Film Review : The Fist Of Death (Mexico 1982)

 

  In an unspecified kingdom that's somewhere in Asia, or possibly Africa, and definitely not Florida, two beautiful princesses fall out over a magical Star of Great Power

 When one decides to become evil and seizes the stone, the good guys decide to call in that international man of mystery ... SANTO.

 There's some other stuff about a "Jungle Girl" who is rather disappointingly dressed in a demure white frock rather than a fur bikini and she's apparently getting married to a Chinese prince.

I think. 

So, you would expect Santo to arrive on the scene fairly quickly, what with the fate of the Stone, the kingdom and two hot women at stake.  Not really.  The first half of the movie has Santo and unfunny sidekick getting off a flight, onto a boat, onto another flight and then onto another boat just to get to where the good princess lives. But since she's already buggered off, Santo and co. end up on yet another sodding boat.  Luckily this lets him arrive just in time for the climax. 

 Just so you don't think you're watching a travelogue, there are a fights en route, as the bad guys try to stop him. None of them last very long or excite interest, although the mook falling into a propeller and getting bisected is a bit different. 

  Honestly, if there's anybody who's really the star of this film it's the voluptuous  Grace Renat pulling double duty as good princess Queria and bad girl Kungyan. 

 See if you can tell which is which here?

  Whereas wholesome Queria is there to be in peril, Kungyan gets to show off her...

Voodoo Dance Moves!

 Can you tell that this woman is a professional cabaret dancer? 

 Now let me remind who who the star of this movie is supposed to be;

To be fair, Santo does look pretty good for a 62 year old. And he does get into some action as the evil Kungyan uses her magic to try and stop him.

 First she changes herself into ..whatever the fuck this is supposed to be.

 Of course he fails because Santo is Santo and this is just a dude with the fluff off a barbershop floor glued to him.  Then Kungyan becomes a tiger.  Although this is not as menacing as the director was hoping.

 

 Personally I'd have advised Kungyan to jsut send a few blokes with M-16s but whatever. 

Finally Santo clashes with our buxom villain's big, bad henchman

Wearing a dark visor indoors in  dimly lit cave. No wonder you got your ass kicked, mate.

Exit Kunyang to rethink her plans and hiring strategy, before coming back for the sequel. 

The Star Of Great Power is returned to the lady who will use the power for good rather than turning into crap monsters and everybody is happy.

 As you can probably guess, there are bits I liked about this movie and by "bits" I mean "watching Grace Renata enthusiastically jiggling"  Otherwise, the story is thin and padded out, the action is lacklustre and Santo almost arrives late for his own movie. 

At no point is there anything remotely resembling a "Fist Of Death"

To sum up: If you like voodoo dance moves then this is the film for you. If you like Luchasploitation movies then Santo's earlier stuff is probably a better bet. 

Thats All Folks!

Japanese Women Wrestling 1969

 Hello out there.

I recently picked up a copy of "Skill Magazine" from 1969. It's a bit of a mixed bag covering boxing, pro-wrestling and bodybuilding but it's the cover that's relevant here. 

I love the expression on Miyuki's face. Definitely an air of "Oh this is gonna suck"

Womens Wrestling In Comics: Jaime Hernandez - Queen of The Ring

 

  I've previously mentioned  Love And Rockets and the offshoot Whoa Nelly! in the context of women's Pro Wrestling so when I heard that Jaime Hernandez was releasing a book of his unpublished wrestling drawings I promptly added it to my shopping  list. 

  I don't feel like I wasted my £15.32 because what I received was a decent sized, nicely bound  hardback book on quality paper and the contests were equally impressive. 

 What you get is a mixture of "pinups", "magazine covers" and "action shots" mostly presented as standalone pieces, although Mr Hernandez does pop up from time to time to offer commentary on his creative process.  

 The artwork is really very good. Not over-fussy but with some impressive touches with movement and personality. 

 The whole book comes across as a loving tribute to the 70s wrestling era; when lady wrestlers were solidly built women with solidly built hair and unflattering Mom swimsuits, and almost certainly hard as nails. 

