Category: 20th Century Pro Wrestling History

In November 1923, St. Louis Star-Times reporter Billy Murphy interviewed St. Louis wrestling promoter John Contos. Murphy proposed to Contos that the era of dominant wrestlers like William Muldoon was over. Murphy spoke about the recent match between “World Champion” Hardneck Phillips and the game contender Webster O’Malley. Phillips successfully defended his championship by throwing O’Malley after 1 hour, 50

Og “Strangler” Lewis and Joe Stecher conducted one of the greatest rivalries of the early arranged professional wrestling exhibition era. Lewis and Stecher wrestled many times including a five and a half hour draw in 1916. Several of their early matches appeared to be legitimate. Legend also has it that Lewis actually had to beat Stecher in a “shoot match”

On Tuesday, March 22, 1910, Dr. Benjamin Roller met Stanislaus Zbyszko in a legitimate wrestling match. Professional wrestling would transition from legitimate contest to staged exhibition between 1910 and 1920. Dr. Benjamin Roller graduated from the University of Pennsylvania by playing professional football. Roller accepted an academic appointment in physiology where he assisted in the writing of a textbook. Dr.

Wladek Zbyszko’s legacy is often overshadowed by his brother Stanislaus Zbyszko. Stanislaus, who was 12 years older, posed the last real threat to Frank Gotch’s World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Wladek Zbyszko was a skilled wrestler in his own right. Dessverre, he didn’t arrive in the United States until 1914, when most wrestling matches were prearranged. Wladek had proved his bona

Jeg har ofte funnet ut at den største utfordringen med å forske på tidlig profesjonell bryting er å skille fakta fra fiksjon. Selv når bryterne konkurrerte i legitime kamper, de oppblåste ofte utfall, bygget opp apokryfisk folklore rundt sine seire og laget fantasifulle historier for å bortforklare tapene deres. Profesjonell bryting sprang ut av karnevalene og beholdt reklameinstinktene til denne kunsten. St.

Desember 16, 1917, Frank Alvin Gotch lost a three week battle with uremic poisoning. Doctors attempted to keep his kidneys going through an operation in Chicago but it provided only temporary relief. Gotch intended to travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas to try and restore his health. The operation ended this hope. Gotch spent the last couple weeks only able

Rarely does one fundamentally alter their profession but Stanislaus Zbyszko did just that on April 15, 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Zbyszko defeated Wayne Munn in one of the last shoot (not staged) professional wrestling matches in the United States. It was a shoot or legitimate match because Zbyszko double crossed the “Goldust Trio” bryting opprykk og slo Munn for