Paul Lincoln obituary

Paul Lincoln, who has died aged 78, made his name as the wrestler Doctor Death and later found a second career as a promoter and co-owner of the 2i's coffee bar in Soho, London, that helped to launch rock'n'roll in Britain.

Born James McDonald Lincoln, he was the son of a Sydney signwriter, and after leaving school ran a small gym in the city. He started wrestling on booths run by the Australian showman Roy Bell, where his role was as a plucky schoolboy challenging the professionals. Then, under the name Elmo Lincoln, he wrestled at the old Leichhardt stadium, in the days when visiting Americans topped the bill. On his way to England to seek fame and fortune, Lincoln regularly wrestled in Singapore with the legendary American Chief Little Wolf – in reality an ageing and increasingly alcoholic Mexican.

He arrived in England at 19 and, while working as a bodyguard to a currency dealer, wrestled down the bill to no great effect, as Paul or James Lincoln, until the Scottish promoter and wrestler George Kidd suggested he don a mask. Some run-of-the-mill wrestlers can be transformed by a bonnet, as it is known in the trade, and Lincoln was one such.

At 5ft 8in and less than 14st, neither Lincoln nor his tubby alter ego, Doctor Death from Hollywood US, possessed the physique of a heavyweight such as his great Sydney friend Ray Hunter, or the technique of the great "shooters", "Judo" Al Hayes or Kidd himself. However, once in a mask, Lincoln's posture changed and he appeared to be their physical equal: he became one of the great masked men in the ring. As the years went by, and more and more Doctor Deaths appeared in halls throughout Britain, Lincoln would remark wryly, "Often imitated – never equalled."

It was a time when wrestlers were rebelling against the stranglehold that Joint Promotions – with regional promoters working in conjunction – held over the business. Lincoln was able to promote himself through his connections at Granada cinemas. Dale Martin bills (Joint Promotions' standard bearers) could be staple fare, but Lincoln introduced a number of exotic creatures, such as the giant Ski Hi Lee; the Glaswegian Milton Reid, who wrestled first as Jungle Boy, then bald-headed as the Mighty Chang; the Wild Man of Borneo; and the bowler-hatted Society Boy. When he fought the former world boxing champion Randolph Turpin, Lincoln refused to begin until a doctor was present, telling the crowd, "Turpin is going to be hurt." "He had more front than Sainsbury's," said one admirer.

Soon Lincoln's promotions were joined by some of Dale Martin's stars, such as Mike Marino. In wrestling's heyday, Lincoln promoted around the world; with some of the profits, he took a share with Hunter and other wrestlers in the upmarket Cromwellian nightclub in Kensington, London.

In the 1970s, wrestling changed. There was a reconciliation between Martin and other promoters, and they joined forces. No longer could Lincoln put together his own bills. Disillusioned, he agreed to be unmasked – initially in Colchester, Essex, by Peter Maivia, who played the villain in the Bond film You Only Live Twice. After that, his mask came off regularly.

Lincoln then went to Spain, where he wrestled again in a mask in Valencia for a year as a Spanish Doctor Death, making a weekly road trip to Madrid for fights in a bullring. He later returned for a time to Australia, where he wrestled as Major Lincoln, a villainous British Army officer. His time in wrestling was, he said, the best of his life.

Lincoln's other influential career was outside the ring. He was heavily involved in encouraging skiffle and rock'n'roll. In 1956, he and Hunter opened the 2i's coffee bar in Old Compton Street, Soho, where there was an admission charge of sixpence for each of two evening houses. Among those who appeared on the bill were Tommy Steele, Bruce Welch of the Shadows and Wally Whyton and the Vipers, who for some time were the regular band. Lincoln also managed the early British rockers Terry Dene and Wee Willie Harris. Steele actually appeared at the 2i's only twice, but played a big part in creating the venue's reputation.

Lincoln was the first to realise the profits to be made from all-teenage package shows consisting of nothing but rock'n'roll and skiffle without tired music-hall acts slowing down the evenings. His 2i's "Rock Across the Channel" to Calais, France, was the first of many such "riverboat shuffles". When the enormously popular BBC programme Six-Five Special was broadcast from the 2i's, Lincoln was interviewed and, said the journalist Fraser White, "his voice rang with a sacred softness that made him sound like the Billy Graham of the teenage movement".

After his wrestling career was over, he ran a private detective agency in Sydney, where he was also a partner in a Mexican restaurant, before returning to England to invest in a large nightclub in Southampton. In later years he lived quietly in the city. Even in increasing ill-health, he always tried to attend the annual British Wrestlers Reunion. He was also in Old Compton Street in 2006 to see a plaque unveiled on the site of his 2i's coffee bar.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, to whom he was devoted, his daughter, Natalie, and three grandchildren.

Paul Lincoln (James McDonald Lincoln), wrestler, born 3 May 1932; died 11 January 2011

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