u/OShaunesssy

I haven’t been able to update these as mych as I would have liked. My newborn and my job took priority the past month.

But Im back now with another look at the colorful history of pro wrestling, this week wrapping up Samuel Rachmann’s international tournament in New York, a rematch between world champion Joe Stecher and Ed “Strangler” Lewis, and the potential return of the legendary Frank Gotch.

We last covered 1915, which covered…

1915 recap

• Joe Stecher’s crowning victory over Charles Cutler to become the world heavyweight champion.
• Samuel Rachmann’s ambitious international tournament in New York, where he ran daily events through November and December , with one more month remaining.
• Jack Curley’s last big boxing event, where he promoted the matchup that saw Jack Johnson’s 2000+ day title reign end in a bout with “Gentleman” Jim Flynn. Curley would focus entirely on pro wrestling moving forward.
• Mort Henderson’s breakout portrayal of the Masked Marvel, competing in Rachmann’s tournament. The Masked Marvel became must-see by the end of the year, with Jack Curley taking a special interest and attempt to steal away the Marvel for his own shows in New York.
• Former world heavyweight champion Frank Gotch was eyeing a return to the ring in a championship match with Joe Stecher.

Main Characters

Joe Stecher – the undefeated world heavyweight champion, wrestling at a non-stop pace.

Ed “Strangler” Lewis – one of the top wrestlers in the country, looking for an avenue into becoming world heavyweight champion.

Frank Gotch – former world heavyweight champion, eyeing a return match with current champion, Joe Stecher.

Samuel Rachmann – European concert and theater promoter who came to New York to promote an ambitious three-month-long tournament with events running every evening.

Jack Curley – pro wrestling promoter based out of New York, looking to establish himself as the top promoter in the territory.

Billy Sandow – former pro wrestler-turned-manager, now representing “Strangler” Lewis with goals of Lewis being the top wrestler in the country.

As always, its in chronological order, and we will kick the year off right where we left off the previous post, with Samuel Rachmann’s international tournaments entering its third and final month of daily shows at the Manhattan Opera House. Unfortunately for promoter Samuel Rachmann though, his star attraction was about to hit a road bump with a newspaper article in early January.

1916

Samuel Rachmann’s international tournament had been holding daily events at the Manhattan Opera House for the past two months, and without question, the breakout star of the tournament was Mort “The Masked Marvel” Henderson, who became a must-see attraction for Rachmann. Its worth noting, that the tournament seemed to operate on a point system, and not a single elimination style matchups. Also, the tournament was contested under the more constricting Greco-Roman rules, as opposed to the catch-as-catch-can style of rules which had become very popular in America in the past decade.

Masked Controversy

The January 3rd, 1916 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle printed a picture of Mort Henderson, with the caption that read, “The Masked Marvel without his hood.” While its possible that promoter Jack Curleyhad something to do with this, it would also hamper his plans to feature the Masked Marvel, so I doubt that. Considering how popular the tournament was in New York, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that photographers were trying to snap a picture of him for several weeks at this point. My bet is that some lucky photographer got a good payoff that day.

Tournament Continues

Despite the set-backs, Samuel Rachmann’s tournament continued with a tournament match between Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Wladek Zbyszko from January 7th, 1916. The match would be called a draw as the two men wrestled past curfew, according to newspapers. A few days later, on January 10th, Wladek Zbyszko met the Masked Marvel in a tournament match which also went to a draw, after two-and-a-half-hours of grappling.

The Potential Return of Frank Gotch

As Rachmann’s tournament raged in through the month of January, former world heavyweight champion, Frank Gotch was still mulling over a potential match with pro wrestling's current world champion, Joe Stecher. For months, news and rumors circulated of a match between the two grapplers. A January 13th newspaper wrote a feature on this, stating that Gotch, “replied yesterday to the offer of a $15,000 purse by Joe Stecher. Gotch replied in effect that he would come out of retirement and wrestle Stecher, provided that he was assured that the public demand such a match.” The article also talked about how a potential match between the two could draw $75,000 - $100,000 if held in Omaha or another mid-west city where Gotch and Stecher were both very popular.

Curley's Plans

Around the same time, promoter Jack Curley announced a world heavyweight championship match set to headline Madison Square Garden on January 27th, 1916. Although I cant be clear about this, it sounds like Curley was promoting the event as Joe Stecher defending his title against the winner of an upcoming tournament match between “Strangler” Lewis and Wladek Zbyszko.

Sandow’s Claim

Another tournament match would see Ed “Strangler” Lewis defeat Dr Benjamin Roller in New York on January 15th, 1916, and while Roller was the American heavyweight champion, this appears to have been a non-title bout. Why I bring that up is because Lewis’s manager Billy Sandow will use the win over Roller to claim Lewis as some disputed “world” champion, specifically referring to Lewis as the “Catch style” champion to a newspaper the following day. Billy Sandow also did a bit of damage control on the first Lewis-Stecher match from the prior summer, saying that the match was stopped only after Stecher broke his thumb in order to escape a bridge from Lewis. The best part of this story is how Sandow claimed that Lewis held Stecher in that bridge from twenty-three minutes before Stecher broke free.

