Count Bartelli’s unmasking at the hands of Kendo Nagasaki should have been the start to the second half of his career with even more success than the first.
In the annals of British professional wrestling, few names evoke as much intrigue and admiration as Count Bartelli.
A Crewe-based car salesman by day and a masked grappler by night, Bartelli, born Geoff Condliffe, captured the hearts of wrestling fans across England with his larger-than-life persona and hard-hitting in-ring style.
Donning an all-black mask reminiscent of an old-world executioner, Bartelli carved a unique niche for himself in the wrestling world, starting his professional journey in 1939. While the war delayed his ascent, it was in the post-war boom of British wrestling that Count Bartelli became a household name.
Fans in Crewe, Wolverhampton, and Walsall adored him, cheering for the mysterious figure who dominated opponents in bloody brawls while maintaining an aura of enigma.
Behind the mask, however, was a man rooted deeply in his local community. From running his own garage and gym in Crewe to mentoring future wrestling legends like Kendo Nagasaki, Bartelli was more than just a performer—he was a pillar of British wrestling’s golden era.
Yet, his quest for national stardom would lead him to make the ultimate sacrifice: unmasking in a high-stakes showdown that remains one of the most iconic moments in British wrestling history on March 5th, 1966.
This is the story of Count Bartelli—a man who lived two lives, forged a legacy under the hood, and left an indelible mark on the sport he loved.
Count Bartelli Was An Early Star Of Pro Wrestling In England
Geoff Condliffe was a local businessman in Crewe. He spent his days selling cars in his various garages around Cheshire, while at night he donned that famous mask as the heroic Count Bartelli.
He had gone professional in 1939 before war broke out, but wouldn’t wear a mask in the ring until the industry began to rebuild itself following the end of World War II.
The beefy heavyweight wore an all-black mask to the ring. He looked like an executioner of days of old, which you wouldn’t think would endear him to the crowd.
However, the opposite was true. Count Bartelli was a firm favourite with the fans around towns like Crewe, Wolverhampton and Walsall. He never strayed too far from his home base in Crewe, where he sold cars and petrol from his garage.
Behind said garage lay the Count’s gym, where he first helped set up Kendo Nagasaki for a future in wrestling. However, before that, he was a big star in the local area and wrestled in some bloody brawls throughout the towns.
The mask gave Count Bartelli a level of privacy that most wrestlers didn’t have. During his two-decade spell under the hood he was a wildly popular undefeated wrestler who had no trouble making big money in his day job, with the punters none the wiser.
While he was a fantastic wrestler, he was no against going hard when the match called for it. The Count had many incredibly violent brawls, which makes sense with him coming through the era of All-In Wrestling in the 1930s.
You can discover the bloody and brutal beginnings of All-In Wrestling by checking out this article
He was a local draw but by the 1960s, Count Bartelli had dreams of something bigger. He sold off his businesses and went all in on his wrestling career.
With ITV now showing wrestling on TV before the FA Cup Final and with World of Sport soon to debut in 1965, he had dreams of national recognition and the chance to be a massive star in British wrestling.
However, Count Bartelli had just one small issue – his mask.
Count Bartelli Had To Lose His Mask To Get On TV
If he wanted to be a TV star in the early days of British wrestling, then the mask had to go.
Dale Martin Promotions was the biggest name in Joint Promotions in the 1960s. They ran London, which was the biggest market for wrestling, especially since the ban on wrestling was lifted in certain venues.
This was where Count Bartelli wanted to be. He only worked for Wryton Promotions at the time (who were a part of Joint Promotions), which sent him as far as Liverpool or Doncaster, which still kept him in a small enough circle to remain a local star.
While this made Count Bartelli a good living, it would not be a patch on the money and fame he could get by breaking into Dale Martins.
The issue with that, however, was two-fold.
The first was that he was a local star but that was it. He couldn’t draw outside of his home areas as nobody would have heard of him. His decision to stay close to home had been a smart one in relation to his other businesses but was a bad call for professional wrestling.
The second issue was the mask. Joint Promotions had a blanket ban on wrestlers wearing masks. Nobody on TV could wear a mask, limiting the potential for wrestlers like Count Bartelli.
They did have a good reason for this. While wrestlers like Dr Death and The Ghoul had appeared for the company, none had made it to TV. The only one that did was The Outlaw, who was portrayed by a Canadian wrestler called Gordon Nelson.
He had a gimmick as an undefeated wrestler, with the moniker “the man nobody can pin”. This drew big crowds and was a huge success.
