Release Date: 15th May 2006
RRP: £15.99
Format: DVD
Running Time: (tbc)
Certificate: 15 (tbc)

DVD REVIEW:

Rob Cope casts his eye over the much anticipated The Best Of ITV Wrestling A - Z DVD
 

Well here we are again ! Following on from the success of the first release last year,  Granada Ventures have tempted Dickie Davies back into the studio to present another dose of our favourite grapplers from wrestling’s golden age. This time kicking off with the familiar World Of Sport theme tune (hooray!), the presentation is designed to appeal to the armchair enthusiast and dishes up the action thick and fast. Once again the bouts are clipped to highlights of approximately three minutes each. This infuriated hardcore wrestling fans last time and doubtless they will be just as miffed this time around but it does enable the DVD to present as many matches and wrestlers as possible within the allotted disc time.

In order to give the release a distinct freshness for this sequel, the ‘Main Event’ sixty minute programme covers topics from A to Z. These can be wrestlers or in fact just excuses for a barrage of action sequences set to music such as D for “Dropkick” or S for “Splash”.          

First bout up is Leon Arras against Ray Steele,  the oldest of all the bouts featured hailing from 1970. Arras is always entertaining to watch and it sets the scene nicely for the feast that is to follow. Alan Dennison comes up against Johnny ‘Mr. Muscles’ England (Wembley, 1981), Catweazle clowns around with Chris Bailey (St. Albans, 1978) but the real classic stuff starts with Fit Finlay matching skills with the one and only Johnny Saint (Croydon, 1988). It’s explosive stuff and a memorable match up from the final days of ITV’s televised wrestling. We get our first glimpse of Giant Haystacks as he takes part in a handicap match against those Portsmouth stalwarts The Wilson Brothers (Watford, 1985) although the end result is predictable it’s great to see Britain’s true giant of the ring back in action. Another of the legends Mick McManus is up next with a classic confrontation with the masked Kung Fu Eddie Hamil (Woking, 1976). The two work very well together and it demonstrates why McManus was for so long the archetypal villain of British wrestling. Canada’s own Billy Two Rivers brings his ‘tomahawk chop’ to Johnny Yearsley (Croydon, 1973),  a rare glimpse of Two Rivers in action as footage of him in the ring is few and far between. J should have stood for the all time great Marty Jones in my opinion, but no, we get Jackie Pallo Junior instead. Not even the real McCoy ! Dick Conlon is the opposition for a lacklustre match (Gravesend, 1974) which is little comfort for the loss of Marty getting the credit he truly deserves. Ah well. The release makes amends with wrestling’s hard man Les Kellett against Mel Stuart (Crawley,  1975). Kellett has passed into immortality and he is on top form here. The original Iron Man Steve Logan squares off to Romany Riley (Gravesend, 1975) in the next bill topper whilst the Man In the Mask brings us to Kendo. Strangely ITV have picked a rare unmasked bout to demonstrate Britain’s greatest masked star, the rather bizarre match against Bronco Wells (Croydon,  1978) when Kendo and George were accompanied by acolytes and someone wearing the Nagasaki mask playing the violin… What it all means I don’t know but Gorgeous George adds the glamour whilst Kendo cuts Wells down to size.

When Giant Haystacks went away on a world tour, Joint Promotions introduced a new threat to Big Daddy namely ‘Fatty Thomas’ The Incredible Bulk.  At 42 stones he was the heaviest man in wrestling at that time, but sadly devoid of any ring charisma or skills. The blonde Yorkshireman tries to make The  Bulk look a convincing threat in this tag contest (Catford, 1979) but ultimately it is their tag partners Jackie Turpin and Black Jack Mulligan who are left to bring the tag back from the point of the ludicrous. Another great legend in the shape of the Mighty John Quinn is next up against Balham’s Lee Bronson (Southend, 1979). Quinn never let audiences down during his long career wrestling in this country and the Bronson bout is a great example of him at his very best. Hold on to your hats:  it’s time for Rollerball Rocco against Marty Jones. There must be many clashes in the archives between these two and this one from St. Albans in 1978 is as action packed as you might expect. It was this clash that led to the infamous double championship contest later that same year so hopefully that might be included if there is a third release.   

