Danny Boy Collins | |
---|---|
Born |
Bristol, England, UK |
21 February 1967
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Danny "Boy" Collins Danny Collins "Dirty" Dan Collins |
Billed height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
Billed weight | 84 kg (185 lb; 13.2 st) |
Trained by | Roy Harley; Stan Osborne |
Debut | 23 September 1983 |
Danny "Boy" Collins (born 21 February 1967) is an English professional wrestler. Noted for his agile, gymnastic style in the ring, he has toured successfully across Europe and Japan and held British, European and World (European version) titles in five different weight divisions.
Collins made his professional debut in 1983 against Adrian Finch before going on to be a regular star of ITV's World of Sport programme. Despite losing his TV debut to veteran heel "Crybaby" Jim Breaks, Collins would come back in 1984 to defeat Breaks first in an elimination tournament final, then in a £500-per-fall challenge, before finally capturing Breaks' British Welterweight Title.
The following year, Collins would capture the European Welterweight Championship from visiting champion Jorg Chenok (billed as Baron Von Chenok) in a match screened on ITV during World Of Sport's special 1985 FA Cup Final edition. As a result of this victory, Danny would tour France and northern Spain extensively during the late 1980s for local promoter Roger Delaporte. Collins was also a frequent tag team partner of Big Daddy as well as teaming with his younger brother Pete Collins.
He continued to have a successful wrestling career in the United Kingdom and across Europe despite an operation to have his kidney removed in the mid-1980s, using a high-flying style in his matches that was unusual for British wrestling at the time. He further developed the cartwheel escape from an arm lever first invented by Dynamite Kid in the mid-1970s - itself an advance on the traditional roll on the mat to untwist an arm lever.
After ITV's coverage of wrestling ended in 1988, he achieved even greater success, moving to All Star Wrestling, where he defeated Dave "Fit" Finlay to win the British Heavy-Middleweight Championship in 1989. Although he controversially lost the title by disqualification to Richie Brooks in Croydon in 1990, he would soon regain the belt that same year. In 1991, he defeated Owen Hart for the vacant World Middleweight Championship and would continue to claim the title until 1995 when he moved still further up the weights.