Adrian Street
| Adrian Street | |
|---|---|
Street in 2005.
|
|
| Born |
5 December 1940 Brynmawr, Brecknockshire, Wales, UK |
| Residence | Gulf Breeze, Florida |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Adrian Street Kid Tarzan Jonathan The Nature Boy Hell's Angel #1 |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg; 16.8 st) |
| Billed from | "The Royal Forest of Dean" |
| Trained by |
Chic Osmond Mike Dimitre |
| Debut | 8 August 1957 |
| Retired | 19 November 2010 |
Adrian Street (born 5 December 1940) is a retired Welsh professional wrestler and author known for his flamboyant, androgynous wrestling persona, brought to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Street was often accompanied to the ring by his long-time manager Miss Linda, and the two worked primarily as villains.
Born in Brynmawr in Brecknockshire, Street's family was in the coal mining business – his father was a miner for 51 years. In his teenage years, he began bodybuilding. He left home at age 16 and began his professional wrestling career in 1957. His early inspirations were American wrestlers Lou Thesz, Buddy Rogers and Don Leo Jonathan (from whom Street adopted his first moniker, Kid Tarzan Jonathan).
Street was trained as a professional wrestler by Chic Osmond. His first professional wrestling match was on 8 August 1957. Using the name Kid Tarzan Jonathan, Street defeated Geoff Moran.
Later in his career, he developed his "Exotic" Adrian Street image, an outrageously-attired, effeminate character who was hinted but never outright-stated to be gay. Street has explained that this gimmick was born by accident as a result of him playing up to taunting from an audience one evening, commenting "I was getting far more reaction than I'd ever got just playing this poof. My costumes started getting wilder". His wrestling attire evolved to including pastels and glitter make up and clipping his bleached hair into mini-pigtails. As "The Exotic One" his signature move in the ring was to kiss opponents to escape being pinned down and to put make up on his opponents when they were disabled.
Working primarily as a heel, Street travelled all over the world including wrestling in Germany, Canada and Mexico. In the UK, he formed a tag partnership with fellow heel Bobby Barnes named the Hells Angels. In 1969 Street met his future manager/valet and real-life wife Miss Linda (Linda Gunthorpe Hawker). The two formed a double-act, Miss Linda becoming one of professional wrestling's first female valets and frequently participating as an accomplice to Street's in-ring shenanigans.
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