Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about Greco-Roman wrestling matches and other wrestling styles such as collar-and-elbow wrestling, side hold wrestling, Cornish wrestling, etc.
On March 10, 1870, Colonel James Hiram McLaughlin competed on the last night of the International Wrestling Tournament in Detroit, Michigan. The tournament ran for almost two months before the finale on March 10th. Wrestling historians frequently credit J. H. McLaughlin as being the first professional wrestler to live only on his earnings as a professional wrestler. Most professional wrestlers
One of the oldest adages in combat sports is “a good big man always beats a good little man”. It is the reason that we have weight divisions in boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts. On Tuesday, November 2, 1881, 160-pound Edwin Bibby proved there are exceptions to this rule. While small, Edwin Bibby was particularly strong for his size.
Scottish wrestler Duncan C. Ross wrestled professionally but also took part in strength and athletic contests after arriving in the United States in the late 1870s. An all-around athlete, Ross wrestled skillfully in both catch-as-catch-can wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. On Monday, February 26, 1883, Ross wrestled former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Theobaud Bauer. Bauer brought the World Championship from France
On Monday, March 26, 1888, Joe Acton, who specialized in catch wrestling, wrestled Professor William Miller, an Australian wrestler, and bare-knuckle prizefighter, in a two-out-of-three-falls Greco-Roman wrestling match. Both men’s camps believed wrestling the match in this style ensured the fairest contest between them. The men wrestled for $500.00 a side. 1,500 fans, a large crowd for the era, turned
On Friday, June 29, 1883, fourteen wrestlers paid $50 to enter a two-day tournament for a $500 championship belt and $500 prize. Richard K. Fox, owner and publisher of the Police Gazette, put up the prize money and belt. Fox avidly supported the promotion of both professional boxing and professional wrestling. While fourteen men attempted to enter the tournament, Fox
When Wladek Zbyszko travelled from the United States to Brazil for a lucrative tour on Brazil’s well-developed professional wrestling circuit, Zbyszko little suspected that he would wrestle his first contest in almost twenty years. Like their American counterparts, Brazilian professional wrestlers worked with each other to put on exciting exhibitions for the fans. The Brazilian professional wrestlers occasionally wrestled a
Who is the greatest legitimate professional wrestler to wrestle in the United States? How do you determine it when wrestlers “worked” or cooperated with each other in matches since the sports emergence in the 1860s? . I examined the records and stories around the American, British, Polish, and Turkish wrestlers, who wrestled in the United States between 1870 and 1915
James Hiram McLaughlin holds the distinction of being the first American professional wrestler. While people wrestled professionally before McLaughlin, he was the first to earn a professional living from wrestling. McLaughlin began wrestling professionally in 1860 at 16 years of age but the Civil War interrupted his career for a few years. McLaughlin began wrestling again in 1866. By 1877,
On Saturday, December 2nd, 1893, local Saint Louis boxing instructor and Greco-Roman wrestler Mike Mooney met Max Luttbeg at Saint Louis’ Entertainment Hall. Pre-match hype focused on Mooney never losing a wrestling match or a boxing bout. Mooney was considered a better Greco-Roman wrestler, while Luttbeg was a better catch-as-catch-can wrestler. In the 19th century, it was common for matches
When William Muldoon retired from professional wrestling in 1889, he intended for his protege, Ernst Roeber, to become the new World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Since Muldoon always defended his championship in the Greco-Roman wrestling style, his choice made sense. Roeber was arguably the best Greco-Roman wrestler in America at the time. However, the wrestling fans and journalist, covering the sport,