Wrestling in England

Winter season 1963.

I teamed up with another Australia wrestler Dennis Dean, as a tag team partner. We wrestled under the name the Dean Brothers. I used the name Aussie Dean.
In turn Dennis would work with me in my circus strongman act, as the Acron Brothers.

We decided to get a bear and wrestle it. As a circus act it would go over well, and maybe we could use it on the wrestling circuit in England

We bought a Russian brown from a farm in Beacon Hill, and Dennis named him Igor.
He was a fine looking animal but never had much care and attention. But we would change that.

Bears are natural wrestlers, and we would play with him just as we would play with our dog. We just had to be careful not to get too carried away, as he could knock our heads off with one massive blow. Training of any animal must come from love, trust and respect from both sides. Igor had never had much playtime or affection shown to him before, so he enjoyed his romp with us. To him, it was a lovely game. To us, it was an enjoyable training game, where we could be badly hurt if the game went wrong.