Kendo Nagasaki: The Man Behind the Mask

Description

When we interviewed legendary 1970s masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki in 2017, during which he neither spoke a word nor removed his mask (the interview replies were relayed via email), there was a feeling that he might be hiding something. Only a year later this book was published, and the mask certainly did come off. The well-written, fascinating book recounts Peter Thornley’s (Kendo’s real name) years training as a wrestler in rough gyms in northeast England, to his days as an undisputed champion of the 1970s professional wrestling scene, managed by the camp and outrageous Gorgeous George. The part that no-one knew about then was that Thornley and George were both regulars at London’s most clandestine gay clubs, a fact that would clearly not have chimed with his image as a feared masked wrestler with a pentagram tattoo on his head.