A few days later, Billy Sandow would be quoted more by newspapers, where he was attempting to claim Lewis as the legitimate world champion, over Joe Stecher. His reasoning is actually quite simple. He ascertains that Lewis is the legitimate champion, and is able to trace it back to Gotch and Hackenschmidt, basically arguing that the reign of Gus “Americus” Schoenlein isn’t valid. Because when Gotch retired, he allegedly gave the title up to the winner of a match between Henry Ordemann and Jess Westergaard. Ordermann was the winner, but Sandow says that Ordermann lost the title Charles Cutler, who in turn lost it to Dr Benjamin Roller, who then lost to Lewis this year. This is all bullshit, of course, but it’s an example of how promoters, managers, and wrestlers could spin tales to their benefit back in the 1910s.

Rachmann-Curley

Back to the tournament, the breakout star, Mort “The Maske Marvel” Henderson abruptly quit the tournament altogether and informed Rachmann that Jack Curley had offered him more than ten times his weekly salary for one big match at Madison Square Garden at the end of the month. For anyone impressed by this, its important to remember that Henderson was an unknown wrestler who was being paid a paultry $100 per week. Despite being under contract, Henderson stopped showing up for his tournament matches and eventually Rachmann hit Henderson with an injunction, just two days before he was scheduled for Jack Curley’s big Garden show.

Tournament Finals

Samuel Rachmann’s tournament would wrap up by the end of January, after nearly twelve weeks of nightly matches. Worth noting, would be that Ed “Strangler” Lewis dropped out of the tournament after exchanging a win and loss in back-to-back matches with Wladek Zbyszko. The tournament finals would be fought on January 24th, 1916, between Wladek Zbyszko and Alex Aberg, who claimed to be the Greco-Roman champion at the time. Alex Aberg isn’t a name I have detailed much through these reports, but he has been present through the story all the same.

Alex Aberg

Alex Aberg was a thirty-five-year-old from Kolga, Estonia who had been wrestling throughout the world for the past fifteen years, and by all accounts, he was described by his peers as one of the very best mat grapplers in the world. Standing at six feet tall and over two hundred and thirty pounds, Aberg was a well-respected and legitimate shooter. He has held the claim of Greco-Roman world champion for several years, stating that he won the belt back in 1903, and had been defending it against all comers in the New York area for years. Its not a really a claim worth tracing though, because several different wrestlers all over the world claimed to be the Greco-Roman world champion through the previous decade.

Aberg-Zbyszko

Alex Aberg and Wladek Zbyszko met in the Samuel Rachmann tournament finals on January 24th, 1916, with Aberg being declared the winner after a controversial finish. About twenty-five minutes into the match, Aberg tossed Zbyszko out of the ring where he reportedly crashed hard into the back of the stage. After calling a doctor, Zbyszko determined that he was hurt and unable to continue the match, as fans screamed at him, calling Zbyszko a “quitter” and a “fake.” Although the doctor said Zbyszko was fit to continue, Zbyszko refused, insisting that he was hurt. After nearly an hour of deliberations, the referee of the bout, George Bothner announced Alex Aberg as the winner.

Curley’s Madison Square Garden Show

Getting back to Jack Curley’s upcoming Madison Square Garden event, remember how Curley announced that world champion Joe Stecher would defend his belt against the winner of the tournament. Well since then, Zbyszko and Lewis wrestled twice and both registered a win over the other, and while the general public would be more interested in a potential Lewis-Stecher rematch, Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow already left town to tour with their made-up world title claim. Wladek would make sense, but he just lost a high-profile match to Alex Aberg, so Curley didn’t want to match up Stecher with someone who the public just witnessed lose a big bout, leaving Curley with little options.

Curley's Conundrum

I’m sure most of you are already wondering why Alex Aberg wouldn’t be selected for this world title opportunity, and that will be because Alex Aberg specifically wrestles his matches under Greco-Roman rules, whereas most modern (for 1916) matches at the time were fought under the less constricting Catch-As-Catch-Can style of rules. Catch wrestling was freer and faster compared to Greco-Roman, and Aberg had little interest in expanding his skill-set, so Curley needed to find an alternative. That left only one real option for Curley to match up against Joe Stecher, against the breakout star of Rachmann’s tournament, the Masked Marvel, Mort Henderson. Remember, Rachmann had already tried to oppose this by filing an injunction that specifically named the Masked Marvel and “Strangler” Lewis as being unable to leave the tournament in favor of Curley’s promoted events in New York. Curley didn’t take this lightly and fought the injections, leading to a suit between the two promoters.

Rachmann vs Curley

Just like Jack Curley and Ole Marsh exposed the business in Seattle, five years prior, the resulting suit, which was reported on by all major New York papers, also exposed the business. The suit named Henderson as the Marvel and revealed that his contract with Rachmann called for Henderson to win and lose matches as directed. Luckily for Curley, who faced the prospect of replacing his main attraction on two days notice, the two promoters were able to come to terms and the injunction was dropped. No details are given beyond the fact that Curley and Rachmann spent hours deliberating with their lawyers until some agreement was made between the two promoters that allowed Curley to use Henderson in his show, even advertising him as the Masked Marvel.

