Kendo Nagasaki
Reprinted from Ringsport, May 1973
"Find out about Nagasaki" ordered Evan R.Treharne on a freezing cold day sometime last February. So off set his intrepid reporter, thirsty for knowledge of this mysterious Samurai swordsman. Seven days later, after watching Nagasaki in action, talking to manager, George E. Gillette, past opponents and a number of ringside fans the intrepid reporter came to the conclusion that not only did he still not know anything about Nagasaki, but that he was unlikely to find anything out either.
Gillette and Nagasaki were more than willing to talk about last year's tour of North America, more than willing to list past victims, but ask if Nagasaki was married, how he had come into wrestling, or anything else that might offer a clue to his identity and there was silence. Very little indeed is known about Nagasaki. We have it on good authority that he is not known in the professional wrestling ring under his own name. George E. Gillette refused to comment on Kendo's entry into professional wrestling, and believed that it was sufficient to say that Nagasaki hit the headlines when he unmasked Count Bartelli in 1967 at the Victoria Halls, Hanley. Since then Nagasaki has beaten the best that Britain can offer, dropping only a handful of controversial decisions and never losing on falls or submissions.
Three men with whom Kendo has regularly tangled during his career are Billy Robinson, Albert Wall and Count Bartelli. If men of this calibre have failed time and time again to unmask Nagasaki, what hope is there for the average British heavyweight? Long ago, in the days when Billy Robinson wrestled in Britain, the mighty Mancunian was looked upon as the man most likely to unmask Kendo. Thousands of fans around the country packed into their local hall to see Billy tangle with Nagasaki. At different times the controversial results of these bouts favoured both wrestlers, but not even the great Billy Robinson was able to defeat Kendo convincingly enough to make him unmask
When Billy set off on his travels in 1967 Albert Wall and Count Bartelli remained as Nagasaki's closest rivals. Both have come near to beating Nagasaki on occasions, but never quite near enough. Count Bartelli showed me a photograph of himself with blood pouring from his gashed forehead after meeting Nagasaki at Liverpool Stadium. The Count still looks forward to the day when he will gain vengeance over Nagasaki by forcing him to unmask. Commenting on the feud between Bartelli and Kendo the masked wrestlers manager, George E. Gillette, said: "I have no objections to Kendo fighting Bartelli, but I would like to say that after losing to Kendo many times I believe Bartelli should be willing to make further meetings between the two more financially worthwhile for Kendo."
Apart from Robinson, Wall and Bartelli the great Nagasaki has defeated just about every other top heavyweight in Britain today. You name them and Kendo has beaten them. Kendo's victims look like a "Who's Who" of wrestling today: Gwyn Davies, Steve Veidor, Geoff Portz, Les Thornton, Shirley Crabtree, Wild Angus, Steve Logan, Prince Kumali, The Destroyer and a host of others. In fact Kendo is so far ahead of any other heavyweight today that he recently met two top heavyweights, Colin Joynson and Roy Paul, in a special handicap contest at Liverpool Stadium. Philip Howlin, the Ringsport correspondent at Liverpool, reported that even though the official result was "no contest" both Joynson and Paul were out for the count when the bout came to a close.
If Nagasaki is so good then some fans may feel they are justified in asking why he is not a champion. The answer is quite simple. There is a dispute between Kendo and the wrestling authorities over whether or not he can be allowed to challenge for a title whilst still wearing his mask. Gillette said: "It seems ludicrous to me that Kendo can go to Canada and win a title, and yet he cannot fight in a British championship contest." Gillette's solution to the problem would be for Nagasaki to privately reveal his identity to the wrestling authorities. At the time of writing the manager had not received a reply to his letter to Joint Promotions.
Should Kendo not be allowed to challenge for Wall's title without removing his mask in the ring, some writers have suggested that Kendo would oblige and reveal his identity. Personally, however, I find this very difficult to believe, as even without a title Kendo is the top heavyweight in Britain today and one of the biggest crowd pullers. The crowds have accepted very few masked men, Geoff Condliffe and Al Hayes being the most obvious exceptions, after removing their masks.
Despite being forbidden from taking part in British championship contests Kendo was given the opportunity to meet Billy Howes for the European mid-heavyweight title a couple of years back. Unfortunately, Kendo was unable to make the weight limit of the mid-heavyweight division and so the bout took place as a none championship contest. Nagasaki hardly ever takes part in tag team contests, although there was some suggestion during his North American tour that George E. Gillette should make up the numbers of a tag team with Kendo doing all the work. In his early days as a professional wrestler Kendo teamed up for a few contests with the man who was to become his arch rival. Count Bartelli. The team lasted only a short time, however, and Bartelli said: "I suppose the promoters matched us as a team in the early days because we were the top two masked men, but we could never have been a success because our styles were so different."
