At age 14, Lees left St Peter's RC School and began working for his father's building firm.

Lees continued his interest in health and fitness during his National service in the British Army as a Physical training instructor (PTI), during his time spent in Germany.

Nicknamed "Big", Lees debuted on 22 July 1959 in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, wrestling German wrestler James Brown to a draw.

Between April and May 1968, while in Japan, Lees worked for the Tokyo-based International Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of a 14-night national tour.

On 17 April, during the sixth night of the tour, Lees along with Welsh wrestler "Checkmate" Tony Charles challenged reigning champions Thunder Sugiyama and Toyonobori for the TWWA Tag Team titles in a Best Two Out Of Three Falls match, but lost after eighteen minutes.

Northern News apparently shared these photographs as well as the match result originally reported by another publication called the Scots Corner, indicating Lees scored a victory against Kerschitz by knockout.