Belief No Longer Suspended

On December 14, 1915, the International Wrestling Tournament was coming to a close.  A featured match revealed promoter Samuel Rachmann was manipulating outcomes to keep interest in his tournament.

After the wrestling public lost complete interest in the tournament during its opening few months in the spring, Rachmann introduced one of the most successful gimmicks in professional wrestling history.  Rachmann had a masked man, the mysterious Masked Marvel, sit at ringside.

After the Masked Marvel sat at ringside from October 1915 to early December demanding to be given entry to the tournament, Rachmann gave in to the ground swell of public support for the masked man’s demands.  Without ever seeing him in a single match, the wrestling public started demanding entry for the Masked Marvel.

The Masked Marvel won his first few matches over some of the journeyman talents in the tournament like Wilhelm Berner and Pierre Le Collosse.  The German and Frenchman were decent wrestlers but they were not world-class.  They lost all their matches with the top talents like Aleksander Aberg, Wladek Zbyszko or Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

The Masked Marvel’s opponent on December 14, 1915 was a different story.  Georg Lurich was a world-class grappler, who challenged several world champions for their titles.  The 39-year-old Estonian wrestler was on the downside of his career but still gave Frank Gotch a credible challenge in Gotch’s final title defense in 1913.

When Lurich entered the tournament, he was considered one of the favorites.  A professional since 1895, Lurich entered the ring with twenty years experience.

On December 14, 1915, Lurich met the undefeated Masked Marvel in the International Wrestling Tournament.  In a night of draws for some of the favorites like Zbyszko and Lewis, Lurich lost his match with the Marvel when he walked out after 24 minutes and 30 seconds.

What accounted for Lurich’s odd behavior would be realized towards the end of the tournament.  On December 29, 1915, an unidentified New York Tribune reporter overheard the Marvel’s manager refer to him as “Mort”.  An avid wrestling fan, the reporter figured out the Masked Marvel was journeyman wrestler and railroad detective Mort Henderson.

Both the Masked Marvel and his manager ridiculed the report but the reporter was proved right in January 1916.  During a match, the Masked Marvel lost his mask long enough for ringsiders to verify the masked man as Mort Henderson.

When his true identity was revealed, the seemingly world-class Masked Marvel returned to journeyman status.  He was defeated in under ten minutes by Joe Stetcher, Wladek Zbyszko and “Strangler” Lewis.

It is fairly obvious on the night of December 14, 1915, Sam Rachmann told Georg Lurich to lose to the Masked Marvel.  Instead of allowing himself to be pinned, Lurich simply walked out of the match for a forfeit.  Lurich would lose but not allow himself to be pinned.

Pro wrestling was no longer a competition but pure spectacle.

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