Films and television shows based on combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, or martial arts or starring combat sports athletes.
I recently discovered a 1932 film, Uptown New York (affiliate link), with Wladek Zbyszko playing himself. Zbyszko wrestled another wrestler named DeLonn, which I believe is a young Brother Jonathan. Brother Jonathan was the father of Don Leo Jonathan. Director Victor Shertzinger placed the wrestling scene about thirty minutes into the film. To start the film, Shertzinger uses establishing shots […]
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In this episode, I discuss 19th Century professional wrestlers Andre Christol and Thiebaud Bauer plus review All Out 2021, AEW’s highest selling pay-per-view to date. Update Happy birthday, baby girl! Collar-and-Elbow wrestling is the most popular wrestling style in the 1870s but it’s popularity begins to wain towards the end of the decade. Fans start to want to see more […]
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I recently discovered this film on YouTube. It is one of the rare Abbott and Costello films that I had not seen before. Besides Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, professional wrestlers “Wee Willie” Davis, Sammy Menacker, and Tor Johnson played parts in the film. The film opens with Abbott playing Bud Jones, a wrestling promoter, going over “the script” […]
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On July 5, 1909, Stanley Ketchel defended his World Middleweight Boxing Championship against Billy Papke in their fourth and final meeting. Ketchel won a decision in the first fight. In the second fight, Billy Papke scored the only knockout on Stanley Ketchel in Ketchel’s career during the twelfth round. Papke won the World Middleweight Boxing Championship. In the third […]
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I recently discovered a three minute clip on YouTube, which included two of Jim Londos’ matches from the 1930s. In the first match, Londos wrestles Abe Coleman. In the second match, Londos wrestles a mixed styles match with Oki Shikina, who was trained by Taro Miyake, the Judo black belt and professional wrestler. Londos was the biggest box office star […]
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On January 30, 1930, Gus Sonnenberg defended his AWA World Title, based in the Boston promotion of Paul Bowser, in Boston Arena against former world champion Joe Stecher. Two minutes of film survived from the hour-long match. Gus Sonnenberg traded on his celebrity as a professional football player to become a wrestling star. Sonnenberg helped the Providence Steam Roller win […]
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On August 2, 1947, Max M. King Productions released Killer Dill (1947), a crime film that professional wrestler Mike Mazurki plays “Little Joe”, a henchman playing both sides of a gang feud. Stuart Erwin stars as Johnny “Killer” Dill, a lingerie designer and salesperson, who people mistake for a gangster. After accidentally involving himself in a gang war, his […]
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In this episode, we discuss the careers of Jim Londos and Primo Carnera leading into a review of the 1950 wrestling match. Update We start off with an update about our recording schedule. One of the team is on the injured reserve, so we will be recording on Skype for the next several episodes. I have converted the majority of […]
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When thinking about African American history month, I thought about the first great Black wrestler that I saw personally. When I started watching wrestling in St. Louis during 1979, “Sailor” Art Thomas wrestled regularly on Wrestling at the Chase, our local weekly wrestling show. Wrestling at the Chase aired every Sunday at 11 a.m. on KPLR Channel 11. Although Thomas […]
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On November 18, 1938, former world wrestling champion Jim Londos wrestled current world champion Bronko Nagurski, the great former football player for the Chicago Bears. The men wrestled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Nagurski’s version of the world wrestling championship. You can view the 14-minute match in its entirety on YouTube. When I viewed the match for the first time, several […]
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