Peter ‘Tally Ho’ Kaye is another great name to have given audiences their money’s worth over the years and here he takes on Johnny Kidd (Dorking, 1986). A Battle Royal (Huddersfield, 1987) leads us into Vic Faulkner’s terrific clash with Jim Breaks (Leicester, 1977). These two are always worth watching,  indeed any bout featuring Breaks is guaranteed to be full of incident. The Wilson Brothers – Johnny and Peter – get their own headlining match with the Martial Arts Fighters,  Kwik Kick Lee and Ironfist Myers (Croydon,  1982). WWE legend Davey ‘Boy’ Smith is witnessed as Young David in a title clash with Jim Breaks (Aylesbury, 1979) which proves that the young grappler was destined for greater things in a fine display against a reigning champion. Last – and certainly not least – that great star from Sri Lanka Honey Boy Zimba shows his mettle against Steve Lannigan (Bridlington, 1983).

A feast for the eye indeed but it does not stop there,  as the extras section features more than half an hour of bonus footage. “Clash of the Titans” features wrestling’s best known names in bone jarring collision. The late Bomber Pat Roach faces a tough challenge against Pete Roberts (Wolverhampton, 1979). Look out for his celebrated “Brummagem Bump” move during this match. The circus comes to town again as Big Daddy has a farcical match against the Masked Marauder (Stockport, 1983) alias Scrubber Daly in a silly outfit.  It’s McManus against Catweazle (Catford,  1979) in the frame to restore some semblance of skill to the proceedings and finally in this section Steve McHoy (son of heavyweight great Wild Angus,  sadly not represented in this collection) taking on the might of Haystacks in Oldham, 1983,  which has the crowd on it’s feet screaming for McHoy to topple the 6’ 11” tank.

“Forgotten Heroes” should perhaps be renamed “People we left out of the main programme” for they  are certainly not be forgotten by the regulars of Saturday afternoon telly. Alan Kilby against King Ben (Preston, 1981), Johnny Saint in one of many classic showdowns with Steve Grey (Reading, 1980) and flamboyant Adrian Street pouting at Mick McMichael (Guildford, 1973) keeps the adrenalin flowing nicely. Finally “Tag mania” celebrates wrestling’s most popular variation.  Kendo Nagasaki – this time with the famous mask – and Psycho Stevens tackle Rollerball Rocco and Wayne Bridges (Dewsbury, 1988) in a match which never lets up for a second and descends into all out war by the end. The epitome of tag wrestling. The Royal Brothers have the added support of future world class legend ‘Dynamite Kid’ Tommy Billington against Kenny Hogan, Tally Ho Kaye and Black Jack Mulligan (Bolton, 1976) showing the lighter weight stars in action and every bit as enthralling in their own right. The DVD ends with Big Daddy partnering Kwik Kick Lee up against Crusher Brannigan and Two Ton Tony Walsh (Croydon,  1982) in a re-run of the Crabtree formula.  

So as you can tell, a real packed bag of wrestling moments to lap up. Thankfully the criticisms of the last release – a reliance on Big Daddy mostly – have been heeded and whilst he is well represented here the limits of his repertoire of moves don’t threaten to overwhelm. Once again it is the likes of Rollerball Rocco and the tragically overlooked Marty Jones who really merit further footage, although it is an unforgiving task piecing together such a compilation as every purchaser will end up grumbling that his own particular favourite match or wrestler isn’t represented. I have to say I enjoyed it enormously, it really was a time when British wrestling was the best in the world.     Kent Walton’s silky smooth voice is enough in itself to send me mentally scurrying back to the time when I would sit in front of the telly as a boy and wallow in Saturday afternoon heroes and villains. It doesn’t matter though if you remember those days or not ultimately,  as the originality and genuine skill as wrestlers mark these guys out as pioneers in TV wrestling action. A great big nostalgic salute to them all.