Mike Reviews Professional Wrestling on ITV World of Sport – 21.03.81

Greetings Grapple Fans!

We’ve got some more Professional Wrestling from ITV World of Sport for you today, with Peter Kaye (the wrestler, not the husky British comedian), Steve DiSalvo and Davey Boy Smith all making appearances this week

As always, the ITV Wrestling website is a good place to visit if you’d both like to learn more about classic British Wrestling, and also a place to watch some of the matches, as they have links to quite a few of them there available for you to stream with just a simple click

Dickie Davies is our host in the studio

Kent Walton is calling the action at the venue

These matches were held in Ashington in Northumberland on the 17th March 1981 and aired on ITV on the 21st March 1981

Dickie Davies is in the studio and lets us know that it’s now 1-1 between Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albion for those keeping up at home. Forest had of course recently won the European Cup of course. Poor Dickie does botch the score update mildly but saves it with his usual smoothness. Dickie then runs down the card for us today

Match One
Six Rounds, Five Minutes a Round
Peter Kaye Vs Kid Chocolate

Kaye also wrestled as Tally-Ho Kaye and was basically a snobby Heel character in the vein of a William Regal or Hunter Hearst Helmsley, with him sometimes dressing up like he was going on a fox hunt. Kid was from Dominica but settled in Bradford in the 1950’s and eventually took his name from a Bradford based boxer. He apparently also wrestled as The Banana Kid at one stage which was, to use what I believe is the correct lexicon, “problematic as fuck”. The latter nickname appeared to be forced on him whilst he actually chose the name he was using here so it’s a bit less awkward in that regard. We join this in the fourth round with it currently tied at 1-1 after Kaye took the first fall in the second round and Kid equalised in the third round.

Kid uses headbutts to keep putting Kaye on the mat, with the crowd cheering for that and clearly favouring him over Kaye. Kaye tries to reply with a Surfboard Stretch, but Kid fights that off and delivers more headbutts, as the crowd is into this. Kaye focuses more on trying to tie Kid up in holds whilst Kid tries to focus more on using strikes, leading to Kaye putting Kid in some kind of leg based submission as the round ends.

Fifth Round

Kaye keeps going for the leg, with Kid selling it well and Kaye getting a public warning for not breaking the hold on the referee’s instruction. Three of those and Kaye gets DQ’ed. For those following the scores in the football; Man United are currently leading Ipswich Town 2-1. Kid starts making more and more desperate attempts to fight back, but he can’t fight Kaye off any further as Kaye locks in a Torture Wrack move that also incorporates a grab of Kid’s injured leg for the deciding fall.

WINNER: PETER KAYE (2-1)
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was fine. Kid didn’t get to do much outside of selling and delivering headbutts, but he was good at both of those things at least so the action was watchable. Kaye mostly did leg based submissions and worked the crowd, and he was decent at that. Not one you need to go out of your way to see but “perfectly cromulent” as a certain sharp-witted British Columbian might say…

After an advert break we’re back in the World of Sport studio, where Dickie let’s us know that Jimmy Nicholl got the goal for Man United in that aforementioned score update before sending us back to Kent in Ashington. Ipswich were apparently top of the First Division at the time, which is what the top division in England was called before the Premier League

Match Two
Six Rounds, 5 Minutes a Round
Mighty Yankee Vs Pete Roberts

Yankee would perhaps be better known as Steve DiSalvo, who was trained by Red Bastien and went through all the major North American promotions of the 1980’s and 1990’s including AWA, WWF and WCW. Roberts was a mid-card guy for most of the 1960’s and 70’s, but then he had a successful tour of Japan and came back as “The Super Destroyer”, leading to him wrestling all the top stars of the 1980’s and finally achieving commercial acclaim to go with the critical acclaim he already had for his solid work. We join this one in the Second Round with it currently being tied at 0-0.

Second Round

Yankee is a lot more jacked up than Roberts and doesn’t really understand the British Rules due to American’s doing the “all-in” style where there isn’t a ten count when you knock an opponent down and you can attack a downed opponent whilst you can’t in British Wrestling. Roberts appears to be the much slicker wrestler both in kayfabe and real-life, as he gets the better of things when it’s just straight wrestling and he catches Yankee with a School Boy OUTTA NOWHERE to take the first fall.

Mighty Yankee 0 – 1 Pete Roberts

Third Round

Yankee sticks to trying to club away on his smaller opponent whilst going for power based moves, whilst Roberts focuses on speed and technical wrestling, making for an interesting clash of styles that makes up somewhat for Yankee being greener than a piece of broccoli. Yankee flings Roberts into the corner with an Irish Whip and goes to a Canadian Backbreaker, but Roberts slips out and takes Yankee down with some quick shoulder tackles and a single leg takedown. The British crowd enjoys seeing the big dumb American getting shown up, with Yankee eventually getting a public warning for continuing to club away in the corner without giving a clean break, leading to Roberts delivering some of his own in a fun bit, which the referee seemingly allows because turn about is fair play I guess. Yankee gets his second public warning for continuing to club away. One more and he’s DQ’ed.

