ABE TOOK IT!

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 126, 31 May 1938, Page 15

ABE TOOK IT!

LAID OUT IN FIFTH.

STEELE SHOWS HIS METAL

ANSWERS WRESTLING QUERY.

"What do you consider the most effective wrestling hold?" Ray Steele was asked yesterday, when he landed from Niagara to begin a short wrestling tour of the Dominion. I. he Nebraskan heavy-weight, who has wrestled six title-holders and lost.to only one (Joe Steelier in 1927J, smiled.

Any ot tli«ni, if it it properly applied," lie said. "Once I was asked "Which is the most painful hold?' and I answered, 'Well, would you like to have your neck or your leg broken i That's what it amounts to."

Writhing in a semi-conscious condition on the mat at t>he Town Mall last night, alter live rounds with the Masterful Steele, Abe Yourist answered in the same strain! it was a dump that did it to him . . . but it might have been any of them. He wasn't woilying at that stage, an<l Steele claimed a two-fall victory on his New Zealand debut. The crowd gave him his due, but they said, in so many, words, "Next Saturday vou meet Lofty. What then, little man.'' Steele Bides His Time. Compact, remarkably quick on his feet, though he had just come from a long sea voyage, and with the resource of experience, Steele did not make the pace in the early stages. He left Yourist to do that, and for four rounds the clever Jewish wrestler kept hiin hard at work. Steele bided his "time, and when it came he wasted none. He went dowu under two tackles, but rose and cart-wheeled Yourist in the third attempt, applied his favourite ie\erse toe j hold from a standing position, was kicked off, but attacked again. He picked Yourist up and dumped him decisively and finally. It was the hardest dump seen here since Earl McOready threw thorn—and Yourist gave up the ghost. He was still tossing in agony on the mat when the gong went for the sixth, and then was given medical attention. He was able to leave the ring, however, under his own power.

Between the opening gong and that, the crowd, led by the two "Shea" (She who wise-cracks and She who laughs, back again at the ringside after eight months), had plenty to shout about. Yourist took the attacking position, with a wristlock arid then a head scissors, which made Steele show his talents as an operatic wrestler of the grunt and grimace gym . . . but that was just his tribute to Yourist while he got his shore-legs. A minute afterwards lie had Abe in a head scissors and arm-lock, was tipped over the ropes but came back to apply a short-arm scissors. Yourist, working hard, broke with a standing splits, and then there was a moment of exultation for the crowd. As Steele broke he stopped a jolt, went in hard with three that rattled Yourist— but was sent reeling with three in return, phis a kick in the chest that brought Yourist a warning as the gong sounded. Steele had the crowd on its feet again in the second, when, after being held in a rocking chair splits he broke suddenly to come up with an Indian death lock on Abe. It looked dangerous, but Yourist sent him star-gazing with a jolt—and the referee, Mr. Jack AlcLean, had to jump into the middle of a Donnybrook of flying arms. Again in the third the sabres rattled, and the heavy artillery of jolts came into action, with' Ray Steele in a '.'C'mon" fighting pose at the end. Yourist came, met a jolt and was tumbled, b\jt was on top with Steele arched in a body hold. Twice he w-as slammed from that position, but he slipped from under the third, and there was another jolting rally to the gong.

After tossing Steele in a wristlock Yourist aimed a tackle in the fourth, but met a double-arm fend, and was lucky to escape a press, being taken into the ropes with a dbiible leg-lock. Steele showed his quality again when he spun smartly to break a head-scissors, and jolts again closed the round. The end came in the opening minute of the fifth.

Remarkable among the matches of this 3*ear were the few warnings that were required Jast night. For the most part it was science against science, and there was disappointment for some of the crowd in that, but one remembered another remark pawed by Steele . . . "I rely on speed mainly, but I like to 'rough' it. I don't go out of my way to start it, but I like to hold my end up if it com*" Ferhap6 "we ain't seen nothin' yet!" Douglas Beats Match. M. Maioh looked a large 14.0 when he met Rod Douglas, 13.8, in the professional preliminary, but Douglas offset the disparity in weight with fast, aggressive I wrestling that provided plenty of excite-1 uiont. Douglas -took the match with a pub-1 minion fall from a Boston crab in the l fourth. *• j Mr. Jim Brown refereed the amateurs.! with Messrs. C. Browne and G. Heald as judges. T. Harvey (9.10) and B. Sigley (8.6) •provided the betjt amateur bout for some time, with Harvey winning with a press in the third. It was interesting all the way, with Sigley showing the initiative. The extra weight counted most. R. Williams won on points from A. Inglis (10.4). Inglis was unlucky not to get a fall in the second round. FRALEY AGAIN. } (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) I WELLINGTON", Monday. Clean and hard wrestling distinguished the Fraley-Blomfield match at the Town Hall, Wellington, to-night, Fraley winning by a single fall. •

• Fraley's coup was made with a flying toehold in the fifth round. Blomfield, after resisting for some moments, yielded a submission fall. Two rounds later he damned on an octopus hold, but was unable to rise to his feet ,to complete the movement, and the gong saved Fraley. Throughout the last round Fraley ran away from Blomfield, escaping time after •time through the ropes. The bout was watched by a packed house, but, -although Fraley's prolonged retreat in the last round drew laughter and a few programmes were thrown, the decision was received l>y the majority of the onlookers with equanimity. MOEN DRAWS WITH HEEEAH. (By Telegraph.—PreM Association.) INVERCARGILL, Monday. A professional wrestling contest to-night between Pat Meehan. 16.4, of Canada, and Andy Moen, 76.8. of the United States, resulted in a draw. Moen secured a fall with a body press 30s after the start of the first round and Meehan equalised with a body press in the sixth round.