Evan Lewis Strangles Tom Cannon

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On August 26, 1886, Evan “Strangler” Lewis met the British Wrestling Champion Tom Cannon in Cincinnati, Ohio.  During the legitimate wrestling era, other wrestlers feared the powerful Lewis because of his stranglehold. Lewis employed a carotid arterial strangle known as the rear naked choke in Judo.  At least that was what I originally thought and most historians have quoted.  Modern

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Russian Civil War Snags Aberg and Lurich

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Estonia gave birth to three of the greatest wrestlers of the first two decades of the 20th Century: Georg Lurich, George Hackenschmidt and Aleksander “Alex” Aberg.  As part of the Russian Empire at the time, Estonia contained a number of elementary and high schools with superior physical education programs. Lurich and Hackenschmidt both started out as weightlifters and transitioned into

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Ringer Throws Wasem

oscar-wassem

On Saturday, November 25, 1899, St. Louis wrestling fans experienced a shock, when a visiting wrestler easily threw local champion Oscar Wasem in a little over 20 minutes.  After the easy victory, fans smelled a rat, when the “Indianapolis Cyclone” spoke with a Lancashire accent. Oscar Wasem surpassed George Baptiste as St. Louis’ wrestling champion in the mid-1890s.  Wasem possessed

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Two Weeks to Live (1943)

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On February 26, 1943, RKO Pictures released the third film based on the popular Lum and Abner radio show. Two Weeks To Live (1943) stars Chester Lauck as Lum Edwards and Norris Goff as Abner Peabody. Lauck and Goff, who also wrote the show, played the characters on radio beginning in 1931. The show began as a 15 minute radio

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