Wrestling Heritage

When Middlesborough’s Ron Oakley moved from physical culture and body building to wrestling he acquired thousands of new fans and admiration for a body that gained him the name the “Northern Adonis,”  and place on the cover of "Health and Strength" magazine in January, 1956.

This man had muscles where we didn’t know muscles existed. He turned professional in 1960, when he was twenty-four, and had already won around twenty body building titles. These included Mr Yorkshire, finalist in Mr Britain and British representative in Mr Universe.

Within a couple of years of turning professional he was in combat with the big names of the age, not just in his own middleweight division, but against much heavier men such as Billy Howes and Eric Taylor.

Around a dozen television appearances included amongst his opponents Johnny Kwango, Eddie Capelli, Peter Szakacs, Pasquale Salvo and Bert Royal, the majority of them being for Dale Martin Promotions.

Throughout the 1960s Ron remained a popular middleweight around the country. He was also an influence on other young body builders and encouraged many of them into professional wrestling. He owned and operated his own gymnasium in the St Hilda's area of Middlesborough, the home of many successful body builders and wrestlers.  

Our memories are of this veteran welterweight who was able to hold his own, and usually defeat, most of the younger wrestlers of the day. He was a popular hero of the day, with a smile that would evaporate rugged facial features.

His career, which  started in India, developed into one of Britain’s best post war welterweights. Never rated alongside the likes of Dempsey, Kidd and McManus he could certainly hold his own with any one of them.

Whilst his technical ability did much to enhance his reputation the same could hardly be said for his labelling as the Eastern Counties welterweight champion.

A modest, unassuming man Bob Archer O’Brien must be included in any list of post war greats. Following a wrestling career that spanned three decades he went on to become a popular referee in the days when a referee really could make or break a contest.

 The Chelmsford star also bestowed two other fine wrestlers on UK audiences, his sons Bob and Chris Anthony. In 1971 he was to be seen in ring action again, coaxed back by independent promoters. 

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Twice holder of the British lightweight championship, for two weeks in 1991 and then from 1993 until 1998, Jimmy Ocean just edges his way  into the wrestling heritage years.  

A sole ITV appearance (against Ivan Trevors) and a few more on C4C and satellite channels brought him to national attention. His high flying, exciting style, and a penchant for skulduggery made him a huge favourite amongst British fans. Considered by many modern day fans to have been hugely under-rated at the time Jimmy OCena could conceivably have been a star in the highly competitive 1960s and 1970s.

He can be seen on the left roughing up Johnny Kidd, and on the right with tag partner Ricky Knight and Sweet Sarya. Ocean and Knight made up the Superflys tag team, generally considered one of the top tag teams of the 1980s. At one time Jimmy formed frequent tag team opposition to Big Daddy and his numerous partners.

Rough and tough middleweight Frank O’Donnell used the sort of tactics that made the crow love to see him lose.

The bald dome and the flying fists were a familiar feature  of wrestling halls during the 1950s and 1960s.

Born in Loughanoran, Donegal, Frank moved to Scotland in his late teens,farming and preparing for a boxing career.

He was encouraged to take up wrestling by George Broadfield, the Farmer,  who also persuaded him to move to Yorkshire, where he lived throughout his life.

His working life was shared between his wrestling career and  roadbuilder with McAlpine. Following his retirement in 1972 frank was able to use his construction and landscaping skills to good effect when he designed the Bagden Hall golf course and managed its construction.Golf was Frank’s main love following his retirement.

When he died, aged eighty, the flag was lowered to half mast at the Dewsbury Golf Club. 

Another of those colourful characters who made professional wrestling such a unique sport. Manchester based  Odooma would enter the ring dresses in a leopardskin cloak and grass skirt. You don't get that in cricket.  Known variously as Jimmy or Juma Odooma, and sometimes simply Odooma. Worked mainly in the north and midlands for Wryton Promotions between 1962 and 1965, a popular good guy in the ring. Billed randomly from Ghana or the West Indies we suspect Manchester might have been closer to the mark.

Coalman Bill Ogden did begin his working life down the pits and  learned to wrestle in his spare time at the "Black Boy" public house in Stoke on Trent.

He  turned professional in the all-in years, in 1935, and wrestled professionally for almost forty years until 1973, when he retired aged sixty.

A background in fairground boxing preceded a professional wrestling debut at  the Ideal Skating Rink, Hanley. He was trained by the Belshaw brothers at their Wigan gymnasium, cycling to Wigan and back each week from his home in Hanley. 

Bill’s entire life was devoted to wrestling in one capacity or another.  When he wasn’t performing he worked as a referee or MC.

When needed he would transport up to eight wrestlers to shows in his van. He even built wrestling rings! We’re not talking about erecting them, we mean actually building them from scratch. Naturally, he did put them up when required also.  

Towards the end of his career he was transformed  into the villainous Gypsy Joe Savoldi. Bill’s career spanned almost forty years and he died in March, 1992.

Powerful northern based heavyweight with a succesful but short career of around five years from 1952 onwards. Wrestled all the big names in wrestling and failed to take the British heavyweight title from Ernie Baldwin in December, 1952.

Jim Olivera was a rough, tough, bad tempered wrestler, and legend has it that on one occasion he knocked out the teeth of the referee. His mistreatment of referees is certainly well documented.  Hopefully he was a little more mild mannered when involved in his other business concerns, running a souvenir shop and ladies' hairdressers in Palma Nova. 

Following an amateur boxing career in which he represented Spain in the 1948 Olympics, and a short professional career, he turned to professional wrestling.