Marvel-Stecher

On January 27th, 1916, Curley’s Madison Square Garden show went as planned, with thousands in attendance for the main event that pitted the Masked Marvel Mort Henderson against the current world champion from Nebraska, Joe Stecher. Stetcher would dominate the best two of three falls contest, pinning Henderson in back-to-back falls in less than fifteen minutes. With this show a success, Curley had firmly established his own foothold in Manhattan, making the city his new base of operations going forward.

Rachmann's Denouement

With Samuel Rachman’s tournament wrapped up, the tournament winner Alex Aberg officially accepted a $5,000 check on January 29th, 1916. The end of the tournament would signal the end of any interest in Greco-Roman style wrestling matches, and the end of Samuel Rachmann’s promotional career in pro wrestling. Rachmann, seemingly having enough of pro wrestling, never attempted to get back into the wrestling business. Though he only spent long enough in the business to have a cup of coffee, his influence on the product going forward cannot be overstated. Judging by what we have covered, Rachmann would have fit right in with a lot modern performers.

Struggles of Jim Londos

As we wrap up the big tournament in New York, lets travel across the country to look in on a twenty-two-year-old Jim Londos. Jim Londos spent the first several months of the year criss-crossing the Northwest, picking up work where he could and using his railroad skills/ knowledge to hitchhike from town to town on freight trains. Londos struggled through this time period, one time even travelling for hours to Dallas, Oregon, to wrestle Ted Thye for what he thought was a $75.00 payout. It was actually just $0.75 payout though, leaving him in the red for that trip. Londos lost two straight falls for the first time in his career to Canadian Jack Taylor on February 24th, 1915, in Spokane, Washington. Londos would attempt to dispute the second fall, arguing to newspapers the following day that his shoulder was actually off of the mat during the alleged pin. Londos would spend the next several months struggling to make any real income worth talking about.

The Strangler’s Return to New York

Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Billy Sandow seemingly gave up on Lewis’s false championship claim pretty quickly, as they were back in New York by March, with no indication that Lewis was still claiming to be any kind of champion. Lewis would compete at a Jack Curley promoted event at Madison Square Garden on March 6th, 1916, in a ridiculous seven-on-one handicap match! I’m assuming it was a gauntlet-style match of one guy after another, but the rules stated that Lewis needed to register seven falls in under sixty minutes! The crazy part is that Lewis accomplished this feat, defeating Hans Fuerst, Herman Shilling, Albert Mueller, Carl Vogel, Carl Nelson, George Bailey, and another unnamed wrestler that evening. Billy Sandow was clearly pulling out all the stops in order to get Lewis over as a world champion contender and secure that rematch with Stecher.

Securing Gotch vs Stecher

Even though he had been retired for several years by 1916, the pro wrestling world wouldn’t stop buzzing over the prospect of Frank Gotch challenging Joe Stecher for the world title that Gotch never lost. Joe Stecher was seen as the dream opponent for Gotch, as Stecher seemed to fit neatly into the mold Gotch had left as a performer. A simple Midwesterner with a no-nonsense approach and a body said to have been made strong by his farm work. Stecher won his matches quickly and consistently, and was dubbed, “The Scissors King” in homage to his most popular hold, in which Stecher would trap his opponents chest between his legs and squeeze them to defeat, or just hold them on the ground pinning them easily. Jack Curley saw big potential in Joe, and would later tell the New York Evening Journal, “Don’t make any mistake on this fellow. I’ve been in the wrestling game many a year, and he’s the greatest I ever saw-bar none.” Just like Gotch-Hackenschmidt from years prior, there was a bidding war of sorts to be the one to land and stage the potential Gotch-Stecher bout.

An unnamed Chicago promoter reportedly offered Gotch $25,000 for the fight, but Gotch refused unless he was paid at least $35,000. Jack Curley, having set up a home-base in New York, attempted to bring Gotch and Stecher to Manhattan, but Gotch refused, on the grounds that it would draw better if it’s done somewhere in the Midwest. The winning bid, came from Gene Melady, a prominent promoter in Nebraska, who made a deal with Curley, that would see both men hold the match in Omaha. Its worth noting that there are conflicting reports of how much Melady paid to secure the deal, with various sources ranging anywhere from $15,000 - $50,000. Obviously, we have no way to verify the information.

Gene Melady was a former amateur boxer and college football standout as part of Notre Dame’s first football squad, after which he made a fortune dealing in livestock. Melady was able to entice both Gotch and Stecher into the offer, by promising to build a stadium in time to host the event on Labor Day. Another Labor Day payday for Gotch it would seem, who previously made history and set gate records with George Hackenschmidtin over Labor Day weekend in 1911. Melady on the other hand, was hoping to one-up that event with a $150,000 gate, which would be the biggest pro wrestling had ever seen up to that point.

Return to the Ring

Frank Gotch agreed to a seven month long tour to hype and promote the match, and would wrestle several exhibition bouts with friendly competition. The first match back for the former world heavyweight champion came on March 10th, 1916, and against William Demetral, in Los Angeles. Gotch’s long-time friend and peer Dan McLeod served as the guest referee for the match, which would see Frank Gotch be declared the winner. Two days later on March 12th, Gotch would wrestle again, this time in San Diego in a special handicap match against three other men! Unsurprisingly, Gotch would be declared the victor over his opponents, Herman Stretch, Sam Chapham, and Jack White.

