Ring Wrestling September 1966

  I've been playing with my scanner again. "Playing" in this context meaning " Swearing at it and trying to work out why the bloody thing won't do what I want."
 If anybody knows why it insists on blowing every single scan up 300%, I could use some advice.

Or I suppose I could just throw it out of a two storey window and buy a new one that isn't a bastard.

Moving on...

 The following are all from the September 1966 issue of  Ring Wrestling and hopefully will provide an interesting snapshot into the grappling game of those bygone days. 

 How often do you see a cover with women wrestlers on it these days? 

Hell, I used to have a stack of  wrestling mags from the 80s up to 2013 and the only

women you ever saw on any of them were in glamour shots.

I wonder who the unfortunate blonde currently suffering the wrath of June Byers might be?

The unfortunate Don Eagle.

He committed suicide in 1966 and the magazine suggests that one of the causes may have been

the way he was screwed out of the World Title in 1950, after a reign of only 3 days.

Back in the day it wasn't unheard of for unscrupulous grapplers or promoters to  try pulling a fast one, which is why the champions used to be guys that had a legitimate rep as hard-cases. 

Wrestling Magazines in the 1960s would apparently sneak in a gallery of lady wrestlers  at least once per issue.

Nita Hagen looking lovely. 

Ramona TeSelle backstage with Ada Ash.

Ada is the blonde smiling sweetly. 

As well as being a wrestler, Ada Ash was a noted strong-woman.

Tell you what, go and google her right now.

The first image that comes up is of her bending an iron bar with her teeth.

Sticking with the ladies, a bit further on you get some European stars.

Yannick L'Henoff (France) shows us her serious face.

Basque wrestler Janine Sorbadhill

"Basque" as in the people who live in the Pyrenees so no jokes, fellas.

.

If I hadn't found this pic in a wrestling magazine, I'd be convinced that this young lady was a model or a dancer. 

Some sort of glamour girl anyway. 

You know, I am convinced that some of these girls only hung around long enough to do a

 photoshoot or two then quit for a job that didn't involve being dropped on their heads. 

Has anybody ever seen a picture of Janine actually wrestling. 

"Wrestling Cop" Frank Holtz gets a two page feature. 

Supposedly he was a real-life police officer who was also a big mat star in Philadelphia. 

Another Karl now, this one being the semi-legendary "Master Of 1000 Holds" Karl Gotch. 

 Remember how I was talking about wrestlers with a legitimate rep? Gotch was one of them. 

 To this day he is revered in Japan

Supposedly there was a match he had with Lou Thesz (another bona-fide hardcase) where Karl accidentally broke Lou's ribs. Thinking he was being double-crossed, Lou promptly gave Karl a lesson in "real" wrestling. And won! 

There's a generous spread on famed Greek pro-wrestlers.

Luckily, unlike the old Olympic wrestlers, these guys kept their pants on.

1930s star George Kandilis displaying a magnificent moustache. 

Some more Greek (or Greek-American) grapplers, all of whom look like they'd 

pull your arms out of your sockets if you annoyed them. 

And lastly, try to imagine this advert appearing in a magazine nowadays.

That's right, folks, all you have to do is send me $3.98 and I will teach you how to freaking kill people!

It really was a whole different world back then. 

That's all folks.