I think if you're a fan of   Love and Rockets or old-school women's wrestling, you will like this. 

That's All Folks

Wrestling Reports October 1964

 A few days ago I got a comment on one of my older posts.

TheWrestlingNick posted :

"Hi. I wonder could you possibly check for me if there's any article about wrestling in Northern Ireland in this issue? And if so, would there be any chance you could provide me a scan of it? Requests from a complete stranger I know!"

 As it turned out, yes there was a little piece about Irish wrestling tucked away near the back so I dug my scaner out from under a pile of books and here it is. If it turns out that one of the wrestlers named is a relative of yours, Nick, then I'd love to hear about it. 

 I figured I might as well scan the rest of the mat reports as well so here they are in no particular order. 

 

This next one mentions two familiar names. 

Jim Breaks who was a  regular on World of Sport well into the 1980s

and Peter Maivia who would go onto star in American rings as well as being The Rock's grandfather.

                                          I did check and I managed to find a little profile on Mihalya Kuty on Wrestling Heritage.

https://wrestlingheritage.co.uk/kkostas.htm

I do find it fascinating that these days you can see a match result on the net about ten minutes after the bell sounds. You can even watch the match itself on any numbr of platforms.

Meanwhile in 1964 if you wanted to know what was going on outside your area then you either hoped your local tv station covered that promotion or you got the magazine weeks, months later. 

 A few more notable names here: Gypsy Joe - now mainly known from his infamous hardcore match with New Jack when he was about 70 - plus some lady wrestlers. I find the idea of Hobo Brazil fascinating. I wonder how many people didn't read the poster properly and  thought they were getting Bobo Brazil. 

 

 Just a reminder that there were promotions all around the country who all had their own stars and champions.

Tim Woods would later go on to be the first Mr Wrestling 

I do find it ineretesting that the USA and UK both had wrestlers called Skull Murphy who had absolutely no connection to each other and wrestled in different decades. Maybe some rings names are too good not to reuse. 

 A number of familiar names but of particular note is the prediction that Pedro Morales "will be a real contender"

And you know what, they were right. 

That's All Folks

 

Been reading: John Cosper - The Ballad of Cousin Elvira (2020)

 

   The Amazon desciption:

"In the golden age of grappling, the ladies took a back seat to no one. Champion Mildred Burke worked the main event every night for nearly two decades. Throughout the 1940s, no one pushed the champ to the limit quite like Elvira Snodgrass. A redheaded firebrand from Varnado, Louisiana, Gutherine Fuller left the farm life behind for the glitz and glam of the squared circle. As Elvira Snodgrass, she catapulted to fame alongside Burke and the other queens of the ring. Elvira won the fans over with her “aw shucks” demeanor and scufflin’ style. Then she broke their hearts, transforming into rule-breaking heel who would do anything to win. Once lost to history because of her early death, the tale of Elvira Snodgrass is a rollicking ride through one of the most exciting eras in professional wrestling and the inspirational journey of a fiercely independent woman.  From her surprise early title win as Betty Nichols to the tragic car accident that ended her career, you’ve got a ringside seat to rediscover one of the biggest and brashest stars of the 1940s. Just remember to stay in your seat and keep your hands to yourself. This is one lady you do not want to cross"

Betwen the blurb and the cover picture showing wrestling legend Mildred Burke getting tied by a cheerful looking redhead, I was immediately sold.

 I have to admit that although I'd heard of Elvira Snodgrass - really, who is ever going to forget that name? - I didn't really know much about her and had always assumed she was one of many women who had a career in wrasslin' but never made it into the top ranks. 

 As this book makes it very clear, Elvira Snodgrass was kind of a big deal and may have been one of the biggest draws of the 1940s, male or female. 

  Gutherine Fuller grew up in a dirt poor part of Louisiana and left husband and family behind to find a better life as a lady wrestler. After several name changes Gutherine became  Elvira Snodgrass a "scuffling" hillbilly grappler with a mean right hook and a tendency to beat up opponents and referees alike. Even when she glammed up in later years Elvira was still a one woman wrecking crew and all this made her the #2 woman wrestler in America, right behind Mildred Burke, and guaranteed to put bums in seats wherever she went. Elvira Snodgrass and Mildred Burke headlined all across the country which is something that seems astonishing these days, when it's only recently  that the WWE have allowed their latest generation of women wrestlers into the headline slots. 