Fourth Round

Roberts keeps going after the left leg of Yankee when he can. Interestingly in British Rules you can’t hit a downed opponent in the same way you can’t hit a downed opponent in boxing, but if it’s all part of one fluid movement or sequence then you can. For instance; Roberts snapmare’s Yankee down at one point but he holds on and then delivers a big jumping elbow drop, which the referee seems okay with. Yankee can seemingly only club away in the corner as he doesn’t seem to have much else in his arsenal. Yankee does finally use another move, in this case a Bear Hug, and that’s enough to win the second fall. However, Yankee then stands on Roberts following the fall, which leads to his third public warning, meaning he gets himself DQ’ed

Mighty Yankee 1 – 2 Pete Roberts

WINNER: PETE ROBERTS (2-1)
RATING: *3/4

Thoughts: I wonder if Yankee got himself legitimately DQ’ed there because he forgot the rules and the referee called it as a shoot? It was a total wet fart of a finish otherwise, although I could see it setting up rematches at the halls following this. Yankee was pretty much useless here but Roberts was smooth as silk and got Yankee through it all as best as he could

After the ads we’re back in the studio with Dickie, who lets us know that the relegation six pointer between Leicester City and Crystal Palace is currently tied at 1 a piece. Dickie then sends us to the final match of the afternoon

Match Three
Six Rounds, Five Minutes a Round
“Ironfist” Clive Myers Vs Young David

Myers was not only a respected pro wrestler but he was also well-regarded in the amateur ranks and was also known as a powerful arm wrestler. Ironfist was a name given to him in order to play into his legitimate toughness and athletic credibility. Young David is an extraordinarily skinny Davey Boy Smith before he moved to Canada and discovered, let’s say, chicken (Yes, chicken, that should cover me legally) and ingested enough of it that he barely resembled the person he was before. We join this in the second round with the score currently 0-0

Second Round

Despite being so young, Davey is already pretty technically sound here, as he’s able to do some decent stuff on the mat before catching Myers with a roll-up OUTTA NOWHERE to take the lead. That was slickly done and Myers even gives David a respectful nod for being able to catch him out like that.

Clive Myers 0 – 1 Young David

Third Round

This continues to be a respectful bout, as they shake hands following David getting out of a hold leading to fast rope running sequence that’s done with immense skill and is very exciting to watch. David looks like he should be in an episode of Byker Grove rather than in a wrestling ring at this stage, but the wrestling continues to be good, with them even working some comedy into it as well with David trying to distract Myers by winking at someone in the crowd whilst being locked in a wishbone hold. For all you Spurs fans at home, you’re currently 2-0 to the good on Aston Villa at White Hart Lane. Meanwhile, at Upton Park it’s West Ham 1-1 Oldham Athletic. David gets a nice spinning tilt-a-whirl slam but the round ends before a pin can be made.

Fourth Round

As the round starts, we learn that West Brom are now 2-1 up on Nottingham Forest, as I’m sure Brian Clough had a dry comment about it from the touchline. David continues to do well for himself here, but Myers gets a couple of leapfrogs to confound the youngster before catching David with a roll-up to tie things up at 1-1, leading to another respectful handshake between the two.

Clive Myers 1 – 1 Young David

Fifth Round

The crowd has almost been like a Japanese crowd at points here, as they’re watching on quietly and respectfully as the two wrestle with the occasional round of applause or cheer depending on what they’re witnessing in the ring. They do some nice stuff on the mat, with them using holds more as a way to transition into a pin if possible, with less of a focus on trying to get the submission, which is an interesting approach that works quite well. There’s a fantastic knuckle lock sequence where they both keep flipping one another in an effort to get on top of the other, with Kent clearly appreciating it on commentary. David busts out a prototypical German Suplex, but Myers sort of flips over whilst taking the move more like he was taking a waist lock takedown, perhaps because he wasn’t quite sure what David was going for.

Sixth Round

They do a tremendous fishtails pin sequence at the start of the round that somehow doesn’t end in one of them getting a three count whilst Kent sounds like he’s having the time of his life sitting at the commentary desk. Sadly the finish comes not from a slick counter or cool move but from David getting knocked out from a Myers slam, which is either a shoot or a top class acting job from everyone involved, as the referee just stops everything when Myers lands on Smith. Myers refuses victory though and it’s called a no contest, which makes me think it was all a work or they just did a very good job of adlibbing at the end.

NO CONTEST
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: Kent Walton’s enjoyment of this one really shone through on commentary and it definitely added to the contest for me. This match was all kinds of fun and definitely worth a watch if you’ve never seen it. Davey Boy Smith looked like a star in the making already, although he’d never quite become the fast moving technical wizard that was teased here due to him gaining so much mass, but he was still a darn good wrestler in his prime even when he was filled with more chicken than your nearest Nando’s

In Conclusion

All about the Main Event this week, but it was a good bout to close on. If only they’d got someone better than a green jacked up Yank for Pete Roberts to wrestle then this might have been a really great episode as opposed to an okay one with a good Main Event

If you’d like to read any more reviews of Professional Wrestling on ITV then feel free to check the archives

Have a good week, till next week!