Category: 20th Century Professional Wrestling

Waħda mir-rakkonti leġġendarji dwar Joe Stecher tikkonċerna kompetizzjoni leġittima li kellu ma’ wieħed minn Martin “Farmer” Ħruq wrestlers, meta Stecher bilkemm kien barra mill-iskola sekondarja. Burns sema’ dwar ir-reputazzjoni dejjem tikber ta’ Stecher u ddeċieda li jittestjah ma’ wieħed mill-wrestlers tiegħu. Għal snin, Ħsibt li Stecher għeleb lil Yusif Mahmout iżda fil-fatt ġġieled lil Yussif Hussane. Il-

Fil-ktieb tiegħu Hooker, Lou Thesz kiteb dwar ir-rivalità bejn żewġ wrestlers favoriti tiegħu, Joe Stecher u Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Stecher u Lewis kienu joħorġu bħala l-aqwa żewġ wrestlers professjonali leġittimi tal-1910s. Jew raġel jista’ jegħleb lil kull wrestler ieħor dak iż-żmien f’kompetizzjoni leġittima jew “shoot”. L-irġiel iġġieldu tlieta twal, kompetizzjonijiet boring

Prior to the creation of the territorial system in 1948, pro wrestling promoters fought with each other to control the world championship. Promoting the world champion led to bigger gates, so most promoters wanted to control the championship. Fis-snin tletin, promoters would enter into agreements with each other but they were often fleeting. When one promoter got offended, thought

William Hayes Shaw, who wrestled as Pat O’Shocker through most of his wrestling career, found himself in the spotlight in 1933. O’Shocker wasn’t looking for this sort of fame though. Newspapers were carrying a story about how wrestling promoters tried to use O’Shocker in a planned double-cross. Joseph “Toots” Mondt booked wrestlers out of New York and was aligned with

Fil 1933, about 10 years into his wrestling career, Jim Browning would win the world title. Starting his career in Kansas and his home state of Missouri, Browning would have to leave these familiar grounds, if he intended to reach the highest pinnacle in professional wrestling. Because World Champions had to tour nationally, and often internationally, the world title was

I’ve written in the past that Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce by Marcus Griffin is a problematic source. While Griffin has insider knowledge due to his time in the Buffalo promotional office in the 1930s, he wrote the book for the purpose of revenge against the promoters who fired him. The book contains factual information mixed in with interesting

In the early 1920s, Christos Theofilou began wrestling as Jim Londos after several years as the gimmicky “Wrestling Plasterer”. Londos probably didn’t realize that the name change would be the first step into him becoming the biggest box office attraction in 1930s professional wrestling. The second step was his emergence as a main event wrestler in St. Louis. Born in

Fuq Lulju 4, 1922, Alan Eustace received his shot at the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Eustace, the Kansas Champion, won a qualifying match with “Farmer” Bailey in March 1922 to qualify for the match with Lewis. 31-year-old Eustace was the same age as “Strangler” Lewis but Lewis was far more experienced. Debuting at 14 sena,

In early 1915, Sam Rachmann promoted the New York International Wrestling Tournament with the intention of replacing retired World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. Rachmann believed no one could defeat Aleksander “Alex” Åberg, Rachmann’s handpicked successor to Gotch, in Greco-Roman wrestling. Rachmann’s challenge was catch-as-catch-can was the dominant wrestling style in America. To get around this challenge, Rachmann recruited international