Posts about Greco-Roman wrestling matches and other wrestling styles such as collar-and-elbow wrestling, side hold wrestling, Cornish wrestling, etc.
Update To start the podcast, I make a major announcement about the podcast going forward. Main Content In this episode, I read an account of Edwin Bibby vs. Duncan C. Ross from Shooting or Working: The Story of the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Recommendation I recommend a new series detailing stories from the territories. You can leave a comment or […]
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Sorakichi Matsuda originally trained in sumo wrestling. When Matsuda decided to become a catch-as-catch-can wrestler, he was forced to travel to the United States. Professional wrestling would not become popular in Japan until the middle of the Twentieth Century. Upon arriving in the United States in 1883, it took Matsuda a few months to secure a match. He finally secured […]
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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. […]
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In this episode, we discuss when an author has a duty to correct a book the author published earlier. Update I have completed the manuscript for the history of the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. I will release the book in mid-November 2022. Main Content While researching the history of the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, I discovered new information that I […]
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Henry Moses Dufur specialized in collar-and-elbow wrestling when Dufur wrestled professionally in the 1870s and 1880s. Born on May 5, 1844, in Richmond, Vermont, Dufur wrestled primarily in the northeastern United States. On June 27, 1878, Dufur wrestled a return match with a wrestler named Cox at the Boston Baseball Park in front of five hundred fans. Five hundred fans […]
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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 […]
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In this episode, my new co-host and youngest son, Caleb Zimmerman, joins the podcast. We discuss recent changes at World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the new leadership team’s early positive signs. The main topic of the show is the Masked Marvel and the 1915 New York International Wrestling Tournament. Sam Rachmann promoted the tournament, which was two tournaments. Rachmann promoted […]
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In this episode, I will be talking about a pair of worked title matches for the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Main Content Fred Beell was a strong, talented professional wrestler at the turn of the 20th Century. Although powerfully built, Beell stood no more than 5’05” and weighed 168 pounds. Yet, he improbably defeated Frank Gotch for the American Heavyweight […]
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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 […]
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In this episode, I will be talking about some of the wild claims fans, wrestlers and wrestling historians make about professional wrestling matches. Update I recently discovered that before Mildred Burke was even born, wrestling fans and reporters recognized Cora Livingston as the first women’s wrestling champion. Cora learned to wrestle in the carnivals. A pro from 1906 to 1925, […]
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