On this day in wrestling history, July 21, 2005, we remember the unforgettable Lord Alfred Hayes.
Out of all the personalities in professional wrestling, Lord Alfred Hayes was one of the quietest yet most memorable ones in history.
Many of us remember Hayes as the charismatic play by play man on broadcasts, often with Gene Orkerlund or Gorilla Monsoon.
Many of us were first exposed to him during the first WrestleMania where he was the commentator by the gorilla position.
Some will remember him as Vince McMahon’s co-host on the old WWF Tuesday Night Titans show, and few may remember him from his wrestling day.
The wrestler
As is customary in many sports, many of professional wrestling’s play by play and/or color commentators have a history performing in the sport and Hayes was no exception.
“Judo” Al Hayes began his career in Britain in the early 1950s. His average size (5-foot-9 and 238 pounds) and background in judo worked perfectly against his opponents as he chopped and tossed his way up the ladder of United Kingdom wrestlers.
Billed from Windermere, England, he was once of the best heels for the business throughout the 1960s and 1970s as he wrestled across the world, including the United States.
He even worked as a manager while in the AWA (American Wrestling Alliance) that Verne Gange had founded after leaving the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance).
But this wasn’t something he enjoyed and had to be talked into it. As he stated in an interview with Wrestling Perspective (http://www.wrestlingperspective.com/89.html):
“I did some managing that I didn’t really want to do, but I did it up in Minneapolis. Verne Gagne persuaded me to. I said to him, ‘No, I don’t want to be a manager because when you’re a manager, you go in and you do the main event and the wrestler gets the money and you who do all the work and all the talking get nothing.’ So he said, ‘I’ll pay you what the main event gets.’ So that’s how much he wanted me to manage.”
When you’re in demand, you’re in demand, right?
In the 1980s, he was ready to take on a new challenge and joined Vince McMahon’s rapidly expanding WWE (Then WWF).
As mentioned previously, he appeared across WWE programming, which is what he’s probably most known for. He quickly lost his previous heel demeanor and became a British gentleman, making it a joy to listen to him call the matches.
End of the run
In 1995, Hayes left the WWE as his pay was reportedly being decreased with a series of pay cuts. It’s been reported that his leaving didn’t sit well with McMahon as he didn’t want to lose him.
That is also rumored to be why it took so long for McMahon to add him to the WWE Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately, Hayes was involved in a care accident around this time and reportedly gang green set in and part of his leg had to be amputated. This depends on where you hear it, as some sites give other reasons for the amputation.
Still, this put Hayes into a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.
At his home (this also depends on the source as some say he was in a retirement home instead), he suffered a series of strokes and died on July 21, 2005 at 76 years of age.
Lord Alfred Hayes had a career that spanned decades, yet most of it isn’t known. We’re honored to remember him on this day in wrestling history. He among others helped make the sport into the one we know and love.
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