| Mick McManus | |
|---|---|
| Billed height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) |
| Billed weight | 12 st 7 lb/175 lb (79 kg) |
| Born | 11 January 1928 New Cross, London |
| Trained by | John Ruskin Amateur Wrestling Club |
Mick McManus (born Michael Matthews on 11 January 1928 in New Cross, London England), is a former English professional wrestler. He is credited as being one of the most famous heel European wrestlers of all time and often went by the nicknames "The Man You Love to Hate", and "Rugged South London Tough Guy".
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McManus very much set the standard for wrestlers such as Mark Rocco and Kendo Nagasaki who chose to bend the rules as far as they could go without being disqualified, much to the fury of the crowd. He was also well known for using short range forearm jabs in matches. He became famous for his trademark black trunks and cropped black hair and for his catchphrase "Not the ears, not the ears".[1]
McManus had many appearances on ITV's World of Sport. During his televised matches, which spanned more than 20 years, McManus would lose only twice in a Championship match: once by disqualification against Peter Preston, and then again in his final years when he lost his title to youngster Mal Sanders (at which time McManus was well over 50-years-old).
One infamous televised match he lost was to the controversial parody wrestler "Catweazle" (Gary Cooper), due to two submissions caused by the latter tickling him whilst pinned. Such was McManus's fury at the manner he lost that he refused to wrestle Cooper again, but agreed to relent for his final televised bout.
McManus won his first wrestling title, the British Welterweight Championship, in 1949 by defeating Eddie Capelli for the vacant championship. He dropped the title to Jack Dempsey in 1957 but regained it from Dempsey. He dropped the title back to him the following year, however.[2] On 13 November 1967, McManus won the British Middleweight Championship with a victory over Clayton Thomson. Thomson regained the title in a rematch two months later.[3] McManus also won the European Middleweight Championship in June 1968 by defeating Vic Faulkner. Faulkner regained the title belt in September, but McManus won it back in April 1971. He held the championship for almost seven years before losing it to Mal Sanders. McManus and Sanders traded the belt back and forth in matches that year and into the following year, with McManus holding the title a total of four times.[4]
Mick McManus also appeared as part of the European version of the Legends of Wrestling II computer game.[5] British pop artist Peter Blake often cites McManus as a major influence on his 'wrestlers' series of paintings due to his admiration of his wrestling persona; Blake famously painted Kendo Nagasaki's portrait as part of the series.