Category: Professional Wrestling History

Dissabte, Gener 30, 1904, George Hackenschmidt defended his Greco-Roman World Wrestling Championship against Ahmed Medrali. “El lleó rus” would have to defeat “The Terrible Turk” to retain his championship. Promoters selected the giant Medrali, who was 6’02” i 224 lliures, to defeat the seemingly invincible Hackenschmidt. George Hackenschmidt stood only 5’09” tall and weighed 209 lliures. Despite his smaller

Al març de 22, 1881, Greco-Roman World Wrestling Champion William Muldoon met Collar-and-Elbow World Champion John McMahon at the Terrace Garden in New York City. Muldoon and McMahon met in a best-two-out-of-three-falls match. The first fall was conducted by Greco-Roman rules. The second fall would be contested using collar-and-elbow rules. The last fall would be decided via what The New York

On Thursday, Novembre 22, 1923, St. El promotor de Louis, John Contos, va acollir una polèmica targeta rematada per un partit entre Joe Stecher i Dan Kolov, un lluitador búlgar emergent. La targeta va ser coberta per John E. Wray, l'editor esportiu del St. Louis Post-Dispatch. La targeta va ser controvertida perquè es van anunciar dues de les estrelles més grans de la lluita lliure, però no ho van fer

Broadcast companies were looking for content during the early days of television. Besides older movies and some broadcast company productions, sports were a source of programming for many television stations. The Dumont Television Network was one of the powerhouse networks in the beginning of the Golden Age of Television. One of their most popular programs was wrestling and the star

Yusuf Ismail only wrestled in the United States for six months in the first half of 1898. In his first significant match, he was disqualified for a vicious foul. In his only other significant match, he gave Evan “Estrangulador” Lewis the beating of his life. Yet his short tour of the United States made him a legend. Ismail entered the

On a Thursday night, Novembre 25, 1909, World Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met Polish Wrestling Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko for a handicap match in Buffalo, New York. Gotch agreed to forfeit the bout if he could not throw Zbyszko twice in an hour. Zbyszko’s size and strength created problems for Gotch, who weighed 190 pounds to Zbyszko’s 260 lliures. Però, Zbyszko

Wrestling promoter Samuel Rachman created the International Wrestling Tournament in Spring 1915 to highlight the abilities of Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. Aberg was the Russian Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion. Rachman believed Aberg could beat any wrestler. Rachman also wanted to lure Frank Gotch, the last undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, out of retirement to wrestle with Aberg. Gotch wrestled George Lurich in

En una entrada al blog el mes passat, Vaig escriure sobre la dificultat que van tenir els promotors per organitzar el partit Joe Stecher contra Jess Westergaard. Inicialment programat per a Omaha, Nebraska, el cap de policia d'Omaha i el comissari de policia estaven preocupats perquè el partit estigués preestablert o a “work”. No volien que els jugadors fossin acollits per l'exposició. Per evitar aquest fet, ells

Dominant champions like William Muldoon often had to accept handicap conditions to get fans interested in watching them wrestle. Since fans only considered Clarence Whistler skilled enough to really threaten his reign, Muldoon would often generate interest by either performing feats of strength or taking on the challenge of handicap conditions. Al maig 5, 1885, Muldoon met Matsuda Sorokichi, que

Frank Gotch, the farm boy from Humboldt, Iowa, would defeat George Hackenschmidt for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1908. This victory and his subsequent defeat of “Cop de destral” in the 1911 rematch cemented Gotch’s place as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Gotch was a very talented wrestler but he was not the undefeated wunderkind of legend. Gotch