Bardagaíþróttasagnfræðingur og bardagalistamaður
Clarence Whistler was born in Indiana during 1856. While standing only 5’09” or so and weighing 165 £, Whistler was considered one of the most powerful wrestlers of his era. Whistler was the only wrestler able to give William Muldoon a hard time during Muldoon’s 9-year run as World Champion. Whistler primarily competed in Greco-Roman wrestling, the dominant style in
Á maí 17, 1910, Stanislaus Zbyszko’s year-long tour of America continued as he met Dr. Benjamin F. Roller in Buffalo, New York. Zbyszko, a Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion from Poland, wanted to generate interest in a potential match with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. While Dr. Roller was never able to beat Gotch, he was considered one of the top American
Leading into his January 24, 1921 title match with former world champion Earl Caddock, Heimsmeistari í þungavigt í glímu Ed “Strangler” Lewis was reputed to have injured his previous two opponents, Wladek Zbyszko and Joe Stecher, with his headlock. Lewis would use the headlock to hip toss his opponent to the floor. Zbyszko was knocked senseless, when his head hit the
On St. Patrick’s Day 1908, Martin “Farmer” Burns met the small but powerful Fred Beell. While both wrestlers weighed 165 £, “Farmer” Burns stood 5’11” to Beell’s 5’04”. The 32-year-old Beell had a big age advantage over the 47-year-old Burns though. Burns debuted in 1879, when Beell was 3-years-old. The men were scheduled for a match in Omaha, Nebraska, one
Apríl 21, 1884, Duncan C. Ross met Sorakichi Matsuda, also known as Matsada, the first Japanese professional wrestler in the United States. Matsuda immigrated to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler because it didn’t really exist in Japan at the time. 28-year-old Duncan Ross was born in Turkey of Scottish descent on March
Og “Strangler” Lewis enjoyed one of the most successful careers in professional wrestling. Although Lewis wrestled in mostly staged exhibitions, he possessed legitimate wrestling skills. Future protege Lou Thesz said many times Lewis could beat any wrestler at any time, so he was the ideal world champion in the modern era of prearranged matches. Þó, early in his career, Lewis
At the end of December 1916, a strange event occurred. John F. Olin, a local Massachusetts wrestler, won a match with the current World Champion Joe Stecher. The referee declared Olin the winner after Stecher walked away from the match. Before the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) made changes to the rules in the 1950s, championships changed hands through disqualification or
John “Tigerman” Pesek wrestled several “shoot” matches during the “unnið” era of the 1920s. By this time, American professional wrestlers cooperated with each other to put on exciting matches for the fans. Results were predetermined by promoters and managers. Legitimate contests or “skýtur” were rare. When they did occur, it was normally to settle a dispute among promoters or a
At the end of 1905, Fred Beell var á ferðalagi um Ameríku og var að spá í leik við fyrrum bandaríska þungavigtarmeistarann Tom Jenkins.. Beell var fyrrum bandarískur þungavigtarmeistari eftir að hafa sigrað Frank Gotch í a “unnið” leik í New Orleans í desember 1903. Hann missti titilinn aftur til Gotch nokkrum vikum síðar. Hæfir glímumenn, Jenkins og Beell
Joe Stecher og John “Tígrisdýr” Pesek voru lögmætir glímumenn í a fyrst og fremst “unnið” tímum, þar sem leikir voru fyrirfram ákveðnir nema einhver hafi ákveðið að tvístíga hinn glímumanninn eða verkefnisstjórann með því að breyta leiknum í lögmæta keppni. Tvíkrossar virkuðu aðeins, ef glímumaðurinn gæti unnið leikinn með lögmætum hætti. John Pesek líkaði ekki við hið vinnandi eðli glímunnar og sneri sér oft