Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about 20th Century wrestlers, wrestling matches, and wrestling films.
Aleksander “Alex” Aberg made headlines in 1917 during a lawsuit over his refusal to fulfill a wrestling committment in Boston during March 1917. Aberg agreed to wrestle Wladek Zbyszko, his main opponent during the 1915 New York International Wrestling Tournaments, for Boston promoter George Touhey. However, Aberg pulled out of the bout shortly after signing an agreement to wrestle his
After marrying his wife Gladys and beating Georg Hackenschmidt a second time, both in 1911, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch began to wrestle a more limited schedule. His wife Gladys was not a big fan of wrestling and wanted her new husband to spend more time at home in Humboldt, Iowa. In the world of wrestling at the time,
On May 17, 1910, Stanislaus Zbyszko’s year-long tour of America continued as he met Dr. Benjamin F. Roller in Buffalo, New York. Zbyszko, a Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion from Poland, wanted to generate interest in a potential match with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. While Dr. Roller was never able to beat Gotch, he was considered one of the top American
Leading into his January 24, 1921 title match with former world champion Earl Caddock, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis was reputed to have injured his previous two opponents, Wladek Zbyszko and Joe Stecher, with his headlock. Lewis would use the headlock to hip toss his opponent to the floor. Zbyszko was knocked senseless, when his head hit the
On St. Patrick’s Day 1908, Martin “Farmer” Burns met the small but powerful Fred Beell. While both wrestlers weighed 165 pounds, “Farmer” Burns stood 5’11” to Beell’s 5’04”. The 32-year-old Beell had a big age advantage over the 47-year-old Burns though. Burns debuted in 1879, when Beell was 3-years-old. The men were scheduled for a match in Omaha, Nebraska, one
Ed “Strangler” Lewis enjoyed one of the most successful careers in professional wrestling. Although Lewis wrestled in mostly staged exhibitions, he possessed legitimate wrestling skills. Future protege Lou Thesz said many times Lewis could beat any wrestler at any time, so he was the ideal world champion in the modern era of prearranged matches. However, early in his career, Lewis
At the end of December 1916, a strange event occurred. John F. Olin, a local Massachusetts wrestler, won a match with the current World Champion Joe Stecher. The referee declared Olin the winner after Stecher walked away from the match. Before the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) made changes to the rules in the 1950s, championships changed hands through disqualification or
John “Tigerman” Pesek wrestled several “shoot” matches during the “worked” era of the 1920s. By this time, American professional wrestlers cooperated with each other to put on exciting matches for the fans. Results were predetermined by promoters and managers. Legitimate contests or “shoots” were rare. When they did occur, it was normally to settle a dispute among promoters or a
At the end of 1905, Fred Beell was traveling America hyping up a match with former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Tom Jenkins. Beell was a former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion having defeated Frank Gotch in a “worked” match in New Orleans during December 1903. He lost the title back to Gotch a few weeks later. Capable wrestlers, Jenkins and Beell
Joe Stecher and John “Tiger Man” Pesek were legitimate wrestlers in a primarily “worked” era, where matches were predetermined unless someone decided to double-cross the other wrestler or promoter by turning the match into a legitimate contest. Double-crosses only worked, if the wrestler could legitimately win the match. John Pesek didn’t like the worked nature of wrestling and often turned