"Tarzan Boy" Darren WARD

Heavyweight

N.B. Left-clicking on any photograph will enlarge it

The following are selected excerpts from an interview with Darren Ward from the "Eye On Wrestling" blog in February 2015:

Darren Ward's wrestling experience started as a fan growing up in Leeds. At the time, wrestling in the UK was a booming business as homegrown British talents were showcased on the highly rated World Of Sport TV show on ITV. The TV stars were of course the main draws for shows around the country, but the quantity and quality of talent which was being turned out made the UK a focal point for promoters around the globe who were looking to recruit from our hotbed of quality workers.

"My earliest memories of wrestling are of course World Of Sport, like most people born in the 60's. My early favourites were Les Kellett, Mick Mc Manus and Jim Breaks. The first live show I remember seeing was at Blackburn Hall in Rothwell near Leeds, promoted by the man who would give me my start in the job, Cyril Knowles. It would have been around 1970 and the wrestler who stuck out in my mind was a comedy wrestler called Pedro The Gypsy, who I would later become great friends with. Pedro was an absolute legend in the game, once seen never forgotten!"

The young Darren Ward would become hooked on the industry and with his dedication as well as his natural size, was able to make headway in preparing himself for his future career from an early age.

"I always wanted to be a wrestler from the very first time I saw it. I was always big for my age, and strong too. I started doing Judo at 8 years old, then amateur wrestling at Green Lane A.W.C. in Bradford. I won the Yorkshire Junior title at heavyweight and the English novice title, both in 1981. I then trained with Professional wrestler Little Prince Mohammed Alam at his gym in Leeds. My first pro bout was in March 1985 against Johnny Angel's dad, Crazy Dave Adams. There were no training schools back then, so you went to an amateur wrestling club to make a man out of you, so to speak. But amateur and pro are like chalk and cheese. One interesting fact about my career though, is that I am the only wrestler I know of whose first taste of going in a proper wrestling ring was when I stepped in there for my first professional bout. I had no idea of what the ropes, posts, boards or canvas felt like! You just learned the game as you went along, but I kept having breaks in my first few years because I could make a lot more money at my other job.... a male stripper/kissogram! Another unusual occupation to say the least!"

The bodybuilding look was not as widely sought out as it has become today in professional wrestling, so the opportunity for such a crossover would not perhaps have been as readily available. Tarzan Boy Darren was one of the most muscular workers on the British circuit at one time, with many others having athletic, but more rugged appearances. This was no doubt a contributing factor in his ability to rise through the ranks and get the bookings that started to make his dreams come true. 

"My favourite venue was Leeds Town Hall, because that was the place where I saw all the stars of TV from the mid 70's onwards. My dream/ambition was to be a professional wrestler and walk out from the dressing room there, so when I did it the first time it was the equivalent of a schoolboy football fan walking out at Wembley captaining his team in the FA Cup final. The worst crowds were at Blackpool pleasure beach because they weren't wrestling fans as such. They had come in to see a fight, so you had to work extra stiff and hard to make it look like a real fight. They sometimes jumped the ring or joined in if you went outside the ring. I saved Tony St. Clair there one time when a punter went for him; I nipped in smartly with a right hook on the fella’s chin, he went over and Tony and me carried on. I saw William (then Steven) Regal, Richie Brooks, Dave Duran, Colonel Brody, myself and even Klondike Kate deal with punters there. The only wrestler I saw coming close to getting beat by a punter there was The Mongolian Mauler, who had a right struggle with a tall wiry bloke who lasted the full 3 rounds, costing promoter Bobby Baron £30."

"The travelling was stupid mostly. One weekend that sticks out in my mind was leaving Leeds at midday on Friday for Irvine in Scotland. We left there at 10.30pm for Portsmouth to catch the 10am ferry for Guernsey for a Saturday night show. Sunday it was a 10am boat ride to Jersey for 2 shows; afternoon and evening, then up again at 10am for a catamaran boat ride to Weymouth. Then we drove 80 miles across the south coast to the car at Portsmouth for the trip back up to Leeds. I got in the pub at the bottom of my street at 10.15pm on Monday night. WHAT A FECKING TRIP!!!"

As well as performing in the ring, Tarzan Boy Darren would try his hand at promoting shows, and was usually successful in his efforts.

"When I was promoting big shows, I always got the double sized crown posters. I did well and made good money 90% of the time. I used the best wrestlers of the time: Dynamite Kid, Kendo Nagasaki, Giant Haystacks, Pat Roach, Marty Jones and all the other TV names.

In the midst of plummeting attendances due to the lack of exposure for homegrown talent, promoters resorted to largely putting on tribute shows to the American wrestling which monopolised wrestling on TV. Wrestlers would assume the roles of their WWF counterparts, with Tarzan Boy Darren becoming the UK's answer to Kane. The move was a necessity at that time and successfully reinvigorated business to a level which was able to keep shows afloat. While the period is not looked upon fondly by British Wrestling purists, there was simply no other way to get enough people in seats to break even at that time and it served the fans well to have a cheaper and more readily available alternative to taking their kids to the comparatively expensive and sporadic WWF European tours.

Some photos of Darren with famous faces at the reunions, which he organises with Steve Fury (Peter Thompson):

Unfortunately, Tarzan Boy's career would be cut short when his back was badly injured in a head-on crash with a boy racer in 2007. However his love of professional wrestling remained intact and he turned his attention to building on his existing collection of wrestling memorabilia, which is now the biggest collection of its kind. Enough to fill a museum of its own dedicated exclusively to British wrestling, he has become a caretaker to wrestling's past and a valuable source to people from far and wide who conduct research for any wrestling-related projects. Darren Ward is now the Wrestling Historian for Fighting Spirit Magazine, as well as being one of the organisers of the British Wrestling reunions in Leeds. His collection is becoming the stuff of legend, as well as being an invaluable source of reference for wrestling historians, and by taking an active role in the reunions he is ensuring that the colourful and fascinating history of British wrestling continues to live on. Having been a fan, wrestler, promoter and historian, he unquestionably has a unique perspective and insight to an industry which has captured the hearts of millions of people. 

The full "Eye On Wrestling" article by Nathan P. Hunt can be found at:

http://eyeonwrestling.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/tarzan-boy-darren-ward.html?m=1