Anyone remember Giant Haystacks / Big Daddy ?

[Lamp]

Two wrestlers, massively famous in the 80s in the UK. These two drew in 10m viewers when they fought each other

Stats

Giant Haystacks: 6'11" (2.11m), 46stones (292Kg)(642lbs) (aka "Lock Ness" in America)
Big Daddy: 6'2" (1.88m), 27 stones (170kg)(375lb), 62 inch chest !!

Giant Haystacks video

YouTube - WCW Saturday Night 1996 - Loch Ness vs. Marcus Bagwell
[youtubevid]BQLbBp_H9y8[/youtubevid]

Big Daddy trivia

In August 1987, Big Daddy bowed out of the professional wrestling spotlight after a turn of events during the final moments of the match against Mal "King Kong" Kirk. After Big Daddy had delivered his belly-splash, rather than selling the impact of the finishing move, Kirk turned an unhealthy colour and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite the fact that the inquest into Kirk's death found that he had a serious heart condition and cleared Crabtree of any responsibility, Crabtree was devastated and nevertheless blamed himself for Kirk's death. He continued to make sporadic appearances into the early 90s, but eventually retired from wrestling to spend the remainder of his days in his hometown of Halifax.

Left: Big Daddy (real name Shirley Crabtree)
Right: Giant Haystacks (real name Martin Ruane)

Crabtree died from a stroke aged 67 in 1997.
Ruane died from cancer aged 51 in 1998.

 

[Mey]

yawn! Stop posting crap.. from wikipedia!

 

[Mojo]

I saw the both wrestle when I was a kid, I think it was at Butlins or some such.

 

[Marc]

I used to watch "world of sport" every saturday tea time, so yeah, i remember them

 

[Cromcruaich]

46 stone - thats gotta be wrong.

 

[Sparx]

Wrestling at its best, none of this high flying, near impossible stuff. Just good old fashioned chest flexing and irish whips. Its all about the test of strengths they all used to do haha

 

[kirennia]

Hulk hogan vs the ultimate warrior.....brilliant fights Quite possibly the best I ever saw

 

[Imgormiel]

Hulk hogan vs the ultimate warrior.....brilliant fights Quite possibly the best I ever saw

Two of the best wrestling moves I ever saw was one with Sid Vicious giving some poor bugger a helicopter move, lol he never had a chance after that, and ofc anything by the Undertaker

 

[Cromcruaich]

Dont you think that american wrestling is all a bit, well, gay?

 

[old.Tohtori]

Dont you think that american wrestling is all a bit, well, gay?

Not really.

IT's the people who think, that people watch it as "real sport", that are the problem.

It's just a fine stunt show, with some slobberknockering going about.

 

[Thadius]

Not really.

IT's the people who think, that people watch it as "real sport", that are the problem.

It's just a fine stunt show, with some slobberknockering going about.

QFT, a good wrestlers DOESNT injure his opponents with every move

 

[Sparx]

Not really.

IT's the people who think, that people watch it as "real sport", that are the problem.

It's just a fine stunt show, with some slobberknockering going about.

Couldnt have said it better if it tried

I hate people who go "but its fake why watch it" i usually reply "So is Eastenders but you sit and watch that every night"

 

[Golly]

use to go and watch giant haystacks 2 or 3 times a year in stockport as a kid!

fooking legend he was (he must of wrestled up to the age of about 45 as I was only born in 86 and would have been at least 4 or 5)

my grandad use to wrestle professionally in the 40's so use to get alot of stories as a kid, and on the WWF/E topic, I made him watch a couple of the more technical wrestlers like benoit and he actually applauded them saying they were fine athletes with near perfect timing- which was fairly shocking as hes usually the stubborn "inmydaytheworldwaswin" type of guy

as a kid, WWF was absolute class, its a guys answer to neighbours when your 10

nowadays dont really follow it, but wont turn it off if its on. Its them damned commentators that annoy me, theyre just so, overly american?

 

[pikeh]

overly american?

probably being from america that does it.


never really seen the appeal in wrestling to be honest. got a few mates who talk about it fucking non stop. they talk about tactics, and politics of the sport and shit like that. just think its tacky.

i also never liked power rangers.

 

[Golly]

i also never liked power rangers.

that should be a bannable offense.

 

[Afran]

can't stand that

don't understand how so many people (spectators) can enjoy watching it tbh.

 

[Thadius]

can't stand that

don't understand how so many people (spectators) can enjoy watching it tbh.

Wrestling?

I guess it has the asskicking that a drama show has (24), but it has the realism of a proper sport(like boxing)

Boxing is fun, but I prefer a bit of storyline(etc you ate my hamster, sexored my gf etc)

 

[Lamp]

Dont you think that american wrestling is all a bit, well, gay?

Not in the homosexual sense, no. TV wrestling is a show. Its entertainment. They gotta camp it up. These guys could kill each other quite easily. And its loved by people from 6 to 96. Most of those guys are more than capable of tearing you a new arsehole in real life without too much effort. Lots of them have done security work, armed forces, etc. They might look and act like twats on TV, but I woulnd't fuck with them out of the ring. And they earn millions. So if looking a bit "gay" on TV is what it takes to put 30,000,000 in the bank, are you gonna say no ? Didn't think so

 

[preacherboy]

Used to watch it on a sunday afternoon was great stuff hehe

 

[preacherboy]

Now you got Umuga just as heavy, got the speed of bruce lee this day and age of wrestling is just Elite imo, some people might think these guys are a joke, but belive me these guys are as hard as they come.