Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about 20th Century wrestlers, wrestling matches, and wrestling films.
Frank Gotch holds the title of America’s greatest legitimate professional wrestler. Gotch competed in mostly legitimate contests with a few pre-arranged or “worked” matches thrown in the mix. By 1904 or 1905, no one could really beat Gotch unless he allowed it. In the early years of his career, Gotch was not so dominant. He dropped matches to his mentor,
Jim Londos rose through the ranks of professional wrestling to become the biggest box office star of not only the 1930s but of all-time. However, if Londos had not come to St. Louis in the early 1920s, the story could have been quite different. Londos learned catch-as-catch-can wrestling while Londos performed as a strong man in the carnival circuit during
On October 20, 1906, Fred Beell proved dynamite comes in small packages. Beell, light heavyweight wrestling champion, defeated former American heavyweight champion Dan McLeod. Beell parlayed an active 1906 into defeats of former American Heavyweight Champion Dan McLeod and current American Heavyweight Champion Frank Gotch. Beell won the American Middleweight (Light Heavyweight) Championship but remained out of the spotlight until
On November 7, 1908, Charles Olson met “Americus” Gus Schonlein for the World Light Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. The match proved to be as exciting as observers suspected it would be but it ended in controversy. Olson stood 6’01” but weighed only 170 pounds. Born Max Flaskamp in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia in 1879, he took the name Charles or Charley Olson
Giovanni Raicevich stood only 5’07” tall but weighed a muscular 220 pounds. Raicevich carried pro bodybuilder type muscle 50 years before the steroid era. However, when it came to wrestling, Raicevich’s skill set was not quite as developed as his physique. Raicevich was one of many foreign wrestlers, who traveled to America to take on Frank Gotch after he defeated
On Christmas Night 1911, Stanislaus Zbyszko met Giovanni Raicievich in a much-anticipated heavyweight wrestling bout. Zbyszko, who was campaigning for a rematch with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch, agreed to throw Raicevich 3 times in 90 minutes or be declared the loser. As the men entered the famed Madison Square Garden in New York City, Zbyszko was clearly the
Ed “Strangler” Lewis is one of the greatest professional wrestlers and world champions of all time. Lewis’ signature move was the stranglehold, which Lewis started using as promoters and wrestlers transitioned professional wrestling to a prearranged or “worked” exhibition. Lewis originally used the front face lock or guillotine choke. Lewis’ namesake Evan “Strangler” Lewis made the front face lock or
Actually, Samuel Rachman, who promoted both the 1915 International Wrestling Tournament and Greco-Roman World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Aleksander “Alex” Aberg, tried to lure retired World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch into the tournament. Rachman hoped to bolster Aberg’s claim as the successor to Gotch. Rachman offered Gotch $20,000 to wrestle Aberg in May 1915. Rachman’s tournament was to start Wednesday
No one can question that Stanislaus Zbyszko was a great wrestler. He began wrestling when the pro game was still an actual competition. He continued to be successful after the game changed to worked (prearranged) matches. In fact, he participated in a shoot contest, when he legitimately defeated Big Wayne Munn for the title in 1925 by double-crossing his promotoers.
Alex Aberg defeated many notable foes in the greatest year of his professional wrestling career. In 1915, Aberg competed in both the Spring and Fall versions of the New York International Wrestling Tournament. Competing exclusively in his preferred style of Greco-Roman wrestling, Aberg defeated Dr. Benjamin Roller, Wladek Zbyszko and Ed “Strangler” Lewis along with a number of journeyman wrestlers.