  So yes, this book does go some way to restoring the repuation of a woman that was a genuine pioneer but seems to have slipped through the cracks of wrestling history. 

 If I have one criticism of "The Ballad..." it's that the book does tend to lean heavily towards a listing of Elvira's travels and opponents and it would have been nice to get some more personal moments from the lady herself or her opponents.  Still, from little snippets here or there, you do get a sense of  what a bonafide tough nut this interesting lady was. My favourite spot in the entire book is when she's in her hotel, heading back to her room, the lift doors open and Elvira spots a fan who'd laid hands on her during that night's match.  Dragging the man into the lft, she proceeds to have words with him, leaving the foolish fan shaken and alarmed without her ever laying a single finger on him.   

 Definitely a formidable woman and I think I'd have liked to meet her.  

 To sum up: maybe a bit dry but if you are interested in old-school wrestling, you might find this well worth a read. As a bonus you get a good selection of vintage  photos you won't see anywhere outside a newspaper library

                                                                                              The back cover. 

 

That's all folks

 

 

 

Been Reading: El Bandito - The Autobiography of Orig Wiliams

 "In Pakistan he was stoned by the crowd at a packed Lahore Cticket Stadium and had to flee for his life. In Turkey the crowd burnt down the stadium where he'd been performing. Wherever Orig Williams, or El Bandito (as he was known in the ring) took his wrestling shows abroad there were always complications and tribulations"

    This is a book I picked up on a whim and I'm glad I did.  Orig Williams was definitely one of  wrestling's characters. Born in a small, fiercely Welsh town full of hardcases, Williams was conscripted into the RAF, spent a lively career as a pro footballer, culminating in  becoming chieftain of a football team that terrorised Welsh football , then moved into Pro Wrestling as a performer and promoter. All the while being an ardent champion of Wales and Welsh culture. 

 So there's plenty of interest here: Orig Williams comes across as a smart man with no time for fools, especially fools in suits, as well as a man who made a career in wrestling the hard way.: wrestling and promoting where 

other men feared to tread. If that meant touring Ireland at the height of The Troubles, recruiting lady wrestlers and  wrestling in a ring overrun with giant insects, so be it. 

 My one criticism is that this is quite a slim book and there must have been hundreds of stories left out.

If you fancy a look at the old days of British Wrestling - the days of tent shows, village halls and old-school hard-nuts - you might want to give this a go.  

The Unique Logic Of Pro Wrestling

Disclaimer: I've been a wrestling fan for most of the last 40 years. Just so you know. 

  Professional Wrestling is a unique form of entertainment. Loosely based upon an ancient sport in the same way that a Jumbo is based on a kite, Pro Wrestling is part soap-opera, part morality-play, part stunt-show and these days, part self-aware pastiche of itself.

 This does mean that Wrestling has it's own set of "rules" and tropes that make sense only within context.

Or to put it another way: Stuff happens in pro-Wrestling that only makes sense if you accept that it's wrestling and roll with it.  Here's a few.

1. Employers have no control whatsoever over their employees.
 Most other places one or more employees running riot, refusing to play the game and literally kicking their employers in the balls would be met with a p45 and doubling the security force.  Wrestling? Nope.
  In what will become a definite pattern, the only way for say, Vince McMahon, to deal with one of his workforce playing up is to have one of his other workers (try) to beat him up.  This rarely works.

2. Rules? What rules?
     Winning a match by twatting your opponent with a chair is bad but for some reason, doing it in front of 20,000 people and a TV audience of millions has no repercussions whatsoever.  Cricket will spend 15 minutes going over camera footage to see if a toe was an inch over a chalk-line but the WWE will show the footage of (insert babyface here) getting coldcocked by a rival manager and go "Meh. what can you do." *Shrug*
 Of course the babyface might get a chance to face the villain again, in which case exactly the same thing will  happen again.

