Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about catch-as-catch-can or catch wrestling matches, the dominant style of wrestling in the United States after 1890.
In January 1921, Ad Santel started a minor controversy by claiming Ed “Strangler” Lewis was a better wrestler than the late Frank Gotch. Santel trained with both Gotch and Lewis, so he did have an insider’s knowledge. Was he right though? Gotch was the last Undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Gotch won the title by defeating the great Georg Hackenschmidt.
During March 1891, George Baptiste travelled from St. Louis to Detroit to take part in a catch-as-catch-can wrestling tournament. While primarily a Greco-Roman wrestler, Baptiste would compete in the dominant American style of catch-as-catch-can. The 26-year-old Baptiste was an accomplished amateur and professional wrestler. Entering the Detroit tournament, Baptiste had lost only one match as a professional. The year prior,
In late 1902, Harvey Parker, a professional wrestler who began wrestling in 1900, travelled to St. Louis to challenge the local wrestling community. Parker may have thought St. Louis to be an easier town than “Farmer” Burns territory in Chicago and Iowa. However, Parker would discover two capable wrestler in St. Louis, George Baptiste and Oscar Wasem. By 1902, George
On August 26, 1886, Evan “Strangler” Lewis met the British Wrestling Champion Tom Cannon in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the legitimate wrestling era, other wrestlers feared the powerful Lewis because of his stranglehold. Lewis employed a carotid arterial strangle known as the rear naked choke in Judo. At least that was what I originally thought and most historians have quoted. Modern
On Saturday, November 25, 1899, St. Louis wrestling fans experienced a shock, when a visiting wrestler easily threw local champion Oscar Wasem in a little over 20 minutes. After the easy victory, fans smelled a rat, when the “Indianapolis Cyclone” spoke with a Lancashire accent. Oscar Wasem surpassed George Baptiste as St. Louis’ wrestling champion in the mid-1890s. Wasem possessed
When Frank Gotch retired as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion after beating Georg Lurich in his last match, promoters scrambled to find a successor. Samuel Rachmann tried to put forth his own champion by hosting the 1915 International Wrestling Tournament in New York City. Rachmann wanted his challenger Aberg to win the tournament and be recognized by the public as the
In the 1910s, American professional wrestling permanently moved from legitimate wrestling contests to prearranged exhibitions. Fan interest, promoter control and less wear and tear on the wrestlers all played a role in this transition. Another less talked about pressure was outside of the sport itself. Prior to the 20th Century, professional boxing was illegal in the United States. Bare knuckle
RKO Pictures brought the Dick Tracy comic strip character to the big screen on December 1, 1945. While the film is definitely a “B” film meant to be first on the double bill, it still would have been of interest to the many fans of the popular comic strip. Chester Gould created the strip in October 1931 for the Detroit
John Berg was a good enough wrestler to beat Martin “Farmer” Burns twice but was mostly thought of as a good lighter wrestler. Berg held the World Light Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in the late 1910s and competed for the Middleweight Title, which was contested at 158 pounds. Berg missed weight by four pounds but won the match. Berg wrestled in
Ad Santel gained his reputation as a dangerous catch wrestler from his frequent bouts with judoka from Japan during the 1910s and a story from the second George Hackenschmidt training camp for the Frank Gotch rematch. According to legend, Frank Gotch paid Santel, a skilled submission wrestler, $5,000.00 to injure Hackenschmidt’s knee in training. While this story may or may