Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
On Sunday, December 14, 1924, “Big” Wayne Munn wrestled Joseph “Toots” Mondt in the main event of the wrestling card at the Kansas City, Missouri, Convention Hall. 10,000 fans showed up to cheer on Munn, a former college football player for the University of Nebraska. Munn was billed at 6’06”, which may have been an exaggeration but he was significantly
The biggest American pro wrestling match of the 19th Century occurred on April 21, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. Evan “Strangler” Lewis defended his American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship against Martin “Farmer” Burns. The 34-year-olds were both skilled with “hooks” or submission holds making them the top of the food chain in legitimate professional wrestling. Lewis had been undisputed champion since 1893
In this post, which was previously a podcast, we will discuss the epic sixty-one round draw between James J. Corbett and Peter Jackson in 1891. This bout prepared Corbett for his successful challenge of John L. Sullivan in 1892. On March 21, 1891, the most serious contender for the inactive John L. Sullivan’s world championship broke the color line to
On April 14, 1909, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met Yussif Mahmout, a skilled Bulgarian wrestler, in Chicago, Illinois for his title. Fans considered Mahmout a tough challenger primarily because they had not seen him wrestle. Emil Klank, Gotch’s manager, convinced foreign wrestlers with good reputations like Mahmout and Stanislaus Zbyszko to travel to America to challenge Gotch. Fans
Aleksander “Alex” Aberg made headlines in 1917 during a lawsuit over his refusal to fulfill a wrestling committment in Boston during March 1917. Aberg agreed to wrestle Wladek Zbyszko, his main opponent during the 1915 New York International Wrestling Tournaments, for Boston promoter George Touhey. However, Aberg pulled out of the bout shortly after signing an agreement to wrestle his
After marrying his wife Gladys and beating Georg Hackenschmidt a second time, both in 1911, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch began to wrestle a more limited schedule. His wife Gladys was not a big fan of wrestling and wanted her new husband to spend more time at home in Humboldt, Iowa. In the world of wrestling at the time,
Clarence Whistler was born in Indiana during 1856. While standing only 5’09” or so and weighing 165 pounds, 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
For the October 5, 1861 edition of the Cincinnati Daily Press, editors pulled a story off the wire service from the Spirit of the Times. The wire story reported on a fight between former English prizefighting champion Tom Sayers and current English champion Jem Mace. Both Sayers and Mace were touring with English circuses, when they stopped in at a
On May 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, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion 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