Paid Members JNLister Posted December 30, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 30, 2023 OK, slightly clickbaity: it's Dave Finlay Sr (Fit Finlay's dad): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/northern-ireland/67839647 He was a pro wrestler and the main promoter in Northern Ireland for many years, but the MBE is for his 50+ years work in amateur wrestling. He's pretty much the top guy in training amateur wrestling in Northern Ireland and it's not much of an exaggeration to say he's the reason the country still has an amateur scene. Northern Ireland is very unusual as it effectively had a pro wrestling industry (originally a mix of shoot and show matches before going fully show) long before it had amateur wrestling to speak of. Some of the pro wrestlers entered a tournament in the Republic of Ireland and soon discovered pro holds are either not allowed or don't work in amateur matches. They then advertised for people to join their gym and two of the initial recruits were Eddie 'Kung Fu' Hammil and Dave Finlay Sr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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