Britsh Beat – Rumble Show Revisited
In last week’s column I covered the first three episodes of 1995 BBC TV comedy drama Rumble. As I left off, all seemed set for a predictable, yet satisfying, build to a conclusive battle between retired World of Sport star Johnny Britain and young upstart promoter-grappler Alan ‘Lord Byron’ Enstone, with Johnny clearly cast in the role of upstanding honourable veteran.
Instead, episode four begins with the Beefy Boys getting a TV commercial, but Ma and Johnny seizing the money and ‘investing’ it for them by booking the 10,000 seat NEC Arena in Birmingham. Meanwhile we discover that Enstone is the son of Rasputin (a name used by a real wrestler who appears to be the same man shown in a photograph of Enstone’s father), a man who teamed with Dumpster in the 70s and lost the tag title belt to Jango and Jay.
Having been shown as a loyal son, our lead villain then persuades Georgie to go on a date, at which point we discover he grew up in an orphanage and now secretly funds it and visits underprivileged children.
Meanwhile Johnny persuades the Beefy Boys to break into Enstone’s house with weapons and steal the belt back. This winds up with the intervention of police who reveal the seemingly lovable pair are actually on probation. The episode ends with the shock arrival of Crystal, Georgie’s long-lost mother.
Episode five continues the collapse of the hero-villain dynamic as we discover that not only did Jango have an affair with Ma, but any viewer paying attention can figure out that when Georgie was born, he was 26 and Crystal just 16, making it a close-run thing whether their relationship was even legal, let alone morally sound.
Crystal then reveals she’s now the partner of former American wrestling great TJ who’s now found religion and become a preacher (though it appears his healing powers may be a scam). The plot gets utterly confusing at this point, with Georgie seemingly on the verge of abandoning Johnny and Ma (who brought her up after Crystal dumped her), Crystal giving the belt back to Johnny, Enstone and Ma working together to expose Crystal and/or bribe her to leave the country, and Georgie almost kissing her mother’s partner before getting drunk and running to Enstone’s house to spend the night.
In the final episode we learn she was too drunk to do anything and our attention quickly turns to a match at the NEC where TJ (wrestling as The Prophet) is to face Enstone (as Lord Byron) in a last man standing match. By this stage it’s absolutely impossible for TV viewers to have any idea who they are supposed to be rooting for, and things get even more confusing when Johnny trains Pecs at the same time as trying to expose his healing powers as fake.
The match, which is again in the same venue as earlier shows and clearly not in front of 10,000 people, ends with TJ winning after using the Mountevans belt. (There’s no explanation for who now has the belt or how it ended up in the ring.) Meanwhile Crystal has converted the Beefy Boys to religion and used them to help her steal the takings and flee the country.
The series ends with Crystal and the money gone, TJ’s healing powers either exposed or proven (depending on your interpretation of events) before he leaves the country and Georgie apparently flying off to America at his side — though we never actually see her on the plane. Meanwhile Ma and Johnny, who’ve yet to actually promote a show under their own steam, declare a continued promotional war on Enstone in what comes across as a blatant (and unsuccessful) bid for a second series.
Comedic failings aside, Rumble starts out as a surprisingly coherent and engaging story. In it’s later episodes it descends into a convoluted mess where virtually every character comes across as difficult to trust and out largely for personal gain. As entertainment it’s a disaster; as a portrayal of mid-90s British wrestling, some will consider it uncanny.
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