Paid Members garynysmon Posted January 13, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2019 (edited) I think there was a Greg Valentine at one stage too. The first show I attended was when I was 8 or so, and it was at Holyhead leisure centre. There was an Ultimate Warrior tribute act and Johnny Smith was playing the â3rd British Bulldogâ schtick. At school the next day, the only rip-off that convinced us was LOD Hawk and there was a serious discussion on whether it was the real one or not (Johnny South wasnât it?) I remember reading the programme after getting home, which was a generic one for all the promotionâs events, and one of the wrestlers featured was âthe Boston Blackieâ despite not being on the nightâs card. Not aware of the literary conotations, I was confused as hell as there was no photo of him. So for a while I thought there was a more than slightly racist midcard act in the British wrestling scene. I was shocked to see him pop up a few months later on a Reslo episode on TV, a white bloke billed from Flint and carrying a Welsh flag to the ring. Edited January 13, 2019 by garynysmon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Jones Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Greg Valentine (UK) was Steve Crabtree - nephew of Big Daddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 2 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said: There was a UK version of the Road Warriors in the 80s that was Skull Murphy and someone else I forget. Wasn't it Ricky Knight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars85 Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Don't know if it's the same guy as the one on the poster, but I saw Dunk the Clown on a show with Earthquake and The Bushwackers in Bournemouth. When he was getting the crowd to chant his name I was convinced it was Brian Glover. Would have carried on believing it if my dad hadn't told me he was dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Ayass Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Ayass Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Oh and The Ultimate Chippendale was always Drew McDonald. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord-Mountevans Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 43 minutes ago, Dean Ayass said: Oh and The Ultimate Chippendale was always Drew McDonald. Dale Preston was also a Chippendale, who went on to be a version of King Kendo that was a poor man's Kendo Nagasaki. We also had a Black Jack Mulligan. The "Tribute Shows" were a dark period for British Wrestling, but you could argue that it kept wrestling alive in the UK. The shows were nearly always awful and were just for children, with more hand clapping than you could ever imagine! I remember one show that i swear not one wrestling hold or move was executed all night long! On the poster put up here, you have Johnny Smith who actually was a British Bulldog for Stampede Wrestling along with The Dynamite Kid, so he was not a tribute as such, not that anyone would be aware of his work abroad and would no doubt only relate to it being Davey Boy Smith. "Bret Hart" was Franz Schumann, who was a decent worker from Europe. These shows were very deceptive because Dixon would put on anyone available on the day (this is an All Star poster). I attended one of these shows featuring this very poster and the only "Tribute" featured was the 123 boy. It did have Danny Collins v Doc Dean though, which was as good as it sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted January 13, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 13, 2019 1 hour ago, Lord-Mountevans said: On the poster put up here, you have Johnny Smith who actually was a British Bulldog for Stampede Wrestling along with The Dynamite Kid, so he was not a tribute as such, not that anyone would be aware of his work abroad and would no doubt only relate to it being Davey Boy Smith. I didnt even realise it was Johnny Smith. He's totally a Davey Boy tribute in every sense of the word, though. Wearing the tights is one thing (he wore them in Stampede), but the braids! He knows what he's playing at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord-Mountevans Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 2 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said: I didnt even realise it was Johnny Smith. He's totally a Davey Boy tribute in every sense of the word, though. Wearing the tights is one thing (he wore them in Stampede), but the braids! He knows what he's playing at. Yeah the braids are a step too far. I saw Smith as "British Bulldog 1" wrestle Fit Finlay (just before he moved to the States) at a "tribute" show. The MC offered refunds after the local press uncovered this show as featuring "fake American Wrestling Stars". He said that the show did feature wrestlers from the WWF. He was telling the truth...Just, as Smith had done a tryout and it also featured "The Headshrinker" who was a jobber in the WWF called Sivi Afi. The show also had Johnny South as LOD, who won the Main Event Rumble. The Rumble ALWAYS closed these shows and LOD would usually win to send the crowd home happy as the kids piled into the ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 14, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2019 Has Kevin Owens actually been hitting the gym?! Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 14, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2019 21 hours ago, Pier Six Brawler said: Is it fair to say that Giant Haystacks was a Haystacks Calhoun "tribute"? There's a long history of the UK grappling scene aping the US. There was a UK version of the Road Warriors in the 80s that was Skull Murphy and someone else I forget. And countless guys adopting the names of American wrestlers, the most notable of course being Steve Regal. The UK Road Warriors weren't really a tribute to the US act, though, they just used the same name - they broadly used a biker gimmick, if I'm thinking of the right team. For the likes of Steve Regal, Greg Valentine and so on, again, they weren't taking the gimmick of the original, nor were they trying to pass themselves off as the real thing (as the audience wouldn't have heard of the US versions), they were just half-inching names they liked. It worked both ways in at least one case, as a couple of Kendo Nagasakis started popping up in Japan and the US - with Satoru Sayama's RJPW having a version of Kendo to this day! Legend has it that, because of the UK habit of pilfering names, "Greg Valentine vs. Blackjack Mulligan" actually happened in the US and the UK on the same day. 20 hours ago, garynysmon said: At school the next day, the only rip-off that convinced us was LOD Hawk and there was a serious discussion on whether it was the real one or not (Johnny South wasnât it?) A mate of mine went to a wrestling show at a hotel in Jersey in the early '90s that he's adamant had Hawk and Dynamite Kid on it. I've not been able to track down anything about the show in question aside from a few photos of Haystacks, and while it's plausible that Dynamite was working the circuit at the time, it was definitely The Legend Of Doom he'll have seen, but I've never been able to convince him of that. According to Cagematch, the Ultimate Chippendale was Drew McDonald?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted January 14, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2019 32 minutes ago, BomberPat said: According to Cagematch, the Ultimate Chippendale was Drew McDonald?! His wikipedia page seems to agree, although there is no source cited for it. Slightly off topic, but I did enjoy that one of the sources cited for his career info on that page is the UKFF's very own @JNLister, which is always nice to see.   Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeRobertsParoleOfficer Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Ultimate chipendale was definitely Mcdonald I remember seeing him. Johnny South was LOD. To be fair he was spitting image of Hawk and had great looking gear so looked legit. Dynamite deffo was around that time and on cards with South as I attended a fair few shows 91-94 and remember them tagging at 1 point along with Johnny smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted January 14, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 14, 2019 On 1/12/2019 at 12:39 PM, returner82 said: I know Pitbull Anthony Durante did tour Europe as Mad Bull Buster, but I highly doubt he was here at this time given his role in ECW. Â Â It's definitely him. This is from early 94 just before he went back to ECW. He was also working All Star as "The American Pitbull". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperstarNeilC Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Did I just hear some cunt whisper âGiant Haystacksâ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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