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Ray Luxford may have been known as “Brighton’s Tattooed Terror” but any resemblance with real life stopped with the tatoos. Not many real life terrors would raise around £10,000 for charity. Yet that’s the reality as far as Ray and his wife, Pearl, were concerned. Having both been treated for cancer they dedicated much of their retirement to raising funds for the Sussex Cancer Fund. Within a fifteen year period they set up stalls at markets around the area to raise funds for their chosen charity. But that’s not all. Ray and Pearl each year made sure that Father Christmas was able to visit families who would otherwise be missing out.
Some terror!
The wrestling bug had bitten Ray in his teenage years when he started watching wrestling on the small black and white television screen. He was inspired by those he saw and wanted to get involved. Training came from no less a man than the great Bert Assirati and Reg Cooper, who was the father of wrestler Barry Cooper.
Ray started working professionally around 1963 in the halls of Winshaw Promotions and on the fairground booths, which provided a lot of valuable experience.
By 1966 he was receiving bookings from Dale Martin Promotions, probably with the hope of a higher profile career. It was not to be and it was with the independent promoters Ray found most of his work. Like many others he found they could provide more than enough bookings to keep him satisfied, with opponents that included Jackie Pallo, The Wild Man from Borneo, Adrian Street and Bob Kirkwood. He also adopted the persona of villainous masked man Black Panther, complete with an unusual walk to mislead the fans.
Like many of the independent wrestlers Ray also promoted his own shows along the south coast and brought numerous youngsters into the wrestling business.
Ray Luxford died on 22nd June, 2022.
We would welcome memories and information.
Page added 23/06/2022
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