It was a huge success for Joint Promotions and all the Opposition promotions that also booked The Outlaw for their shows.
They didn’t bother getting Nelson to play the role and just stuck whoever was free under a mask to portray the role. After that, Joint Promotions brought in a blanket ban on masked wrestlers that would not be lifted until Kendo Nagasaki debuted for the company years later.
Because of this, Count Bartelli had a choice to make. He could either stay as a big fish in a small pond or strive for national glory sans mask. He chose the latter and employed his close friend and protegee Kendo Nagasaki to help unmask him.
Kendo Nagaski Beat Count Bartelli To Unmask Him In Hanley
So, the stage was set.
The local hero, Count Bartelli, would take on another masked wrestler in Kendo Nagasaki. He had helped break a young Peter Thornley into the business, sending him to learn from Bill Riley and Billy Robinson in the Snake Pit in Wigan.
Thornley had been inspired by the Count’s mask (among other things) to create the Kendo Nagasaki persona and he was quickly becoming one of the most feared heels in the UK.
The March 5th, 1966 match was a huge deal. It took place in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. Both men put up £500 for the bout and added the stipulation of the loser having to unmask at the end of the fight.
In addition, there were no round and no time limit. This bout was going until we saw a winner and one man showed his face to the crowd.
It was a bloody affair. Count Bartelli’s mask was dyed red early in the bout as Kendo’s strikes proved too much for him.
Kathleen Hill from Wrestling Heritage detailed the finish of the match, where Kendo Nagasaki won by count-out.
“Towards the end of twenty minutes Bartelli held a double leg nelson on Kendo but Kendo, being a longer legged and armed man, was able to continually chop and smash his hands on the masked face of Bartelli. Soon the blood ran profusely from Bartelli’s mask, splashing over the canvas onto Stan Ryland’s white shirt, until it ran like water off the hands of Kendo who by this time escaped the hold and held Bartelli in a side headlock, smashing away at his nose and face. Bartelli posted him twice into the corner post before Nagasaki retaliated by throwing him out of the ring. Eight – a Nine – a TEN.”
The match was done and Count Bartelli unmasked in front of a shocked crowd. His bloody face bared for the world to see as two decades of being Britain’s premier masked hero came to an end. His face was battered and swollen but the fans still cheered for the Count.
Sadly, the decision to unmask would not make Count Bartelli the star he wanted to be. He was booked for some televised shows for Joint Promotions but they never pushed him as a big star.
He couldn’t break through onto the level of a Mick McManus or Jackie Pallo. While he did became a semi-regular on TV and even won the Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion, Count Bartelli failed to become a national star on World of Sport.
Even worse, the ban on masks on TV was eventually lifted when Kendo Nagaski became too big a star for Max Crabtree to ignore.
This didn’t stop Kendo Nagasaki from unmasking, as you can read about here
Count Bartelli would continue wrestling into the 1980s. According to Cagematch his final match came against Tarantula in 1986 in the third of three Screensport Satellite Wrestling.
In the show, he reflected upon his 47 years of wrestling and losing his mask to Kendo Nagasaki. It was clearly a sore spot for the legendary grappler, although as Kendo Nagasaki reveals in his book it was entirely Count Bartelli’s choice to lose his mask.
“If you watch the documentary ‘Masters of the Canvas’, Count Bartelli says in his interview that Kendo Nagasaki was ‘a usurper’, had ‘usurped’ his position. That wasn’t the case, because Bartelli had engineered it all himself – it seems he resented the fact that Kendo ended up benefitting more from the plan than he did.”
(Note: In “Kendo Nagasaki and The Man Behind the Mask”, Peter Thornley always refers to Kendo Nagasaki in the third person. Yes, it does get confusing.)
You can see where Count Bartelli is coming from, albeit with flawed logic. Kendo Nagasaki was his protégée of sorts, being inspired by his mask only to take it in the ring and bypass him as a national star.
However, they were very different, almost incomparably so. Count Bartelli was a beloved hero, while Kendo Nagasaki was an almost cartoonish depiction of a Japanese mystic. Had the unmasking not taken place, Kendo Nagasaki still would have ascended to the top and been the legend he is today.
There should be no controversy surrounding the unmasking of Count Bartelli’s unmasking. Losing his mask was his own idea and it generally worked out quite well for him.
He was old and his career was coming towards the end by 1966. This unmasking rejuvenated him and gave him one last shot at television. He didn’t become the new Jackie Pallo, but his time on TV was broadly a success.
