Qeb: 20th Century Pro Wrestling History

Saum ntuj 7, 1901, Tom Jenkins wrestled tus giant Nouralah Hassan nyob New York City. Yug hauv Bulgaria thaum lub sij hawm 1870, Hassan sawv rau taw, yim nti siab thiab weighed 331 phaus. Thaum Jenkins possessed superior wrestling txawj ntse, Kiv cua thiab reporters xav pom Hassan tus immense loj los tam sim no teeb meem rau Jenkins. Promoters booked cov txiv neej mus wrestle ntawm Madison Square vaj nyob rau hauv

Rau lub yim hli ntuj 4, 1939, Mort Henderson kis tseg hauv Rochester, New York nyob New York nyob New York ntawm 60 xyoo. Wrestling kiv cua yuav tsis nco ntsoov lub npe Mort Henderson tab sis raws li nws alter ego, Tus thawj Masked Marvel, Nws rua lub caij nplooj zeeg version ntawm tus 1915 Tseev tsim ntiaj teb Wrestling kev sib tw nyob New York City. Sam Rachmann nce cov kev sib tw nrog lub hom phiaj ntawm

George Tragos gained fame as the trainer of Lou Thesz, the dominant National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion of the 1950s and early 1960s. Tragos, ib 1920 Olympian for his native Greece, possessed an impeccable resume in legitimate wrestling. Born March 14, 1901, in Messinia, Greece, Tragos won national wrestling titles before representing Greece at the 1920 Olympics at only

Qhov kawg ntawm 1932, 22-year-old Vila Milli sued her husband, professional wrestler Wladek Zbyszko, for divorce alleging physical cruelty and adultery. Milli charged the 41-year-old Zbyszko with physical cruelty for “hugging her too hard.” Justice Dunne of the Brooklyn Supreme Court heard the divorce case. He expressed doubt that Zbyszko abused his wife. Txawm li cas los, he did not dismiss the

Frank Gotch dominated American wrestling from 1905 to his retirement in 1913. Gotch, the current American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, won the biggest match of his career on April 3, 1908. Gotch defeated current World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Georg Hackenschmidt in Chicago, Illinois. Gotch proved as dominant a World Champion as he had been as the American Champion. Gotch agreed to

Txog hnub plaub, Tim 29, 1909, Frank Gotch traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to wrestle highly regarded light heavyweight wrestler Charles Hackenschmidt. Hackenschmidt won the World Light Heavyweight Wrestling Championship under his real name, John Berg. Although fans thought well of Berg, they did not see him as a threat to defeat Frank Gotch in a straight match. To increase fan interest

Joe Stecher wrestled during a transitional time in American professional wrestling. Ua ntej los 1900, wrestlers engaged primarily in legitimate contests although wrestlers did work matches occasionally. Tom qab 1915, all wrestlers worked their matches. Wrestlers wrestled legitimate contests only to settle promotional dispute or to pull off a double-cross. Ntawm 1900 mus 1915, wrestlers engaged in a mixture of worked matches

(This post is an excerpt from my new book, Gotch vs. Zbyszko: The Quest for Redemption, published on February 2, 2022.) The most important event affecting the future of Frank Gotch’s career occurred on January 11, 1911. Gotch married the former Gladys Oestrich at her parent’s home in Humboldt, Iowa. Mrs. Gotch preferred that Frank retire from the ring which

Nyob rau lub ib hlis ntuj 2, 1911, Swiss wrestler John Lemm found himself the laughingstock of professional wrestling fans and reporters. The incident occurred when Lemm wrestled Stanislaus Zbyszko in Buffalo, New York. Fans considered Zbyszko the top contender for Frank Gotch’s world title. Zbyszko was a world class wrestler although more skilled in Greco-Roman wrestling than catch wrestling. Lemm was a skilled