A Professional wrestler pursues his occupation with all the verve of a professional actor. He must rehearse his moves carefully, build up an image either as the rogue of the ring or as the innocent, good fellow. He can become either, and once he has found the guise which best suits his temperament and the box office he accordingly acts the part.

Wrestling in New Zealand, high-lighted by the visit of King Kong, portrays many of the same characteristics of American big business wrestling, if perhaps a little less sophisticated. King Kong, a beefy 33-stone wrestler from Singapore, was undoubtedly the rogue of the fight against Dick Klonowski of Australia.

Under the blazing lights, the ring incongruous in front of a large and dusty organ, this giant of a man gave the traditional bad-man act. The crowd responded accordingly, booing and throwing empty sweet boxes at the unvanquished King Kong.

True to form, King Kong managed to down his opponent in the first round. Tension was rife, the grumble of disapproval as Dick lay concussed on the mat reached a crescendo. King Kong played it up, saluting to the crowd and looking at his downed opponent scornfully. The booing continued with the realisation that a scheduled eight-round match was over in the first round.

The entertainment of the ring lies not so much in the violence but in the acted relationship of the fighters. Like a western the "baddie-goodie" relationship is exploited to the full. Equal and opposite pairing of the fighters to contrast the evil and the good does not happen by accident as the promoters realise that audiences like to feel an affinity to a fighter— a hero to support in his time of need.

The image is religiously pursued, the rogue may wear long, flowing cloaks, bedeck himself with medals or have imprinted on his back some motif of his particular type of brutality: the tiger, the snake, and so on.