Gevechtssporthistoricus en krijgskunstenaar
Berichten over worstelaars uit de 20e eeuw, worstelwedstrijden, en worstelfilms.
In januari 1905, well-regarded wrestler Gus Schoenlein, also known as Americus, agreed to meet Fred Beell in Schoenlein’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Schoenlein expected to beat Beell easily. At 5’10” en 210 pond, “Americus” towered over the 5’04”, 170 pound Beell. While Beell was powerfully built, Schoenlein’s 40 pounds was a mountainous advantage. Both men were skilled wrestlers though. Tweede,
(Dit bericht is een uitwerking van mijn nieuwste boek Masked Marvel to the Rescue: De gimmick die de 1915 Internationaal worsteltoernooi beschikbaar op Amazon.) De herfstversie van de 1915 International Wrestling Tournament had moeite met opkomst en belangstelling, toen promotor Sam Rachmann promotiegoud behaalde door een gemaskerde worstelaar in zijn toernooi te introduceren. Het gemaskerde wonder stormde
Toen Billy Sandow en Ed Lewis besloten dat de titelregering van Stanislaus Zbyszko geen promotionele kracht meer had, ze besloten het te doen “winnen” terug de titel in maart 1922. St. Louis-promotor John Contos wist de grote herkansing veilig te stellen, die zou plaatsvinden in de St. Louis Coliseum op donderdag, December 14, 1922. Tegen die tijd, Amerikaans professioneel worstelen buiten
Op zaterdag, Januari 30, 1904, George Hackenschmidt defended his Greco-Roman World Wrestling Championship against Ahmed Medrali. “The Russian Lion” would have to defeat “The Terrible Turk” to retain his championship. Promoters selected the giant Medrali, who was 6’02” en 224 pond, to defeat the seemingly invincible Hackenschmidt. George Hackenschmidt stood only 5’09” tall and weighed 209 pond. Despite his smaller
Op donderdag, November 22, 1923, St. Louis-promotor John Contos organiseerde een controversiële kaart met als hoogtepunt een wedstrijd tussen Joe Stecher en Dan Kolov, een opkomende Bulgaarse worstelaar. De kaart werd gedekt door John E. Wray, de sportredacteur voor de St. Louis Post-Dispatch. De kaart was controversieel omdat er reclame werd gemaakt voor twee van de grootste sterren in het worstelen, maar dat niet deden
On a Thursday night, November 25, 1909, World Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met Polish Wrestling Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko for a handicap match in Buffalo, New York. Gotch agreed to forfeit the bout if he could not throw Zbyszko twice in an hour. Zbyszko’s size and strength created problems for Gotch, who weighed 190 pounds to Zbyszko’s 260 pond. Echter, Zbyszko
Wrestling promoter Samuel Rachman created the International Wrestling Tournament in Spring 1915 to highlight the abilities of Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. Aberg was the Russian Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion. Rachman believed Aberg could beat any wrestler. Rachman also wanted to lure Frank Gotch, the last undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, out of retirement to wrestle with Aberg. Gotch wrestled George Lurich in
In a blog post last month, I wrote about the difficulty promoters had in staging the Joe Stecher vs Jess Westergaard match. Originally scheduled for Omaha, Nebraska, the Omaha Chief of Police and Police Commissioner were concerned about the match being prearranged or a “work”. They didn’t want gamblers being taken in by the exhibition. To prevent this occurrence, they
Frank Gotch, the farm boy from Humboldt, Iowa, would defeat George Hackenschmidt for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1908. This victory and his subsequent defeat of “Hack” in de 1911 rematch cemented Gotch’s place as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Gotch was a very talented wrestler but he was not the undefeated wunderkind of legend. Gotch
On January 10, 1912, Stanislaus Zbyszko continued his campaign for another title shot with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. To press his claim, he secured a match with Gotch training partner and protegé, Jake Westergard. Westergard claimed a questionable win over his mentor Gotch, who probably dropped the match to Westergard in a prearranged match. Zbyszko was een vakman