Wrestling icon Adrian Street, who once battered Jimmy Savile, dies aged 82

Legendary British wrestler Adrian Street, who once beat up the notorious pedophile and presenter Jimmy Savile, has passed away aged 82.

The trailblazing star whose career in the ring was known around the world, reportedly died at Cwmbran's Grange University Hospital in South Wales on Monday.

His wife Linda, who also worked as his ringside manager and a wrestler, told the BBC: "He'd had a heart problem a while ago which was resolved.

"But then he had a stroke earlier this month which resulted in a bleed on the brain.

"He was recovering from that at home when he developed colitis - a chronic inflammatory bowel disease - which later turned into sepsis. That's what killed him.

"It all came about so quick. I've still not come to terms with it yet."

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Street, who born in Blaenau Gwent, Wales in 1940 rose to prominence in the wrestling business in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to his androgynous and exotic persona but didn't pull any punches when the bell rang in the ring.

During his career, Street claimed to have something in the region of 12 to 15,000 matches with his final bout occurring in June 2014 when competing in Birmingham, Alabama.

One of his most infamous stories is that he was once booked in a match against Savile in 1971 at the height of the notorious figure's fame.

Of the fight, Street is quoted as saying: "The promoters were trying to put Savile across as a bit of a tough guy.

"But I was having none of it. I kicked his legs from underneath him, then I picked him up by his hair, held him upside down and dropped him on his skull.

"Then when I looked down at my hands, I realised they were covered in hair – Savile’s. I’d torn huge clumps out of his scalp."

Adrian Street on WHY He Beat the SH*T Out of Jimmy Savile! (Disgraced TV Presenter)www.youtube.com

Another reason why Street was so famous was a photograph that was taken of him by Dennis Hutchinson for the Sunday People newspaper in 1973.

The photo shows Street in his full glam rock wrestling gear, complete with long hair, make-up and colourful outfit standing next to a group of miners in a coal mine in his hometown.

According to Street, this was a revenge picture. "I want to show them what I’ve made of my life, what I’ve become since leaving Wales," the icon told Hutchinson. The Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller called the picture the most "important photograph taken in Britain after the war."

Street's career has been cemented in several documentaries including a WWE film called Imagine What I Could Do to You which was released in 2019.

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