Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about professional wrestling history from 1870 to 1930.
Early in his career, Fred Beell wrestled Gus “Americus” Schoenlein in 1904 and 1905. During the 1904 match, Beell won the only fall and match. Schoenlein wanted to avenge this defeat. In May 1905, Schoenlein’s manager secured a rematch in Schoenlein’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Schoenlein stood five feet, ten inches tall and weighed 210 pounds. Beell usually faced a
D. A. McMillan served as a competent journeyman wrestler during the last two decades of the 19th Century. McMillan wrestled American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Martin “Farmer” Burns in a worked gambling scheme that a newspaper reporter exposed. While McMillan never won the American title, McMillan beat lesser competition before the better wrestlers like Burns defeated him. On December 22, 1888,
In the fall of 1921, Jack Curley and Tex Rickard engaged in a promotional feud that started in professional boxing but spread to professional wrestling. Curley and Rickard settled their feud in a legitimate contest in November 1921. Curley selected John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek to act for him against Rickard’s wrestler Marin Plestina. Before Curley and Rickard could arrange
On Thursday, October 7, 1884, Colonel James Hiram McLaughlin wrestled Henry Moses Dufur for what both men claimed would be the last time. The 40-year-olds specialized in collar-and-elbow wrestling. The men wrestled in Detroit, Michigan, the home territory of McLaughlin. The match took place at the Detroit Opera House in front of a small crowd. Professional wrestling had not developed
During November 1921, John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek wrestled a legitimate contest with Marin Plestina to settle a promotional war between Jack Curley and boxing promoter Tex Rickard. Pesek fouled an injured Plestina, who was helpless to defend himself. After the match, Rickard returned to boxing while the New York State Athletic Commission banned Pesek from wrestling in New York.
In 1919, John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek found himself in the same position as Marin Plestina. The dominant wrestling trust would not give Pesek a match with one of the “Big Four” – Earl Caddock, Joe Stecher, Ed “Strangler” Lewis, and Wladek Zbyszko. Unable to secure a match with Stecher, Pesek wrestled Jim Londos in Omaha, Nebraska on October 10,
On Thanksgiving in America, Thursday, November 26, 1908, Yussouff Mahmout wrestled former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Tom Jenkins at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Mahmout recently to the United States to wrestle Frank Gotch for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. If Mahmout defeated Jenkins, Mahmout would prove to be a bona fide challenger to Gotch. Jenkins was the
On Tuesday, January 29, 1884, approximately two thousand fans crowded into the Detroit Opera House to watch the first of a two-match series between Colonel James H. McLaughlin and Henry Moses Dufur. The crowd had to delight the organizers and wrestlers. Matches drawing crowds in the thousands were rare during the 19th Century. Organizers claimed McLaughlin was defending the American
Jack Claybourne, one of the earliest African-American, professional wrestlers, was born Elmer Claybourn at Mexico, Missouri, on March 8, 1910. In 1910, Mexico was home to about 5,939 residents. Claybourne started his professional wrestling career in Missouri in 1931. Initially, Claybourne wrestled in nearby Moberly, Missouri. Moberly had a population of 13,722 residents compared to 8,290 residents in Mexico, Missouri
Wrestling historians consider either Ed “Strangler” Lewis or Frank Gotch to be the greatest American professional wrestler. While we know quite a bit about the early career of Frank Gotch, we know much less about the early career of Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Various sources claim Lewis learned catch-as-catch-can wrestling in the carnivals when he was only fourteen years old. Lewis