Peter Thornley
Peter Thornley | |
---|---|
Birth name | Brian Stevens (renamed Peter William Thornley upon adoption)[1] |
Born | Wellington, Shropshire, England[2] | 19 October 1941
Website | Official website |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Kendo Nagasaki Mr Guillotine[3] Paul Dillon[1] |
Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2] |
Billed weight | 15 st (95 kg) - 18 st (110 kg)[2] |
Trained by | Kenshiro Abbe (judo), Billy Riley (catch wrestling), Geoff Condliffe (professional wrestling),[1] |
Debut | November 1964[2] |
Retired | October 29, 2008 |
Peter William Thornley (born 19 October 1941)
Thornley wore a mask for most of his career, the one significant exception being several months following a December 1977 televised voluntary unmasking ceremony.[8] He had originally retired in 1978 but returned to competition briefly in 1981 and then again from 1986 to 1993. Thereafter he made sporadic wrestling appearances.[9]
Thornley gave occasional interviews as Kendo Nagasaki, usually photographed fully masked or with his face hidden, and often speaking through a representative. The character's voice was never heard in public. His identity as the man behind Kendo Nagasaki was first revealed publicly by a plumber who visited his house in the 1970s.[7][1] His identity became more widely known after a 2002 court case over a land dispute with his neighbour.[10] Thornley never spoke publicly about being Kendo Nagasaki until the publication of his autobiography in 2018.[6]
Away from the ring, Thornley has been a successful business entrepreneur and also had a career in rock management for around a decade from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, managing Cuddly Toys and Laura Pallas.[1]
Relationship with character of Kendo Nagasaki
Until the publication of his autobiography in 2018, Thornley and his close associates frowned on the use of his legal name, preferring that his out-of-character self be referred to as "Yogensha" (Japanese for seer). According to his official website, the Nagasaki character is "in fact, a spirit guide and sensei ... who appears by being channelled through an otherwise ordinary man"[11] i.e. Thornley/Yogensha
At the height of his career, Thornley discussed the relationship with his character in an interview for TVTimes in 1976 in which he claimed that the Nagasaki character was "the spirit of a samurai warrior who, 300 years ago, lived in the place that is now called Nagasaki" which he had contacted while in "a trance state" during meditation.[5]
Professional wrestling career
Early career
In November 1964 Thornley had his first professional contest against "Jumping" Jim Hussey at
Bartelli had been Nagasaki's mentor and tag team partner until they had a storyline falling out over Nagasaki's rough tactics in the ring.[2][7] During the late 1960s, Nagasaki would feud with Billy Robinson and also with a young Jean Ferre. In 1968, Thornley toured Japan where he was billed under the alternative name Mr Guillotine (but still with the same visual image).[3]
World of Sport
Kendo Nagasaki made his ITV debut in May 1971 on the
In December 1971, he appeared for the first time with manager "Gorgeous" George Gillette at Dumfries.[2] He then went on to tour Canada and the United States during 1972 working for wrestling legend Stu Hart.[2] Nagasaki was renowned for his strength; in one televised match he lifted the 26 stone 9 pounds (169 kg) "The Battling Guardsman" Shirley Crabtree later known as 'Big Daddy', up on to his shoulders, then calmly walked to a corner carrying him and finished the bout with his famous Kamikaze Crash, walking out the ring as Crabtree was being counted out.
In December 1975, again facing Big Daddy (as he was by then only named) on television, Nagasaki was successfully unmasked (although he nonetheless went on to win the bout), starting a violent feud between the two.
Nagasaki returned in 1981-1982 in a few appearances for Brian Dixon,[2] in which the real Nagasaki feuded with notorious Nagasaki impersonator King Kendo (Bill Clarke) in a series of loser-lose-mask matches which saw Clarke defeated and unmasked night after night.
