For a whole generation of families, Saturday afternoons equalled time spent in front of the telly watching wrestlers like Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Mick McManus and Kendo Nagasaki becoming household names.
Live wrestling shows, when you could see the TV stars in your own town, became hugely popular. But over time, British wrestling fell into decline, with the more glamorous American wrestling dominating the scene.
But there’s been a sea change of late, and live wrestling, featuring homegrown talent, is once more pulling in the crowds.
A sellout crowd is expected at The Ironworks in Inverness tomorrow night for what’s shaping up to be one of the finest Premier British Wrestling (PBW) shows.
The Rock’n’Wrestle show will see stars of PBW, along with a host of top international names, taking part, while the “rock” part of the night comes courtesy of Toby Michaels and the Rolling Dammed, who will perform live at the interval.
The show follows hot on the heels of a TV documentary shown last week which followed the Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) company and featured some great characters, including two of the wrestlers, Grado and Jack Jester.
Grado, whose catchphrase is “It’s yersel”, became involved with ICW after posting videos of himself online which ended up going viral.
Event organiser Steve Robertson said: “Grado and Jack Jester are two of the main stars of tomorrow night’s show, so a lot of people will want to come and see them.”
Tomorrow’s show will be more family friendly than those seen in the at times rather bloody documentary and is definitely one for the whole family to get involved with.
“Anything can happen: the last time we had wrestling here in October, the action spilled out of the ring, with the wrestlers chasing each other around the venue,” said Steve.
“The ring is in the auditorium rather than the stage, with seating all around, so fans will get a good view of the action which features a lot of the best Scottish and British talent, as well as international stars.
“Kris Travis, voted by wrestling fans to be the UK’s number-one wrestler, will take on Ricochet, who is a high-flier, a big American star.
“I think he’ll blow people’s minds when they see what he can do.
“The bill also include Sonjay Dutt versus Marty Scrull, another top UK wrester, and there will be a six-man tag featuring some of Scotland’s top competitors.
“Altogether, there will be seven matches and around 15 wrestlers taking part.”
Ricochet, one of the best cruiserweights in the world, will make his PBW and Scottish debut in Inverness.
Determined to get a suitable opponent for him, PBW signed English star Kris Travis, who is currently on the best form of his career.
Last year, he was declared one of the best in the world by highly regarded wrestling publications.
This match has the potential to be Scottish match of the year, as both men have a grudge with each other after trading insults via Twitter.
The match between Jack Jester and Davey Blaze, who appeared recently on the dating show Take Me Out, is of particular interest to local musician Toby Michaels, who penned the Inverness Caledonian Thistle cup final song.
“In October, Toby got into a bit of a verbal slanging match with Jack Jester, so he’s decided to go in the corner of his opponent, Davey Blaze, and aims to distract Jack and wind him up even more,” said Steve.
Hopefully, he’ll survive and be able to perform a selection of rock numbers with his band at the interval.
“Wrestling and rock music seem to go well together and, since the last event, it has spawned a weekly live radio show when we play rock music and speak to wrestling fans all over the UK. It has developed a bit of a niche audience,” said Steve.
“Wrestling is really big just now and fans have told me they can’t believe that they are able to see these top wrestlers in their home town.
“Fans like the shows because they are sheer entertainment.
“There’s something for everyone there – action, stunts, humour and a chance to cheer on some classic wrestling pantomime villains.
“This show is the start of something big and it may be that we take Rock’n’Wrestle on tour across the country.”
Tickets are selling like hot cakes for the show, which starts from 7pm onwards tomorrow, Friday, March 21. Contact the Ironworks Box Office on 08717894173 for full details.