The History Of Masked Wrestlers In The UK

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Hamish Woodward

The United Kingdom, England especially, has a long and storied history of masked wrestlers performing in the ring.

Wrestling under a mask, like modern stars such as Rey Mysterio, has been going on for as long as the sport itself.

In France, the first mention of a masked wrestler was in 1848 that L’Homme Masque (The Masked Man, portrayed by Thiebaud Bauer) kicked off what would become a proud tradition of wrestlers “under the hood” all over Europe.

There are many advantages of covering your face while wrestling. It gave the wrestler anonymity, letting them work in their day job without the hassle of being a famous celebrity.

It also added an air of mystery. The idea that anybody could be under there was enticing to fans and it allowed the wearer to project any personality he wanted onto his character.

While masked wrestlers were banned on TV in Britain until the 1970s, the tradition of wearing masks dates all the way back to professional wrestling’s origin.

In this article, we’ll take you through the history of masked wrestlers and teach you all about the most famous faces you probably never saw…

Because they were wearing a mask!

One thing to note about masked wrestlers in the UK is that a lot of them claimed to be undefeated over thousands of matches.

Whether this is true or not, there is a good reason for it. The rule used to be that if you ever lost a match, you had to be unmasked. That meant either admitting your real identity or simply refusing to lose.

The Dark Owl

As I said, hiding your face was one of the main benefits of wearing a mask in the ring. This is exactly what the Dark Owl did, to hide that he was actually one of the greatest wrestlers of all time!

Count Bartelli in his book claimed that the original Dark Owl, who debuted in the 1930s, was actually Catch-As-Catch-Can champion Billy Riley.

Riley is best known for his work training wrestlers in Riley’s Gym in Wigan, better known as The Snake Pit. Before that, he was a top-class wrestler in the early days of British wrestling.

He wrestled under the mask as the Dark Owl at times before his retirement. However, the character got a lot more mileage in the 1950s when his son, Ernie, donned the hood and took on the mantle.

Ernie was unmasked as the Dark Owl by Count Bartelli during a match between the pair, ending his run as the character in Britain.

There was also a White Owl and a Brown Owl who debuted around the same time as Billy Riley’s Dark Owl, although very little information about them is available.

Dr Death

There have been numerous wrestlers to claim the moniker of “Dr Death” over the years, but Australian wrestler Paul Lincoln was the first to do so under a mask in the UK.

He emigrated to Blighty in 1951 at the age of 19 to further his wrestling career. While he originally went without a face covering, it was the brainchild of George Kidd to wear a mask and rename himself “Dr Death”.

Note: This is not the same Dr Death that trained the British Bulldogs – that was Ted Betley.

Dr Death was one of the most feared wrestlers all over the South of England. His peak was during the 1950s and 1960s, although he never became a TV star in Britain as he would have hoped.

The masked wrestler’s most famous feud was against The White Angel, whom he unmasked at the end of their iconic rivalry. This was actually part of Paul Lincoln Promotions, the wrestling company run by Dr Death himself.

The White Angel

While “Lord” Alfred Hayes was known the world over for his work in the WWE, arguably his best work was in Britain under a mask as “The White Angel”.

The Englishman originally found success as “Judo” Al Hayes before donning the hood and this new babyface character. It worked and he became beloved all over Britain, even travelling to the US to hone his craft in the ring.

However, he would be unmasked after a 1962 marquee match loss at Granada Cinema in Tooting against his main rival Dr Death. This would begin a transformation into a hated heel, with crowds upset at him bringing a new “American Style” of wrestling back to Britain with him.

The Outlaw

The Outlaw is the reason why masked wrestlers were banned from TV in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was a Canadian wrestler called Gordon Nelson who came to Britain in 1956. He left in 1962 but came back just two years later, donning the mask that made him famous.

It was a huge success, not just for Joint Promotions, but for all the Opposition promotions that also booked The Outlaw for their shows.

They didn’t bother getting Nelson to play the role though. They just stuck whoever was free under a mask to portray the role.

