Bloody Nose

Steve Grey vs Steve Speed, 25 January 1984 (World of Sport)

Time to flashback to Thatcher-era British pro wrestling, a style that influenced and has been refined by current stars like Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay. Gentlemanly and brutal by turns, one turn often landing hard on the heels of the other, old-school UK wrestling often opened with panache, acrobatic moves with bounce and humor, some of them practically ending with a ta-DAH!  

The fancy escapes and balletic moves were okay, but for me the form was at its best when the polish wore off and the wrestlers went for the jugular. The common plot structure saw the match's first half as a tacit admission of pro wrestling's superficiality and phoniness, but when patience then courtesy waned or one guy crossed a line, the action turned nasty and, yeah, pretty fuckin' awesome. In retrospect, this was a cool ploy: let everybody know it's all make-believe, but then escalate to the point that the crowd isn't sure anymore. (Sort of like those horror movies where a fake haunted house turns out to be actually haunted!)

Case in point is this match between Steve Grey (black trunks), in a brief hiatus between British Welterweight Championships, and Steve Speed (blue trunks), a seldom seen but remarkable talent out of Gloucestershire. The match lasts for two falls, the break between the two marking the break between ta-DAH!  and Ouch!  No lie, Grey bloodied Speed's nose in this one. In the end, the adversaries chummily raise each other's arm in victory, but the preceding five minutes is a fuck-you-you-fuckin'-fuck brawl.

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