3. The Good, The Bad and the Good Again.   
    In theory babyfaces are the heroic good guys while heels are cheating, dastardly villains. The weird part is, when a good guy turns bad, they will wrestle in the exact same way, using the exact same moves and usually wearing the exact same outfit.  They might insult the audience a bit in promos but other than that, what's the actual difference?   And anyway, wrestlers dance back and forth across the line so often that you need a crib sheet to remember if he's supposed to be cheered or not.

Don't even get me started on "babyfaces" that get booed or "Heels" that are adored by the crowd.

4. Sucker Punches Do More Damage. 
   Picture the scene. Our hero is walking down the corridor backstage when out of nowhere a big, nasty bastard lunges out of the shadows and starts kicking his head in. Three minutes later our boy is lying flat on his back and not moving. He may even be in no fit state to wrestle tonight. The Horror.

Except...  the exact same two people had a match last week where they beat the living shit out of each other: punches, kicks, hitting each other with bits of wood, crashing through tables, piledrivers and suplexes and powerbombs, oh my.
  It took thirty frigging minutes of violence and the bad guy still couldn't put the good guy away. How come he's now out cold after a rabbit punch and boot in the ribs?

5. You wait right there so I can hurt you some more. 
  Because modern wrestling is so dependent on flashy moves these days, it can look a bit odd when one man is down and stunned but instead of, you know pinning his ass, the other wrestler decides to climb on the top rope, pose a bit then hit their flippy, spinny dive-y thing.
 Extra silly points if the prone opponent recovers and gets out of the way.
Double extra-silly points if they visibly shuffle into position.  

Any spot which involves a table or any kind of prop is so much worse because it means the target has to lie there looking vaguely silly while hoping the flyboy doesn't slip off the top rope.

6. All Of You wait right there so I can hurt you some more.
   CM Punk recently pointed out that one of today's common "spots" - the one where a cluster of wrestlers stand there waiting for somebody else to dive out of the ring onto them - looks a bit silly. I really can't argue with this. It's almost like they're hanging around to catch him or something...

7. Everything gets settled in the ring.  Everything. 
  Courts?..Police?.. Child protection?...HR? Hah! Pro Wrestling has no need of such things. The only way to settle any kind of dispute, up to and including attempted murder, is for two men to step inside the squared circle and beat each other up using the standard moves.

Impact wrestling did a storyline last year where one girl got stabbed in the throat and the fallout from this was... a wrestling match. Because apparently getting pinned is such a fitting punishment for fucking killing somebody. 
  Not even the weirdest part of that whole saga.


That's all I've got for now but I bet there's others that come to mind. What great examples of pro Wrestling Logic have you seen lately? 

That's All folks. 

DVD Review: Silver (1999)

  A family is brutally murdered by a secretive yet powerful criminal society.  Years later the surviving daughter is recruited by Japan's Secret Service.
  Jun Shirogane is sent undercover as a Woman wrestler; her mission - to deal with criminals who cannot be touched by regular means and in the process avenge her slaughtered family.

  I saw this one on an IMDB list and "Silver" seemed to tick a lot of my boxes.  I like wrestling. I like women's wrestling. I like weird Japanese films  and the Takashi Miike films I've seen thus far were pretty cool.

  The thing is, I watched "Hara-Kiri" and "13 Assassins"  which are Takashi Miike paying tribute to the classic samurai movies.  Miike is also famous for certain other films which , I gather, are notorious for pushing the boundaries of taste.

  What I was expecting was something daft but fun, where a spandex-clad cutie beats up improbable bad guys. (Basically a live-action Cutey Honey minus the shape-changing.)  There really isn't much of that in this film.

  What I got was a film where a dominatrix pisses into a glass - while doing a backward crab pose no less - then forces a cowering banker to drink it.  

  Just so we're clear on this, I'm not remotely entertained by that kind of thing.

 I could also have done without the overlong sex-scene, or the whipping scene or the bit where a crucified man gets his horse-sized dick smacked with a studded paddle.

