Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about early Twentieth Century professional wrestling.
The International Wrestling Tournament occurred in two phases between May 19, 1915 and December 31, 1915. Fifty wrestlers would compete in the first phase of the tournament including World Greco-Roman Champion Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. The second installment had 40 wrestlers including up and coming star Ed “Strangler” Lewis, who joined a month into the tournament on November 22, 1915. The
Paul Pons was a French Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion. He was good enough to give George Hackenschmidt a run for his money in several tournaments. However, when he came to Chicago in 1900, he was “defeated” by a local wrestler. The circumstances of the loss leave a lot to be desired. Paul Pons traveled to the United States in 1900. One
Earl Caddock had a relatively short but storied professional wrestling career in the late 1910s and early 1920s. Making his professional debut in 1915 after winning three AAU National titles in amateur wrestling, Caddock only wrestled professionally until 1922. However, he would be recognized as world champion after defeating Joe Stecher in April 1917. Caddock would lose the title back
John Berg was a good enough wrestler to beat Martin “Farmer” Burns twice but was mostly thought of as a good lighter wrestler. Berg held the World Light Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in the late 1910s and competed for the Middleweight Title, which was contested at 158 pounds. Berg missed weight by four pounds but won the match. Berg wrestled in
On December 1, 1938 at 5:15 pm, former professional wrestler and all-around athlete George Baptiste passed away at 74 years of age. While enjoying robust strength his whole life, Baptiste’s doctor discovered he had stomach cancer in June 1938. The doctor operated on Baptiste but was unable to remove all the cancer. Baptiste had been living at his country home
Ad Santel gained his reputation as a dangerous catch wrestler from his frequent bouts with judoka from Japan during the 1910s and a story from the second George Hackenschmidt training camp for the Frank Gotch rematch. According to legend, Frank Gotch paid Santel, a skilled submission wrestler, $5,000.00 to injure Hackenschmidt’s knee in training. While this story may or may
“Don’t break my leg!” As the two muscular men struggled in the center of the ring, the man on top continued to work on the downed man’s legs. Again, the man on bottom yelled, “Please don’t break my leg!” Frank Gotch looked over at his rival George Hackenschmidt, who was writhing in obvious pain. Despite a severe knee injury, Hackenschmidt
At the beginning of 1911, the wrestling public considered three men to be the greatest challenge to reigning World Champion Frank Gotch. Former champion George Hackenschmidt, Stanislaus Zbyszko and “The Terrible Turk” Yussif Mahmout wanted the chance to beat Gotch. Gotch, who was nobody’s fool, decided to take some of the starch out of his challengers by matching them up
Samuel Rachmann promoted the International Wrestling Tournament in New York during 1915. Rachmann invited wrestlers from around the world to the tournament but his real intention was to establish European Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion Alex Aberg as the successor to the retired Frank Gotch as World Champion. Rachmann’s plan for establishing Aberg was going as planned after the tournament kicked off
On December 23, 1903, Frank Gotch traveled to Bellingham, Washington to take on a 6’05”, 215 pound Native American wrestler from Montana. Wrestling fans in the area considered Chief Two Feathers to be unbeatable. Frank Gotch was not impressed with his reputation but he gave Gotch the most uncomfortable 15 minutes of his young career. Chief Two Feathers entered the