Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/5vctyw/Episode_177wnp9.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadUpdate I will continue to release two episodes a month for the foreseeable future. The next episode will be released on Monday, January 23, 2023. I also share my thoughts on Vince McMahon forcing himself back onto the board of World Wrestling Entertainment. Main Content I speak about what I knew going into each
I am ashamed to say I recently discovered the career of Cora Livingston, while researching the development of the local promotor system in professional wrestling during the 1910s and 1920s. Mildred Burke was the first major woman’s wrestling champion of which I was aware. However, Cora Livingston claimed the World Championship a year before Burke was even born. Cora Livingston
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/vd4ygz/Episode_16av84t.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadUpdate To start the podcast, I make a major announcement about the podcast going forward. Main Content In this episode, I read an account of Edwin Bibby vs. Duncan C. Ross from Shooting or Working: The Story of the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Recommendation I recommend a new series detailing stories from the territories.
On March 10, 1870, Colonel James Hiram McLaughlin competed on the last night of the International Wrestling Tournament in Detroit, Michigan. The tournament ran for almost two months before the finale on March 10th. Wrestling historians frequently credit J. H. McLaughlin as being the first professional wrestler to live only on his earnings as a professional wrestler. Most professional wrestlers
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/4tm282/Episode_15bmu6s.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadUpdate We have a guest in the studio this week. My cousin, Dan Zimmerman, joins us to talk about attending live wrestling cards in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Dan recounts how I almost got us both killed during a WWF wrestling card at Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis during 1986. Main Topic
One of the oldest adages in combat sports is “a good big man always beats a good little man”. It is the reason that we have weight divisions in boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts. On Tuesday, November 2, 1881, 160-pound Edwin Bibby proved there are exceptions to this rule. While small, Edwin Bibby was particularly strong for his size.
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/ysgcxd/Episode_1488754.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadUpdate I begin the episode by discussing the need to alternate between co-hosted and solo episodes for the foreseeable future. Main Content I discuss the early career of the first recognized Women’s World Wrestling Champion, Cora Livingston. In 1908, Livingston claimed the American Women’s Wrestling Champion after Livingston defeated Hazel Parker. Cora Livingston gained
(This excerpt is from my newest book on the history of the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.) Jenkins proved himself the top contender as soon as McLeod won the title. On Wednesday, November 17, 1897, Tom Jenkins wrestled former title holder Martin “Farmer” Burns in Indianapolis, Indiana. The men wrestled a best two-out-of-three-falls match according to catch-as-catch-can wrestling rules. Jenkins stood
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/agrffg/Episode_139hxwd.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, we discuss a dangerous decision Tom Jenkins made on Christmas Night 1902. Update I added a discussion about a MMA video containing pro wrestling history. Martin asked me a question about the video that I was supposed to discuss but missed in our intro for this episode. The regular episode played
My great grandfather Parker L. Zimmerman married three times. After a couple of months marriage to Victoria Harris during 1897 in Franklin County, Missouri, Parker moved to Bollinger County, Missouri to be closer to his family. His parents, Samuel and Sarah Zimmerman, lived in Dongola, Bollinger, Missouri. On March 31, 1902, 27-year-old Parker married his second wife, 22-year-old Mellie Bollinger.