Tag: Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling

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 […]

In a blog post last month, I wrote about the difficulty promoters had in staging the  Joe Stecher vs Jess Westergaard match.  Originally scheduled for Omaha, Nebraska, the Omaha Chief of Police and Police Commissioner were concerned about the match being prearranged or a “work”. They didn’t want gamblers being taken in by the exhibition. To prevent this occurrence, they […]

Frank Gotch, the farm boy from Humboldt, Iowa, would defeat George Hackenschmidt for the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in 1908.  This victory and his subsequent defeat of “Hack” in the 1911 rematch cemented Gotch’s place as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.  Gotch was a very talented wrestler but he was not the undefeated wunderkind of legend.  Gotch […]

On January 10, 1912, Stanislaus Zbyszko continued his campaign for another title shot with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Frank Gotch.  To press his claim, he secured a match with Gotch training partner and protegé, Jake Westergard.  Westergard claimed a questionable win over his mentor Gotch, who probably dropped the match to Westergard in a prearranged match. Zbyszko was a skilled […]

Omaha Chief of Police H.W. Dunn created headlines on March 28, 1915, when he issued an order banning the advertised professional wrestling match between Joe Stecher and Jess Westergaard.  The April 6, 1915 match was scheduled for the Omaha Auditorium. The chief actually issued the order at the behest of Superintendent of Police A.C. Kugel.  Kugel issued a statement to […]

On December 13, 1920, Ed “Strangler” Lewis defeated Joe Stecher for his World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.  Professional wrestling was a staged exhibition by 1920.  However, such was the strong feelings between the men that the match may have been a “shoot” or legitimate match in which Lewis took the belt. Whether the outcome of the match was real, the feud […]

Evan “Strangler” Lewis, also called Evan Lewis “the Strangler”, was a professional wrestler from 1882 to 1899.  Lewis was the first American Heavyweight Catch-as-Catch Can Wrestling Champion.  He was also the first wrestler to perfect the “stranglehold” or “hang hold”, which modern MMA fans know as a guillotine choke. Lewis made his professional debut by winning a 64 man tournament […]

Martin “Farmer” Burns is famous today as the trainer of legendary wrestler Frank Gotch.  “Farmer” Burns was a great wrestler in his own right.  Burns won the American Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in the legitimate pro wrestling era despite being only 165 pounds.  In 1891, Burns as the Iowa Heavyweight Champion took on J.C. Comstock, the Michigan Heavyweight Champion. J.C. Comstock was […]

On January 11, 1911, world heavyweight wrestling championship contender Stanislaus Zbysko faced the challenge of the powerful but less talented Peter “Giant” Nogert.  Nogert was a South African wrestler, who came to the United States for a few years in the early 1910s.  Due to a strong international reputation, a few American wrestlers had even claimed to be Nogert before […]