Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Joe Stecher capturing the world wrestling championship from Earl Caddock is the oldest professional wrestling film in existence. Tragically, promoters filmed the biggest matches of the 1910s and 1920s including the second Frank Gotch-Georg Hackenshmidt match, but they rotted in storage areas. Camera operators filmed Ed “Strangler” Lewis vs. Wayne “Big” Munn, Stecher vs. Stanislaus Zbyszko, and the reunification match
One of the legendary tales about Joe Stecher concerns a legitimate contest he had with one of Martin “Farmer” Burns wrestlers, when Stecher was barely out of high school. Burns heard about Stecher’s growing reputation and decided to test him with one of his wrestlers. For years, I thought Stecher defeated Yusif Mahmout but he actually wrestled Yussif Hussane. The
Edwin Bibby and Duncan C. Ross established the first recognized professional wrestling championship in the United States on January 19, 1881. The men wrestled catch-as-catch-can style for the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. William Muldoon was the World Heavyweight Champion based on his defeat of Thiebaud Bauer in 1880. Andre Christol brought the World Title to the United States in the
In his book Hooker, Lou Thesz wrote about the rivalry between two of his favorite wrestlers, Joe Stecher and Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Stecher and Lewis would emerge as the two best legitimate professional wrestler of the 1910s. Either man could beat every other wrestler at the time in a legitimate contest or “shoot”. The men wrestled three long, boring contests
Prior to the creation of the territorial system in 1948, pro wrestling promoters fought with each other to control the world championship. Promoting the world champion led to bigger gates, so most promoters wanted to control the championship. In the 1930s, promoters would enter into agreements with each other but they were often fleeting. When one promoter got offended, thought
On November 19, 1935, professional wrestler Ray Steele met professional boxer Kingfish Levinsky in a mixed wresting versus boxing bout. The Missouri State Athletic Commission created special rules for the match. The commissioners ruled the bout would consist of three-minute rounds like a boxing match. The commissioners allowed Levinsky to punch even if he was on the mat. Steele could
In 1899, Martin “Farmer” Burns was transitioning into the role of part-time wrestler and full-time trainer. One of his most famous pupils would be Frank Gotch, who Burns defeated a week after this match. Burns was 38 years-old and had lost his American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship two years earlier. Burns blended both roles on a very busy December night in
Who is the greatest legitimate professional wrestler to wrestle in the United States? How do you determine it when wrestlers “worked” or cooperated with each other in matches since the sports emergence in the 1860s? . I examined the records and stories around the American, British, Polish, and Turkish wrestlers, who wrestled in the United States between 1870 and 1915
William Hayes Shaw, who wrestled as Pat O’Shocker through most of his wrestling career, found himself in the spotlight in 1933. O’Shocker wasn’t looking for this sort of fame though. Newspapers were carrying a story about how wrestling promoters tried to use O’Shocker in a planned double-cross. Joseph “Toots” Mondt booked wrestlers out of New York and was aligned with
In 1933, about 10 years into his wrestling career, Jim Browning would win the world title. Starting his career in Kansas and his home state of Missouri, Browning would have to leave these familiar grounds, if he intended to reach the highest pinnacle in professional wrestling. Because World Champions had to tour nationally, and often internationally, the world title was