U and V

Two for the price of one as we combine the twenty-first and twenty-second letters of the alphabet.

 

The Undertaker

 

Decades before the name was taken up by the Americans British wrestling fans booed and jeered The Undertaker, a villain of the independent circuit in the 1960s.. A bearded, fearsome looking character, dressed in frock coat and top hat as the stereotypical undertaker of days gone by, would walk unhurriedly to the ring to the accompaniment of the Funeral March. With him was an equally sombre companion and aid. On their shoulders they carried a coffin, albeit one that did look decidedly on the small side. The coffin would be ceremoniously lifted into the ring and propped against the corner post. The aid would produce a tape measure and attempt to “measure up” the opponent, obviously without success. Gestures and words, drowned by the jeers of the crowd,  indicated to the opponent where he was going to end up. Of course, he never did, despite the aid pushing the coffin back into the ring at opportune moments for The Undertaker to try once again to get the luckless wrestler inside.

 

The Undertakers

 

Two masked men emerged on to the mid sixties independent circuit, billed from Chicago they were so-called brothers Jonathan and Nathaniel, The Undertakers. They were, of course, villains of the first order, and unlike most masked men seem not to have had a perfect record. They were amongst the few masked wrestlers, Doctor Death being another, to transfer from the independent to Joint Promotions circuit. The original Undertakers are believed to have been Vince Apollo and Bob Abbot, though various others took the role during the 1970s.  The name resurfaced again in the 1990s with The Undertakers now re-named Doom and Gloom. Enough said. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Ure

 

Would you buy a used car off this man? Maybe, as  wrestler John Ure combined his wrestling career with that of car salesman.  Born of Scottish parents, the muscular heavyweight from Halifax, a regular trainer with weights, turned professional in 1961. He was nineteen years old at the time and his debut in November 1961, saw him lose to Don Branch at Grantham. This professional baptism followed two years training by the former Greek professional, Andre Nicola. After a promising start, and a couple of television appearances against Norman Walsh and Ken Cadman the popular Yorkshireman disappeared from the scene in 1964.

 

Izzy Van Dutz

 

Professional wrestling has never been short of colourful characters and just the wonderful name of Izzy Van Dutz  was enough to make him one of the most colourful. The alleged Dutchman, though east end of London would have been a more accurate description of his place of origin, had been introduced into the wrestling business by Athol Oakeley (as the Dutch Heavyweight Champion) in 1932. In 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War  posters even proclaimed that  Izzy had “Just escaped from Spain,” which we find rather suspect as he had been wrestling the best in Britain in Britain for the previous four years. During his career the dastardly Izzy wrestled every big name of the period from Athol Oakeley to World Champion Jack Sherry and Golden Boy Mike Marino. Indeed, it was Izzy Van Dutz that finally ended the career, through a shoulder injury, of the esteemed Athol Oakeley. Most definitely rooted in the pre war years Izzy’s career continued post war and our final recorded appearance is 1952, at Bury St Edmunds against Don Stedman.

 

Fred Van Lotter

 

Born in Cape Town, in 1934, this South African middleweight first came to Britain in 1959, and became a regular feature in Southern rings for the following few years. He had been professional for less than a year, having made his debut in South Africa against lightweight champion Billy Meyer at Gordon’s Bay only a few months earlier. His rough-house style found him few fans amongst the British wrestling enthusiasts but made him an ideal tag partner for Iron Jaw Joe Murphy. The pair annexed the European welterweight tag team title from Ken Joyce and Eddie Capelli for a short time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carl Van Wurden

 

Wrestling in his native Canada pre war Van Wurden was holder of both the Canadian Middleweight and Light heavyweight titles. He came to Britain in 1937 and was based in Britain during the Second World War. The blond haired Canadian wrestled in the World Heavyweight Championship tournament held at Haringey in 1947. He was unfortunate enough to meet the eventual tournament winner in the opening round, with the inevitable result. His wrestling career continued until the early 1950s.

