Retiring after 50 years of pottery and wrestling

A wrestler who has also had a 50-year career in the ceramics industry is hanging up his singlet and adjusting to retirement

Keith Myatt, 66, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, has wrestled in front of thousands of people and travelled all over the world since first entering the ring professionally in 1982.

But all that came to an end a fortnight ago when he also retired from his job on the kilns at Emma Bridgewater.

"The mind still wants to do the wrestling but the body just won't let it happen anymore," he said.

"I still think I've got a couple of bouts in me, but perhaps in a tag match or something like that."

He has previously shared the ring with Big Daddy and Giant Haysticks among others, in a career he ran alongside his ceramics job which began at the age of 17 at Spode.

"I don't miss the 04:00 starts," Myatt joked, but said it did enable him to have a wrestling career alongside his day job.

He said he used watch the wrestling at Hanley's Victoria Hall, attended a judo school to train, and eventually made his way into the ring.

There was "no other feeling like it" he said, with more than 1,600 people watching every Saturday night.

"It's the pure entertainment side of it. But people say you don't get hurt in wrestling, you do.

"Three broken noses later, I've got bad knees, it takes me about half an hour to get up in a morning. You do get a lot of injuries."

Leaving his jobs would leave a massive void to fill, he added, but he said caring for his grandchildren would likely keep him busy.

"The wife says that she's got plenty of jobs for me at home," he quipped.

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