 He fared far better as a wrestler, despite being banned for a year in his home country, and took the European Mid heavyweight title in  1948. 

In 1961 he lost theEuropean heavyweight title to Billy Joyce at Belle Vue. However, we can fin do necord of him having won the belt and some might even suspect he was given the belt in order to lsoe it to the British champion. He wrestled throughout Europe, and  was a regular in the UK, until his retirement in 1964.

Another tough Northerner, born in Scotland to Irish parents,  but latterly from Liverpool, and one half of the Liverpool Skinheads tag team. He combined the courage and stamina of days as a coal miner with the discipline developed as  an amateur boxier and put it all to good use to become a professional wrestler with a career spanning twenty-odd years.

He was an all action wrestler with a career that began in 1956 and  spanned both the independent and Joint Promotion organizations. We remember him on the northern independent circuit of the 1960s but he went on to much greater things and was a frequent worker at the two big North West venues, the Liverpool Stadium  and Belle Vue, Manchester. He was also the second opponent for a young Kendo Nagasaki, following in the path of Jim Hussey and losing by the KO route at Birmingham's Embassy Sportsdrome on 17th November, 1963

In the 1960s he would sometimes pull on a mask and adopt the personae of Doctor Blood, a villain who was finally upended, and unmasked by that other good doctor, Death.  

Arthur Openshaw came from Stockton on Tees and was trained by Jim Stockdale at his gymnaium  at the back of the Grey Horse Pub in Stockton. Arthur later  emigrated to Australia and  defeated Ken Medlin to take the Australian lightweight title in November, 1966. He later appeared briefly in the UK during the early 1970s.

Irish heavyweight villain and one time challenger for Bert Assirati's title Pat O'Reilley was busy around the country for the best part of two decades, ending his career in the 1960s on the independent circuit. O'Reilly met the best in the business, Assirati, Tony Mancelli, Ray St Bernard, George Gregory, Dave Armstrong, and the rest. Remembered for a series of bouts with Jack Pye in the 1950s.

A green dressing gown and trunks were the hallmark of this popular light heavyweight of the 1960s, billed from Donegal, though we are unsure of the connection as he was  otherwise Les Riley, a plumber, from Langley Mill. Irish or not Spike was a formidable wrestler who learned the wrestling trade while he was in the Royal Navy. When he left the Royal Navy, as their Light heavyweight champion, in the late fifties, he quickly turned to professional wrestling, and met the likes of Randolph Turpin, Shirley Crabtree and Cowboy Cassidy. One of the highlights of his career was facing ex world champion Turpin, at Heanor, where he was a local favourite. O’Reilly lost the bout by two falls to one.

Heavyweight son of Sandy Orford,a familar figure mainly in the north during the early 1960s. In 1966 he moved to Canada initially working for promoters Rod Fenton and Stu Hart. Most of Tony's remaining career was spent  working in North America with occasional visits back home.

Londoner Eddie O'Shea was a popular middleweight across Southern England throughout the 1960s. His was another of those careers that seemed to hold promise that was nerver realised. His early careeer was dogged by injuries resulting from a car accident not long after he had turned professional. A very good amateur foundation led to a professional debut in the early 1960s, and Eddie was soon a favourite around Dale Martin Halls. In the years that followed he moved through the ranks from lightweight to light heavy, a regular worker mainly in southern England.

Our memories of rumbustious Manchester heavyweight Shaun O'Shea are in exciting bouts against some of the biggest and baddest on the independent circuit - Big Bill Coverdale, The Monster, Karl Von Krammer, and Dirty Dave Reynolds. Shaun was also one of the myriad of Manchester based independent promoters of the 1960s, O'Shea Enterprises putting on wrestling shows and (non British Boxing Board of Control) boxing shows  throughout the north, midlands  and Wales.  

Chic Osmond worked regularly on Joint Promotion bills of the late 1950s and early 1960s, tangling with the likes of Pallo,McManus and Capelli. His main claim to fame seems to be that Adrian Street names him as his greatest influence, having trained him in the ways of the professional world at the London YMCA.

Fiery  young Irish wrestler came onto the scene in 1978. A frequent worker with a less than impressive record, subject to a surprising number of straight falls defeats. Fans found him entertaining and welcomed his place on the bill. Made three televsions appearances and has sadly passed away in 2005.

Way back in the 1960s when life was simpler us wrestling fans knew where we stood as  far as  masked men were concerned. They were mostly heavyweights, invariably dirty (as we called the villains in those days) and seemingly invincible. The Outlaw followed a path led by Count Bartelli, The Ghoul, and a number of other home grown hooded terrors. 

The Outlaw was destined to tread  paths that had not yet been opened to the masked Bartelli, Ghoul, or even Kendo Nagasaki. The British television viewing public was permitted to view this masked man in action on their television screens at the end of 1965, and a dozen or so more times over the next two years.

Although one half of the Wrestling Heritage team always considered the Outlaw fairly tame alongside The Ghoul, The Monster and Kendo Nagasaki  we have to admit that he was a class act, and his tv opponents were top-notch, including Peter Maivia, Ian Campbell, Bill Howes, Steve Veidor, Pat Barrett, Jim Hussey, Gwyn Davies and Chati Yokouchi. We can think of no other long-term masked heavyweight who did not finally meet his match, but the original Outlaw disappeared from our shores some three years later unbeaten and unmasked.

Whilst the original Outlaw defeated all before him in Joint Promotion rings there were always imitations (Carl Dane a particularly good one) in independent rings. In  subsequent years the name re-surfaced time and again in both independent and Joint rings. Read more about the original Outlaw under his alter ego, Gordon Nelson 

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