Films and television shows based on combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, or martial arts or starring combat sports athletes.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) released Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) in November 1941. One of the later Thin Man films (affiliate link), the film contains interesting vignettes for wrestling fans. Nick Charles, played by William Powell, is pulled into a state investigation of a local gambling ring. Two local wrestling promoters run the gambling ring, which is art imitating life if […]
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Born Norman Edward Wescoatt in Hawaii on August 2, 1911, “Rusty” Wescoatt played football for the University of Hawaii before making his professional wrestling debut in Hawaii during 1933. Wescoatt also won swimming championships during his athletic career. Wescoatt initially made more news for his swimming than his wrestling when he traveled to the continental United States in 1935. On […]
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On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1910, Sam Langford fought “Flying” Jim Flynn for the third time. Flynn was one of the rare white fighters willing to fight the great African American fighters of the day. Sam Langford defeated the best heavyweights even though Langford only stood five feet, six and a half inches tall, and weighed 180 pounds at […]
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Joe Stecher capturing the world wrestling championship from Earl Caddock is the oldest professional wrestling film in existence. Tragically, promoters filmed the biggest matches of the 1910s and 1920s including the second Frank Gotch-Georg Hackenshmidt match, but they rotted in storage areas. Camera operators filmed Ed “Strangler” Lewis vs. Wayne “Big” Munn, Stecher vs. Stanislaus Zbyszko, and the reunification match […]
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Willard “Wild Bill” Longson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 8, 1906 but spent most of his adult life in St. Louis, Missouri. After beginning his career as a professional wrestler in 1931, Longson found himself working for Tom Packs in St. Louis. Longson never really left as it would be his home base for the remainder […]
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At nearly 70 years of age, Stanislaus Zbyszko made his film debut in Night and the City (1950). Billed as Gregorious, a retired wrestler and the father of London’s wrestling promoter, Zbyszko displayed his wrestling skills, even at his advanced age, in the film’s signature scene. The movie begins with a man chasing Harry Fabian, a London hustler always looking […]
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Ed “Strangler” Lewis is one of the top two American professional wrestlers of all-time. While Lewis was a legitimate submission wrestler, who could beat anyone in a wrestling contest, he worked almost exclusively in prearranged exhibition matches. In 1929, he took part in a match with professional football player turned wrestler, Gus Sonnenberg. Sonnenberg was on the Providence Steam Roller, […]
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Broadcast companies were looking for content during the early days of television. Besides older movies and some broadcast company productions, sports were a source of programming for many television stations. The Dumont Television Network was one of the powerhouse networks in the beginning of the Golden Age of Television. One of their most popular programs was wrestling and the star […]
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On January 26, 1934, United Artists released Palooka (1934), a feature film based on the popular comic strip. Stuart Erwin plays Joe Palooka but Jimmy Durante steals the show as his manager Knobby Walsh. Joe Palooka is the son of former world boxing champion Pete Palooka. When Joe was a baby, his mother Mayme, played by Marjorie Rambeau, takes him […]
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On New Year’s Day 1907, Joe Gans, Lightweight Boxing Champion of the World, fought Kid Herman at Tonopah, Nevada. Gans held the title from 1902 to 1908. Ring Magazine editor Nat Fleischer named Gans the greatest lightweight boxer of all-time. Gans died from tuberculosis in 1910 at thirty-five years age. Tuberculosis was fatal at the time and cut Gan’s career […]
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