עפּיזאָד 76 – Solving the Masked Marvel

פּאָדקאַסט: שפּיל אין נייַ פֿענצטער | אראפקאפיע

אין דעם עפּיזאָד, I discuss Ed “סטראַנגלער” Lewis defeating the Masked Marvel during the 1915 New York International Wrestling Tournament.

דערהייַנטיקן

After years of looking for Bernarr MacFadden’s wrestling matches in St. לוי, I stumbled across a reporter’s recollections of the best wrestling matches he covered during his twenty year career. MacFadden wrestled as B.A. McFadden in St. לוי. I recently found all his matches.

Don’t forget to check out A Geek History of Time פּאָדקאַסט.

I am starting to wonder if Ed “סטראַנגלער” Lewis and Joe Stecher wrestled three contests to a draw before Lewis beat Stecher in a fourth match. I am making answering this question one of my research goals this year.

הויפּט אינהאַלט

Sam Rachmann promoted the 1915 New York International Wrestling Tournament to try and replace Frank Gotch with Aleksander “אַלעקס” אַבערג. Fans filled the Manhattan Opera House for the spring tournament.

A disappointing finale and the waning novelty of a Greco-Roman wrestling tournament drove fans away from the fall tournament. To try and salvage the tournament, Sam Rachmann introduced catch-as-catch-can wrestling and lured a young Ed “סטראַנגלער” Lewis into the tournament.

Rachmann’s most successful gimmick was the introduction of a masked wrestler at ringside, the Masked Marvel. The Marvel was the first known masked wrestler in the United States.

The Masked Marvel sat at ringside challenging the wrestlers and building fan interest. Newspapers across the United States carried coverage of the Masked Marvel.

יווענטשאַוואַלי, Rachmann allowed the Masked Marvel into the tournament. The Masked Marvel defeated or drew with everyone for most of December 1915.

אויף דעצעמבער 20, 1915, the Masked Marvel wrestled Ed “סטראַנגלער” Lewis in a catch-as-catch-can wrestling match. Whether Lewis and the Marvel were working or shooting, Lewis crushed the Marvel. Lewis kept the Marvel on the mat until turning the Marvel’s back to the mat with a hammerlock. Lewis pinned the Masked Marvel in eleven minutes, thirty seconds in the one-sided match.

Lewis’s defeat of the Masked Marvel signaled the end of the Marvel’s contender status in the fall tournament.

איבערבליק

I review the “Whipper” Billy Watson versus Fritz Von Erich match from Buffalo, New York in 1957.

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