 By contrast, if you're expecting much wrestling in a movie about a female wrestler, you're wasting your time.
  The showdown between our heroine and the evil dominatrix comes in two acts, neither of them much to write home about.
  And when a promising new villain is introduced there's some talking, a tiny bit of scrapping, more talking and then the film suddenly cuts off. Since there was never a sequel I guess we'll never know what the bloody hell that was all about.

 I have a theory that Miike was paying tribute to some of the tough-gal anime/movies of yesteryear . Cutey Honey is one reference point. The yo-yo-wielding heroine of Sukeban Deka is another, what with Jun's favourite weapon being rapid-fire coin-flicking.  I don't remember anybody drinking piss in either of those but maybe that was cut out of the UK releases, I dunno.

My alternative theory is that the director was just trolling everybody.

"Silver" is not a fun film to watch. Even without the unpleasant elements, there's very little here to get excited about because too much of the film is dull, half-hearted and barely coherent.

To sum up: I did not enjoy "Silver"  and having to watch somebody drinking piss is only one of the reasons why.

 

What The Hell. Here's Some Women Wrestling Pictures.

There's clearly a lot of people out there who like their old-school women's wrestling so how about I make you all  a little happier and put up some pics I happen to have lying about.

 Shirley Strimple rolls out of the way and Ramona Teselle lands on the ref instead. 

The refs must have hated working the ladies matches as the poor sods were always getting battered. 

If they didn't have a couple of big girls using them as a cash mat then one would just lose her rag and try to attack him. 

You can see an expression of weary resignation on this ref's face. 

I think this is a French match from somewhere in the 1960s and I think the woman in Leopard print is Nady Jacky. 

Since my knowledge of Eeuropean women's wrestling is minimal I can't really say much more than that. 

Mari Akagi tries to break her opponent's arm. 

The first time I saw pictures of Japanese women wrestlers I was astonished. 

Even back then they seemed a lot more athletic and ferocious than the US/UK I was used to. 

The late, great mae Young is apparently after divine assistance in this match.

Not how the referee is wearing a cheap t-shirt because he knows it's getting ripped off at some point.  

Holy crap.  Mexican luchadoras don't fuck about do they?

Hope you liked these and I'll see you soon. 

Taya Valkyrie in Impact Wrestling

(Sorry I haven't updated for a while. Life kept getting in the way.) 

   I have to admit, when I heard that Taya Valkyrie was coming to Impact/GFW/Whatever it is this week I perked up somewhat. 

  

   I've been thinking for a while that the Knockouts Dvision desperately needed some more depth, especially since half their current roster doesn't actually wrestle that much.  Taryn Terell has only done run-ins, Allie mainly does mixed matches or backstage stuff and poor Laurel Van Ness has spent recent months alternatively insane, acting as arm candy for Kongo Kong or being courted by Grado.  I wonder if she's upset somebody... 

  So having a statuesque, bona-fide Lucha Libre star rock up in the Impact Zone could only be a positive thing. I'm already looking forward to some fun matches against Rosemary and with a bit of luck Taya Valkyrie will bump into Sienna at some point down the line. 

There's just one thing I have an issue with and I acknowledge it's a bit petty. 

Taya's ring gear.

Not all of it though. The robes are awesome, perfectly suiting the Warrior Queen look she's going for. And I like the one-piece leotard which makes more sense to me than the crop-top & shorts Rave Gear that's the vogue these days.  The only bit I have an issue with is what's on her feet.

 Sorry Taya but much as I think you're awesome, I really don't like the Neanderthal legwarmers you're rocking here. Don't they slow you down at all?

  Please don't track me down and hurt me.

I'll leave with one final thought.

Look at this picture.

 One of these women is a much-loved babyface. If you don't follow Impact Wrestling, can you work out which is which?

Hint: it's the woman with a skull for a face.

Wrestling gets strange sometimes. 

That's all folks. 

Debbie Combs

Evening all.

 I thought I'd post a couple of scans I've had lying around for a while. These feature a second-generation lady wrestler who got around a lot during the 1980s-early 1990s wrestling for any promotion that booked ladies: Debbie Combs.  

