When Wrestling Was Golden: Grapples, Grunts and Grannies
- Episode aired Dec 13, 2012
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
26
YOUR RATING
Photos
Peter Blake
- Self - Artist and Wrestling Fan
- (as Sir Peter Blake)
Mick McManus
- Self - Professional Wrestler
- (archive footage)
Jackie Pallo
- Self - Professional Wrestler
- (archive footage)
Fyfe Robertson
- Self - TV Reporter
- (archive footage)
Brian Maxine
- Self - Professional Wrestler
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Featured review
The Rise and Fall of a Popular Televised Sport
Professional wrestling really took off in the United Kingdom as a music-hall entertainment, with the impresario Charles B. Cochran presenting George Hackenschmidt in a series of exhibition bouts against specially selected opponents. In the Fifties the sport was taken over by a cartel - Joint Promotions - which virtually ran the entire show and obtained a long-running television contact with ITV that ran for thirty-three years until 1988. Wrestling still just about survives as a spectator sport, but it is now a niche interest, as opposed to the late Sixties, when televised bouts could attract audiences of 10-million plus viewers.
Linda Sands' documentary highlights the contribution made by some familiar wrestling faces - Mick McManus, Jackie (Mr. TV) Pallo, Big Daddy and Kendo Nagasaki among them - but ignores other well-known figures such as Les Kellett. All of them enjoyed long careers beginning in the Forties and continuing for two, even three decades. Although they expended a lot of energy by putting their bodies on the line in the ring, they were at the mercy of Joint Promotions, which actively fixed bouts in advance so as to secure maximum publicity. In the light of recent events in many sports, where spot-fixing has become commonplace, this doesn't seem a particularly heinous crime, but it was this kind of strategy that prevented wrestling from ever being accepted as a de facto sport, rather than a mix of sport and entertainment.
The program claims, wrongly in my opinion, that wrestling was an essentially working-class entertainment. It wasn't; on the contrary, its regular audience (for televised as well as live bouts) was cross-class, with people from all socio-economic backgrounds enjoying the chance to let their hair down by hissing, booing, or even assaulting the fighters on occasions. The atmosphere in most venues resembled that of a bull-fight, with audiences egging on their favorite matadors to chalk up yet another win. The fact that they didn't (with villains like McManus continually winning instead), only served to increase audience interest further.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this documentary is the equivocal way in which some of the interviewees - notably referee/ promoter Brian Crabtree (brother of Big Daddy aka Shirley Crabtree) - address the question of whether the sport was fixed or not. Perhaps it was; but it provided great entertainment for legions of viewers for many a long year.
Linda Sands' documentary highlights the contribution made by some familiar wrestling faces - Mick McManus, Jackie (Mr. TV) Pallo, Big Daddy and Kendo Nagasaki among them - but ignores other well-known figures such as Les Kellett. All of them enjoyed long careers beginning in the Forties and continuing for two, even three decades. Although they expended a lot of energy by putting their bodies on the line in the ring, they were at the mercy of Joint Promotions, which actively fixed bouts in advance so as to secure maximum publicity. In the light of recent events in many sports, where spot-fixing has become commonplace, this doesn't seem a particularly heinous crime, but it was this kind of strategy that prevented wrestling from ever being accepted as a de facto sport, rather than a mix of sport and entertainment.
The program claims, wrongly in my opinion, that wrestling was an essentially working-class entertainment. It wasn't; on the contrary, its regular audience (for televised as well as live bouts) was cross-class, with people from all socio-economic backgrounds enjoying the chance to let their hair down by hissing, booing, or even assaulting the fighters on occasions. The atmosphere in most venues resembled that of a bull-fight, with audiences egging on their favorite matadors to chalk up yet another win. The fact that they didn't (with villains like McManus continually winning instead), only served to increase audience interest further.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this documentary is the equivocal way in which some of the interviewees - notably referee/ promoter Brian Crabtree (brother of Big Daddy aka Shirley Crabtree) - address the question of whether the sport was fixed or not. Perhaps it was; but it provided great entertainment for legions of viewers for many a long year.
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- l_rawjalaurence
- Dec 18, 2014
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