Baierman's post about Mickey Rourke's next step after The Wrestler, and the comments below it, made me remember my own passion for one genre of wrestling, which most of you may not be familiar with.

British Wrestling was a staple of Saturday afternoon's World of Sport in the 70s, beginning at 4pm on ITV, and leading into the Football (err soccer) results (and closely followed by Dr Who). As such it was watched not only by kids like myself, but housewives all over the country as we say down to have our spam sandwiches, tea and tinned fruit with cake (I kid you not - it's a North-of-England thing)

While not as acrobatic as the current Wrestling federations, it still featured colorful personalities and grudge matches, and I think was rooted as much in the legacy of British pantomime as the Mexican masked wrestlers. Usually compered by Brian Crabtree (brother of 373lb wrestling star Big Daddy, who's unlikely real name was Shirley), the ringside was invariably filled with elderly women, who took delight in pounding any wrestler that was thrown out of the ring.

After the jump a few classic matches, courtesy of YouTube...