  

Debbie is having a bad day courtesy of the much-missed Sherri Martel (1985ish)

  Years later Debbie dishes out some punishment to "Awesome" Ondy Austin. (1990?)

   Note the contrast in ring gear. 

Debbie is still rocking the classic swimsuit combo while Ondy's hair and outfit are more modern-looking. 

 I'm sure I have some more lady wrestler pics kicking around if you want to see them. 

Anyway for now, that's all folks. 

Misty Blue Simmes

Last year I put up some pics of Misty Blue Simmes in action and one of my readers asked if I had any more.  I said "I'll have a look..." and promptly got distractd by a bunch of other stuff. For 6 months.

Oops. 

  So to make up for it, I had a dig through some old scrapbooks and managed to dig out more shots of the woman who was, at one point, being hailed as "The saviour of women's wrestling"

  

Even More British Lady Wrestlers

   Since I seem to be creatively bankrupt at the moment and since I had some pics left over from teh alst post, how about I drop another load of UK grappling gals on you all?

  Some of these may have already appeared on Sabreblade's blog: http://womensprowrestling.blogspot.co.uk/

  Nicky Monroe gets her arms stretched by Tina Starr. 

I have a soft spot for "Naughty Nicky" because she was the first lady wrestler I ever got to see in action.

Nicky was also adept at switching between Face and Heel depending on the audience.

Tina Starr was always a face and with her slim, athletic figure might have done well in the USA. 

I say "Might" because for some reason British girls don't seem to have done well over the Atlantic-

 although some got to work in Japan, Europe and Nigeria. 

Kathy "Busty" Keegan twists her prone opponent's arm while Nicky Monroe has a go at refereeing. 

I remember that TV:Am once had Mitzi Mueller and Busty Keegan (in leotards) on to demonstrate some moves. 

Sadly neither of them kicked the shit out of Roland Rat although Brian Glover came close to 

gettting a punch in the gob when he decided to have some fun at Mitzi's expense. The look on her face... 

I wonder why they used to bill Kathy as "Busty Keegan"? 

Oh. Right. I get it now.

That's Mitzi Mueller looking ferocious as she tries to squeeze Busty's guts out of her nose.   

 Mitzi Mueller was easily the biggest name in British women's wrestling all through the 1970s & 1980s

I think that's Lolita Loren really wanting to be somewhere else right now. 

Meanwhile the referee is politely explaining that whatever she's planning is probably illegal. 

I do love the grandad in the front row looking at the camera as if to say "This beats darts, hey?"

Actually let's take a moment to talk about the guys in the front row.  With one possible exception they are all blokes, 

not the kids and grannies that became associated with UK wrestling towards the end of the World of Sport days. 

 I wonder why that happened and how I can blame Big Daddy for it? 

Mitzi didn't always have it her own way. At the moment her immediate future looks 

unpleasant courtesy of  the she-colossus that was Hellcat Haggerty. 

Hmm. Naughty Nicky...Mitzi Mueller..Klondyke Kate..Hellcat Haggerty..

British women wrestlers seem inordinately fond of alliterative names. 

Angel McManus (No relation to Mick) throttles Klondyke Kate.

By this point Kate would have spent the entire bout battering Angel and winding up the crowd 

so when the babyface snapped and openend a can of woopass I guarantee the punters would have gone utterly nuts.  

Technically breaking the rules but *shrugs* anybody that bothered? 

I think the villain in white is the UK version of Lady Satan. (Sue Brittain under a mask IIRC)

No idea who the girl in blue is. It is entirely possible this caused her to have some doubts about her career in wrestling. 

British wrestlers could be quite hard on newcomers. William Regal spent the early part of his career 

getting battered by the old guard who wanted to establish their place in the pecking order. 

If you survived that, they might start respecting you. 

  I doubt the UK girls were much different. 

  "Leather" Lena makes a young Paula Valdez howl.  

I'm so used to seeing the late, great Princess Paula as this arrogant heel that I was

astonished to discover that she spent the early part of her career as a babyface. 