All Star Wrestling
In December 1986, Thornley made his masked return to the ring at the
Another tag team with Blondie Barrett would run for several years. During his final ITV appearance, Nagasaki and Barrett defeated the 'Golden Boys' tag team of Robbie Brookside and Steve Regal when the masked man hypnotised (kayfabe) Brookside to attack Regal. This too would lead to a long running storyline with Nagasaki regularly using his 'powers' to turn Brookside over to his side at live shows.[15]
In January 1989, George Gillette died of
In 1993, Nagasaki and Ryan fell out (kayfabe) and were set to feud with Nagasaki now managed by his personal assistant Lawrence Stevens and Ryan recruiting King Kendo for a fresh battle of the Kendos. This storyline was soon aborted when Nagasaki retired once more to concentrate on his role in commerce.[2] Over the next few years, Ryan continued to manage King Kendo (with Dale Preston taking over the role from Clarke who had also retired in 1993) in feuds with various old enemies of the real Nagasaki.
Millennium comeback
He returned in May 2000 to accept the Wrestler of the Millennium trophy in a ceremony at
LDN
Since then, he was said to be looking for a young wrestler to pass his "powers" on to. In June 2007, he signed a deal with London-based LDN wrestling. In November 2007 he appeared at LDN "Legends Showdown" in Broxbourne. He represented a team in a match against a team represented by his former manager Lloyd Ryan who had again (kayfabe) fallen out with his charge, this time over Ryan's son, young wrestler Damian Ryan. This event kicked off a storyline which saw him return to wrestling. Working exclusively for LDN Wrestling he feuded with Robbie Brookside over The Sword of Excellence.[16]
In May 2008 his old tag team partner Blondie Barratt teamed with him, along with a handpicked LDN Wrestler named Gregory Cortez in a
Post-retirement appearances
Nagasaki appeared with Lyn Rigby (see below) at several of All Star's wrestling events in 2018 to promote his autobiography. At these shows he performed a reenactment of the 1977 unmasking ceremony with Rigby in Gillette's role. Following each unmasking Nagasaki would revert to being Thornley for the rest of the evening.
On 16 October 2022, Nagasaki, fully masked and in character, attended an All Star show at the Floral Pavilion Theatre, New Brighton and was a ringside judge at Oliver Grey's defence of his All Star British Heavyweight Championship (which Nagasaki himself had held in 1988) against former champion NIWA. During the match, NIWA attempted to grab the title belt to use as a weapon but Nagasaki used his "powers" to make NIWA keep his hands off the belt. Grey went on to pin NIWA to successfully defend the title and was presented with the belt by Nagasaki.
Other media work
The artist Peter Blake was once asked by a magazine what he would have liked to have been had he not been an artist, and he answered a wrestler, and more specifically Kendo Nagasaki. Kendo agreed to sit for a Blake portrait for the BBC Arena programme, Masters of the Canvas in January 1992.[19]
In December 2012, Kendo Nagasaki appeared in the BBC documentary "Timeshift — When Wrestling Was Golden: Grapples, Grunts and Grannies". He remained silent, and the programme also featured clips of him wrestling and the famous "unmasking" ceremony in Wolverhampton, 1977. The programme was repeated on BBC Four on 15 July 2013 and 10 June 2015.
Championships and accomplishments
- School sports
- Weightlifting
- Judo
- British Judo Council Northwest area heavyweight champion and National Champion 1961/62 and finalist Northwest area 1962/63[1]
- British wrestling
- All Star Wrestling British Heavyweight Champion (1 time)[20]
- LDN British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Blondie Barratt[17]
- WWA World Heavyweight Championship (UK version) (1 time)[21]
- Wrestler of the Millennium trophy winner (2000)[2]
- Stampede Wrestling
Personal life
Thornley's autobiography Kendo Nagasaki and the Man Behind the Mask was published in 2018, in which he discussed for the first time publicly about being the person behind the Kendo Nagasaki persona.[24] His identity had previously been publicly revealed during a 2002 court case over a land dispute with his neighbour.[10]
In his autobiography, Thornley says that he is bisexual, and he has spoken in related interviews about the issues faced by gay and bisexual sportsmen of his era. He married, and his wife Yvette died in 1990. In his autobiography he says he is now in a new relationship with a man,[25] his longtime personal assistant Lawrence Stevens.
