Category: Professional Wrestling History

Banheiro “Tigerman” Sand lutou vários “shoot” partidas durante o “worked” era dos anos 1920. By this time, Os lutadores profissionais americanos cooperaram entre si para oferecer lutas emocionantes para os fãs. Os resultados foram predeterminados por promotores e gerentes. Concursos legítimos ou “shoots” eram raros. Quando eles ocorreram, it was normally to settle a dispute among promoters or a

At the end of 1905, Fred Beell was traveling America hyping up a match with former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Tom Jenkins. Beell was a former American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion having defeated Frank Gotch in a “worked” match in New Orleans during December 1903. He lost the title back to Gotch a few weeks later. Capable wrestlers, Jenkins and Beell

Joe Stecher and John “Tiger Man” Pesek were legitimate wrestlers in a primarily “worked” era, where matches were predetermined unless someone decided to double-cross the other wrestler or promoter by turning the match into a legitimate contest. Double-crosses only worked, if the wrestler could legitimately win the match. John Pesek didn’t like the worked nature of wrestling and often turned

This week’s post is to finish up the story of the double cross involving Dick Shikat and Danno O’Mahony. The origins for the double cross actually began in a match with Ed “Strangler” Lewis in Madison Square Garden on June 9, 1932. While this match was a prearranged exhibition, the wrestlers had been in discussion about Lewis dropping the belt

Em 1922, New York promoter Jack Curley ran afoul of the Gold Dust Trio, manager Billy Sandow, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and wrestler/promotional genius Joseph “Toots” Mondt. The Trio controlled the world championship and froze Curley out of booking the champion. To get even with the Trio, Curley began aggressively promoting Olympic wrestling silver medalist and collegiate

Stanislaus Zbyszko traveled to the United States in 1909 seeking a match with recognized World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. To get in shape for this challenge and build anticipation for the title match, Zbyskzo toured most of the major cities in the United States. During May 1910, Zbyszko arrived in St. Louis for his match with capable wrestler Charles

Em dezembro de 14, 1922, a crowd of 10,000 fans filled the St. Louis Coliseum to watch the rematch between current World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and former champion Stanislaus Zbyszko. Lewis “derrotado” Zbyszko for the title in Wichita, Kansas in March 1922. Unknown to these fans, the plan was for Zbyszko to lose the match to Lewis but

Em Janeiro de 1905, well-regarded wrestler Gus Schoenlein, also known as Americus, agreed to meet Fred Beell in Schoenlein’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Schoenlein expected to beat Beell easily. At 5’10” e 210 libras, “Americus” towered over the 5’04”, 170 pound Beell. While Beell was powerfully built, Schoenlein’s 40 pounds was a mountainous advantage. Both men were skilled wrestlers though. Segundo,

(This post is an exert from my newest book Masked Marvel to the Rescue: The Gimmick That Saved the 1915 International Wrestling Tournament available on Amazon.) The fall version of the 1915 International Wrestling Tournament was struggling with attendance and interest, when promoter Sam Rachmann struck promotional gold by introducing a masked wrestler into his tournament. The Masked Marvel stormed

When Billy Sandow and Ed Lewis decided Stanislaus Zbyszko’s title reign had run out of promotional steam, they decided to “win” back the title in March 1922. St. Louis promoter John Contos was able to secure the big rematch, which would occur at the St. Louis Coliseum on Thursday, Dezembro 14, 1922. By this time, American professional wrestling outside of