While Frank Gotch agreed to a seven month long tour to build interested in the bout, and get him back in ring shape, Joe Stecher was looking to bide his own time with a rematch the fans were clamoring for, against Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

Number One Contender “Strangler” Lewis

Through the first half of 1916, Billy Sandow only got more proactive in his efforts to secure his client, Ed “Strangler” Lewis another world title match, and really began to push for that rematch in the spring and summer of 1916. In order to capitalize on the publicity that came from Samuel Rachmann’s tournament, Billy Sandow would secure a match for Lewis against the tournament’s breakout star, the Masked Marvel, Mort Henderson. “Strangler” Lewis would meet The Masked Marvel at Madison Square Garden on May 2nd, 1916, with Lewis going over in the main event contest of the night.   After months of campaigning, Sandow and Lewis would finally get their wish, as Joe Stecher formally agreed to a rematch with Lewis and set the contest for July. Before we get to that though, its worth pointing out that promoter Gene Melady’s ambitious plans of having a new stadium constructed in Omaha proved to be too tall of an order to follow through on. Out of a concern for losing the high profile bout between Stecher and Gotch, Melady would partner with the owners of the Sells-Floto circus to secure proper finances to pay for the bout. Frank Gotch officially signed the deal for a future match with Stecher on June 13th, 1916. Before Stecher can look at Gotch in the Fall though, he first needed to overcome a rematch with “Strangler” Lewis scheduled for the following month.

Lewis-Stecher

On July 4th, 1916, in Omaha, Nebraska, Joe Stecher once again got into the ring with “Strangler” Ed Lewis, in a match that is best remembered for miserable weather and miserable contest. It was an outdoor event, with a tarp to block the sun for the wrestlers, but the fans were stuck in the sweltering heat for a rematch title bout that was over two hours long.

Dull Contest

Just like their previous encounter, this was a dull affair with “Strangler” Lewis mostly looking to avoid all of Joe’s attempts to lock up. Several locals had bet large sums of money that Joe would beat Lewis in under an hour, with some even betting that Joe would win two straight falls. Lewis’s manager, Billy Sandow remembers this, later recalling how “Those Nebraska chaps, loaded with Eastern money they had won previously on Stecher against some of the best in the country, had bet wildly.” When that first hour passed, and those bets turned into losses, many in the crowd turned hostile towards both competitors and started heckling and jeering the contest.

The events promoter, Gene Melady didn’t plan for it to go past sundown, considering the bout started at 4pm. So as the slow plodding match entered its third hour, and they began to lose daylight, Gene realized that fans in attendance had no way to view the action. Gene actually got up and suggested they pause the match and resume it in the morning, but the crowd responded so negatively to the suggestion, that Gene immediately got crew members to stand on ladders and hold lanterns up high.

Finish

The match was so boring, that the only moment of action happened when some children lit off fireworks in the middle of the grandstand. Finally, after 9pm, referee Ed Smith shut the match down. Ed was quoted as hilariously saying “In the name of humanity, the match is over.” Fans would later claim that there was maybe thirty seconds of actual wrestling during the five hour contest where Stecher and Lewis stayed locked up and slowly moved around the ring for hours. Brutal. The fans in attendance apparently threw garbage and bottles at the wrestlers following the end of the match.

Fallout

The press articles and journalists following the matches painted Lewis as the one to blame for the plodding match and was accused of “stalling” at various points. At this time, an immediate rematch was out of the question, as Frank Gotch was about to come out of retirement to challenge the Stecher for that world title, in a proposed dream match.

On his match with Stecher, Lewis would later be quoted saying, “We wrestled five hours without either of us securing a fall. At the end of the bout, which was halted by the referee, Stecher appeared to be all in. His pulse was 115, and according to those who witnessed the encounter, he could not have stood the strain ten minutes longer. I offered Stecher a return match, but he refused to accept it, saying he was through with me. I cannot account for his statement, as I always gave him a square deal in every one of our matches. I intend to rest up during the summer months, getting back into the game sometime in September. If Gotch retires, as he says he will, and Stecher makes good on his statement that he will not wrestle with me again, I will lay claim to the heavyweight title.” That was Lewis basically saying that when Gotch retires again, Lewis intends to announce himself as the world champion, regardless of what Stecher’s claim will be then.

Billy Sandown would later be quoted when speaking on this match, saying, “Stecher was hardly known outside of Omaha. He had, however, thrown every man he had met inside of 15 minutes. Out that way, he was thought unbeatable, and they said the man didn’t live who could stay an hour with him. They met in the open air under a boiling Nebraska sun. After five-and-one-half hours of wrestling, without either man being off his feet once, folks began to run automobiles up to the ring so they could throw their headlights on the men, that they might see each other. At this late day they were just beginning to realize what a great match that was. Now, but they didn’t then. They held Lewis’s money up for four days on the grounds that there was something shady with the match. They couldn’t believe that mortal man could stay beyond half an hour with their Joe. To show the stuff that Strangler’s made of, let me add that Lewis took a shower, had a light supper and danced until 4:30 the next morning.

