WRESTLING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 22 January 1927, Page 13

WRESTLING.

V(HvEI/S CUNNING. While boxing is a serious business-, lightened rarely by humour, such, as when au excited young Frenchman embraces and fervently kisses his bruised and battered opponent, there is in the composition of wrestling more frequentopportunity for amusing incidents, many of which- embellished the. stirring bouts contested in Melbourne during last season, writes “Left Hand” in the Australasian. Much of the humour arose front the impish and • Puck-like antics of that great humourist and wrestler, Alike Yokel, the Wyoming farmer and sheriff. It was Yokel' who conceived the extraordinary trick of tapping an opponent on the/ back to make him believe, it was the; referee thus conceding a fall in default. This was tried three times, twice in turn successfully, on Zbyszko and Ludecke, and once, on'the world’s champion, C/apham, who refused to release his punishing hold thereby, but whose attention was diverted sufficiently to enable Yokel to clear himself in the end. Now tricks like this are neither “cricket” nor wrestling, and on'y

Yokel’s, saving grace of humour, and his certain quaint delight in “outsmarting” his opponents, saved_ him from unpopularity. Ones again Yokel, at his wits’ end to defeat Meeske, pointed at the Australian champion’s trunks, and. diverting Meeske’s attention, pinned him before he could recover. This trick was employed in an “all-in” encounter, when Yokel’s wits were matched against Meeske’s skill. Much argument arose over the remark, which caused Meeske to allow his attention to be distracted. I inquired of Yokel in his dressing-room what he had said. He replied. “Nothing.” “What do von mean —nothing?” \I asked. “Wal, I figured if I said £ Yoirr trunks are sipoine.’ said Yokel, “he wond komw I was trying to outsmart him, so ] iest pointed, and mumbled, figuring, as he didn’t hear what I said, he might fall for it —and he did.” The double cunning of this line-' of reasoning is almost Oriental.

The referee (Mr Alf Bridges), confessed that Yoke wanted more watching' thanthill the rest of the wrestlers combined. “I told him that 1 would not tol rate knuckling,” said Mi Bridges. “So in liis first match with Ted Tlive I found Thyie in a headlock with Yokel grunting, and by the motion of his elbow apparently swivel’ang a knuckle into Thye’s temporal nerve, it looked flagrant defiance of my instruction, so I flung myself down on the mat to inspect. And I found not the knuckle but the harmless butt of Yokel's hand pressed into Thy? e. temple. All the time Yokel was swivelling his elbow viciously. Suddenly he ’oolced im at me with innocent blue eves and said, ‘‘Snv. can’t I waggle my elbow if I like. - "’