Stridssportshistoriker och kampsportare
Jag har skrivit tidigare att Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce av Marcus Griffin är en problematisk källa. Medan Griffin har insiderkunskap på grund av sin tid i Buffalo PR-kontor på 1930-talet, han skrev boken i syfte att hämnas mot promotorerna som sparkade honom. Boken innehåller faktainformation blandat med intressant
James Hiram McLaughlin har utmärkelsen att vara den första amerikanska professionella brottaren. Medan folk brottades professionellt före McLaughlin, han var den förste som försörjde sig professionellt på brottning. McLaughlin började brottas professionellt i 1860 vid 16 år gammal men inbördeskriget avbröt hans karriär under några år. McLaughlin började brottas igen 1866. Genom 1877,
In the early 1920s, Christos Theofilou började brottas som Jim Londos efter flera år som jippon “Brottning putsare”. Londos insåg förmodligen inte att namnbytet skulle vara det första steget till att han skulle bli den största kassaattraktionen inom 1930-talets professionella brottning. Det andra steget var hans framträdande som huvudbrottare i St. Louis. Född i
På Juli 4, 1922, Alan Eustace received his shot at the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Eustace, the Kansas Champion, won a qualifying match with “Farmer” Bailey in March 1922 to qualify for the match with Lewis. 31-year-old Eustace was the same age as “Strangler” Lewis but Lewis was far more experienced. Debuting at 14 år,
Jag fick nyligen äran att vara gäst i The Martial Culture Podcast. Tränaren Rene Driefuss och Matt Peters var utmärkta värdar. Jag njöt verkligen av min tid på deras podcast. Vi pratade om en av mina böcker, Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt: Matcherna som gjorde och förstörde i synnerhet legitim amerikansk professionell brottning. Emellertid, vi pratade allmänt om historien
Since its emergence as a spectator sport in the second half of the 19th Century, promoters and wrestlers were under a cloud of suspicion that they were working their matches. While professional wrestling would eventually consist almost exclusively of staged exhibitions, many, if not most, of the matches were legitimate contest prior to 1915. Promoters and wrestlers went to great
I början 1915, Sam Rachmann promoted the New York International Wrestling Tournament with the intention of replacing retired World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. Rachmann believed no one could defeat Aleksander “Alex” Åberg, Rachmann’s handpicked successor to Gotch, in Greco-Roman wrestling. Rachmann’s challenge was catch-as-catch-can was the dominant wrestling style in America. To get around this challenge, Rachmann recruited international
I 1922, future World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Jim Browning began his career in Kansas. Browning moved from his hometown of Verona, Missouri in 1921 to train for a professional wrestling career. Tom Law, the Wichita, Kansas promoter, oversaw Browning’s training. By May 1923, Browning was already in the main event at smaller shows. On an Augusta, Kansas card, Browning wrestled
På mars 3, 1922, Och “Strangler” Lewis regained the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship from Stanislaus Zbyszko. This event marked the beginning of one of the most dominant professional wrestling combines in history. Manager Billy Sandow, World Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and training partner/promotional genius Joseph “Toots” Mondt, known as the “Gold Dust Trio”, dominated the sport for the next six
In the early 1920s, Billy Sandow convinced Georgia promoter Tom Law to move to Wichita, Kansas and develop the area for future wrestling shows. The American Midwest would be a significant revenue generator for the Gold Dust Trio, which Sandow led with World Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and promotional genius Joseph “Toots” Mondt, in the 1920s. Law would produce two