An Intriguing Offer

A week later, on July 12th, 1916, Ed “Strangler” Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow put up a $1,000 bond in an attempt to coax a match out of Frank Gotch. They were probably hoping to benefit from the publicity surrounding the upcoming Gotch-Stecher bout. Unfortunately for Lewis and Sandow, their challenge would go unanswered, and a match between Gotch and Lewis would never take place.

Heartbreaking End for Gotch

Speaking of the former champion, leading up to the big match in September, Gotch had agreed to a tour the country for seven months, to get into ring shape and build interest in the bout, and for his participation, Gotch would be paid $30,000 for the tour alone. Unfortunately, it was clear from the very first dates that Gotch was a changed man, and his weight started to plummet a month into the tour, to which Gotch was quoted at the time saying “There is something radically wrong with me.” Gotch would panic and leave the tour to recover, and after a month, Gotch returned and got back to his scheduled matches. Seemingly satisfied with his condition, Gotch decided to press on with the planned bout with Stecher.

During this resumed tour, on July 18th, Frank Gotch arrived in Kenosha, Wisconsin for a public training match with Bob Managoff. Unfortunately, during their friendly skirmish, Gotch’s foot became tangled between the two ring mats during a scuffle, and the speed of Gotch’s movement snapped his left fibula. Gotch fell to the mat in legitimate shock and had to be carried out of the ring and into a waiting car. Bob Managoff would later recount this day, remembering how “the people booed. They thought Frank was faking.” Reminds me of Bret Hart breaking his sternum, being unable to stand, but could hear several people in the front row calling him a fake.

Frank Gotch would later sit in a hospital bed and tell reporters, “It happened so quickly that I had no chance to see what was happening.” Gotch headed back home to recover, and unfortunately his weight would drastically drop again, eliminating any chance for the potential Gotch-Stecher bout. Frank Gotch’s wrestling career, was effectively over.

Retirement

And just for old times sake, Frank Gotch’s retirement was again formally announced by the Washington Post, on July 23rd, when they announced Gotch was returning home to his farm. Gotch was quoted in the article, saying, “I am done for good. I think it is time for any man to retire when he is 40 and from now on I don’t care who has the wrestling championship.” Gotch also said that his son will not be a wrestler or a boxer, but a “champion lawyer of the State of Iowa.”

Reprieve

Without a blockbuster bout, world champion Joe Stecher found himself in a rare moment of solace and peace. He was only twenty three years old, but he had been going hard in the pro wrestling game for the past four years. In his time off that summer, Stecher was able to get married and enjoy his honeymoon before being thrust back into the role of pro wrestling’s reigning world champion.

The Milwaukee Journal published an article on July 25th, 1916, talking about the state of the major players in pro wrestling, and specifically, Ed “Strangler” Lewis. The article wrote that, “Lewis, who with Joe Stecher is the logical claimant of worlds wrestling honors now that Frank Gotch has come out with a statement that he is through with the mat game… he (Lewis) will appear in motion pictures, taking the part of Hector in a movie play called The Iliad.” Along with his movie aspirations, the article would go onto say that, “If Gotch retires, as he says he will, and Stecher makes good on his statement that he will not wrestle Lewis again then Lewis will lay claim to the heavyweight wrestling title.”

A Break for Londos

Jim Londos spent the summer of 1916 working as part of the C.W. Parker carnival shows, where he issued open challenges for anyone in the audience to try and survive in the ring with him. Londos got this job through Pete Buzukos, and apparently Londos wrestled under the ring name of “Jimmy Sampson,” or sometimes just “Young Samson.”

Dutch Mantell would help secure Londos a spot wrestling in Nebraska in the autumn of 1916, specifically in Falls City, where Londos would spend the next several months wrestling under the ring name “George Polk” and then in December Londos was wrestling under the ring name Julian Reif in Great Bend, Kansas. The multiple names was done so Londos could wrestle the same guy over and over again in different venues, with the promote claiming he has a wide variety of talent at his disposal. To highlight how profitable it could be, Londos reportedly beat Bob Managoff three times in under two names in December of 1916.

Olin-Stecher

Stecher's first match back following his marriage and honeymoon was on December 11th, 1916, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Joe Stecher was facing a wrestler from Finland, John Olin, who the locals had taken a shine to. Olin didn't expect to win but was hoping to put on an entertaining crowd for Olin's local fans. Stecher didn't get the memo, unfortunately and walked into this bout looking to fight for his life.

For all his popularity with fans, Stecher had a reputation with the boys as being uncooperative, and on this night, John Olin and the fans of Springfield saw this first hand. The match was messy, with Stecher looking to quickly dispatch Olin and the challenger instead choosing to fight off literally every single attempt at offence from Stecher. The bout would finally end, several hours later, at past 1am, with Olin and Stecher outside the ring, and trading legit punches in the front row. A frustrated Stecher would just walk off and take a DQ loss.

Repercussions

While this match may seem inconsequential at first glance, it will have massive ramifications on the pro wrestling scene in America for the next several years. Despite being a disqualification finish, John Olin did register a victory of the world heavyweight champion, and John Olin would never attempted to make a claim to the world title off this, that wont necessarily stop someone else who defeats Olin from making such a claim to be world champion. But, more on that in the next post.

And that’s a perfect place to stop, with...

