Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about professional wrestling history from 1870 to 1930.
Besides being the preferred venue for professional boxers and wrestlers to train when in St. Louis, the St. Louis Business Men’s Gymnasium hosted smaller boxing and wrestling events. In 1898, former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Martin “Farmer” Burns wrestled Oscar Wasem in front of a small crowd at the Business Men’s Gymnasium. Burns was transitioning into training wrestlers full-time and
During the early 1930s, the most powerful promoters in professional wrestling, Jack Curley, Joseph “Toots” Mondt, Paul Bowser, and Tom Packs executed double-crosses on each other hurting the overall drawing power of their wrestlers. During the promotional war, Jack Pfefer aligned himself with Jack Curley and “Toots” Mondt, who ran out of New York City. In late 1933, Curley and
I took a second look at this match after listening to the Shut Up and Wrestle podcast interview with Mike Chapman, one of the foremost experts on Frank Gotch. Mike Chapman put forth a convincing argument for his belief that both Earl Caddock vs. Joe Stecher world title matches were “shoots” or legitimate contests. After reviewing the accounts of the
Sorakichi Matsuda travelled to the United States in late 1883 to begin his professional wrestling career. Matsuda intended to learn American professional wrestling and return to his homeland to start his own wrestling promotion. Matsuda’s manager made claims about his training in Japan, which could not be verified. Matsuda trained in sumo wrestling with the famous Isegahama stable but did
Over the past twenty years, preservationists have found several wrestling films from the 1920s through the 1950s that were assumed lost. Fans can watch most of the newly discovered films on YouTube. One of the surviving films is eighteen minutes of an hour, twenty minutes match from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1930. Jim Londos wrestled Dick Shikat (video link) for a
On Thursday, April 10, 1884, America’s first full-time professional wrestler, J.H. McLaughlin wrestled all-around Scottish athlete and wrestler Duncan C. Ross at Detroit’s Opera House. The men wrestled a three-out-of-five falls mixed styles match. McLaughlin specialized in collar-and-elbow wrestling. The men wrestled two falls under collar-and-elbow rules. Ross favored side hold rules. The men wrestled two falls by securing side
On Saturday, September 10, 1910, Stanislaus Zbyszko, fresh off his first tour of the United States, wrestled the Great Gama at Shepherd’s Bush Stadium in London, England. 7,000 spectators crowded into the stadium to watch the match. A few weeks earlier, Mr. Benjamin brought a group of Pehlwani wrestlers from India to wrestle in England. Fans consider the Great Gama
When World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion William Muldoon retired in 1889, he hoped his protege Ernest Roeber would be recognized as the new champion. However, Muldoon won his title in Greco-Roman wrestling, which was the German-born Roeber’s expertise. Unfortunately, the exploits of Martin “Farmer” Burns and Evan “The Strangler” Lewis catapulted catch-as-catch-can wrestling into the dominant style. Roeber did have a
World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis was scheduled to meet former champion Stanislaus Zbyszko at the St. Louis Coliseum on Thursday, December 14, 1922 but the match was almost called off due to disagreements over the selection of a referee. It was only after the intercession of St. Louis promoter John Contos that both men agreed to St. Louis
On Tuesday, December 12, 1916, local favorite, John “The Nebraska Tigerman” Pesek wrestled fellow shooter, Al “Dutch” Mantell, in a worked match. Pesek recently trained with fellow Nebraska wrestler and recognized World Champion Joe Stecher prior to this match. Pesek developed a notorious reputation for shooting with other wrestlers. However, Pesek was a 22-year-old up-and-comer still learning to wrestle, when