Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/spdmc7h6u67pu7gw/Episode_645yst8.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I discuss the professional wrestling and refereeing career of St. Louis’ first professional wrestler, George Baptiste. Update With this episode, we will now be a weekly podcast. We may do review episodes occasionally. Dan will also be returning to the show in two weeks. Shooter in a Worked World: John Pesek
John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek started wrestling professionally in 1915, but Pesek was more suited to the 1885 professional wrestling ring. By 1915, wrestlers worked their matches. Skilled lightweight wrestler Clarence Ecklund trained Pesek in catch-as-catch-can wrestling. Pesek developed into a skilled hooker or submission wrestler. Pesek never liked working and wrestled contests in his early career. Eventually, Pesek did
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/n8uwavgcmk7ne2vs/Episode_6375896.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, we discuss 1925-1928, when both Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Joe Stecher claimed the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Update Caleb, Trey and I discuss Dan’s suggestion that we go to a weekly podcast. Shooter in a Worked World: John Pesek and the 1920s Promotional Wars is available on Amazon. I also recommend
If he had been bigger, Fred Beell would have been a dominant heavyweight in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. Instead, larger opponents often defeated Beell only because the opponent outweighed Beell by thirty to fifty pounds. On the rare occasions that Beell wrestled a middleweight, Beell crushed his opponent. On January 13, 1905, Beell wrestled H.P. Hansen in
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/szxuwn4ujrbrfxke/Episode_629zo4s.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, we look at Taro Miyake’s challenge matches in England and review one of the few double-crosses after the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance. Update I will release the John Pesek book in early to mid-September 2024. I hope to complete the next book by December 2024. I recommended the FightLore
During March 1910, the United States Attorney General in Council Bluffs, Iowa charged John C. Mabray (a version of his actual name, Mabry) and a dozen defendants with using the mail to commit gambling fraud in professional boxing, professional wrestling, and professional horse racing. Mabry, a livestock dealer living in Kansas City, Missouri, employed insiders in boxing, wrestling, and horse
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/cmbp5xc7yxmqkviu/Episode_616q81g.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I am joined by my cousin Dan as we discuss the controversial 1887 match between Evan “Strangler” Lewis and English catch wrestler Tom Connors. Update I finished the edits of the John Pesek book this week. After proofreading and editing, it should be out the first week in September 2024. The
In the early morning hours of August 5, 1933, four safe burglars broke a window at the Marshfield Brewing Company in Marshfield, Wisconsin. The burglars knocked a dial off the safe and removed $1,550.00 in federal stamps. In 2024 dollars, the burglars stole over $37,000.00. The same burglars successfully took another $1,000 in federal stamps from the Wausau Brewing Company
Early in his career, Fred Beell wrestled Gus “Americus” Schoenlein in 1904 and 1905. During the 1904 match, Beell won the only fall and match. Schoenlein wanted to avenge this defeat. In May 1905, Schoenlein’s manager secured a rematch in Schoenlein’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Schoenlein stood five feet, ten inches tall and weighed 210 pounds. Beell usually faced a
https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/did8ub8hmszincxc/Episode_609wvte.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode, I discuss the development of the St. Louis wrestling promotion under Tom Packs and Sam Muchnick. Update We will issue two episodes next month on August 12, 2024, and August 26, 2024. I will not publish the John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek book until the end of August or middle of