After that, Joint Promotions brought in a blanket ban on masked wrestlers. If they couldn’t trust that their wrestler (even though it wasn’t him) was getting beat all over the country, then there was no point featuring him at all.

That ban would not be lifted until Kendo Nagasaki debuted for the company years later.

Zebra Kid

No, not one of the Knight Family, but the American star who debuted for Dale Martin in 1963.

The story of how the gimmick came about was very interesting. George Bollas, an amateur wrestler from Ohio, struggled with his weight during his career.

Due to this, he developed stretch marks on his body, almost like the black and white stripes of a zebra. This inspired him to don a similarly striped mask and go by the name “Zebra Kid”.

Zebra Kid found great success in England, even moving him and his entire family over here full-time in 1964. The 25-stone mysterious man drew in the crowds, intrigued by his crazy outfits and foreign style of wrestling.

He was quick – much quicker than others his size – and was a fantastic hand in the ring. He was only beaten and unmasked twice in his career (according to WrestlingHeritage) showing just how dominant he was in the ring.

Count Bartelli

One of the early masked stars of wrestling that still remains known to this day is Count Bartelli.

The short yet freakishly strong wrestler, his face covered with his iconic masked man, was believed by fans in places like Wolverhampton, Crewe and Walsall.

He was the ultimate babyface, constantly battling the biggest and best in brutal brawls that always saw him come out on top in the end.

However, masked wrestlers were banned from TV in the early days of wrestling in Britain. This meant that Bartelli had two choices – keep the mask and remain a local star or get rid and make it big on TV.

He chose the latter and had Kendo Nagasaki beat him and unmask him in 1966. While this did get him booked with Joint Promotions and matches on TV, the Count never became the superstar that Kendo Nagasaki would be years alter.

Kendo Nagasaki

Undoubtedly the most famous of all the masked wrestlers in British wrestling history is Kendo Nagasaki.

As his name would suggest, he was an apprentice cab builder from Crewe. His actual name was Peter Thornley but he was a legitimate expert in Jude, Kendo and weightlifting.

His Olympic dreams were shattered after he lost his finger, but Count Bartelli helped him to train to be a pro wrestler in the Snake Pit.

Kendo, like many other masked wrestlers, often refused to lose and risk being unmasked. While other wrestlers de-masked him numerous times in matches, he always hid his face and identity from the general public.

That was until a defeat to Big Daddy in 1977 prompted Kendo Nagasaki to finally unmask for good. He had a bizarre “unmasking ceremony”, but didn’t wrestle for long before retiring to become a faith healer.

He always came back though and Kendo Nagasaki wrestled his last match in 2024, i

El Ligero

The most modern name on this list is a tale of two halves of a career.

In the first, El Ligero was a stalwart of the British wrestling scene. He wrestled for over 15 years, appearing for promotions like 1PW, PROGRESS, ICW and more.

He was a workhorse who wrestled more than any other on the scene, commanding respect wherever he went. El Ligero even signed for the World of Sport reboot before joining NXT UK, becoming one of few wrestlers to do both.

That all ended in 2020 when the Speaking Out campaign revealed the heinous crimes he had allegedly committed. On June 18th, 2020, British indie wrestler Natalie Sykes accused El Ligero of various levels of abuse.

They met when she was just 17, and Ligero trained Sykes in the art of wrestling. During this time, he began to make obsessive comments about the young wrestler, making her very uncomfortable with how sexual they became.

El Ligero repeatedly asked her for photos in her wrestling gear, and hounded her for having relationships with people outside of wrestling. He bullied her – and them – for simply being together, even encouraging Sykes to break up with her partners.

His behaviour eventually went too far, and she confided in a friend. She also changed training schools, and the friend and others in the business made sure that Ligero would not bother her any more.

El Liger was promptly fired from his job in WWE and was made a pariah in the British wrestling scene. He hasn’t wrestled since then and as of 2025, his career is over.

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