Peter Thornley

Peter William Thornley (born 19 October 1941) is an English retired professional wrestler who was best known for the ring character Kendo Nagasaki.

The character of Nagasaki was a Japanese samurai with a mysterious past and reputed powers of healing and hypnosis.

Nagasaki's most notable achievement during the 1960s was in March 1966 when he defeated and unmasked Count Bartelli (Crewe-born Geoff Condliffe) at the Victoria Hall in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

Bartelli had been Nagasaki's mentor and tag team partner until they had a storyline falling out over Nagasaki's rough tactics in the ring.

During the late 1960s, Nagasaki would feud with Billy Robinson and also with a young Jean Ferre.

In November 1964 Thornley had his first professional contest against "Jumping" Jim Hussey at Willenhall Baths.

In 1968, Thornley toured Japan where he was billed under the alternative name Mr Guillotine (but still with the same visual image).

He was one of the biggest draws of all time in British wrestling, especially in the mid-1970s and the turn of the 1980s – 1990s.

His identity as the man behind Kendo Nagasaki was first revealed publicly by a plumber who visited his house in the 1970s.

Away from the ring, Thornley has been a successful business entrepreneur and also had a career in rock management for around a decade from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, managing Cuddly Toys and Laura Pallas.

Kendo Nagasaki made his ITV debut in May 1971 on the FA Cup Final special edition of World of Sport with a victory over Wayne Bridges.

During July 1971, in what was said to be a sensational TV contest with Billy Howes, his mask came off in the heat of the battle.

Howes spent a great deal of effort in pounding Nagasaki's head and dragging his tight-fitting mask up, almost covering Nagasaki's eyes, and tried to untie the straps holding it on, before under his relentless efforts it came loose.

Howes showed little sign of actually wrestling in the end stages, and was solely intent on removing the mask, which he finally did and Nagasaki quickly left the ring covering his face.

In December 1971, he appeared for the first time with manager "Gorgeous" George Gillette at Dumfries.

He then went on to tour Canada and the United States during 1972 working for wrestling legend Stu Hart.

Nagasaki was renowned for his strength; in one televised match he lifted the 26 st "The Battling Guardsman" Shirley Crabtree later known as 'Big Daddy', up on to his shoulders, then calmly walked to a corner carrying him and finished the bout with his famous Kamikaze Crash, walking out the ring as Crabtree was being counted out.

In December 1975, again facing Big Daddy (as he was by then only named) on television, Nagasaki was successfully unmasked (although he nonetheless went on to win the bout), starting a violent feud between the two.

The unmasking occurred two years before he had an official ceremonial unmasking ceremony at the Civic Hall, Wolverhampton in what was one of the most anticipated and most viewed moments in ITV's World of Sport.

At the height of his career, Thornley discussed the relationship with his character in an interview for TVTimes in 1976 in which he claimed that the Nagasaki character was "the spirit of a samurai warrior who, 300 years ago, lived in the place that is now called Nagasaki" which he had contacted while in "a trance state" during meditation.

Thornley wore a mask for most of his career, the one significant exception being several months following a December 1977 televised voluntary unmasking ceremony.

He had originally retired in 1978 but returned to competition briefly in 1981 and then again from 1986 to 1993.

Thereafter he made sporadic wrestling appearances.

Thornley gave occasional interviews as Kendo Nagasaki, usually photographed fully masked or with his face hidden, and often speaking through a representative.

The character's voice was never heard in public.

In April the following year (1978), he appeared as an unmasked wrestler for the first time; in a contest at Croydon against Bronco Wells.

Following an August 1978 Nagasaki win on television over Colin Joynson, British Heavyweight champion Tony St. Clair entered the ring and announced he was accepting a title challenge from the now unmasked and therefore eligible Nagasaki.

However, before the match could take place, in September 1978 he retired on doctor's orders from the ring and began a new career in rock management.

Nagasaki returned in 1981-1982 in a few appearances for Brian Dixon, in which the real Nagasaki feuded with notorious Nagasaki impersonator King Kendo (Bill Clarke) in a series of loser-lose-mask matches which saw Clarke defeated and unmasked night after night.

In December 1986, Thornley made his masked return to the ring at the London Hippodrome in a ladder match with Clive Myers transmitted on ITV shortly after the New Year as the main event of the first ever edition of ITV wrestling taped at an All Star Wrestling show, and by September 1987 he went on to become the WWA World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Wayne Bridges.

He also formed a tag team with Mark 'Rollerball' Rocco but this fell apart after a televised match in early 1988 resulting in a lengthy and violent feud between the two which would rage on at live shows during the first few years after the end of British Wrestling on TV.

Another tag team with Blondie Barrett would run for several years.

During his final ITV appearance, Nagasaki and Barrett defeated the 'Golden Boys' tag team of Robbie Brookside and Steve Regal when the masked man hypnotised (kayfabe) Brookside to attack Regal.

This too would lead to a long running storyline with Nagasaki regularly using his 'powers' to turn Brookside over to his side at live shows.

In January 1989, George Gillette died of AIDS and Lloyd Ryan officially became Kendo's new manager.

In October 1991, he feuded with Giant Haystacks, and at one point was robbed of a World title (said to be the CWA World Heavyweight Championship, actually held at the time by Rambo) after Haystacks deliberately pulled off his mask "forcing" him to abandon the match.

His identity became more widely known after a 2002 court case over a land dispute with his neighbour.

Thornley never spoke publicly about being Kendo Nagasaki until the publication of his autobiography in 2018.

Until the publication of his autobiography in 2018, Thornley and his close associates frowned on the use of his legal name, preferring that his out-of-character self be referred to as "Yogensha" (Japanese for seer).

According to his official website, the Nagasaki character is "in fact, a spirit guide and sensei ... who appears by being channelled through an otherwise ordinary man" i.e. Thornley/Yogensha