Dean Ayass

Before Akebono, no foreigner had ever been promoted to the highest rank in sumo, yokozuna. There was a Hawaiian, Konishiki, who preceded Akebono who made it to ozeki (second highest rank) but then said in an interview with a Hawaiian newspaper that if he was Japanese, he'd be a yokozuna by now. That was the nail in the coffin for him but when Akebono came along, the Sumo Association made a point by promoting him, to 'prove' Konishiki wrong. This then opened the floodgates. The last three yokozuna have all been Mongolian. Mongolians have been dominating top division sumo over the past decade but there's several young native Japanese wrestlers who are also emerging now. There's also a Russian and a Kazakh in the top division and a Bulgarian and a Georgian recently retired.

Nothing particularly exciting, but I remember travelling to a Hammerlock show with Doug Williams, as I usually did, but earlier in the afternoon, he was working on a show at a fair in Faversham, Kent. The other wrestlers on the show were Tom Thumb (Neil Evans, who was also the promoter of the wrestling portion of the fair), Johnny Kidd and Blondie Barratt. The ring was outdoors but the wrestlers (and myself, I wasn't doing anything on the show) were inside a small marquee to get changed in. My two vivid memories of that day were that Blondie had just bought his first ever mobile phone (it was around 1995) and wouldn't stop going on about it. Then, towards the end of the afternoon, it rang......and it was a wrong number! I've never seen anyone look so crestfallen! My other memory was that there was a bed of nails in the marquee that was being used by another act. He let me lie down on it, and I soon discovered that, due to the physics of a few hundred nails placed at even intervals, it really didn't hurt at all.

My other experience of working at an outdoor fair was a year or so later. I can't remember the town but it would have been in Kent again. I was acting as MC (again, I think we were doing this in the early afternoon and another show nearby in the evening). It was the hottest day of the year, probably somewhere between 28-30 C, and rather than a marquee, we had the ring van to get changed in! The ring van, of course, was a metal box with no windows, so it was like an oven! And then of course, while the wrestlers were all in trunks, old twatface here was dressed in a full suit and dicky bow! It was not a comfortable experience!

I would have gone with the All Star assumption for the big crowd, as they often drew four figure crowds at points, though that would more likely be in the late 90s as attendances were way down by 1993. Tony Earnshaw would probably know more though.

Andre Baker could hold his own with anyone in the ring. When I was working closely with him, he recognised that there were two new styles of wrestling that were becoming popular, namely hardcore and shoot-style, and he brought both of these styles into his work. In places like Maidstone and Ashford, where Danny Lynch had been king of the previous generation, it wasn't much of a transition from the wild, bloody brawls that Lynch would have. When he flew to New Jersey to challenge Dan Severn for the NWA World title, Severn allowed Andre to last longer than any of his previous challengers due to his respect for Andre's own legit background and ability. But most of all, Andre was a masterful heel, who knew how to wind up a crowd, how to banter with and insult ringsiders much like the Pallos (who he was very close to) did. We had at least one riot and several crowds right on the cusp of rioting with Andre! Andre was also very smart - he recognised that Doug Williams was his best student by a mile and so booked himself in a feud with him so that he had the best matches of the night! But this also helped Doug greatly, as he would work with an experienced pro rather than fellow rookies. And then when Doug left Hammerlock, Andre repeated the process with Johnny Moss, who has gone on to be one of the world's leading trainers now with the WWE Performance Centre.

As far as people who could've gone further, I do think that Jody Fleisch came around about 15 years too early. He is without a doubt the greatest aerial wrestler I have ever seen in my life, ahead of the likes of Pac and Will Ospreay. If Jody was in his prime now, I can see him being a sensation in somewhere like AEW and/or New Japan. And out of everyone who came out of that school, I think Andre would have loved what Zack Sabre Jr has become now - a British style technician without comparison, combined with a cocky gobshite attitude that has huge elements of Andre's character work in it. 

On 2/14/2021 at 4:08 PM, RancidPunx said:

When did Hammerlock start promoting their own cards ?

 

I don’t suppose you have complete Hammerlock complete cards/results @JNLister ?

 

 

Hammerlock first ran a show in front of an audience of family and friends in November 1993. I specifically remember that it was the Saturday after the first UFC. Doug Williams mafe his debut on this show and future star Justin Richards was timekeeper, with myself acting as MC. These ran monthly until Andre booked the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone for a show in front of a paying audience. I think this was March or April 1994. I used to post reports and results to the old RSPW (rec sport pro wrestljng) group which might be archived somewhere on the old Wayback Machine (have I got the name right?) gimmick.

