Big crowd at wrestling

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 10

Big crowd at wrestling

(By R. T. BR/TTENDEN) Professional wrestling was really back in business last night: a full house at the Civic Theatre, scores turned away, and every expression of satisfaction with the string of amateur and three professional bouts—to say nothing of the display of strength, as an extra, from Hercules Carambo.

It was enough to make damp-eyed the devotees of the art since the days of McCready and Blomfield.

The capacity crowd really enjoyed ' itself, although it must be confessed that the quality of the fare was unexceptional. There was a distinct predictability about events which apparently went unnoticed; but each performer, in his own way, contri-

buted to the success of a hot and noisy night. Rusty Webster and Peter Lawlor did the old gentlemen v. players bit, this being resolved to Webster’s advantage, which was just as well, for otherwise the crowd might well have tom ths place apart. LIGHT WENT OUT

There were, in fact, some mishaps with the furniture. The large arc light over the ring went out during this bout, and when the brutal Bruno Bekker was with Mo Sakata, a comer padding came adrift and the ropes sagged sadly.

For such large gentlemen, Bekker and Sakata were extremely fast and active. They are both educated wrestlers, producing all the ploys and stratagems with practised ease and showing that they have advanced in their profession sufficiently to regard .a good kick in the stomach as hardly more important than passing the time of day.

Bekker won this on points. • decision which spoke volumes for the courage of the referee who made It. Then Hercules appeared . for his show of strength, a performance which pleased everybody, presumably, but Tony Garcia and Sakata, the opposing tag team for the final bout; they could not but regard it with misgiving. Hercules bent steel bars and six-inch nails with his teeth, on his nose, his back, his chest. He might even be good enough to hold his own with a French negotiator. COLOURFUL, TOO Hercules* partner for the tag was, Gorgeous Teddle Williams, whose principal contributions were fits of seeming rage, and the ensemble with which he entered the ring. White boots at one end, flowing tresses at the other, purple tights, with orange and cyclamen striped top, the whole beneath a magnificent floral dressing gown. Hercules had a Tarzan-type leopard skin outfit. The others were formal dressers.

Garcia: now there’s a wrestler who will attract the crowds. He is a very well-built, alert young man with a presence, and speed. He will no doubt be asked back again; he was good value. Sakata, notwithstanding his labours against Bekker, was called to the front again, in the absence of an injured Steve Rickard.

The tag bout was like most such encounters —infractions of the sketchy rules from first to last, villainy in quantity, heroism turned by frustration to baser emotions. Hercules exhibited his strength every now and theii; Garcia caught him in an arm bar, and Hercules tossed him away, straightening his arm as easily as if it were a sixinch nail. Blows and jolts seemed to puzzle him, as if they were the bites of small insects. Garcia proved himself a lively exponent of the drop-kick. There were some amusing moments—for the spectators.

HUMAN TRAMPOLINI One they enjoyed particularly was when G. T. Williams was held by an opponent by the arms, and his feet were tangled in the ropes, so that as he stretched out horizontally he S. .* n excellent trampoline. His adversaries took turns to leap-frog over each other on to the unhappy Williams. There was a great deal of head-butting, confusion, and chattering. It ended in the sixth two rounds before the scheduled end, but in nice time for the buses. Hercules held Garcia from behind. Williams drop-kicked his helpless opponent, but when he tried again, Garcia had gone and Hercules became the target area. All very corny. But audience reaction suggested the particinants could all go home with 'doLe Warm feeling of * job well