Going by the beerbottles on display, this may very well have been taking part in a Working Man's Club.

Have a few beers with the missus, have a game of darts with your mates, watch two girls try to maim each other then finish with the Meat Raffle!

Bygone days indeed. 

Lena with a scary face and a scarier haircut tries to rip her opponent's head off.

Even the ref looks horrified.

Lena Blair is now an artist and by all accounts quite a good one.  

That's all folks. 

Some British Ladywrestlers For You.

  I rather enjoyed the World of Sport wrestling revival the other night. I used to sit and watch the old programme religiously every Saturday afternoon so it was nice to be able to see British wrestlers on British TV working for a British company.  Thankfully nobody involved in the godawful Celebrity Wrestling was allowed anywhere near World of Sport so the result was pretty good. There were a few snags that could do with being worked out - cutting away to the crowd just as a big spot happened was a bit dumb - but I liked the matches and the variety on offer.

It would be nice if WOS Wrestling became a regular thing but ITV can't make money off it through phonelines so I won't hold my breath.

 Congratulations are in order for the two young ladies who had the very first women's match on World Of Sport.

  Alexis Rose

 Viper

  Sadly British women wrestlers were banned from TV and although the ban was lifted in the Mid-80s that was only in Wales.  S4C used the likes of Nicky Monroe and Klondyke Kate on their Reslo programme while the rest of us got the odd valet appearance from Princess Paula. 

   Or to put it another way, I think you could put every single bit of existing 1970s/80s footage on to one Youtube playlist and watch it while waiting for the Sunday joint to cook.  Depressing or what?

  Luckily there are slightly more photos around so I thought I'd share some that I found  over the years.

I don't remember where I got them all, so if I don't cite references it's more incompetence than deliberate malice.  I'm pretty certain I found some on Sabreblade's various sites so if you want to see more, go check out his blog  which is very, very cool.

 http://womensprowrestling.blogspot.co.uk/

   Jean Hackenschmidt - probably no relation to the more famous George - toured the UK with a troupe of Lady Wrestlers in the 1930s.  This may have been one of the reasons why so many town councils banned Pro Wrestling. (British wrestling was always a lot more rowdy than World of Sport would have you believe.) The GLC didn't allow women wrestlers to perform again until decades later.

 Sue Brittain twists her unknown opponents foot (1970s) 

British girl grapplers were lumbered with some horrible, horrible outfits over the years.

Baggy leotards, unflattering tights and generally looking like something a middleaged housewife would wear  to keep-fit. Ugh.

There were a few exceptions. Step forward  "Leather" Lena Blair. 

That actually looks like something American or Japanese  wrestlers would wear but then again, Lena did work in both countries. I wonder if somebody puller her aside on her first day on tour and told her to ditch the granny gear?  That's Rusty Blair hurriedly moving out of the way.

Fun fact: If you watch early trailers for women's wrestling movie All The Marbles Rusty can briefly be spotted in one shot.
Apparently her and Mitzi Mueller filmed some stuff which was cut out of the final movie. 

That's a young Nicky Monroe getting choked by a young Leather Lena. 

Viv Martell was one of British wrestling's great pinups in the 1970s.

This pic is from her interview in Mayfair magazine. 

I have this forlorn hope that there's a small stack of film cannisters somewhere that has action footage of Viv,
 Mitzi Mueller, Akala Jan, Leather Lena and Blackfoot Sue.  There's plenty of footage around for American and Japanese women
so wouldn't it be nice if the Brits had the same archive?

It was nice to see Klondyke Kate getting some respect on the World Of Sport Special.

I got to see her in action a few times and she was a fantastic heel. 

  Two British legends get ready to duke it out. Rusty Blair and Mitzi Mueller were both champions at the time: Rusty the World champ and Mitzi was British & European champion.
  I can remember Mitzi doing a few TV programmes back in the day  - quiz & talk shows - but I never got to see her wrestle.

  What the hell. Let's finish with a brace of  clips.  

Mitzi on a TV talk show. 

 And four of the top women stars in a tag match. 

That's all folks.