Promoting Wrestling

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Professional wrestling evolved into an athletic exhibition from legitimate contests for two reasons. I have written extensively about the first reason. Legitimate contests between equally skilled wrestlers were often long, boring affairs with little action. These contests turned off fans and prevented professional wrestling exploding as a spectator sport. I have not written as much about the second reason. The

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Episode 6 – Worked Title Matches

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https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/7s9rgj/Episode_6b9zva.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I will be talking about a pair of worked title matches for the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Main Content Fred Beell was a strong, talented professional wrestler at the turn of the 20th Century. Although powerfully built, Beell stood no more than 5’05” and weighed 168 pounds. Yet, he improbably defeated

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Acton Wrestles Greco-Roman

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On Monday, March 26, 1888, Joe Acton, who specialized in catch wrestling, wrestled Professor William Miller, an Australian wrestler, and bare-knuckle prizefighter, in a two-out-of-three-falls Greco-Roman wrestling match. Both men’s camps believed wrestling the match in this style ensured the fairest contest between them. The men wrestled for $500.00 a side. 1,500 fans, a large crowd for the era, turned

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Episode 5: Wild Claims

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https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/q2pnhj/Episode_58uqay.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I will be talking about some of the wild claims fans, wrestlers and wrestling historians make about professional wrestling matches. Update I recently discovered that before Mildred Burke was even born, wrestling fans and reporters recognized Cora Livingston as the first women’s wrestling champion. Cora learned to wrestle in the carnivals.

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Lewis Wins American Title

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Prior to wrestling in Kentucky in the early 1910s, wrestling fans knew Ed “Strangler” Lewis as Bob Fredrichs. Born Robert Friedrich in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, Lewis made his professional wrestling debut in 1905, while still only 14 years old. Kentucky promoters thought Bob Fredrichs too plain, so Lewis chose his new name as an homage to fellow Wisconsin native and original

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Episode 4: Biggest Double-Cross

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https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/3jeixi/Episode_48a46i.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadEpisode Preview In this episode, I will be talking about the biggest double-cross in pro wrestling history. Introduction or Update After two weeks of COVID, my breathing finally returned to normal, so it is back to researching the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. This project has proven to be as frustrating as I expected it

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Episode 3: Evan “Strangler” Lewis

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https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/79nsr9/Episode_36u5sw.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I will be talking about one of the most vicious hookers in the history of professional wrestling. I will focus on three incidents which illustrate why other wrestlers feared Evan “The Strangler” Lewis. Update The update will be on the light side because I contracted COVID for the second time this

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Episode 2: Jim Londos

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https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/sfejv3/Episode_275lyj.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I will be talking about biggest box office attraction in wrestling history. When he took a working vacation back to his home country of Greece, he filled up 100,000 stadiums. He was the first wrestler to draw 30,000 fans since the second Frank Gotch-George Hackenschmidt match in 1911. Update Why I

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Episode 1: Gotch vs. Hack

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https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/tkrvui/Episode_1b3iy0.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIt Was Almost Real: The Pro Wrestling History Podcast, Episode 1 – Gotch vs. Hack Episode Preview In this episode, I’ll be talking about the facts and myths around the two matches between Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt. During May 2016 after researching the men’s careers for the previous two years, I released Gotch

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