Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

[staffslad]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

Wrestling on ITV was great in the 70s and 80s. The tag team matches were my favourite. Big Daddy would be teamed with a much smaller guy who would get pasted by the baddies in the other team and would just manage to tag with BD who would then proceed to wipe the floor with them, often with a Big Daddy splash. The names mentioned by previous posters have brought back so many happy memories. After wrestling was over it was football results time then BBC1 would be showing Dr Who. We would have our Saturday tea towards the end of the wrestling so I associate watching it with crusty bread, Lurpak and Mr Kipling's cakes. Good times......

[George 1978]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

Big Daddy was such a cult icon in the 1970s and 1980s (cf Haystacks, McManus, Roach etc) - I bet that he was reason why so many tuned to World of Sport on a Saturday afternoon (apart from Dickie Davies linking everything together; the "extras" aka LWT accountants playing the Leroy Anderson-inspired typists in British Airways steward's uniform in the studio background, or Bob Colston doing the football results, half an hour before the programmed ends, and that meant Worzel Gummidge or Metal Mickey). The wrestling survived World of Sport's axe in 1985, until Greg Dyke axed it himself in 1988. Pity that the Saturday Show job that Central planned to replace Tiswas had to go on without Mr Crabtree starring.

And of course someone associated with wrestling but was not a wrestler himself was dear old Kent Walton with his "greetings grapple fans", and his "have a good week - till next week" catchphrases.

[Zincubus]

Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

I worked as a landscape gardener ( up north ) decades ago and if my boss ever had trouble getting paid for a big job he got his old mate Martin ... to accompany him ... as soon as Martin got out of the van and the van rocked sideways.... the punters soon went and got their chequebooks out [emoji4]
Rarely failed .

( Martin used to be Haystacks.... in his former life ) [emoji6]


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[staffslad]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

I worked as a landscape gardener ( up north ) decades ago and if my boss ever had trouble getting paid for a big job he got his old mate Martin ... to accompany him ... as soon as Martin got out of the van and the van rocked sideways.... the punters soon went and got their chequebooks out [emoji4]
Rarely failed .

( Martin used to be Haystacks.... in his former life ) [emoji6]


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lol great story. I bet that van was glad when he got out

I think Big Daddy was the favourite. He was popular with everyone from kids to grannies. I really miss wrestling on saturday afternoons. The US WWF etc became popular in the early 90s but for me it just wasn't the same as watching Big Daddy and the rest of those whom Kent Walton would commentate on.

[Richard1978]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

I heard ITV axed the wrestling when they wanted to go upmarket & not show so much working class programming.

[HG]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

More likely the declining viewing figures and the demise of World of Sport.

[George 1978]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

I don't really understand the demise of World of Sport and more prominently, Grandstand if a lot of sports programmes would continue to be shown - they will always be sports coverage on Saturday afternoons, and so in many ways it was just the way that it was represented on screen that was going to change.

[staffslad]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

My memories of World of Sport are that it suffered from the actual lack of mass-participation sports coverage. There was the wrestling, football results service and usually horse racing, but then it was forced to screen sports like speedway, cliff diving and things that were not even sport like Evel Knievel performing stunts. Grandstand had an advantage as they had rugby and cricket. For me, wrestling was its biggest pull, particularly if there was a tag match.

[Twocky61]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

One thing I noticed & would have enjoyed seeing was there were no female wrestlers. You see them mud wrestling; but not WWF

At school in the gym at lunch time my then gf & I had our own wrestling

I wore shorts & vest; she wore skirt & top.

[Zincubus]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

My memories of World of Sport are that it suffered from the actual lack of mass-participation sports coverage. There was the wrestling, football results service and usually horse racing, but then it was forced to screen sports like speedway, cliff diving and things that were not even sport like Evel Knievel performing stunts. Grandstand had an advantage as they had rugby and cricket. For me, wrestling was its biggest pull, particularly if there was a tag match.

I seem to recall watching motorbike scrambling ??


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[George 1978]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

One thing I noticed & would have enjoyed seeing was there were no female wrestlers. You see them mud wrestling; but not WWF

I suppose they would have had names like "Big Mummy" (the fact that Big Daddy was called Shirley helps this in a way); "Petite Haystacks"; and "Nikki McManus". The WWF could be the Women's Wrestling Federation perhaps? (Apologies to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature...)

I think that you would have only saw them mud wrestling on Channel 5 rather than World of Sport.

[djoki]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

I was once postman to Mick Mcmanus, Johnny Kwango Steve Logan all really nice guys.

And just to change subject I was postie to pop group bros and the chap in allo allo who played the policeman real name Arthur Bostrum made out he could talk French also the late rik mayall
always had time for a chat

[Zincubus]

Re: Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki?

I worked as a landscape gardener ( up north ) decades ago and if my boss ever had trouble getting paid for a big job he got his old mate Martin ... to accompany him ... as soon as Martin got out of the van and the van rocked sideways.... the punters soon went and got their chequebooks out [emoji4]
Rarely failed .

( Martin used to be Haystacks.... in his former life ) [emoji6]


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Just thought it deserved a bump


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