Early in 1966 at Hanley Bartelli and Nagasaki met Tibor Szakacs and Henri Pieriot (Les Thornton). It was following an argument between the two masked men during this contest that the famous bout between the two came to take place. Between 1966 and 1972 Nagasaki beat every top wrestler in Britain, and so decided to conquer new pastures. Next month we will take a look at Kendo's tour of North America, and try to discover what the man is like outside of the ring.
Reprinted from Ringsport June, 1973
After conquering Europe, Kendo Nagasaki, the mighty masked man of British wrestling, invaded North America. Kendo recently wrestled in Western Canada and succeeded in concealing his identity by defeating the best that the promoters could match against him.
In the opening contest of his Canadian tour. Kendo smashed Calgary's Bob Pringle into defeat in under three minutes. A long list of notable wrestlers met Nagasaki in turn, and all were beaten. Nobody could be found to extend Kendo to his fullest and he went on to become the North American heavyweight champion, a title he took from Shipley's Geoff Portz.
Kendo was the first masked wrestler to take the North American title, although by no means the first British based wrestler. The mighty masked Swordsman held the title for five months, defending the title twice a week on average. When Kendo returned to Britain he was still holder of the championship belt, and became the first wrestler to return the belt to the board of control undefeated.
The style of wrestling across the Atlantic differs greatly from that in Britain, but George E. Gillette believes that the brutal style of American rings suited Kendo. For instance, after putting his man down in Britain, Kendo has to wait for his opponent to rise to his feet once again, whereas in Canada he was allowed to follow his opponents down and gain an added advantage. The suave manager is of the opinion that many rules of British wrestling are rather petty and should be abolished.
In Britain, Gillette enters the ring at the beginning and end of Kendo's bouts, and this is his main communication with the wrestling audiences. Whilst in North America, though Gillette was interviewed a number of times on television, where he was able to explain exactly how Kendo was superior to all his opponents. George became something of a personality in his own right, however, and he even gave the weather forecast on one occasion.
Apart from being suited to the rules. Kendo was also helped by the size of the crowds. Up to 20,000 fans regularly assemble in American arenas and Gillette said that there was better atmosphere than British halls. This atmosphere was generated into the ring, thereby causing Nagasaki to wrestle better.
The most startling wrestler Kendo met during his Canadian tour was "The Mighty Ursus," who tipped the scales at 25 stones. Ursus was the "guest referee" in a bout between Kendo and Geoff Portz. Gillette claims that Ursus favoured Portz, and after the bout the giant challenged Kendo for the North American title. Ursus was the first challenger for the title, which Kendo retained.
Kendo's long-awaited bout with "Killer" Tor Kamata never actually took place during the tour. Kamata claimed that Nagasaki was not Japanese (which he has never claimed to be) and demanded that Kendo should perform some kind of karate exhibition in the ring. Gillette, guarding against the danger of Kendo lowering himself to the gimmick level favoured by so many wrestlers in America, advised Kendo not to wrestle Kamata: "Kendo is a wrestler, and has no wish to lower himself to such cheap gimmicks as a means of publicity."
Kendo's prowess in judo and karate are evident from any of his matches, and there is no need for an exhibition of any kind to prove his abilities. Nagasaki returned to Britain at Christmas, and at the time of writing has no intention of making any more foreign tours just yet. Come the summer, however, and I would not be surprised to see him back in Germany for the big tournaments, which attract wrestlers from around the World. Very little is known of the life of Kendo Nagasaki outside of the professional wrestling ring, and George E. Gillette was very reluctant to throw any further light upon the subject of the man himself. Rumour has it that Kendo likes to play chess, and is also interested in sailing and art. Apart from that, hardly anything else is known about him.
I spoke to a number of fans and asked what they thought of Kendo. Considering the tactics he employs in the ring it is hardly surprising that the crowd are hostile to Kendo. But the fans cannot agree with each other. Some simply believe the man cannot wrestle and for this reason alone relies on foul tactics. Others believe that Kendo would win his bouts whatever way he chose to wrestle, and I fall into the latter category.
Love him of hate him Kendo is undeniably a successful wrestler and is now well on his way to beating Count Bartelli's record holding success as a masked man of twenty years. Even so, it must always be remembered that every time Kendo enters the ring there is a possibility that he will be unmasked. If Kendo stays in Britain throughout the rest of the year, who is there with a real chance of unmasking him? British heavyweight champion, Albert Wall, is the most obvious contender, but he has not succeeded in the past, so why should he succeed now? The same is true of all the other top names in British wrestling: Davies, Veidor, Marino, Szakacs and Portz?all have failed in the past. The giant Guardsman Shirley Crabtree has been suggested a number of times as the man who will unmask Kendo. Personally, I am not convinced that Crabtree is in the same class as Kendo, and think that the guardsman still has a long, long way to go to prove his worth.
I believe that Kendo Nagasaki is number one in Britain today and will be for a long time to come; he has proved in the past that he is superior to anyone else around, and only bad luck could end it all now.
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