Through The Shattered Glass

by Jeanie Clarke

  Despite us living in domestic bliss, Chris and I never publicised our romantic relationship. It certainly worked as we couldn’t believe how much mail was flooding into the flat, most of it propositioning Chris for a date. With his popularity seemingly skyrocketing further each passing day, he came up with a plan that would gain us huge amounts of publicity and really make him a standout star in the UK wrestling scene.

  Mark ‘Rollerball’ Rocco, former wrestler: “The young Chris Adams was a shining light. I tried to help with advice as I was an established wrestler - he took my advice to heart and I watched him improve. He was on the right track and would have had many years of being a public hero. Chris fell in love with a top girl Jeanie Clarke. Chris brought Jeanie into the wrestling world and she became his valet or second. This worked great as Jeanie was the target for all the villains to attempt to do her damage always and to be saved by Chris. This got the crowds on their feet if not on the seating screaming at the villains, an amazing reaction.”

  Before I go any further I must explain for anyone who hasn’t seen any British wrestling from this period that it was much different to the wrestling product that fans see in rings today. The matches were fought under ‘Mountevans Rules’ and were set out in a similar structure to boxing, with each fight being broken down into rounds lasting several minutes. Contests were determined when the first wrestler to win two pinfalls, two submissions, or a knock-out would be decided the winner.

  In boxing, the role of a ‘second’ is for someone to be set at ringside and provide advice, give pep talks and clean up any injuries in-between rounds. Chris wanted to have someone at ringside who could compliment his persona of being a smooth ladies man. He didn’t want a valet or manager who would get involved in his matches; instead the notion was for me to be his ‘second’.

  His idea was for me to come into the ring after each round to give him his water and rub him down with a towel, and provide the necessary inspiration by cheering him to victory. Having a pretty girl come into the ring with him worked a treat for Chris; it reinforced his image as a real heart throb and was the start of the ‘Gentleman’ character that he would later adopt.

  Marty Jones, former wrestler: “When Jeanie first started with Chris, I was away working in Mexico and Japan, but I do remember the first time I laid my eyes on her. I think we were working at the Colston Hall in Bristol, and I just thought - nice arse! But seriously, I thought it was a masterstroke by Chris and they were so good together. I’m sure Max Crabtree would’ve loved them to have got married in the ring with the service done by the famous ‘wrestling vicar’ Michael Brooks. What an angle that would’ve been!”

  It was a real head-rush being with Chris and around the wrestling industry. The wrestlers were revered as genuine celebrities and a maelstrom of mainstream publicity started coming my way too with magazines and newspapers all wanting to know about Chris Adams’ and his sweet and bashful ringside second.

  The largest British tabloid, The Sun, asked to do a feature article on us, and we were thrilled to learn that Chris’ brother Neil was a silver medallist in judo at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

  Having a family of successful sportsmen was of tremendous interest to the media, and we were asked to travel down to the photo studios for a pictorial article. Little did we realise that the story would be picked up by other local and national newspapers.

  One newspaper article went on to describe the rare times that I got physically involved in matches. I had taken a swing at the manager of the Black Baron, after he suggested that women had no place in a wrestling ring. On another occasion, at the Belle Vue in Manchester, Chris battled Mark ‘Rollerball’ Rocco, which led to Adams being taken out of the match on a stretcher. As he was being carried away, Rocco kicked him off of it, so I felt compelled to retaliate with a hard smack across the head!

  By the autumn of 1980, I was now a fully-fledged member of the crew for Joint Promotions, the UK’s biggest national wrestling syndicate. At the youthful age of nineteen, I was appearing in cards held all over the country and Chris even suggested I would soon be on television.

  Max and Brian Crabtree had told Chris that they were impressed by my glamorous model image, and girl-next-door charm, and were keen to showcase me on the 18th October edition of World of Sport.

  I was thrilled to learn that my debut would be taped ten days prior in the hometown venue that started it all, the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend. After Chris and his opponent ‘Bad Boy’ Bobby Barnes were announced, I was so shy, and could barely look up to the crowd when I was introduced. All I can remember is timidly encouraging Chris to victory, as the men in the audience wolf-whistled for my attention.

  By now, the cat was truly out of the bag about our relationship, but it didn’t seem to affect Chris’ popularity as the post was still flooding in for the Fan Club on a regular basis.

  As I was now involved in the matches it also meant that I hung out in the dressing room during the shows instead of being in the audience.

  At first I was quite scared and intimidated, being the lone girl in the private sanctuary of all the boys, but in fact the lads couldn’t have been friendlier. They were like a great big family who immediately warmed to me and accepted me as part of it.

  The dressing room was full of some of the biggest names ever to work on the UK wrestling scene: Big Daddy, Mark ‘Rollerball’ Rocco, Tony St. Clair, Mal Sanders, Marty Jones, Steve Grey, Johnny Saint, The Dynamite Kid, Pat Roach, Dave Bond, Wayne Bridges and the Midlands trio of Turpin, Walsh and Rigby.

  I learned so much about the psychology of wrestling from these guys in the backstage area, and got a great education on the sport just by mixing with its best teachers. I was slowly starting to become smart to the business.

