I'm Sorry, I Love You: A History of Professional Wrestling: A must-read' - Mick Foley

Wrestling may have been fully pre-determined since the 1920s, but the culture of protecting it behind the scenes and presenting it as real was still in full force.

Gordon Solie. The man who coined the term ‘crimson mask’ and pronounced ‘suplex’ as ‘suplay’

In short order, The Renegade was just a jobber. He was let go at the end of 1998 and, depressed at how things had turned out, shot himself in the head in February 1999. He was only 33 years old.

Haystacks was even bigger than Daddy, standing at six feet 11 inches and weighing nearly 700 pounds. With a big beard and overalls, he terrified audiences around the country (and briefly, in the latter stages of his career, in the USA) but I can’t watch footage of him now without remembering stories William Regal has told me about him refusing to s

In a tag match against Nagasaki and Blondie Barrett, Brookside would be – and I’m not making this up – hypnotised by Nagasaki mid-match and then go after his own partner.

Every kid would soon know his three rules: train hard, say your prayers, eat your vitamins (how you choose to interpret ‘vitamins’ is up to you).

the now one-eared Yukon Eric.

he attacked Jimmy Snuka with a coconut

For those that don’t know Wigan, it’s a town in Greater Manchester. I live about 40 miles away. If you’re British, you probably know of it because of the football team, Wigan Athletic, or the all-conquering rugby league team of the 1990s, or maybe the Heinz factory or the legendary Northern Soul club at Wigan Casino.