Episod 20 – Sorakichi Matsada

Podcast: Main dalam tetingkap baru | Muat turun

Dalam episod ini, Saya membincangkan kerjaya Sorakichi Matsada, ahli gusti pro Jepun abad ke-19.

Update

I discuss the new podcast schedule. Mudah-mudahan, Caleb akan kembali bersama saya untuk episod seterusnya. Saya akan mengeluarkan satu episod pada hari Isnin kedua setiap bulan. Jika penjadualan membenarkan, a second episode will be released on the fourth Monday of every month.

I also discuss tapping out on modern pro wrestling.

Main Content

I discuss the 7 and half year career of Sorakichi Matsada. Matsada travelled to the United States in 1883 to learn professional wrestling. Matsada intended to return to Japan and establish a professional wrestling circuit.

In his short career, Matsada wrestled World Champion William Muldoon, multiple American Heavyweight Wrestling Champions and was almost killed by Evan “The pencekik” Lewis.

Matsada also married an American heiress although the marriage was not a happy one. She left him after only a couple months of marriage charging cruel treatment.

Matsada never saw his dream fulfilled as he contracted tuberculosis, “consumption,” in 1891. Barely able to walk across the street to his social club, Matsada died in New York City in 1892.

Whether Matsada would have succeeded in starting a Japanese professional wrestling circuit or not, he proved himself a forward thinker and pioneer in the burgeoning sport.

Review

In the 1950s, broadcasters showed Chicago wrestling matches throughout the United States. Fred Koehler promoted the matches and his big star was Verne Gagne, a former NCAA Wrestling Champion.

In the mid-1950s, Gagne wrestled Dick the Bruiser at the Chicago International Amphitheater not the Marigold Arena as I said on the podcast. The link will take you to YouTube, where you can watch the match.

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