Posts about Greco-Roman wrestling matches and other wrestling styles such as collar-and-elbow wrestling, side hold wrestling, Cornish wrestling, etc.
In this episode, I discuss Ed “Strangler” Lewis defeating the Masked Marvel during the 1915 New York International Wrestling Tournament. Update After years of looking for Bernarr MacFadden’s wrestling matches in St. Louis, I stumbled across a reporter’s recollections of the best wrestling matches he covered during his twenty year career. MacFadden wrestled as B.A. McFadden in St. Louis. I […]
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Henry Moses Dufur held the World Heavyweight Collar-and-Elbow Wrestling Champion during the 1870s. By 1855, Dufur retired from professional wrestling to pursue his full-time profession of clothing tailor. Even during his wrestling career, Dufur worked as a tailor. Dufur told the correspondent from The Boston Globe that he was born in Richford, Vermont on June 5, 1943. This date of […]
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Publishing giant Bernarr MacFadden was plain old Barney McFadden, when McFadden wrestled professionally in St. Louis during the late 1880s and early 1890s. McFadden specialized in Greco-Roman wrestling but did occasionally wrestle other styles. In November and December 1891, McFadden wrestled both styles in professional matches. On Saturday, October 31, 1891, McFadden wrestled Chicago wrestler Henry E. Pearson in a […]
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In this episode, I discuss the professional wrestling and refereeing career of St. Louis’ first professional wrestler, George Baptiste. Update With this episode, we will now be a weekly podcast. We may do review episodes occasionally. Dan will also be returning to the show in two weeks. Shooter in a Worked World: John Pesek and the 1920s Promotional Wars is […]
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On Thursday, October 7, 1884, Colonel James Hiram McLaughlin wrestled Henry Moses Dufur for what both men claimed would be the last time. The 40-year-olds specialized in collar-and-elbow wrestling. The men wrestled in Detroit, Michigan, the home territory of McLaughlin. The match took place at the Detroit Opera House in front of a small crowd. Professional wrestling had not developed […]
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On Tuesday, January 29, 1884, approximately two thousand fans crowded into the Detroit Opera House to watch the first of a two-match series between Colonel James H. McLaughlin and Henry Moses Dufur. The crowd had to delight the organizers and wrestlers. Matches drawing crowds in the thousands were rare during the 19th Century. Organizers claimed McLaughlin was defending the American […]
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In this episode, we discuss William Muldoon vs. Clarence Whistler as we try to be more positive this week. Update We only spend a few minutes talking about the Vince McMahon scandal. I make a book recommendation, Ken Patera: Weight of the World (affiliate link), and share a few stories about my dad, Ernest Charles Diaz. Main Content I realized […]
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In this episode, we discuss Stanislaus Zbyszko’s last match of his first tour of America. We finish with his return to the United States in 1920. Update I discuss the progress of my new research project on the early career of Ed “Strangler” Lewis. We discuss Tony Khan’s recent Twitter, or X, Wars with the fans. We also discuss Vince […]
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Update We discuss the next podcast about the YouTube documentary, 350 Days. We also discuss my new project on the early career of Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Main Content We discuss a five-hour match from 1878 dominated by Henry Moses Dufur. Karl Stern talked about Dufur in a recent episode of Shut Up and Wrestle. I decided to research some of […]
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Sorakichi Matsuda travelled to the United States in late 1883 to begin his professional wrestling career. Matsuda intended to learn American professional wrestling and return to his homeland to start his own wrestling promotion. Matsuda’s manager made claims about his training in Japan, which could not be verified. Matsuda trained in sumo wrestling with the famous Isegahama stable but did […]
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