Thornley is a believer in
Filmography
Acting
- Send in the Girls series 1, episode 1 The Wild Bunch 1978 as Death Angel[29]
Wrestling as Kendo Nagasaki
- World of Sport 1971-1978 including unmasking ceremony 1977
- Professional Wrestling (late night/lunchtime ITV wrestling) 1971-74
- Stampede Wrestling (CHCT, Calgary, Canada, hosted by Ed Whalen) 1972
- Wrestling (standalone ITV wrestling broadcast) 1987-1988 (second season - in rotation)
- BBC21993
- The Fairfield Hall, Croydon, Thames Video ColectionTV8044, 1988
- Best of ITV Wrestling, ITV Studios, ASIN: B0009B0FGE (DVD compilation of ITV wrestling footage) 2005
- Best of ITV Wrestling: A-Z, ITV Studios, ASIN: B000EMGHD8 (DVD compilation of ITV wrestling footage) 2006
- LDN Legends Showdown I 2008
Personal appearances as Kendo Nagasaki
- This Is Your Life featuring Big Daddy, Thames Television 1979[2]
- The Funny Side ITV 1987
- Gamesmaster Channel 4 1992
- Arena - Masters of the Canvas BBC2 1992 (featuring Peter Blake, by Irish director Paul Yates.)[2][19]
- People Today 1992
- The Danny Baker Show BBC1 1994
- Everything Stopped at 4 O'Clock ITV Granada1998
- Images of Nagasaki (short art video by Irish director Paul Yates) 1998[30]
- Kendo at Fans Meet Hanley2001
- They Think It's All OverBBC One 2003
- Honourable Mention
- Midlands TodayBBC One Midlands region 2008
- I Love Kung Fu BBC Two
- Timeshift — When Wrestling Was Golden: Grapples, Grunts and Grannies BBC Four 2012
Personal appearances as Peter Thornley
Portrayals by others
- Genesis in Portrait (animated film)
- World of Wrestling (short comedy film)
- Darts (interview featuring Thornley as Kendo Nagasaki, Roger Moore and Carla Bruni)
Radio interviews
References
- ^ ISBN 9781908345479
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Kendo Nagazaki profile". OWOW. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ^ a b "Welcome to kendonagasaki.org". Kendonagasaki.org. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ISBN 9781773054766.
- ^ a b "'The Peaceful Faith behind the Violent Mask - Kendo Nagasaki,' by David Nathan, TVTimes 11-17 December 1976 pages 2-5". Kendonagasaki.org. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Healing from Kendo Nagasaki". Healing.kendonagasaki.org. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "Who is that masked man? | Sport | The Observer". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ Woodward, Hamish (28 November 2022). "The Legendary Unmasking Of Kendo Nagasaki - Atletifo". Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Garfield, Simon (1996). The Wrestling.
- ^ a b Britten, Nick (21 August 2002). "Neighbour accuses TV wrestler of land grab". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Welcome to kendonagasaki.org". Kendonagasaki.org. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "WATCH: 50 years since Kendo hit ring". Expressandstar.com. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Itvwrestling.co.uk - 1971". Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ "Itvwrestling.co.uk - 1988". Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ "Wrestling 'Villain' William Regal returns to Birmingham | I Am Birmingham". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ "Kendo Nagasaki Sword of Excellence Tournament « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b "About | LDN Wrestling". Ldnwrestling.com. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Kendo Nagasaki returns to Wolves". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Masters Of The Canvas". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ "British Heavyweight Championship". Wrestling-Tititles.com.
- ^ "WWA World Heavyweight Championship". Wrestling-Tititles.com.
- ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ "Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship". Wrestling-Titles.com.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Kendo Nagasaki - The Man Behind The Mask". Thechap.co.uk. 20 November 2018.
- ^ Guttridge, Richard (27 December 2018). "Mother of murdered soldier Lee Rigby speaks of support from wrestling legend Kendo Nagasaki". Expressandstar.com. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ Elliott, Louise; Rodger, James (9 May 2019). "Lee Rigby's mum 'forced out' of charity house by wrestling legend". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
- ^ "Lee Rigby's mum 'to set up new retreat' for families". BBC News. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ "The Wild Bunch". IMDb.com. March 1978. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ "Kendo Nagasaki : The New Millenium". 16 December 2005. Archived from the original on 16 December 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2012.