Category: História inicial do wrestling profissional

George Tragos gained fame as the trainer of Lou Thesz, the dominant National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion of the 1950s and early 1960s. Tragos, um 1920 Olympian for his native Greece, possessed an impeccable resume in legitimate wrestling. Born March 14, 1901, in Messinia, Greece, Tragos won national wrestling titles before representing Greece at the 1920 Olympics at only

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. However, 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. However, Lewis did not win the tournament. Em Maio 1882, Lewis wrestled in a Cornish wrestling tournament

Frank Gotch dominou o wrestling americano desde 1905 para sua aposentadoria em 1913. Gotch, o atual campeão americano de luta livre de pesos pesados, venceu a maior partida de sua carreira em abril 3, 1908. Gotch derrotou o atual campeão mundial de luta livre Georg Hackenschmidt em Chicago, Illinois. Gotch provou ser um campeão mundial tão dominante quanto foi como campeão americano. Gotch agreed to

Na quinta-feira, 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 a 1915, wrestlers engaged in a mixture of worked matches

Em 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. However, 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 busca pela redenção, 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

Em janeiro 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, Nova Iorque. 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