Oh and The Ultimate Chippendale was always Drew McDonald.

No, The Road Warriors was a half-hearted (i.e. not used all that much) name for an All Star team in the late 80s of Dave Duran and (I think) Jimmy Monroe.

Giant Haystacks was indeed given his name after Brian Dixon, of all people I believe, read about Haystacks Calhoun in an American magazine, whereas Big Daddy's name, it is always said, was taken from a character in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. As well as other names mentioned above, Blondie Barratt was known as The Rock n Roll Express. There was also a UK tag team called The Rockers, but they pre-dated Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty and their name was 70s.inspired by the Mods and Rockers of the 70s.

It's also worth noting that Steve Regal was often billed as "The Nature Boy" on posters! Until satellite TV came into being, there was very little awareness of the US scene among most British fans and so promoters could happily pilfer names and nicknames from across the pond to their heart's content.

Yeah Sasuke had made waves nationally in Japan by this point with his performance in the Super J Cup and wanted MPW to be seen as a global promotion in the magazines by makign an impact abroad (bear in mind that they were known in Japan as a promotion who were stuck out on the most northerly island of Japan. There was very little online reach in those days and Sasuke decided to fly a small crew over England, as the country was known for welcoming Japanese stars (eg original Tiger Mask Sayama, Liger, Kojima, Maeda etc). As Dixon was the man who had brought over the more recent Japanese stars in Liger (as Flying Fuji Yamada) and Kojima, it was All Star who they approached.

I think they did a show the night before in either Portsmouth or Southampton - a venue called the Guild Hall rings a bell. I remember Danny Collins being involved in a match and later on, he flew out for a few tours with MPW. Hanzo Nakajima stayed on and wrestled all over the UK for a few months. As John said, I believe that Hiroshi Arai brokered the deal.

That's how Phil Powers got his name, didn't he? Started out doing the Power Ranger gimmick in the 90s.

No it isn't. I was MC for Phil's first ever match and he called himself Phil Powers then (1994). He wouldn't have started working for Dixon until after the Power Reslin Ranger (to give the gimmick its full and legal name, ahem) had run its course.

 

 

Masked Superstar, Andre The Giant & Hulk Hogan pay tribute to Vince McMahon Sr in Japan

That looks like Mighty John Quinn on the far left there. I believe he worked for Vince Sr as The Kentucky Butcher. I'm sure Lister could confirm this.

Absolutely devastated. I loved commentating with Stew. It's rare that you find someone with a great knowledge of a niche product like DGUK who is able to convey that in an entertaining and professional way, but Stew was that man. He knew all the info and background of the Japanese guys. I just rode on his coattails and filled in a few gaps about the Brit guys mainly, He was such a nice guy, no ego, and we always had such a great laugh together, especially on the road between shows. I just can't believe he's gone, I really can't. I can't contemplate doing DGUK with anybody else. He's irreplacable in my eyes.

37 is absolutely no age to go. I don't know how it happened, all I know is that it feels so unfair and it hurts like hell.

 

 

 

3. Mainly cost, and that we couldn't get tapes that had no commentary on them (well, GAEA already had none). If NOAH or NJPW had to send us tapes with no commentary tracks, it would have cost more. Plus, we were based in Dublin - how would we find 2 good commentators (or even 1) who knew enough about Japanese wrestling & were good commentators too? The studio time, the syncing, the mixing, the fees, the man hours, etc - it was cost prohibitive, especially for a show that didn't even pay for itself. Plus, in the past, bad English commentary has ruined Japanese shows - so we figured we'd tell people who they were & overlay the graphics, and then leave the rest intact.

 

I remember being flown in to Dublin to record the commentary for International Showdown in the TWC studios. I did the commentary with an Irish guy called Eamon D'Arcy I think. As well as the hassle for Sean (Herbie) of having to drive to the airport to collect me and then drop me off again at the end of the day, and the cost of paying for my flight, it was a long old day for me too, as I flew there and back the same day. It was a fun experience to do as a one-off but I don't think anyone would want to do that on a regular basis.

 

 

I remember us sitting in Planet Hollywood that afternoon (before I dropped you to the airport) and the new pope ordainment was all over the TVs. So I guess the date was.... *googles*... 19 April 2005 - would make sense. Adding the commentary around a month after Showdown.

