did go on to gain success in the United States, and held the Mid Western Heavyweight Title for some time after defeating Billy Goetz..  Prior to his wrestling career Muscle clad Jons won the “Mr London” title, and his muscular frame added to his appeal as a wrestler.

He proved something of a sensation as soon as he turned professional, with wins over many established stars leading to the chance to challenge Bert Assirati for the heavyweight crown at Ipswich in March, 1949.

The ex coal miner from Birmingham, Billy Jordan, was a regular on the independent scene in the 1960s. He is best remembered in his 1970s  guise as Lucky Gordon.

He was called Flash Jordan, and for good reason. Speed, skill and agility made a young Mike "Flash" Jordan something of an overnight sensation when he hit Northern rings in the early 1970s.  

Over the following few years he matured into a fine wrestler who could hold his own with the best in the business.  

A 1987 win over Johnny Saint at Croydon took Mancunian Mike out of the shadows and handed him the World Lightweight title.  

Until that time Mike had spent the previous fifteen years as a popular lightweight, but largely ovserhadowed by the likes of Saint and Breaks. Jordan held the title for eight months before losing it back to Saint on 24th May, 1988.

The blond hair, athletic, muscular physique and pronounced cheek bones were sufficient to transform Streatham’s Fred Storer into the far more exotic sounding Kurt Jorgens. Billed as the “Swedish Wonder Boy,” Jorgens became a regular on the independent bills of London and the South East during the late 1950s.  A frequent opponent was his old rival, Bert Lamb, whilst other opponents went on to gain greater fame than was destined for Fred. One fan with memories of Kurt told us that his over-riding recollection was of fans screaming abuse at the heavyweight villain as he punished Lamb by working on an old leg injury, something that seemed to happen with some regularity. 

Born in 1933 Fred Storer turned professional in his mid twenties, having received encouragement from no less a man than the legendary Bert Assirati. In the colourful world of professional wrestling promoters were always seeking ways to add a touch of colour and glamour and Fred’s Scandinavian like appearance naturally led to the creation of Kurt Jorgens. Looks like his would be wasted on a simple Fred Storer when he could easily adopt a new nationality and the name of a famous film star. He trained in the now demolished boxing and wrestling gymnasium that could be found behind “The Gun” public house on Church Street, Croydon, and now the home of regular rock concerts. Despite frequent work Fred was to remain one of the lesser lights; one of the infantry without whom the likes of McManus, Pallo and all the other stars could not have existed.  Called Fred or Kurt this Londoner is one of the unsung heroes that enriched Britain’s wrestling heritage.

For many fans Terry Jowett lived in the shadows of his tag partner Johnny Eagles. Eagles was the more experienced of the two, and it was he that gave the name to their successful tag partnership, the White Eagles. 

None would say, though, that Jowett gave less than 100% and matched his illustrious partner in every aspect. Many would say that Jowett was the real worker of the team. Terry was one of the bright young stars of the early 1960s, a classy wrestler whose career stretched from the early sixties late into the 1980s.

If covering your body in tattoos is considered a gimmick then Jowett was a gimmicky wrestler. The truth is he relied on nothing more wrestling ability and speed to make him a popular middleweight. He turned to wrestling following national service, losing to York’s Jim Grosert in that first professional bout.

The first few years were spent gaining experience and it was a surprise to many when Eagles chose the inexperienced Jowett as his tag partner. That it was  a good choice is  beyond question.

Bill Joyce was arguably the finest heavyweight wrestler of our time. He was the man who taught the great modern day shooters, Bill Robinson and Karl Gotch, how to wrestle professionally. Furthermore, it would be hard to deny his technical superiority over other greats such as Bert Assirati.

For Joyce it was a case of the appliance of science over strength, as shown in his televised defeat of twenty stone Bruno Elrington. Two submissions with single leg Boston Crabs gave Joyce a 2:0 win over the Pompey giant.

No one looked less the part of a professional wrestler than Joyce, who was light for a heavyweight, but nevertheless kept a firm grip on the British title for most of the time between 1955 and 1967.

In the twilight years of his career he dropped down a weight to establish himself as champion of the light heavyweight division. Billy Joyce was the epitome of substance over style, forever a great technician, but never a showman.

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Doug Joyce was the Canadian-born mid-heavyweight title challenger from Rushden, the rule-bending brother of rule-abiding Ken.

He was also mischieviously and misleadingly billed also as Whipper Wilson, deliberately to confuse with fellow Canadian world champion Whipper Billy Watson. 

One of Doug’s major claims to fame was the time he flew headlong out of the ring in a televised bout only to smash right into Kent Walton causing him to have three stitches in the wound.

Joyce made his professional debut in 1948, closer to the lightweight division in those days than the heavyweight into which he blossomed.

Early opponents included Jack Queseck, Pat Kloke, Johnny Lipman and Jim Mellor.

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Ken Joyce.  British-born and Canadian bred (he moved when just six weeks old) British and European welterweight champion, who also claimed European tag-team championship honours with Eddie Capelli, though he also tagged with brother Doug Joyce.

Rather interestingly relinquished his European Welterweight Championship because he couldn't travel to Paris to defend it.

Rushden-based craftsman and greatly respected both through his involvement at the heart of Devereaux Promotions and latterly as an energetic referee.

Joyce returned to Britain when he was thirteen years old, having wond his first amateur belt in canada when he was just ten. 

He turned profesional in 1941, in Befast against South African Ronnie Hurst. In those eearly days he was  known in some halls as “Spindle” Joyce because of his slight physique.

Cheetham Hill blockbuster much appreciated by knowing fans without ever achieving high profile status though much sought after for German tournaments. 

A welterweight when he turned professional he grew in size and experience to become a stocky all-action star who was handily weighted to share top-billing alongside opponents as diversely weighted as Mick McManus and Pat Roach.

Made his professional debut against the classy Bob Steele after learning to wrestle at the manchester YMCA and the Wryton Stadium.

Can lay claim to being the wrestler who opposed two exotic foreign stars on their  British television appearances, Quasimodo and N'boa the Snakeman. 

A rival of fellow Mancunian Terry Downs in his early days and tagged latterly as a Dangerman with Steve Haggetty (see Autographs and Armchair Corner) and occasionally with Romany Riley.

Although a regular feature on mostly Northern bills Colin never received the acclaim that many thought he deserved.

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A trio of visits were made to the Uk between 1964 and 1966 by this popular Spanish heavyweight imported by Arthur Green on behalf of Joint Promotions.  A tall, skilful wrestler he came to our shores following a couple of  years experience in France. Apart fro wrestling Edo Juan also played classical pieces on the piano and had studied law in Spain before turning professional wrestler.