卡多克和 W. Zbyszko 摔跤抽籤

厄爾·卡多克 (Earl Caddock) 在 1910 年代末和 1920 年代初的職業摔跤生涯相對較短但頗有傳奇色彩. 在職業生涯中首次亮相 1915 在贏得三項 AAU 全國業餘摔跤冠軍後, 卡多克只是專業摔跤，直到 1922. 然而, 他在四月擊敗喬·施泰爾後將被公認為世界冠軍 1917. Caddock would lose the title back to Stecher in 1920. The rematch was delayed by Caddock’s Army service during World War I, when he saw fighting in France.

Prior to leaving for France, Caddock defended his title against Wladek Zbyszko on Friday, 二月 8, 1918 in front of several thousand soldiers in Fort Dodge, 愛荷華州. Caddock was billeted near this town preparing to ship out overseas. 比賽原定於 2 出 3 falls with a 2 小時, 30 minutes time-limit.

Caddock and Zbyszko engaged in a long, gruelling match for the soldiers. Caddock was the clear favorite of his fellow soldiers but there was no nationalistic antagonism towards Zbyszko.

男人們為了 1 hour, 20 minutes before Earl Caddock secured a wristlock and head scissors to score the first fall. Both men were breathing heavily as the 15-minute rest period between falls began.

The second fall began and continued for another 31 minutes of exhaustive, defensive wrestling until Zbyszko was able to pull Caddock into a side hip lock.

Zbyszko threw himself backwards landing all 226-pounds of his bodyweight on top of a Caddock. The 185-pound Caddock was pinned for the second fall. It took Caddock’s corner several minutes to bring Caddock back to his feet and revive him for the final fall.

Caddock primarily stayed away from Zbyszko for the next 37 分鐘. The match ended at the curfew of 1:15 比前收市價. Ed Smith, the referee for most of the world title matches since the first Gotch-Hackenschmidt match in 1908, declared Caddock the winner on points even though both men had scored a fall. 通常, the match would be considered a draw.

The lack of a title switch in this match is interesting. We are well into the “工作” era by this time. I have no evidence that this match was anything other than a prearranged exhibition. 但, Caddock is heading out of the country for an undetermined period of time and the promoters left the world championship on Caddock.

Since Zbyszko wasn’t going anywhere, it would make sense to drop the belt to him. When Caddock returned, he could beat Zbyszko for the title setting up the Stecher-Caddock rematch. 然而, the promoters must have wanted to keep Caddock undefeated and trust that he would be back soon to have what must have been a big money match with Stecher.

It may also have been a realization that with America entering World War I, entertainment like sporting events may be curtailed for a few years. Whatever their reason, the promoters didn’t switch the belt to Zbyszko.

After distinguished service in France, Earl Caddock did return to the United States and back to the wrestling ring. He would meet Joe Stecher in a rematch during early 1920 but that is a story for another post.

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Sources: 聖. 聖路易斯郵報, 二月 9, 1918 版, P. 8 和 Earl Caddock’s National Wrestling Hall of Fame page

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