Category: Early Professional Wrestling History

At the end of December 1916, a strange event occurred.  John F. Olin, a local Massachusetts wrestler, won a match with the current World Champion Joe Stecher.  The referee declared Olin the winner after Stecher walked away from the match. Before the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) made changes to the rules in the 1950s, championships changed hands through disqualification or

John “Tigerman” Pesek wrestled several “shoot” matches during the “worked” era of the 1920s.  By this time, American professional wrestlers cooperated with each other to put on exciting matches for the fans.  Results were predetermined by promoters and managers.  Legitimate contests or “shoots” were rare.  When they did occur, 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

As the wrestler jumped off the mat, he grabbed the referee by the lapel with his good arm.  “Why didn’t you stop it?”  As Referee Siler tried to pull free, Duncan Ross’ seconds grabbed him and pulled him away.  The men told Ross, “He can’t stop it.  You have to submit.” Ross screamed, “I’m out of here.”  As Ross walked

In 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

On December 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 “defeated” 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

On January 11, 1911, world heavyweight wrestling championship contender Stanislaus Zbysko faced the challenge of the powerful but less talented Peter “Giant” Nogert.  Nogert was a South African wrestler, who came to the United States for a few years in the early 1910s.  Due to a strong international reputation, a few American wrestlers had even claimed to be Nogert before

In January 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” and 210 pounds, “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. Second,