Shirley Crabtree Shirley Crabtree ( November 14 , 1930 - December 2 , 1997 ) was one of the biggest stars of British Wrestling during the 1970s and 1980s and was the main star of Joint Promotions . Wrestling career . Crabtree ' s early wrestling career was spent as a muscular heel where - wrestling under alias the Blond Adonis , Mr Universe or the Battling Guardsman - he won two European Union Heavyweight Titles ( the first title win coming in 1952 and the second title win coming in 1961 ) and one British Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title ( the title being won in a tournament in 1960 ) Sometime in the 1960s he became disillioused with the wrestling business and retired to Blackpool to be a lifeguard . He would wrestle occasionally at local shows during his 15 - year professional retirement . In the 1970s his brother Max ( by then one the most powerful promoter in Britain ) convinced him to come out of retirement and join Joint Promotions . Coming out of retirement Crabtree donned his most famous guise as Big Daddy . The inspiration for the Big Daddy character came from the film " Cat on a Hot Tin Roof " which he had seen and come to the belief that the character Big Daddy ( played by Burl Ives in the film ) would be a good wrestling character . As Big Daddy he was no longer the muscular wrestler he once was but was a large , heavy set man . Big Daddy would come to the ring in a Top Hat and Jacket , both in a Union Jack Motif , to the theme tune of " We Shall not be Moved " as sung by the Seekers and his appearance in any Arena would be greeted with chants of " " Easy ! Easy ! " " or " " Who ' s the Daddy " " from the crowd . He would quickly become one of the most recognizable faces of British television and one of the most enduring characters of British Wrestling . His most famous feud would be with Giant Haystacks . While there was nothing but pride at stake during this feud the two quickly became the biggest stars of British Wrestling and when they finally clashed in a one on one battle a reported 18 million people tuned in live to watch . In addition to his famous feud with Giant Haystacks he is also most noted for feuds with Mick McManus and Kendo Nagasaki . He was also noted for teaming with young , up - and - coming wrestlers on World of Sport . Some of his notable partners were Davey Boy Smith ( later the British Bulldog ) , Tom Billington ( later the Dynamite Kidd ) and Steven Regal ( later William Regal ) . He was also one of the men who helped Gentleman Chris Adams get into the business , who was a noted Judo Star before getting into wrestling . Crabtree ' s wrestling career began to end after an in ring tragedy . During a match in 1987 with Mal " King Kong " Kirk he delivered his trademark Daddy Splash but it was soon clear that something was wrong as Kirk turned an unhealthy colour and was quickly rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival . Despite an investigation into the death discovering that the death was due to Kirk suffering a serious heart condition and clearing Crabtree of responsibility he blamed himself and dropped out of the wrestling spotlight foever . While he would wrestle sporadically for a while he officially retired in the early 1990s to spend more time at home with his family in Halifax . He died of a stroke in 1997 in Halifax General Hospital .