Men in Pants

[Viktoria]

I must have seen Mick McManus at BelleVue Kings Hall .Early 1950’s .
They wore long black tights under shorts .
Another wrestler was Karel Istaz ,very good looking blonde Eastern European.

Gosh it was good fun ,little old ladies -as I am now - screaming vicious instructions to the wrestlers !
One wrestler Jack ———- very “ dirty “ wrestler but it was all put on for the crowd .
Viktoria.

[Roobarb]

Love your photo tag Gallicrow! 

[Treetotal]

Love your photo tag Gallicrow! 

...and me, it made me laugh out loud 

This post reminds me of watching it with my parents back in the 60s...known as the "Grunt and Groan game" Jackie Pallow, Big Daddy, Billy Two Rivers and Giant Haystacks are just a few that stand out in my memory.

That was entertainment!

Carol

[andrewalston]

Wrestlers seemed to have been divided into types. Mick McManus was a "heel" - technically very good, but spending most of their time "bending the rules".

My parents were friendly with a couple living nearby. The husband was a "technical" wrestler, playing by the rules, and even training others. Not as much money in that game though - the telly wanted the larger-than-life showmen.

He was, though, very popular with the local children. There would be a knock on the door after tea, and the question: "Is Alan coming out to play?"

He usually was. 

[suey]

I must have seen Mick McManus at BelleVue Kings Hall .Early 1950’s .
They wore long black tights under shorts .
Another wrestler was Karel Istaz ,very good looking blonde Eastern European.

Gosh it was good fun ,little old ladies -as I am now - screaming vicious instructions to the wrestlers !
One wrestler Jack ———- very “ dirty “ wrestler but it was all put on for the crowd .
Viktoria.

I think more women went to the wrestling than men  .  My mother used to go on the bus to Horsham with her girl friends…pretty sure it was their version of my generations Chippendales 

[Erato]

"I think more women went to the wrestling than men"

Really?  You'd have to pay me [a lot] to go watch those two prancing around in their underwear.

[Gallicrow]

I loved watching it every Saturday on ITV. I preferred the comic wrestlers like Catweazle. Unfortunately the great Les Kellett had retired by the time I was old enough to watch so I never saw him. However the wonders of YouTube allowed me to watch him 50 years after this event. Here he takes on "Leon Arras", who even then would have been well known to the audience as actor Brian Glover (his big break was playing the bully PE teacher in Kes in 1969):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_zPH3u65H8

Like all the best wrestlers, these two came from Yorkshire. Alan Deninson and Jim Breaks were two of my favourites. They both haled from Barnsley. Breaks was in the news a while ago when his girlfriend died under mysterious circumstances in the Spanish villa they shared. I don't remember finding out what happened in the end.

A few years ago I bought a book called "The Wrestling" on eBay for 99p. Each chapter was dedicated to a different wrestler. One was about one Jimmy Savile who wasn't a professional wrestler but had appeared in a number of bouts, losing every one as none of the real wrestlers wanted to be the first to lose to him. Rather disconcertingly there was a full page photo of Savile in his wrestling garb, captioned "I've been a naughty boy".

[coombs]

I am a man and would rather watch paint dry than watch those 2 in the ring.

[Viktoria]

The thing was we all knew it was mostly fake.
There was always a goody and a baddy .

We booed the baddy who played dirty and cheered the goody.
Rules?not very obvious really.
It was quite comical .
Viktoria.