Wrestling was never a big deal for me as a kid. We didn't have Sky so I couldn't watch WWF, and Joint Promotions matches on WOS was pretty much the only game in town in terms of free-to-air TV. Then that got cancelled; WCW eventually replaced it in the old Saturday afternoon slot on ITV. but by then I'd got interested in other things, so the actual window of time where I was watching wrestling was pretty narrow. However back in 1988 I distinctly remember this tournament airing and I was so hyped for this final; Kid McCoy was by far my favourite wrestler and seeing him fight his own dad was going to be immense. Then that Saturday afternoon we had to visit to my grandparents house and on walking in I found my cousin was playing Pitfall! on the Atari. I asked him to turn it off so I could watch the match and he wouldn't. I begged and pleaded but no dice. I missed the match. I hadn't set the video because I assumed I wouldn't need to; I asked every other kid in the playground if they had a recording, or even if they'd seen it and could give me the gist of what happened. Nobody had, and finding out what happened in this one match became my white whale. Of course this was before the internet so I had absolutely no way of ever finding out more, and eventually I just chalked it up and moved on with my life, a little more bitter and a little more sad. Finally at the age of 42 I can tick this one little box on my list of life's achievements. Thanks!

mmmm....intresting / novel as well as well worth the viewing the time....it made me wonder if father / son wrestled each other in private / out of the commercial ring?..but that said,the G.G.T. no matter who had won it out of these two,would have ended up in the same house!...Thanks for posting..it's Appreciated....

love it whenever Kid is trapped in a bearhug

my dad wanted to wrestle with me, but I was apprehensive.

father vs son? interesting

Max Ward’s hair looks as real as Mick McManus’ (ie not very)

Anyone else wrestle there dad as a teen.

I remember seeing this match at the time.

feel Ben is holding back on his son of course

Love it

"No kidding - the boy's a real match for Dad!" (TVTImes 7-13 May 1988) It's the wrestling bout to beat them all, as father and son are matched together in the final of the Golden Grappler Trophy this week. And Mum cannot even bear to watch, Sarah Gristwood meets the family at war King Ben and defending champion Kid McCoy were two of the 16 wrestlers who competed in the tournament for the Golden Grappler Trophy. This Saturday, the King and the Kid face each other in the final. They are, out of the ring, Philip and Mark Boothman - father and son. 'It was like when an accident happens to somebody,' says King Ben. 'You don't feel the shock until later.' Ben - as everyone except his mother now calls him - has 13 years' experience in the ring, with three unsuccessful championship challenges behind him and a possible crack at the light-heavyweight championship coming soon. 'I never intended Mark to be a wrestler,' he says. 'I didn't want to lead him into anything, not with the injuries you get. But, when he was about 14, when he started showing interest, I just began teaching him a few throws in the front room.' Although Mark has been in the ring for only two years, the young children and old ladies who take their autograph books to the bouts make a bee-line for him, as well as for Ben. Father and son always watch each other in the ring. Afterwards, they phone home to let Ben's wife Pat know that everything is all right. When it isn't, it usually means one of them has suffered an injury. 'Some nights you just wake up screaming,' says Ben. 'This is not from the rare dramatic injury that puts wrestlers in hospital but from torn ligaments and hairline fractures that are not given time to heal.' Mark holds out a hand with two swollen, dislocated fingers. In three weeks, he had the same tooth knocked out three times. Yet these men love their job - and so do their many followers. There's one person who is not a wrestling fan - and that's Pat Boothman, who is a community nurse. She has been to only a couple of bouts. 'It's just too upsetting,' she says. 'Watching on television, at least I know the outcome already.' Now, with Mark in the ring as well as Ben, Pat suffers twice the agony. 'It's an awkward thing to watch your own,' she says. 'He knew the dangers, seeing his dad with so many injuries over the years, and I thought he'd get it out of his system. But it looks as if it's in his blood.' The Birmingham bout this week is one that Pat will not be watching even on television. 'See my husband hit my son?' she says. 'It's just not on.' It is father and son's first time in the ring together. 'I don't want to hurt him, and I don't think he wants to hurt me,' says Ben. 'But there's another side to it. There has to be a winner. 'Is he going to make me look a fool? Am I going to make him look one? He felt it was just possible he might be able to beat me. He worried about what it would do to our relationship. But he also knew I'd want him to go into the ring and try to win, like always. 'I've taught him everything I know and, in one respect, I hope that he can beat me. But, in another, I don't want to lose.'

12:40 - old school!

this is so British

great SBP 20:05

nice SBP 18:36

king Ben, my all time favourite, until he belittled me in public, and showed what an arse he was!