• Joe Stecher still reigning as world heavyweight champion, though the grind of touring as champion has begun to wear him down.
• Ed "Strangler" Lewis in his endless pursuit of a world title claim, by hook or crook, alongside his manager Billy Sandow.
• Frank Gotch's final retirement from pro wrestling, as his health began to worsen.
• John Olin's disqualification victory over Joe Stecher will have massive ramifications as we head into 1917.
• Jack Curley firmly established as a top match-maker in the New York market.

Championship History (1916)

World Heavyweight Championship

Joe Stecher, July 7th, 1915 - next post.

American Heavyweight Championship

Dr Benjamin Roller (3), October 7th, 1914 – next post

Im sure some of have noticed the American heavyweight title has basically disappeared from the conversation by this point. That is mostly due to the fact that with the legitimate world title, general interest in the American title evaporated pretty quickly. The next post will see us officially finish up with the title with one final title change.

For anyone curious...

History of Pro Wrestling 1864 - 1899

History of Pro Wrestling 1900 - 1905

History of Pro Wrestling 1906 - 1909

Spotlight - The first territorial battle between rival promoters (1909)

History of Pro Wrestling 1910 & 1911

Spotlight - Hackenschmidt/Gotch Rivalry

History of Pro Wrestling - 1912

Spotlight - George Hackenschmidt

History of Pro Wrestling - 1913

History of Pro Wrestling - 1914

Spotlight Series - History of the World Championship

History of Pro Wrestling - 1915

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

Hey y’all, Book Report Guy back with my ambitious History of Pro Wrestling posts.

I let real life (new born daughter and a time-consuming GM position) distract me and I haven’t been able to do my weekly updates in over a month.

Im going to get back on track, but wanted a refresher for anyone who wants to jump on board here. My first ever post covered up to the year 1900, and I figured 1901 is a perfect place to start a quick refresh, since its basically the start of the story for guys like Frank Gotch, Jack Curley, and George Hackenschmidt.

This post will blast through the decade at a much quicker pace than I usually go, so I have added links throughout the post if anyone wants more details on a subject.

Please feel free to check out my post that covered 1864 – 1900 for a ton of details on the pre-pioneer days of pro wrestling.

Main Characters

Frank Gotch – a young man from Humboldt, Iowa, with very real grappling skills.

George Hackenschmidt – Russian strongman looking to become the top pro wrestler in the world.

Jack Curley – a young man living in Chicago, looking for avenue into the fight game.

Tom Jenkings – legitimate one-eyed hot iron worker who turned towards pro wrestling.

Ole Marsh – part-time wrestler & promoter, and a full-time conman & schemer.

Stanislaus Zbyszko – Polish amateur wrestler turned pro, looking for a shot at the world heavyweight title.

Dr Benjamin Roller – a legitimate surgeon in Philadelphia who moved into pro wrestling after the death of a young patient.

Before we kick off the century, lets first look at those three most significant names of the early 1900s, George Hackenschmidt, Frank Gotch, and burgeoning fight promoter, Jack Curley.

The “Russian Lion” George Hackenschmidt

George Hackenschmidt was an absolute specimen of a human being, who was devoted to all realms of exercise and athletics, spending hours at the school gymnasium. By the time he graduated, it was said that he would demonstrate his strength by carrying over 275 pounds in one arm and lifting small horses off the ground.

He made his professional wrestling debut in 1898, at the age of twenty-one years old, and the following year he would be crowned the Russian pro wrestling champion, by defeating Alexander von Schmelling, and by the turn of the century, Hackenschmidt will have competed in a tournament where he earned his famous nickname, the “Russian Lion.” As Hackenschmidt was cutting his teeth in Russia and Europe wrestling wherever he could, nearly two thousand miles away, a young man was doing the same in the mid-west.

The Legendary Frank Gotch

Frank Gotch was a twenty-three year old son of German immigrants in Humboldt, Iowa, and had only gotten his start wrestling in the spring of 1989. In his first year of wrestling Gotch wrestled a losing bout to an older gentleman named Dan McLeod in a cinder-littered field near the Humboldt rail yard during a county fair.

Future fight promoter Jack Curley was present for the bout and later recounted that it lasted four hours, though other first hand accounts suggest it was closer to just one hour.

Though Gotch lost, he clearly left an impression on those in attendance, including an eccentric and illiterate wrestler Martin “Farmer” Burns, another former American Heavyweight Champion. Burns was a barnstormer, a type of con-man meets pro wrestler, who would go from town-to-town, and present himself as harmless, before running up the bets in his wrestling matches and legitimately stretching the local opponent. Martin “Farmer” Burns was so impressed by Gotch’s performance against the senior McLoed, that Burns began to train and eventually manage Frank Gotch early in his career.

 The Revolutionary Promoter Jack Curley

Born Jacques Armand Schuel, the future “Jack Curley” was only twenty-four years old at the start of 1903, and living in Chicago, where he had been since he and several friends travelled there in 1893 for the Chicago Worlds Fair. He grew up with a genuine love of boxing and spent the next decade in Chicago working for various boxers and sports newspapers, looking for a way to get his foot in the door.

With that backstory out of the way, lets start at the turn of the century…

 1901

Between Gotch, Hackenschmidt, and Curley, we will start with Frank Gotch who was the most active between the three that year.

