Category: Combat Sports History

If wrestling fans know of Anton “Tony” Stecher, it is as the long-time promoter of professional wrestling in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Stecher started promoting professional wrestling in the Twin Cities during 1933. Stecher built the Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club into a powerful local wrestling promotion. Stecher was also one of the early members of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Stecher

Scottish wrestler Duncan C. Ross wrestled professionally but also took part in strength and athletic contests after arriving in the United States in the late 1870s. An all-around athlete, Ross wrestled skillfully in both catch-as-catch-can wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. Op maandag, Februari 26, 1883, Ross wrestled former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Theobaud Bauer. Bauer brought the World Championship from France

Joe Stecher made his professional wrestling debut in late 1912 or early 1913. Stecher proved to be a dangerous professional from the beginning of his career. Martin “Farmer” Burns, the storied wrestler and trainer, brought one of his proteges, Yussiff Hussane, to test Stecher in a legitimate contest during June 1913. Burns and most followers of the sport expected Hussane

Op dinsdag, Oktober 21, 1913, Ed “Strangler” Lewis defended his newly won American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship against William Demetral. Lewis worstelde met Demetral in Lexington's Auditorium op een mat in plaats van een ring. De matopstelling speelde een rol in het einde van de wedstrijd. Promotor Jerry Walls plaatste een mat op het verhoogde podium, a common setup before the widespread

Dan McLeod defeated Martin “Farmer” Burns for the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship during October 1897. McLeod held the championship for four years until he met Frank Gotch’s toughest opponent, Tom Jenkins. In early 1899, McLeod made a couple title defenses in Minnesota. On February 24, 1899, McLeod wrestled St. Louis Middleweight Wrestling Champion George Baptiste at Conover Hall in front

Professional wrestling evolved into an athletic exhibition from legitimate contests for two reasons. I have written extensively about the first reason. Legitimate contests between equally skilled wrestlers were often long, boring affairs with little action. These contests turned off fans and prevented professional wrestling exploding as a spectator sport. I have not written as much about the second reason. De

Op maandag, Maart 26, 1888, Joe Acton, who specialized in catch wrestling, wrestled Professor William Miller, an Australian wrestler, and bare-knuckle prizefighter, in a two-out-of-three-falls Greco-Roman wrestling match. Both men’s camps believed wrestling the match in this style ensured the fairest contest between them. The men wrestled for $500.00 a side. 1,500 fans, a large crowd for the era, turned

Prior to wrestling in Kentucky in the early 1910s, wrestling fans knew Ed “Strangler” Lewis as Bob Fredrichs. Born Robert Friedrich in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, Lewis made his professional wrestling debut in 1905, while still only 14 jaar oud. Kentucky promoters thought Bob Fredrichs too plain, so Lewis chose his new name as an homage to fellow Wisconsin native and original

Op mei 7, 1901, Tom Jenkins worstelde met de reus Nouralah Hassan in New York City. Born in Bulgaria during 1870, Hassan stood six feet, eight inches tall and weighed 331 pond. While Jenkins possessed superior wrestling skill, fans and reporters expected Hassan’s immense size to present problems for Jenkins. Promoters booked the men to wrestle at Madison Square Garden in

Op vrijdag, Juni 29, 1883, fourteen wrestlers paid $50 to enter a two-day tournament for a $500 championship belt and $500 prize. Richard K. Fox, owner and publisher of the Police Gazette, put up the prize money and belt. Fox avidly supported the promotion of both professional boxing and professional wrestling. While fourteen men attempted to enter the tournament, Fox