Tag: Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling

Joe Stecher and John “Tiger Man” Pesek were legitimate wrestlers in a primarily “worked” era, where matches were predetermined unless someone decided to double-cross the other wrestler or promoter by turning the match into a legitimate contest.  Double-crosses only worked, if the wrestler could legitimately win the match. John Pesek didn’t like the worked nature of wrestling and often turned

As the wrestler jumped off the mat, he grabbed the referee by the lapel with his good arm.  “Why didn’t you stop it?”  As Referee Siler tried to pull free, Duncan Ross’ seconds grabbed him and pulled him away.  The men told Ross, “He can’t stop it.  You have to submit.” Ross screamed, “I’m out of here.”  As Ross walked

In 1922, New York promoter Jack Curley ran afoul of the Gold Dust Trio, manager Billy Sandow, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and wrestler/promotional genius Joseph “Toots” Mondt.  The Trio controlled the world championship and froze Curley out of booking the champion. To get even with the Trio, Curley began aggressively promoting Olympic wrestling silver  medalist and collegiate

Stanislaus Zbyszko traveled to the United States in 1909 seeking a match with recognized World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. To get in shape for this challenge and build anticipation for the title match, Zbyskzo toured most of the major cities in the United States. During May 1910, Zbyszko arrived in St. Louis for his match with capable wrestler Charles

On December 14, 1922, a crowd of 10,000 fans filled the St. Louis Coliseum to watch the rematch between current World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and former champion Stanislaus Zbyszko.  Lewis “defeated” Zbyszko for the title in Wichita, Kansas in March 1922.  Unknown to these fans, the plan was for Zbyszko to lose the match to Lewis but

In January 1905, well-regarded wrestler Gus Schoenlein, also known as Americus, agreed to meet Fred Beell in Schoenlein’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.  Schoenlein expected to beat Beell easily. At 5’10” and 210 pounds, “Americus” towered over the 5’04”, 170 pound Beell.  While Beell was powerfully built, Schoenlein’s 40 pounds was a mountainous advantage.   Both men were skilled wrestlers though. Second,

When Billy Sandow and Ed Lewis decided Stanislaus Zbyszko’s title reign had run out of promotional steam, they decided to “win” back the title in March 1922.  St. Louis promoter John Contos was able to secure the big rematch, which would occur at the St. Louis Coliseum on Thursday, December 14, 1922. By this time, American professional wrestling outside of

On Thursday, November 22, 1923, St. Louis promoter John Contos hosted a controversial card topped by a match between Joe Stecher and Dan Kolov, an up-and-coming Bulgarian wrestler.  The card was covered by John E. Wray, the Sports Editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The card was controversial because two of the biggest stars in wrestling were advertised but didn’t

Yusuf Ismail only wrestled in the United States for six months in the first half of 1898.  In his first significant match, he was disqualified for a vicious foul.  In his only other significant match, he gave Evan “Strangler” Lewis the beating of his life.  Yet his short tour of the United States made him a legend. Ismail entered the

On a Thursday night, November 25, 1909, World Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met Polish Wrestling Champion Stanislaus Zbyszko for a handicap match in Buffalo, New York.  Gotch agreed to forfeit the bout if he could not throw Zbyszko twice in an hour. Zbyszko’s size and strength created problems for Gotch, who weighed 190 pounds to Zbyszko’s 260 pounds.  However, Zbyszko