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

Everything was not just going to plan for Vince, it was shattering what he originally had planned and snowballing into some kind of make-it-up-as-you-go-along super-plan.

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).

everybody has been bothered by somebody bigger than them in their lifetime.

he attacked Jimmy Snuka with a coconut

In 1947, a bunch of tweed-wearing wrestling luminaries drew up a set of rules to govern wrestling. Named after the chair of the panel, they were dubbed the Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules, defining what holds were legal and how falls within matches could be won: by pinfall, submission, knockout, TKO or disqualification.

He died on Boxing Day 1963, penniless following his recent divorce and unsuccessful investments.

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

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.

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