 

Yes! I still remember you asking the rhetorical question, "Why do they always give Popes the same names? Why can't we have Pope Derek I?"

 

3. Mainly cost, and that we couldn't get tapes that had no commentary on them (well, GAEA already had none). If NOAH or NJPW had to send us tapes with no commentary tracks, it would have cost more. Plus, we were based in Dublin - how would we find 2 good commentators (or even 1) who knew enough about Japanese wrestling & were good commentators too? The studio time, the syncing, the mixing, the fees, the man hours, etc - it was cost prohibitive, especially for a show that didn't even pay for itself. Plus, in the past, bad English commentary has ruined Japanese shows - so we figured we'd tell people who they were & overlay the graphics, and then leave the rest intact.

I remember being flown in to Dublin to record the commentary for International Showdown in the TWC studios. I did the commentary with an Irish guy called Eamon D'Arcy I think. As well as the hassle for Sean (Herbie) of having to drive to the airport to collect me and then drop me off again at the end of the day, and the cost of paying for my flight, it was a long old day for me too, as I flew there and back the same day. It was a fun experience to do as a one-off but I don't think anyone would want to do that on a regular basis.

The immigration laws changed in December.

Entry to the UK is now banned if the person:

(a) is currently the subject of a deportation order; or

(b) has been convicted of an offence for which they have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least 4 years; or

This is why I stopped giving a shit about boxing years ago.

Let's face it, boxing is just as rigged as wrestling. What pisses me off is when shit like the Haye-Chisora confrontation in Germany gets on the news, not just Sky Sports News but BBC mainstream news when it's clearly been set up. Yet if two wrestlers did something similar, it'd get laughed and sniggered at, and would get zero coverage.

'Tis a sad combination of age and concussions, clearly.....

Mr Belding from SBTB delivers a Stunner at a PWS show

Someone should* bring over Mr Belding (Dennis Haskins) to portray Mark Haskins' long lost uncle. It'd be the most awesomely pointless import ever.

*they really shouldn't

There was a squash match

That was Burchill's first official match, with me debuting as his manager, in a handicap match against Double Dragon (Ross Jordan & Raj Ghosh). Nice to see that everyone remembers it

 

The Ladies of ECW: 1. i'm blanking 2. Beulah McGillicutty 3. Francine 4. Kimona Wanalaya 5. Blanking 2 6. Missy Hyatt

 

1. She was with the Blue Meanie, but not for very long. Miss Rebecca or something? My only clear memory of her is doing the Marlena role when Meanie came out as Bluedust.

Miss Patricia. Absolute filthbag from all accounts.

Mr. Fuji's a 77 year old Hawaiian man, and that's how he looks, that's all. He'll be going for years yet.

Fixed, as they say.

Watching Deal or No Deal (not my fucking choice, if I was on that, I'd just go through the boxes in numerical order just to take all the fun out for the people who watch it). There's a mixed race girl on there, and my mum has already used the words "coloured" and "Negro". It's like the 1970s here.

My dear old Nan, who's no longer with us, was always coming out with racist comments.

She was once round my folks place when I was a kid, and we had a Nigel Benn boxing match on, to which she commented to my mum, "He's quite good looking for a darkie". Every time I saw Nigel Benn after that, I heard my Nan's comment ringing in my head.

She once had a black teenager deliver some leaflet through her door, and before he left her garden, she saw him looking at a couple of birds (of the feathered variety) before walking off. She later told us, "He's probably never seen birds where he's from", ignoring the fact that (a) he was probably from the UK and (b) I'm pretty certain that birds can be found all over the world.

Jesus Christ, that photo is, what, less than 20 years old and out of the seven wrestlers in it, the majority (four) are dead.

Yep, and Horace Hogan next to him.

Surely that's Harvey Whippleman?

Oh hang on, is Horace behind Bastian Booger?

The Dirt Bike Kid vs. Karl Kramer

Bloody hell, I filmed that on a VHS camera where you stuck a blank tape inside the actual camera back in 1995! And yes, that's me interviewing him in the hospital afterwards too. Amazing what crops up on YouTube.....

What do you want me to do Jon, take a lie detector test? I had nothing to do with your show going wrong. If you don't believe me, then there's not much I can do about that, but that's the truth.

For someone who's "moved on", you seem to be getting awfully wound up. And for someone who's supposedly "worthless", you seem to be getting awfully wound up about me too.