Joe Bailey (wrestler)

Bailey was an amateur wrestler before taking up professional wrestling,^[2] beginning his career by asking to be trained at Fred Porter's gymnasium and impressing with his ability to lift weights.^[3] He was a respected heavyweight as of 1913,^[4] and was Australian amateur heavyweight champion by 1914.^[5] He continued wrestling during the First World War, beating a J. McKenna in a bout at the Railway Institute in Melbourne in 1917.^[6] In 1918 he helped organize an Athletics Programme in Melbourne as part of a Police Charity Carnival.^[7]

In 1920 Bailey was one of two wrestlers to be able to throw Australian Olympic prospect Roy Jenkin during his training at the Victorian Railways Institute,^[8] although he lost to him in the Ballarat Championship later in the year.^[9] As of 1921 Bailey had begun training boxers.^[10]

As of 1922 professional wrestling had almost ceased to exist in Australia since the First World War and the company Country Stadiums Ltd. aimed to re-establish it.^[11] The professional wrestling Heavyweight Championship had been vacated when Clarence Weber retired in 1913, and in August a meeting of Victorian professional wrestlers was held at which it was determined that Joe Bailey and Billy Meeske had the best claims to be heavyweight champion and a match between them was scheduled.^[12] Meeske promoted the fight by antagonizing Bailey by publicly wagering money and suggesting that Bailey may not show due to cowardice.^[13] They wrestled for the heavyweight championship on November 22 at Melbourne Stadium,^[14] and Bailey lost leading to Meeske becoming champion.^[15]

Bailey did not consider returning to the ring until July 1923 when he began training again, however no match was scheduled.^[16] In 1927 he announced he was willing to wrestle any heavyweight in Melbourne,^[17] and in October 1927 he refereed a match between Ted Thye and Walter Miller in Launceston.^[18] In 1928 a Launceston promoter offered to book him,^[19] with Sam Burmeister agreeing to wrestle him in the city in May, although it is not clear if the match ultimately took place.^[20]

As of 1930 Bailey had begun coaching boxers in Melbourne,^[21] and he coached boxing and amateur wrestling up until a few months before his passing.^[22]