Frank Gotch & Ole Marsh

Martin “Farmer” Burns was managing Frank Gotch, who was wrestling throughout the Midwest. In the spring Burns decided to send Gotch up North to Alaska alongside another seasoned barnstormer, Ole Marsh. Ole Marsh is as smiley as a con-man wrestler could be and would instill some of those values and principles onto young Frank Gotch. In May of 1901, Ole Marsh and Frank Gotch travelled up to Alaska, where Gotch would tour through the Yukon using the fake name of Frank Kennedy. Gotch and Marsh took tbe old barnstorming principles up to folks who never seen such displays of athletics, and wowed them while presenting Gotch as someone locals believed they could beat.

All in all, Gotch was said to have made $40,000 for his few months spent in Alaska, and Gotch even reportedly earned another championship title that is impossible to track or verify, being declared, “the Champion of Klondike.” The pairing of Gotch and Marsh spent most of the year up North, before running out of options, having escaped every town possible before the locals could figure out they had been played. Gotch would be back wrestling in Iowa by the years end.

Tom Jenkings

Tom Jenkings was a thirty-year old former hot iron worker from Bedford Ohio, who dropped out of school at a young age after losing eyesight from his left eye following a nasty fireworks accident. By chance he got his start wrestling at the age of eighteen, when a scheduled wrestler didn’t show and he was asked to fill in.

American Heavyweight Championship

The American heavyweight championship was a belt that dates back to the 1870s and had actually been vacated since rhe death of the most recent champion Yussif Hussane in 1899.

Tom Jenkings would be the next recorded American Heavyweight champion, with his recorded victory date of November 7th, 1901, with his opponent reportedly being Dan McLeod.

The Greco-Roman World Championship

Its worth looking at what some wrestling historians view as the first ever widely recognized world championship. Its tough for me to view this as the start of the lineage though, since it's impossible to track, and it doesn’t get any American recognition. The first champion though, is indisputably the “Russian Lion,” George Hackenschmidt. The fall of 1901 saw a massive tournament play out through France, Germany, and Russia, which would culminate in George Hackenschmidt being declared the winner and world heavyweight champion in November of 1901. Just a month later, Hackenschmidt would continue his winning ways, claiming victory in a European Greco-Roman wrestling tournament. Going forward, Hackenschmidt’s title defences all seem to be recorded as that Greco-Roman world title.

1902

George Hackenschmidt registered victories over Tom Cannon, Jakob Koch, Tom Conners and others throughout the year, staying in Europe and reportedly reigning with that Greco-Roman world title he won the prior year.

Travelling Pro Wrestler

Frank Gotch had a pretty quiet year, and the gap in his records indicate that he and Ole Marsh took another extended trip to some backwater or secluded county, maybe even up north again. Other than the hypothetical excursion with Marsh, Gotch didn’t have a remarkable year, earning a couple of recorded wins, notably over Dan McLeod, but also recorded a couple losses, including Tom Davis up in Alaska in December. By the years end dates though, Gotch was back in the continental United States, registering a win over Christ Pearson in Tacoma, Washington.

New American Champion

Tom Jenkings lost the American Heavyweight championship at the tail-end of the year. Jenkings defended his belt against Dan McLeod on Christmas Day in 1902, at the Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. McLeod would win the best-two-of-three falls matchup by referees’ decision.

1903

Beginning in 1903, Tom Jenkings and Frank Gotch would finally meet in the ring for the first time, in February of that year. The two battled in Cleveland, Ohio on February 22nd, 1903, in a bout that newspapers would claim went nearly two hours, before Jenkings was declared the winner.

Reclaiming the Belt

Jenkings would continue his winning ways into an American Heavyweight  championship rematch with Dan McLeod on April 3rd, 1903, in Buffalo, New York, with Jenkings winning and reclaiming the American championship.

Jack Curley's First Fortune

Early in 1903, Jack Curley would meet boxing promoter P.J. “Paddy” Carroll, who hired Jack to run errands for him at Chicago’s Pelican Athletic Club. This is when he would start going by the name “Jack Curley” on an official basis, probably due to how easy it was to spell and pronounce and didn’t sound as foreign.

In the spring of 1903, Jack was working as a manager for boxer George Gardiner and covering sports for the Chicago’s Inter Ocean newspaper when he got a politician/ mobster named Andy Craig. The long and short of it is that Craig paid Curley a lot of money to inform Craig when the betting odds for Gardiner were in his favor.

Jack made a small fortune from his time “working” with Craig, including a grateful Craig gifting Jack with a car, and a chauffer to drive him. This was in 1903 when cars were so rare they were considered dangerous. This short-lived deal would come to an end by the summer as Gardiner suffered a defeat that permanently shook his confidence.

Gotch-Jenkings

Frank Gotch and Tom Jenkings would wrestle again and build the reputation of their bloody and brutal matches. The pair met at Madison Square Garden on December 22nd, with Jenkings winning again in front of a reported crowd of 3,500 fans.

1904

Frank Gotch and Tom Jenkings would meet an epic rematch for Tom’s American Heavyweight title in Bellingham, Washington, on January 27th, 1901, in what would be described as a brutal and bloody matchup. The match would end in a disqualification as the referee deemed it too violent. The rules actually allowed the title to change hands by disqualification, so Frank Gotch won the American heavyweight belt here.

