Legends Of The Wrestling Ring

Martin Austin Ruane reigning out of County Mayo, in the 1970s and 1980s ring name Giant Haystacks he was a mean-looking man of Irish decent he was a wrestler weighing in at 31 stone? Once seen, he was-never-forgotten. A devout Catholic who refused to wrestle on Sundays he consumed three pounds of bacon and a dozen eggs each morning just-to-sustain his mammoth size and strength. In his retirement, he worked in Manchester as a debt-collector similar to Rocky, you might think. He had a long-running feud with Big Daddy, and every Saturday, we kids would tune into the telly our excitement was at a fever pitch if these two were ever-billed-against-each-other Big Daddy had a record-breaking 64-inch chest and was the first child of a burly blacksmith's daughter. Shirley Crabtree was his real name and like the Cash song 'A Boy Named Sue.' He too-also-was-bullied, so it was bullying that toughened him up and he learned the hard way to defend himself. Big Daddy was a firm favourite with the children, and Giant Haystack's past tag-team mate wasn't about to do him any favours.