Posts about martial arts history and concepts.
In this episode, we discuss the fight for the estate of former professional wrestler, regular St. Louis wrestling referee, and St. Louis businessman George Baptiste. I discussed George Baptiste’s career back in Episode 64 of the podcast. Update Is AEW losing their TV deal? Double or Nothing 2026 did 204,000 buys, a big increase over the normal 140,000 buys. Jon […]
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In this episode, I discuss a mixed styles contest between Marin Plestina and Taro Miyake in 1920. Update Brock Lesnar and Minoru Suzuki are sharing a barber. WWE CM Punk vs. Bron Breaker on January 5th Raw With WWE, you can skip most of the matches because they all look the same. You rarely have someone stand out in the […]
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In this episode, I discuss one of the greatest “hookers” of all time, Ad Santel. I also discuss how Clash of Champions 9 demonstrated all the warts of WCW in 1989. Update I highly recommend Irresistible Force: The Life and Times of Gorilla Monsoon (affiliate link) by Brian R. Solomon. Gorilla was one of my favorite announcers and one half […]
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Ad Santel, one of the most talented submission wrestlers of the 1910s and 1920s, built his reputation in contests with judo and jiu-jitsu experts. Santel wrestled one of these contests on Saturday, February 5, 1916, at the Dreamland Rink in San Francisco, California. Santel wrestled Professor Tokugoro Ito, a 5th-degree black belt in judo, who started wrestling challenge matches in […]
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On Sunday, November 9, 1913, African American boxer Sam McVea, or McVey, battled Professor Stevenson, a Jujitsu practitioner, in a mixed styles bout in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. McVea and Stevenson fought ten, five-minute rounds, with three-minute intermission between rounds. McVea and Stevenson fought for $100 a side. In grappler vs. boxer matches, the grappler usually won, but McVea […]
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Update I am giving away Wayfarer in a Foreign Land: Sorakichi Matsuda Wrestles in America between Monday, December 30, 2024 to Friday, January 3, 2025. Dan and I will release the next episode on Monday, January 13, 2025. Main Content I discuss the October 1916 mixed styles match between Taro Miyake and Ad Santel. The earlier accounts presented a one-sided […]
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On Saturday, December 30, 1916, Taro Miyake fought Ben de Mello, a professional boxer, in a mixed styles six round challenge bout. 1,000 spectators filed into the Hilo Armory to watch a rare legitimate contest between a boxer and jiu jitsu expert. Referee H.S. Prager started the bout between the 35-year-old Miyake and the younger boxer. Miyake warily circled de […]
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In this episode, we look at Taro Miyake’s challenge matches in England and review one of the few double-crosses after the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance. Update I will release the John Pesek book in early to mid-September 2024. I hope to complete the next book by December 2024. I recommended the FightLore series on YouTube about early UFC […]
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In this episode, we discuss wrestlers and jiu jitsu fighters working matches in Brazil. We also review WWE’s King and Queen of the Ring. We had a few audio issues in this episode but the audio was still usable. We should correct the issue in June. We will be back to the normal recording studio in July. Update Due to […]
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In this episode, I talk about the 1924 match between Jim Browning and Taro Miyake. Update Our Memorial Day episode will be the full crew. This episode and that episode will tie together with a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) crossover and how gambling schemes affected pro wrestling and why it is a worry for modern MMA. I answer a listener […]
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