WRESTLING

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 62, 11 September 1945, Page 9

WRESTLING

SEARCH FOR CHAMPION

TOURNEY STARTS

The Wellington Wrestling Association is conducting an invitation tournament aimed at finding a local professional light-heavyweight champion, and last night the first of'the elimination contests were held at the Town Hall. Though the attendance was not as large as might have been expected the displays provided in the two contests staged were such as to merit much greater public support for the remaining programmes. The event is being decided on a "knock-out" basis —one defeat means that the particular wrestler has no further interest in the tournament. Nor are drawn contests allowed. The result is that most of the unnecessary frills with which the local professionals have been accustomed to adorn (?) their performances are necessarily eliminated as they attend to the important matter of winning their bouts. Last night's crowd took a while to appreciate the difference between what they were seeing and what v/as provided for their entertainment last year, but the second bout of the evening kept the onlookers keenly interested and often greatly excited. Tom Wright and Jack Prestney were the successful contestants, their victims being Gunner Cook and Clem Shannon respectively. <TWO FALLS TO ONE. Tom Wright (12st 91b) beat Gunner Cook (12st 91b) by two falls to one. The first round produced a variety of holds with the honours fairly eveniy divided. Except for an elbow ]olt by Wright it was essentially straight wrestling. The second round opened in more spectacular style. Cook /ailed to connect properly with a flying tackle and was sent flying round the ring with stomach throws. He then suddenly turned the tables on Wright, securing a full nelson applied with his legs, from which he obtained a submission fall at 2min ssec. . They started to rough it up m the third round, with Wright generally the aggressor. After a head lock, which Wright was ordered to break, his opponent began to ' bleed at the nose One spectacular throw by Wright left Cook entangled in the ropes. They were in and out of the ring in the fourth round, until a penalty fall was awarded against Cook for not breaking a hold when ordered to. Ihe nltn round had been in progress only lmm 47sec, during most of which time Cook was the aggressor, when Wright obtained the winning fall. Wright was whirled round in an aeroplane spin, but as Cook went to dump him, he suddenly turned the tables and landed on top of his dazed opponent. A Iree-for-all. in which the referee and the seconds were involved, was started by Cook when he discovered what had happened. EXCITING FINISH. Jack Prestney (12st 31b) beat Clem Shannon (12st lib) by one fall to ml. Shannon had all the better of matters | in the first round, after which Prestney decided to take his boots off. He still had one boot to go when the gong sounded for the start of the second round. Shannon thereupon rushed across the ring and planted a dropkick in the middle of Prestney's back before the referee could stop him. j When the contest was resumed, they proceeded to throw each other out of the'ring,: and; bpthqf. them looked groggy at times, but-milch' of it, particularly by Shannon, was only foxing ' In the third round Shannon used chancery throws before getting Prestney into a cradle hold, but this was quickly converted by Prestney into a reverse Indian death-lock, with which he secured a submission fall. The fourth round was even, but the fifth had barely started before Shannon applied a full nelson with his legs. His position looked promising, but Prestney managed to break the grip. He did the same again when Shannon twice had a boston crab well on the way to full application, and a particularly exciting round ended with Prestney' still one fall up. Mr. A. Jenkins was the referee. AMATEUR BOUTS: Results of the amateur preliminaries J\ Sherbourne (Petone), lOst 91b, beat D. Johnson (Koolman's), lOst 41b, by two straight falls. T Powell (Kilbirnie), 9st 71b, beat K. Patterson (Kilbirnie), 9st 51b, on P°W tS A. Adams (lOst 71b) beat B. Whiteacre (list 21b) by a fall m the third round. , xr In a special challenge bout K. Mahony (list 61b), the ..Wellington welterweight champion, drew with U Teague (list 51b), one fall each. Teague took a fall in the first round and Mahony equalised in the third. Mr. L. Woods was the referee.