Category: Tidlig profesjonell brytingshistorie

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. Mai 5, 1885, Muldoon met Matsuda Sorokichi, som

Frank Gotch, gården gutt fra Humboldt, Iowa, ville beseire George Hackenschmidt for World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship i 1908. Denne seieren og hans påfølgende nederlag “Hack” i 1911 omkamp sementert Gotch sin plass som en av de største brytere i all tid. Gotch var en svært talentfull fotballspiller, men han var ikke den ubeseirede wunderkind av legende. Gotch

Januar 10, 1912, Stanislaus Zbyszko continued his campaign for another title shot with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. To press his claim, he secured a match with Gotch training partner and protegé, Jake Westergard. Westergard claimed a questionable win over his mentor Gotch, who probably dropped the match to Westergard in a prearranged match. Zbyszko was a skilled

Omaha Chief of Police H.W. Dunn created headlines on March 28, 1915, when he issued an order banning the advertised professional wrestling match between Joe Stecher and Jess Westergaard. The April 6, 1915 match was scheduled for the Omaha Auditorium. The chief actually issued the order at the behest of Superintendent of Police A.C. Kugel. Kugel issued a statement to

Desember 13, 1920, Og “Strangler” Lewis defeated Joe Stecher for his World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Professional wrestling was a staged exhibition by 1920. However, such was the strong feelings between the men that the match may have been a “shoot” or legitimate match in which Lewis took the belt. Whether the outcome of the match was real, the feud

Evan “Strangler” Lewis, also called Evan Lewis “the Strangler”, was a professional wrestler from 1882 til 1899. Lewis was the first American Heavyweight Catch-as-Catch Can Wrestling Champion. He was also the first wrestler to perfect the “stranglehold” eller “hang hold”, which modern MMA fans know as a guillotine choke. Lewis made his professional debut by winning a 64 man tournament

Martin “Farmer” Burns is famous today as the trainer of legendary wrestler Frank Gotch. “Farmer” Burns was a great wrestler in his own right. Burns won the American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in the legitimate pro wrestling era despite being only 165 pounds. I 1891, Burns as the Iowa Heavyweight Champion took on J.C. Comstock, the Michigan Heavyweight Champion. J.C. Comstock was

In November 1923, St. Louis Star-Times reporter Billy Murphy interviewed St. Louis wrestling promoter John Contos. Murphy proposed to Contos that the era of dominant wrestlers like William Muldoon was over. Murphy spoke about the recent match between “World Champion” Hardneck Phillips and the game contender Webster O’Malley. Phillips successfully defended his championship by throwing O’Malley after 1 hour, 50

Paul Pons var den gresk-romersk bryting Champion i Frankrike på 1890-tallet. Han vant en turnering på Folies-Bergeres før de vant en turnering i Russland i 1898. These victories allowed him to claim the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship. Pons kapitalisert på denne beryktet ved å åpne et treningsstudio for å trene fribrytere og sterke menn. Pons’ victory was particularly remarkable because of

Og “Strangler” Lewis and Joe Stecher conducted one of the greatest rivalries of the early arranged professional wrestling exhibition era. Lewis and Stecher wrestled many times including a five and a half hour draw in 1916. Several of their early matches appeared to be legitimate. Legend also has it that Lewis actually had to beat Stecher in a “shoot match”