  Chris had never sat me down to wise me up on the inner workings of wrestling; I just started to figure it out by being around the boys and listening to their discussions backstage, or if we were out in the pub following a show.

  Most of the boys would enjoy a pint after the matches. For them it was a chance to let off some steam and relax. Our regular hangout was Tops nightclub in Leamington Spa. One evening there, we ran into Jeff Lynne from the band Electric Light Orchestra and ended up at a party with him. This was a huge thrill for me as ELO were one of my favourite acts and their 1975 hit Strange Magic still remains amongst my most cherished tracks.

  Another time at Tops, we met the ace Snooker player Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, who was ranked number one in the world at the time. He came to the flat for the evening, but he and Chris drank so much that he ended up crashing with us for several days.

  Generally, Chris would only drink alcohol on a social level, and rarely let his intake get out of control. If he did get drunk, it sometimes ended up in violence.

  I first witnessed it whilst we were having a Chinese meal. Somebody knocked into him on the way out of the restaurant. It angered Chris, who felt that the man should have apologised. Chris stood up, stormed outside and caught up with the guy in the car park. He casually tapped him on the shoulder and when the guy turned round Chris head-butted him, breaking the man’s nose.

  On a couple of other occasions, he returned from a night of boozing covered in blood. Naïve, I could not believe anyone would want to pick a fight with Chris, I saw him as such a nice, sweet guy. Luckily, these incidents were not common.

  Despite this, Chris’ career was still soaring. Business was booming all over the country and wrestling was continuing to sell out illustrious venues including The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Arena.

  It was such a prestigious industry as the British style of wrestling and its workers were so highly regarded.

  Many international stars also passed through the UK system in the seventies and eighties, including such legendary names as the enormous French attraction Jean Ferre (better known as Andre the Giant), The Samoan Chief Peter Maivia (the grandfather of The Rock) and future Canadian greats Bret and Owen Hart.

  Another was Yasu Fuji, a
Japanese wrestler who had worked in the United States and Canada. He actually had his British debut match in 1980 against Chris. The pair instantly clicked as Fuji also had a background in competitive judo.

  Fuji soon recommended Chris to Mike LeBell who, along with his brother Gene, ran a wrestling promotion in Los Angeles, California.

  The promotion, named NWA Hollywood Wrestling, was one of several territories within America’s version of Joint Promotions, the National Wrestling Alliance. Chris appealed to the LeBells, as Gene had competed in judo and had helped to popularise the sport in the States. After some written correspondence, Mike called and offered Chris a job.

  Chris was over the moon. Performing internationally was an aspiration he had set himself ever since setting foot in the ring.

  He felt that his career had gone as far as it could in the UK, and he knew that the only way to make big money and be a huge star was to wrestle in the States. When the opportunity came, he grabbed it with both hands.

  When Chris told me we were both like children on Christmas Eve. The time seemed to drag as we waited for the date to come round for us to fly out to America.

  We just couldn’t believe how our fortunes had changed, and quickly arranged for someone to look after the flat as we packed up all of our essential belongings. Neither of us knew for how long we would be there as there had been no indication.

  Our gut feeling was it would be a short tour to give Chris a trial run before we were bundled back to the United Kingdom.

  All the boys were really pleased for Chris as they knew international success was his ambition. Nobody tried to dissuade him, and to be honest it wouldn’t have made any difference if they had. When Chris put his mind to a goal there was no changing him, he was incredibly stubborn and wouldn’t stop until he achieved it.

  Mal Sanders, former wrestler: “When Chris went to America we were really pleased for him, as there weren’t many going, so anyone who got on the American circuit we were pleased for and would wish them the best…. So whenever anyone like Chris or Dave Finlay or anyone else went to America we would always wish them the best.”

  We put together the little money that we had saved for our overseas adventure. With a couple of suitcases between us and all the best wishes from our friends and family, we arrived at the airport ready to take the leap into the great unknown.

  Both of us were in a complete daze of excitement and nerves. This was the first trip out of the country that either of us had made, and although we’d already had quite a career in the UK, I was only 23 and Chris was just 26. As we waited to board the plane, we hugged each other and just smiled and laughed.

  We were on a complete high; our life was like a dream.

  Next stop: America.

  5 CALIFORNIA DREAMING

  As soon as Chris and I arrived in States, we immediately fell in love with the country.

  The only experience we had of America was what we saw on television and in the movies, and the country had always embodied such a hopeful spirit in its cultural exports. It was a far cry from the United Kingdom, which had been rocked by a major recession during the turn of the decade.

  Each view in Los Angeles looked like a picture postcard. The streets were lined by palm trees and illuminated by blazing sunshine. So many of the people had golden tans like movie stars or famous models, and there were dozens of convertibles driving around the coast. We gazed in wonder at the golden sands and the crystal blue ocean as we made our way to Santa Monica, a beachfront city in Western Los Angeles.

  Our home in Santa Monica was within a downtrodden, three-storey hotel called The Flamingo West. Located at 1733 Ocean Avenue, it was a favoured accommodation for wrestlers working the area.

