I'm Sorry, I Love You: A History of Professional Wrestling: A must-read' - Mick Foley

Sorakichi Matsuda moved to the USA in the 1880s, living his life virtually in poverty as he pursued his dream of becoming a professional wrestler.

everybody has been bothered by somebody bigger than them in their lifetime.

Gordon Solie. The man who coined the term ‘crimson mask’ and pronounced ‘suplex’ as ‘suplay’

Adonis would be dead just over a year after this match – back on the territorial circuit after being let go by the WWF, he was thrown from the window of a van as it swerved to avoid a moose on a road in Newfoundland and plummeted off a bridge.

Haystacks was even bigger than Daddy, standing at six feet 11 inches and weighing nearly 700 pounds. With a big beard and overalls, he terrified audiences around the country (and briefly, in the latter stages of his career, in the USA) but I can’t watch footage of him now without remembering stories William Regal has told me about him refusing to s

Every kid would soon know his three rules: train hard, say your prayers, eat your vitamins (how you choose to interpret ‘vitamins’ is up to you).

he attacked Jimmy Snuka with a coconut

in 1985, the opening theme was an instrumental version of Easy Lover by Phil Collins, proof that this was as 1980s as 1980s could be.

In short order, The Renegade was just a jobber. He was let go at the end of 1998 and, depressed at how things had turned out, shot himself in the head in February 1999. He was only 33 years old.