Category: Early Professional Wrestling History

George Tragos gañou fama como adestrador de Lou Thesz, o campión mundial de peso pesado da National Wrestling Alliance dominante da década de 1950 e principios dos 60.. bebidas, unha 1920 Olímpico pola súa Grecia natal, posuía un currículo impecable na loita libre lexítima. Nacido en marzo 14, 1901, en Messinia, Grecia, Tragos gañou títulos nacionais de loita libre antes de representar a Grecia no 1920 Xogos Olímpicos só

At the end of 1932, 22-year-old Vila Milli sued her husband, professional wrestler Wladek Zbyszko, for divorce alleging physical cruelty and adultery. Milli charged the 41-year-old Zbyszko with physical cruelty for “hugging her too hard.” Justice Dunne of the Brooklyn Supreme Court heard the divorce case. He expressed doubt that Zbyszko abused his wife. Porén, he did not dismiss the

While researching the history of the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (1881 – 1922), I discovered Evan “Strangler” Lewis’ early matches in Montana. Prior to researching this topic, I thought Lewis started his career by winning a 64-man wrestling tournament in Montana during 1882. Porén, Lewis did not win the tournament. In May 1882, Lewis wrestled in a Cornish wrestling tournament

Frank Gotch dominou a loita libre estadounidense desde 1905 á súa xubilación en 1913. Gotch, o actual campión estadounidense de loita libre de peso pesado, gañou o partido máis importante da súa carreira en abril 3, 1908. Gotch derrotou ao actual campión mundial de loita libre de peso pesado Georg Hackenschmidt en Chicago, California. Gotch demostrou ser un campión do mundo tan dominante como o fora como campión americano. Gotch agreed to

O xoves, Abril 29, 1909, Frank Gotch traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to wrestle highly regarded light heavyweight wrestler Charles Hackenschmidt. Hackenschmidt won the World Light Heavyweight Wrestling Championship under his real name, John Berg. Although fans thought well of Berg, they did not see him as a threat to defeat Frank Gotch in a straight match. To increase fan interest

Joe Stecher wrestled during a transitional time in American professional wrestling. Prior to 1900, wrestlers engaged primarily in legitimate contests although wrestlers did work matches occasionally. After 1915, all wrestlers worked their matches. Wrestlers wrestled legitimate contests only to settle promotional dispute or to pull off a double-cross. A partir de 1900 para 1915, wrestlers engaged in a mixture of worked matches

En agosto 7, 1882, American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Edwin Bibby defended his title against English Champion Joe Acton at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The men wrestled a “catch-as-catch-can” match for the world championship. Porén, the public did not recognize the winner of the bout as the world champion. The public recognized the winner as the American Heavyweight

(This post is an excerpt from my new book, Gotch vs. Zbyszko: A procura da redención, published on February 2, 2022.) The most important event affecting the future of Frank Gotch’s career occurred on January 11, 1911. Gotch married the former Gladys Oestrich at her parent’s home in Humboldt, Iowa. Mrs. Gotch preferred that Frank retire from the ring which

En xaneiro de 2, 1911, Swiss wrestler John Lemm found himself the laughingstock of professional wrestling fans and reporters. The incident occurred when Lemm wrestled Stanislaus Zbyszko in Buffalo, New York. Fans considered Zbyszko the top contender for Frank Gotch’s world title. Zbyszko was a world class wrestler although more skilled in Greco-Roman wrestling than catch wrestling. Lemm was a skilled