  We had a tiny one-room apartment, with a small kitchen area in it. We had no car when we arrived but there were lots of buses on the boulevard, so it was fairly easy for us to get about. There was an enormous shopping mall at the end of the street, but most of the time we just hung out on the beach.

  It was heavenly to lay in the glorious sunshine on the soft sand or to take a swim in the warm ocean.

  Chris was originally scheduled to wrestle each Friday at the Olympic Auditorium, a large venue which was about fourteen miles away from where we stayed. At the time that he started working for the LeBells, he was incredibly optimistic. The territory had become one of the biggest drawing markets for wrestling in the States.

  It was a great place for Chris to be introduced to the American style of wrestling, although being there on a trial basis was far from ideal. As a newcomer, the pay-outs weren’t great and he was infrequently booked.

  Our savings started to dwindle and soon, his bookings could not even cover our rent. Being young, we were excited by this enthralling new country and we weren’t ready to leave it. I offered to get a job to help with our finances, but I didn’t have a green card to allow me to work in the States.

  All along the ocean front were these dispensers with free newspapers, so I would spend each day collecting them up and circling any adverts for jobs which I thought might be suitable. Worryingly, time was running out for us.

  Chris and I couldn’t afford to keep our apartment, so we slept on the beach. A huge bag of monkey nuts was the only sustenance that we could afford. Despite not having any money, these were some of the happiest days of my life.

  We were young and our homelessness didn’t seem to matter. Each night, we would curl up to each other, in the cool night air and listening to the ocean waves. It never once occurred to us to return home, even though in the morning we’d have bugs all over us and be forced to take freezing cold showers on the beach in our bathing suits.

  One morning at the beach, I was reading a paper and stumbled upon an advert from an agency that was looking for models. I had done quite a few photo shoots with Chris back in England, and knew that this was something I could easily do.

  After responding to the advert, I was asked to attend an interview at the agency, which was based in Hollywood.

  The man at the agency was really nice and explained that it was ‘glamour modelling’ which was mainly for magazines, adverts and calendars. He offered me an immediate start, and I accepted.

  Selected images from my glamour modelling career in Los Angeles, early 1981.

  On top of my new modelling job, I had also found another job working as a hostess at a restaurant on Santa Monica pier called Moby’s Dock.

  At the same time that I was working the restaurant and doing modelling jobs, Chris was starting to get a few more wrestling bookings. Our money situation had only slightly improved, and we moved back into the Flamingo West. It was a tiny studio room with no air-conditioning, but we were so busy and we were spending most of our free time on the beach anyway.

  It was when we were out strolling along beach one day that our lives were about to change once again. As we walked along, we passed a guy who kept staring at us.

  “Hey Chris, how are you?” enquired the man.

  I soon realised it was an old friend Chris had from his time in Leamington Spa.

  It turned out this guy, also called Chris, was now working in L.A. and was living in nearby Venice in a two bed-roomed apartment. By sheer luck, he was looking to split the costs of his accommodation, and offered us his spare room. So, we left our sweltering studio flat and moved into the spare room in Venice.

  The apartment share significantly improved our finances, and it was not long before were finally able to buy a cheap second-hand car which made our life so much easier. As Chris’ wrestling commitments were usually restricted to evening shows, he would often drive me to work, before spending the day with our new flatmate.

  While I was at work, the pair would hang out drinking at the famous Ye Olde King’s Head, a British-style pub in Santa Monica. It was highly popular with tourists and the local ex-pat community.

  The return of Chris’ heavy boozing caused a little tension between us. He sometimes failed to collect me from work as promised. Let down an
d annoyed, I would be stranded, with no way of contacting him.

  Having grown up around an alcoholic, I often worried about the frequency of his drinking and I was concerned that it would get out of control.

  I was glad when Chris was able to pick up a few more bookings on spot shows in San Bernardino and Long Beach, as wrestling commitments always curtailed his meaningless binges.

  Chris was perceived as a reliable worker by the LeBells. By the end of the year, his wrestling schedule had drastically increased. On 13th February 1981, he teamed with Tom Prichard to capture the vacant NWA Americas Tag Team Championship.

  It was a title that the pair had been chasing for almost a year.

  On a few occasions, I would accompany Chris to the ring and hand him a bouquet of flowers before his match, just as I did during our early appearances in Britain.

  The sustained work and championship status was a huge boost to Chris’ confidence. With both of us earning regular money, we eventually settled into the Venice apartment.

  Just as we seemed to have regained control of our destiny, we received some unexpected news. We found out that I was pregnant, which was a huge shock to us both. The information came at a time when my work was still heavily supplementing our shared earnings, and we knew that I would soon have to stop modelling.

  Chris and I had a serious talk regarding the pregnancy, but realised we both wanted to be parents. It was a gift that just happened to come sooner than we would have planned. We had struggled before and got by, and we would just do the same again.

  The following week, Chris received a call from a promoter in Mexico. He was asked if he would consider travelling there for a tour, to face the legendary Perro Aguayo in a series of matches. Aguayo had engaged a hot feud with Marty Jones six years prior and wanted to replicate its monstrous success with another Brit. He had really learned to respect the skill and toughness of the English wrestlers, and was keen to face Adams.