Posts about catch-as-catch-can or catch wrestling matches, the dominant style of wrestling in the United States after 1890.
On Sunday, December 14, 1924, “Big” Wayne Munn wrestled Joseph “Toots” Mondt in the main event of the wrestling card at the Kansas City, Missouri, Convention Hall. 10,000 fans showed up to cheer on Munn, a former college football player for the University of Nebraska. Munn was billed at 6’06”, which may have been an exaggeration but he was significantly […]
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The biggest American pro wrestling match of the 19th Century occurred on April 21, 1895 in Chicago, Illinois. Evan “Strangler” Lewis defended his American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship against Martin “Farmer” Burns. The 34-year-olds were both skilled with “hooks” or submission holds making them the top of the food chain in legitimate professional wrestling. Lewis had been undisputed champion since 1893 […]
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On April 14, 1909, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch met Yussif Mahmout, a skilled Bulgarian wrestler, in Chicago, Illinois for his title. Fans considered Mahmout a tough challenger primarily because they had not seen him wrestle. Emil Klank, Gotch’s manager, convinced foreign wrestlers with good reputations like Mahmout and Stanislaus Zbyszko to travel to America to challenge Gotch. Fans […]
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After marrying his wife Gladys and beating Georg Hackenschmidt a second time, both in 1911, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch began to wrestle a more limited schedule. His wife Gladys was not a big fan of wrestling and wanted her new husband to spend more time at home in Humboldt, Iowa. In the world of wrestling at the time, […]
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On May 17, 1910, Stanislaus Zbyszko’s year-long tour of America continued as he met Dr. Benjamin F. Roller in Buffalo, New York. Zbyszko, a Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion from Poland, wanted to generate interest in a potential match with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch. While Dr. Roller was never able to beat Gotch, he was considered one of the top American […]
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Leading into his January 24, 1921 title match with former world champion Earl Caddock, World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis was reputed to have injured his previous two opponents, Wladek Zbyszko and Joe Stecher, with his headlock. Lewis would use the headlock to hip toss his opponent to the floor. Zbyszko was knocked senseless, when his head hit the […]
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On April 21, 1884, Duncan C. Ross met Sorakichi Matsuda, also known as Matsada, the first Japanese professional wrestler in the United States. Matsuda immigrated to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler because it didn’t really exist in Japan at the time. 28-year-old Duncan Ross was born in Turkey of Scottish descent on March […]
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Ed “Strangler” Lewis enjoyed one of the most successful careers in professional wrestling. Although Lewis wrestled in mostly staged exhibitions, he possessed legitimate wrestling skills. Future protege Lou Thesz said many times Lewis could beat any wrestler at any time, so he was the ideal world champion in the modern era of prearranged matches. However, early in his career, Lewis […]
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On December 11, 1916, a strange event occurred. John F. Olin, a local Massachusetts wrestler, won a match with the current World Champion Joe Stecher. The referee and promoter Jime Barnes declared Olin the winner after Stecher walked away from the match. Before the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) made changes to the rules in the 1950s, championships changed hands through […]
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John “Tigerman” Pesek wrestled several “shoot” matches during the “worked” era of the 1920s. By this time, American professional wrestlers cooperated with each other to put on exciting matches for the fans. Results were predetermined by promoters and managers. Legitimate contests or “shoots” were rare. When they did occur, it was normally to settle a dispute among promoters or a […]
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