Posted on the wrestling thread; but, we also lost Exotic Adrian Street, at age 82, after some complications with some medical conditions. Street was the son of a Welsh coal miner and had no desire to do the same thing and headed to London, working odd jobs to earn his way, until he fell into wrestling and bodybuilding. he paid his dues and worked up to the bigger circuits, including Dale Martin promotions, the big London promoter, as well as Joint Promotions, the staple of Saturdays evening, on ITV. Street used a few names, before that one, then bleached his hair and had a powder blue ring jacket and matching trunks and boots, and thought he was emulating Nature Boy Buddy Rogers; but, the crowd started heckling him with taunts and gay slurs and he saw that he got not the reaction he expected, but a bigger reaction than before and built on it, creating a proto-glam rock persona, with an ambiguity about his sexuality, in the manner of people like Bowie and Marc Bolan. he famously took on tv personality Jimmy Saville, when he was going around having wrestling matches and treating it like a comedy act. Street didn't like him and didn't like him treating the business as a joke (and British wrestling was presented as more of an athletic competition, with more actual holds and counters) and he beat the crap out of Saville, as well as ripped out some of his hair. Saville dropped the wrestling gimmick from then on. Later, when the allegations and revelations came out about Saville's sex abuse of minors and others, as well as cover ups by the Thatcher government and the BBC, Street became a folk hero for the beating he gave Saville.

He came to the US to wrestle, as the British scene was deteriorating, as promoter Max Crabtree was pushing his brother, Shirley (yup, Shirley) as Big Daddy, beating everyone and driving away crowds. Street went to canada, to wrestle for St Hart's (Bret & Owen Hart's father) Stampede promotion, in Calgary, then went to work in Los Angeles, at the tail end of its existence. From there, he went into the Southern wrestling territories, where he was a big draw with the crowds, accompanied by his valet, Miss Linda (who was his wife, though they didn't publicize that fact, to keep the ambiguity and add to it).

When Street retired from the ring, he continued making a living by creating and sewing wrestling gear of other wrestlers, through his Bizarre Bazaar, and also self-published 8 books of his memoirs, talking about the British wrestling scene of the 70s and coming to America. he also trained new wrestlers, at a school, in Florida, until it was destroyed in a hurricane and he decided to return to live in Wales. he is survived by wife, Miss Linda, who was also a lady wrestler, under the name Blackfoot Sue. By all accounts, she was tougher than he was!

Here is Street, in the early 70s, before he started his glam look, against Jim Breaks. Street was a hell of a mat wrestler, legit tough and he could "shoot" (legit wrestle, with submissions), if he needed to. In this time frame, wrestling was one of the most popular programs on ITV, on Saturday evenings, at Tea Time, with millions watching....



At the start of his building a persona, he is borrowing things from Gorgeous George (the hair, the robes, the fastidiousness, perfume, etc) and Ricky Star (who did a ballet gimmick, but was a legit collegiate champion, who did train some in ballet), who would prance and dance around the ring, in pink ballet slippers. He started adding glam facial make-up and glitter, ribbons in his hair, as well as prancing and mincing to stir up the crowd. Then he would wrestle as hard as his opponent. I love this era of British wrestling, as the matches are filled with actual wrestling, with si-outs and counters and real arm, wrist, leg and ankle locks. They are still working, putting on a show with a pre-determined outcome, but it looks like actual wrestling, not a staged brawl or cheap heat heel stuff (pulling the hair, the tights, punching when the ref's back is turned, etc).

Some clips here, from an interview he did with a British wrestling podcast, Wrestling Shoot Interviews, plus a WWE feature and some toher clips, with quotes from Linda, for the BBC....



In the late 80s, Street worked for Continental Championship Wrestling, in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, where he was the babyface(!!) in a feud with American wrestler Hustler Rip Rogers, who had borrowed some of Street's mannerisms and gimmick, and displayed them in other areas. They worked a 6 month program against each other and drew big crowds, byt changing things up constantly, then pulling their valets (Street's wife, Miss Linda, and Rip's wife, Miss Brenda Britton) into the mix, doing mixed tag matches and angles. This deep Southern crowd cheered on Adrian, in full "exotic" glory, against Rip, as the "darker mirror image." They were of similar size, both with valets (who were their legit wives), both with bleached blond hair, both doing effeminate and flamboyant things and both terrific workers, who knew how to take the crowd on a ride and entertain them. Street was the more technically oriented and got to display it more, as the hero, while Rip did the evil corner cutting. It was something to see, especially in that environment.



Here is Street, for his QSI interview, talking about Jimmy Saville and why he beat him up so much....

(WARNING: A few choice words, but no F-bombs)



Street had survived throat cancer, and was about 80-81, when he did that interview, which is probably why he would think about what he wants to say, before saying it, because of the throat damage.

Street was a hell of a performer and also appeared in the film Quest for Fire, as well as Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales, in 1972, playing a wrestler. My favorite image of him is from the 70s, standing with his father, outside a coal mine entrance, showing who he became, vs where he came from....