 

(The abominable) Oscar "Crusher" Verdu

The magnicient specimen on the left, one early sixties Rick Ferraro billed out of Chicago,  managed to metamorphose into the ponderous ball of lard, right, that "dis"graced British rings over several visits in the sixties, initially with Paul Lincoln Promotions in 1964 and 65, and later on with Dale Martin Promotions up to the end of the decade.

Billed from Columbus, Ohio, Crusher Verdu spent excessive periods not engaged in combat and not doing his job, under the guise of preening. Years later Giant Haystacks would make a habit of spending a couple of opening minutes on the prowl, but we didn't want such disengagement from someone half his size ten years earlier.

Allegedly a master of the bearhug, and allegedly beat Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden to claim the World Heavyweight Championship  on 15th June 1970.  He in fact never did gain that title and after a stopped bout against Bruno Sammartino was firmly put in his place in a return shortly afterwards.  Thanks to stateside Heritage browser Derek Bush for his confirmation of New York events.

Just goes to show what status a wrestler of limited ability could achieve in the USA if he could point to a lengthy British stay on his curriculum.

Factually again, Verdu lost to Rebel Ray Hunter at the Royal Albert Hall.

Resurfaced in European rings eight years later with a run in the German tournaments, where he often tagged alongside Mal Kirk.

 

Charles (Jan) Verhulst

 

The Popular heavyweight wrestler from Liege, Belgium visited the UK in 1962 and periodically through the decade. He was a popular and skilful wrestler who met the best but had a record that was at best mixed. Draws against Al Hayes and Kendo Nagasaki were more than offset when he surely reached an all time low with a 2-0 loss to Crusher Verdu at Southampton in March, 1969.

 

Big Bill Verna

 

When he came to the UK from Australia in 1950 Bill Verna weighed just sixteen stones, but our memories of him as a 1960s wrestler are of a 21 strong villain. Bill Verna was born in Perth, in 1929, and made his professional wrestling debut aged eighteen. Following a short period in England in 1950 Bill wrestled in the Far East and returned to the UK in 1954. Over the next fifteen years he wrestled all over the world but always returned to the UK.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Viedor

Uncomfortably billed as the Handsome Heart Throb from Ellesemere Port, we prefer to remember the aerial skills of this three-time Royal Albert Hall Tournament Trophy winner and, once domiciled in Croydon, Southern England Heavyweight Champion.  Few wrestlers can have sought to vary the holds so much in their wrestling and this blue eye gave masterful performances throughout his career, a snifter of which can be seen in Crowd Control of the Purest Kind in Armchair Corner.  Wrestled initially as Hermann Viedor and Steve Bell, losing 0-2 to Masambula on his 1962 Morecambe debut, by any name an absolute favourite of Kent Walton and winner also of the coveted Golden Gown award.  Chalked up a rare televised defeat of Gwyn Davies.  A challenger for national honours too, and a skilled tagster on rare appearances alongside Mike Marino and Tibor Szakacs. 

That final Royal Albert Hall trophy was the Viewsport trophy and this can show the way in terms of spelling the wrestler's name.  Viewsport not Veiwsport!

His greatest challenges were indeed getting his surname spelt consistently, and you'll see the other way even on this Heritage site, ... as well as fighting off predatory number one fan, The Duchess Pandora Verrukalian.

 

 

 

 

 

Bernard Vignall

 

Globe trotting French heavyweight who was a regular British visitor in the 1950s and 1960s. He also wrestled in the USA and Canada, which in the 1950s was fairly uncommon.

Whilst in Canada he tagged with Whipper Billy Watson to claim the Canadian tag team title.

 

Don Vines

 

The Welsh international rugby player played for Rugby and Great Britain and four rugby league cup finals at Wembley. All that was before he became one of the biggest, in more ways than one, villains of the 1960s (mainly) Northern wrestling rings. Weighing eighteen stones and standing over six feet tall Don was most definitely one of the villains of the ring whose combination of rule bending and arrogance made him unpopular with fans.