SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Lord Athol Layton
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Lord Athol Layton with pet pooch Bo in 1981. Photo by Hugh Wesley, Toronto Sun |
REAL NAME: Athol Layton
6'5", 260 pounds
BORN: Surrey, England in 1921
DIED: January 18, 1984 of a heart attack
Fans in southern Ontario, northwestern New York state, Ohio and upper
Michigan knew Lord Athol
Layton as the colorful commentator for thousands of wrestling shows. Before
becoming an announcer, he
was a hugely successful wrestler around the world. He may be best known for
his feud with Whipper Billy Watson, and his tag team with Lord James Blears.
Of course, Layton was not a Lord of any type. He was born in England, and
moved to Australia at 13,
where he met his wife Leah. After being discharged from the Australian
Imperial Forces after World War
II -- where he was Australia's Heavyweight Amateur Boxing Champ for two
years -- he settled down with
his wife to run a pub. A troupe of travelling boxers and wrestlers came
through the town, and he became
interested in learning more. Shortly thereafter, through a friend, he had
his first wrestling match in
Singapore in 1949. He went to England to learn more about wrestling, but it
wasn't until Toronto
promoter Frank Tunney called that he wrestled full-time. Layton was a heel
in the early part of his career
but eventually grew into a fan favorite. His last match was in 1976 age age
56. He retired over concern for
his injured eye. He did announcing pretty well right from the start too.
Layton was quite involved in the
Toronto Shriners, and even had a go at local politics, and became a Canadian
citizen in 1958.
In April 1958, his wife Leah wrote an article for Maclean's
Magazine describing what it was like being married to a wrestler.
Besides the obvious -- he's away
from home all the time, they travelled the world, and the funny ways which
people react -- she ends with
this gem talking about Athol's role as commentator on a recent Buffalo show.
Naturally we've always enjoyed the show, especially on a recent night when
he interviewed
another wrestler who shall be nameless. Athol has a fairly extensive
vocabulary and unquestionably a gift
for gab, but his questions elicited only inarticulate grunts and
monosyllables. At length the other wrestler
opened up. "Look here," he said, "I don't go for none of this 'lord'
business" -- he'd obviously been
consulting Burke's Peerage -- "so to me you're just plain 'mister'.''
Athol didn't bat an eye. "My good fellow," he said, "the longer youkeep talking, the more I sound like a lord.
Feature stories
March 1, 1981
Lord Athol looks back
By JERRY GLADMAN -- Toronto Sun
He would have made such a good bad guy.
They called him the Lord of the Ring and he played the part beautifully.
All six-foot-five, 260
pounds, posturing at centre ring in his purple coronation robes, white cape
and ermine tails, bowing with
disdain to all four corners. He even kept the packed Tokyo hall waiting by
insisting on his usual spot of
tea in the dressing room before entering the area.
Full story
Memories
With his suit on and delivering a karate shop
to his head back in the early `60s watching
him on WXYZ TV DETROIT. I really liked
LORD LAYTON and also saw a live bout at
the Detroit Olympia with Dick The Bruiser where he
broke a chair and took one of the slats from
the chair and raked it across Layton's face.
I was only about 11 at the time and can't
remember the final decision. The roar in the
Olympia was deafening. No doubt it ended
in a disqualification.It was a tremendous bout
that I remember vividly today.
Steven Torhan
I remember Lord Athol Layton in the seventies on CHCH TV. He was a great
commentator, and was not afraid to rough it up. One great moment occurred
when THE SHEIK'S manager THE WEASEL provoked the Lord too far. Lord Layton
dropped his microphone, ran into the ring and gave THE SHEIK a number of
drop kicks, all with his suit and jacket on. Then he ended it with a
famous karate chop to THE WEASEL.
mfarias
I can remember growing up in Cleveland and watching live Wrestling from the
TV studio there hosted by Lord Layton in the late 1950's. What I remember
most is
Lord Layton saying "Hello, hello, what's this?" Great fun in a great era.
Opera
I remember seeing Athol Layton wrestling at the Ontario Place forum in
the early 70"s at the ripe old age of 12. His best match was against
German bad guy Hans Schmidt. My father kept heckling Athol throughout
the entire match. When provoked beyond his limits, Athol Layton calmly
looked over at us and in a loud, calm voice said " My good fellow, when
I'm finished with him, I will gladly come up there and give you a sound
thrashing." It gave me chills to have had us been spoken to by a man I
had seen on television many times. I'm now 36and this memory is still
fresh in my mind, as if it happened only last week. It still brings a
smile to my face.
Robert Hungerson, CFB Borden
I grew up in Cleveland and remember Lord Layton quite well doing the live
wrestling broadcasts. Two memories stand out. One is his interview with
George Carpentier who could barely speak English but was a good subject.
The other was Lord Layton interviewing a massive Greek wrestler who spoke
no English and demonstrated his strength by doing a hand stand on his desk.
Lord Layton tried to convince him the interview was over but the gentleman
merely nodded pleasantly and smiled and continued his handstand on Lord Layton's table. It was the only time I remember seeing Lord Layton's normal
unflappable demeanor ruffled.
RJC. Cleveland
The "Lord" was a great fan favorite in his adopted homeland of Australia. In
1971 he returned for a 2 year stint as host of Channel 9's "World
Championship Wrestling". Often he would get "involved" in
matches...especially against his nemesis Tiger Jeet Singh.
He also feuded with Big Bad John, Playboy Gary Hart & Waldo Von Erich.
One of his most memorable TV moments was convincing Killer Karl Kox to join
with Mark Lewin & King Curtis Iaukea to rid the ring of Bulldog Brower, Don
Fargo & Abdullah The Butcher. A classic 6 man tag match in a cage ensued.
All 6 men were bloodied at the conclusion of this war.
Great memories.
Colin Duff
I just thought to look up Athol Layton and find out what happened to
him; too bad about his passing. His rather genteel approach to
announcing made the old "Big Time Wrestling" shows on Detroit TV in the
'60's lots of fun. My favorite one-liner from him was when Killer Karl
Kox, upon entering the TV arena, knocked someone out of his chair; Lord
Layton said, I swear to God, "That's not very nice, you know!" He made
wrestling--how can I saw this--culturally acceptable.
G. DiGiuseppe, Ft. Dodge, IA
I had the pleasure of meeting Lord Layton on a number of occasions as I was growing up in the city of Windsor. When he would come to
Windsor to tape his wrestling show, he would often stay at the hotel
were my mother worked in the smoke shop and I sometimes worked part time. I would often bump into him in the lobby and he would
always say hi. I also attended many of the tapings which were done at the studios of CKLW (now C.B.C.) on Riverside and Crawford Ave.
in Windsor.
I always had a great respect for this man because of his good works with the Shriners. He loved kids.
G Wiltse
I have very fond memories of staying up late nights on the weekend with my friend Rick, we never missed "Big Time
Wrestling" Lord Layton was always the focal point of our viewing memories. Who could forget the famous match with
Dick the Bruiser where the Bruiser took a chair and knocked out his opponent and then proceeded to grab a fire
extinguisher and empty it into the mouth of the poor man. Always unflappable, Lord Layton then ran over to the
Bruiser with mic in hand and proceeded to lecture him on how that was bad sportsmanship and that he would probably kill the man!
Great Stuff that was. I miss that type of sport so much. Today it is all Glitz and Glam and very little good theatre. What
ever happened to the likes of "The Sheik", Sonny the Big Cat King, Igor, The Student, Dr. Jerry Graham etc....
"Tory", Michigan
