Lewis yang direncanakan – Pertandingan Zbyszko

Ketika Billy Sandow dan Ed Lewis memutuskan perebutan gelar Stanislaus Zbyszko telah kehabisan tenaga promosi, mereka memutuskan untuk melakukannya “menang” mengembalikan gelar pada bulan Maret 1922. St. Promotor Louis John Contos mampu mengamankan pertandingan ulang besar tersebut, yang akan terjadi di St. Louis Coliseum pada hari Kamis, Desember 14, 1922.

Pada saat ini, American professional wrestling outside of carnivals and double-crosses was a “bekerja” or staged exhibition. The wrestlers cooperated with each other to make their matches more exciting.

The wrestlers in this era were “shooters’ or legitimately skilled wrestlers. Some wrestlers were also “hookers” or skilled submission wrestlers. Dan “Pencekik” Lewis may have been the greatest “kapal penangkap ikan” in professional wrestler. If any of the wrestlers tried to double-cross Lewis by legitimately beating him for the title, Lewis would simply hurt them and keep the title against their will. If someone Lewis dropped the title to refused to give the belt back, Lewis would hurt them and simply take the title. This match carried the risk of a double-cross.

Stanislaus Zbyszko, at 42-years old, was eleven years older than Lewis. Zbyszko also wasn’t the submission wrestler Lewis was but he may have been the more skilled pure wrestler. While Zbyszko was past his prime, Lewis considered him one of only two men on his level.

In Lou Thesz’s autobiography Hooker, Thesz describes several conversations between he and Lewis about Zbyszko. Lewis said you always had to be careful with Zbyszko because he could shoot on his opponent at any time. During training sessions, Lewis discovered Zbyszko was his equal in competitive wrestling despite Lewis’ advantage in age.

During their matches, Lewis learned Zbyszko had a tell, when Zbyszko was getting ready to double-cross an opponent. When he realized his opponent was in a bad position and considered shooting on him, he would start breathing heavily. His brother Wladek would do the same thing.

When Lewis felt Zbyszko start breathing heavily, Lewis immediately extricated himself from his vulnerable position. Lewis would then “hook” or put a submission hold on with just enough juice to let Zbyszko know he suspected the double-cross. Lewis told Thesz it was enough to gain Zbyszko’s cooperation. Zbyszko would go back to working with Lewis.

Going into the St. Louis match, Sandow and Lewis were concerned Zbyszko might try to take back the championship by shooting on Lewis. Zbyszko had wrestled Frank Gotch in a legitimate contest for the World Championship in 1910. Zbyszko always felt like Gotch robbed him, when Gotch tackled him off the handshake and won the first fall in 6 detik.

A shaken Zbyszko almost forfeited the match but went through with the contest after cajoling by the referee and his manager. Zbyszko didn’t regain his composure and lost the second fall in a little over 20 menit. Gotch refused to wrestle Zbyszko again and retired in 1913 as champion.

The loss stung Zbyszko for a long time. When he realized Gotch was never going to wrestle him, he returned to Europe in 1914. Caught up in World War I, he didn’t make it back to the U.S. until after the war. 40-years-old and past his prime, it looked like a World Championship was not possible for the old warhorse.

Even though it was a worked match and planned title reign, “winning” the title from Lewis in 1921 took some of the sting out of the Gotch match for Zbyszko. Would Zbyszko go along with the finish and drop the match to Lewis again? Next month, we will finish up the story.

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Sources: St. Louis Star and Times, Desember 15, 1922 edisi, p. 20 dan Hooker by Lou Thesz

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