Wrestling matches at what’s now the Victoria Leisure Centre on Gedling Street happened recently enough to be a childhood memory for some, but for others, it’s an almost forgotten occurrence. Here’s the colourful and chaotic history…
The first baths and wash houses were constructed on Gedling Street by local building firm Dennett, and opened around 1850. Following a somewhat morbid chapter when it served as a morgue during the Spanish Flu Pandemic, fighting matches began at the baths, with boxing appearing to be staged at the site from at least 1922, before the switch to all-in wrestling in 1930. That could have happened because all-in wrestling was first introduced to England in autumn of that year.
‘All-in’ refers to the amalgamation of then-popular styles like Judo, Catch wrestling, and Graeco-Roman. The idea was to make this new form as entertaining as possible for spectators. By 1938, the BBC had broadcast the first-ever match, despite the station being so new that only a few Londoners could access it.
Wrestlers were encouraged to be flamboyant to draw crowds. In Notts this included one mystery wrestler dubbed ‘The Purple Mask’ who wore a ‘close-fitting shield of that colour’ for one match in 1937. Another was listed as ‘The Ghoul’ – he apparently stood over seven feet tall and weighed 25 stone.
One of the more bizarre matches appears to have taken place in November 1938 between a wrestler called The (French) Angel and a German opponent called Carl Reginsky. Successful wrestler and promoter Karl Pojello discovered The Angel, otherwise known as Maurice Tillet, and brought him to Britain in the late 1930s, where he fought 84 matches.
The Angel drew huge crowds to the Victoria Baths, which were then managed by Superintendent Frederick Fletcher. This may be due to his promoter, Atholl Oakeley, who would exploit the fact that Maurice was diagnosed with acromegaly, a rare disorder that causes excessive growth hormone production. He frequently told newspapers that women fainted when he would walk into the ring. The press invented stories of Maurice that he couldn’t read or speak, but he was more frequently described in person as a thoughtful, kind and generous man. Despite this, the advert for the fight cruelly claimed he was ‘half man, half ape.’
It was an interesting choice to place him in a match with a German wrestler. Tensions were rising in Europe, due to the actions of Hitler. Reginsky played on people’s hatred of the Nazi party by bringing salutes and goose-stepping to his performances. Through the 1930s, he increased in strength and skill while developing his German image amid a rising threat of war. The fight was a chance for him to defend his European Heavyweight title.
One mystery wrestler dubbed ‘The Purple Mask’ wore a ‘close-fitting shield of that colour’ for one match in 1937. Another was listed as ‘The Ghoul’ – he apparently stood over seven feet tall and weighed 25 stone
The match began with Reginsky firing off a Nazi salute. Interestingly, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened in Nottingham, as just two years previously, the County Hotel had welcomed the German police boxing team by flying a Nazi flag. Also, Reginsky was well known locally after his earlier fights saw him arrive at the Baths with a dressing gown that featured a swastika. Crowds had booed him loudly.
The salute had the desired effect on huge crowds. The Baths were so packed that many were turned away at the door.
Journalists were quick to note that, despite previous reports about The Angel, no one fainted, although two people walked out. “The Angel, a Russian, had only one objective, that of crushing Reginsky with bear hugs and falling upon the German. He simply flattened him out to secure a fall inside three minutes,” reports read. He then picked up Reginsky and threw him into the crowd. They added that the referee had to spend time assisting Reginsky against his opponent by separating the two, then disqualifying the Angel. It’s here that Reginsky seized a chance to attack the Angel, causing “uproar” and some people to “flee for safety”. He then attacked the next opponent and challenged him to a fight. The uproar prompted complaints from those at the fight who wanted to know how the Bath committee had allowed such scenes in a corporation building.
There were also protests against mud wrestling, which was introduced at the same time. The mud, a mixture of ‘glutinous ’ heavy clay and used sump oil, was added to the ring with buckets and spades, while newspapers were handed out to those in the front row to protect their clothing. Two fighters and a referee “floundered like eels into the ring” to start the match. The interlude, staged as a joke, lasted ten minutes but prompted days of protest.
The combination of all-in and mud wrestling prompted the police to object to the lease's renewal in 1938, describing it as “disgusting”. Mud wrestling had already been banned in London and Manchester. There have been no further reports of mud wrestling at the venue since the protests. The Angel and Reginsky appeared again at the baths in 1939, though they did not fight.
Wrestling at the venue continued into the 1960s, with many remembering their trips to see different fights. Some recalled the audience on their feet, shaking their canes, shouting abuse and egging on the fighters – and that was just the grandmothers.
The wrestling didn’t even stop when renovation took place in the 1970s. The brochure for renovation states that: “The old Victoria Baths had a long history of indoor recreation apart from swimming, and at one time it was the custom to lay a floor over the Oval Pool and the Exhibition Pool for six months out of every year”. This was usually used for indoor bowls and badminton. By 1973, it had a serious leak, so it was closed before being converted into a sports hall with squash courts and a cafe. Wrestling continued at the venue into the 1980s.
It’s unclear when the wrestling stopped at the leisure centre, but it continues in other Nottinghamshire venues to this day, including at House of Pain, which is based in Colwick.
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