Big Daddy

[3.0] "Big Daddy is a fascinating figure in wrestling history, but not for technical prowess. In-ring, his offense is limited, his cardio almost non-existent, and his matches rarely rise to "classic" status. Yet his charisma is undeniable; he carried British wrestling for a period, connecting with fans of all ages as a jolly, heroic presence. Watching him isn't about quality grappling; it's about the spectacle of this enormous, cheerful man triumphing over cartoonish villains. If you can embrace the camp and the charm, Big Daddy's matches offer a uniquely entertaining slice of wrestling history."

[5.0] "Big Daddy is a difficult wrestler to "rate" as such. When it came to in-ring wrestling, he wasn't very good at all, with his offense often looking bad and his cardio being almost zero due to his size. However, Big Daddy certainly had a unique charisma to him that helped make him a big star both during and after his career. In many ways he was the face of British Professional Wrestling for a while, and he was largely quite popular in that role, although he earns his fair share of derision these days both from long-time fans and the other wrestler's he worked with. You're not going to find many "classic" matches in his back catalogue, but if you can ignore the lack of quality wrestling going on and can find fun in the wackiness of the whole idea of this jolly big man, with terrible wrestling skills, being a hero to grannies and kids whilst he squashes the villain of the week, then by all means track some Daddy matches down"

[8.0] "I might elaborate on this in the future as you could write a book on the pro and cons of Big Daddy. What I will say is for as limited an in ring worker he is, he's the single biggest star in this history of European Wrestling. To this day nearly 4 decades after his last match any wrestling fan and anyone of a certain age in England knows big Daddy. 4 out of 5 stars."

[6.0] "Listen he's not a good in ring wrestler. I've watched a ton of his matches when I hyper fixated on him in 2021. But this man deserves his flowers, he was HUGE in the UK in his era, and his match on ITV vs Giant Haystacks had a metric fuck ton of people watching him. I tend to find workrate to be very important in my reviews hence why I'm only giving him a 6/10 but he has a genuine case for being a Hall of famer, and I think it's a honest shame he fell off the Observer hall of fame ballot he'd certainly be in the european pro wrestling hall of fame if such a thing exists. Also he had a really good look, with his walkout gear hat and sparkly clothes he absolutely stood out even ignoring his super heavyweight status."

[3.0] "Hugely popular in the UK, still talked about years later, but this style just didn't work for most people in the US. Just a big fat guy who fought other big fat guys in a tiny ring and lumbered around."

[3.0] "Hugely popular here in the UK, despite being immobile in the ring and having incredibly limited skills. Apparently he was a betetr wrestler in his first run, and I wish that I could have seen that."

[5.0] "Kinda like the British Hogan but imo worse in the ring, he is fondly remembered by older generations but he was always bad in the ring but had charisma to be a major draw apparently... Even though he's from my home town I'm not a fan of this guy at all and I wish we had a better representative in wrestling"

[5.0] "A hugely important historic wrestler across the country and your grans favourite. Even now people know his name."

[7.0] "I confess I have seen nothing of his first wrestling run when he sported a Herculean physique and touted his rugby background. It was well before my time and finding any footage of him seems extremely hard. In 1975 his brother Max, a very powerful promoter in the days, asked him to come out of retirement to tag with Giant Haystacks: by this time Big Daddy was in his mid 40's, hadn't wrestled in a decade and was already much overweight. He started his second run as a heel, but fans started cheering for him during a feud with Kendo Nagasaki so he was turned face. I am not exaggerating here: Big Daddy is the most insanely over babyface I have seen in my life. You had this big fat middle aged man with limited mobility and coming to the ring wearing a top hat and carnival barker jacket who sold out arenas on his name alone. As his health declined (and his weight ballooned) he became somehow even less mobile but it didn't matter one bit: people were still lining up to cheer for him. In fact I dare to say that as he started to wind down his career in the late 80's his star power actually increased because people wanted to see Big Daddy one last time before he retired. I am the first to admit he was a horrible wrestler but he had a star power that not even Hulk Hogan could dream of. The only guy I can think who could get close to him is Stone Cold Steve Austin. And believe me, that's a huge accolade."

[3.0] "He is a legend in British wrestling. He is not that as a wrestler. He only could do take downs and clobber an opponent. His style was boring and had limited skills in wrestling. He is remember for being and fighting against Giant Haystacks."

[2.0] "Big Daddy was a big star, a major star, but the hugely detrimental effect he had on British wrestling cannot be underestimated."

[4.0] "Being related to the promoter never hurts a push but somehow the fans really bought into this gimmick. I've tried to see it for myself but can't really handle sitting through more matches. I can't really imagine big daddy getting over in any other promotions but he was really something special in England there."

[2.0] "He was Maggie Thatcher's favorite wrestler... Doesn't speak well at all of her ability to judge talent, does it? The guy had charisma, sure, but the iceberg that sank the Titanic probably was more mobile."

[3.0] "Awful wrestler tried to be a British Hulk Hogan his matches were shocking one of the main reasons UK television wrestling was cancelled"

[3.0] "Well, Daddy was the biggest name in British wrestling and I don't think that will ever change but that doesn't mean he was any good."