Jenkings in England

Across the pond, George Hackenschmidt continued his dominant run through nearly every competitor available to him, including a notable win over Ahmed Medralli in London England, to retain his Greco-Roman world title.

Tom Jenkings would travel cross the pond and officially challenge George Hackenschmidt for that Greco-Roman world title on July 2nd, 1904, in London England. The matchup drew around 7,000 fans to the Royal Horborn Music Hall, with Hackenschmidt apparently winning two straight falls to retain the title.

Returning to America

Following the bout, Tom Jenkings would return home to the United States, but not before extending an invitation for Hackenschmidt to come challenge Jenkings on his own home turf, in the States. Frank Gotch continued to wrestle through the remainder of the year, racking up wins as the American Heavyweight champion against Dan McLeod, Charles “Yankee” Rogers, and more.

1905

George Hackenschmidt was coming to America, as it was announced he would battle Tom Jenkings over the right to be crowned the first ever world heavyweight champion in pro wrestling. Very quickly after the world title bout was announced, Frank Gotch agreed to a title defense against Tom Jenkings, set for March 15th, at the legendary Madison Square Garden venue.

Jenkings-Gotch

The Jenkings-Gotch bout drew around 10,000 to Madison Square Garden on March, 15th, 1905, with Jenkings winning the belt after a forty-five minute matchup. This set up a battle between American champion Tom Jenkings and Greco-Roman champion George Hackenschmidt, in a battle to crown the first ever world champion.

Pro Wrestling’s First World Heavyweight Champion

Jenkings and Hackenschmidt would face off on May 5th, 1905, drawing 7,000 fans to Madison Square Garden. The matchup would see George Hackenschmidt claim victory after ab hour of grappling. Before departing back to Europe, George Hackenschmidt was approached publicly by Frank Gotch, who wanted a world title match.

Travelling Promoter

Jack Curley had been set up in Chicago for years at this point, not really promoting anything significant, but getting his feet wet in fight game as he saw big opportunities in promoting the fight, rather than competing in them. In mid-1905 he decided to travel the country following the death of his father.

While traveling, Curley continued to promote whatever he thought could make him money. In Butte, Montana, Jack put on what he advertised as the "First Bullfight in America" but noted in his book that it ended in disaster when he couldn’t stimulate the bulls into action of any kind. One time in Davenport, Iowa, Jack set up a fight between boxers Kid Herman and Packy MacFarland that drew an armed response from the state militia. Again, Curley had to flee the town.

If your interested in much more details and context for 1901 – 1905, please check out my in depth report on that time period.

1906

George Hackenschmidt also kept busy across the pond, registering a number of successful title defences, including a notable one against Ahmed Medralli on April 28th, 1906.

Gotch's Campaign

Frank Gotch would finally secure a rematch with American Heavyweight champion Tom Jenkings, challenging him to best two-of-three-falls match on May 23rd, 1906, in Kansas City, Missouri. Gotch would avenge his earlier losses to Jenkings by besting him in two straight falls, and in under forty minutes. Shortly after this victory, Gotch made a public plea for Hackenschmidt to return and defend his title against Gotch. The Missouri Athletic Club, which had just started to govern pro wrestling in the State, apparently offered Hackenschmidt $6,000 and Gotch offered an additional $4,000 of his own for Hackenschmidt to accept the challenge, regardless of the winner. This challenge went unanswered.

Gotch would spend the remainder of the year turning back challengers all across the country, defeating opponents like Jim Parr, Leo Pardello, Jack Carkeek, Joe Rogers, Martin “Farmer” Burns, Charles Olsen and Dr Ben Roller, who was able to push Gotch to a draw in Seattle on October 12th, 1906.

The Schemes of Ole Marsh

Ole Marsh set up a series of matches that would take place in a boathouse on Lake Washington, where they invited reputable gamblers and businessmen with deep pockets to come watch the matches and bet on the outcomes. Matches often took place in near-silence for fear of attracting police and other unwanted attention, and spectators were encouraged to lay outrageous bets on what they had been assured were sure things. The matches never played out as expected and more than one better was sent home penniless.

The operation ran for eight months, until police were finally tipped off to its existence in the Autumn of 1906. Ole, along with his two most popular wrestlers, Dan McLeod and Jack Carkeek were implicated but never officially charged. Seattle remained, more or less, a dead zone for pro wrestling for years.

Upset of the Century

Frank Gotch would close the year out with a shocking upset loss to Fred Beell on December 1st, 1906, in New Orleans. Beell shockingly won the American heavyweight belt, but would drop it back to Gotch just two weeks later on December 17th, 1906, in Kansas City, Missouri.

1907

Frank Gotch would begin the year by publicly campaigning for a world title match against George Hackenschmidt, winning several big matches through January and February. Inlcuding a match over Martin “Farmer” Burns in Knoxville, Tennessee, with newspaper outlates reporting that by winning, Gotch earned the right to challenge Hackenschmidt.

Hackenschmidt in Europe

As for Hackenschmidt, he kept busy wrestling non-stop all year throughout Europe. At some point in 1907, Hackenschmidt noticed his knee was giving him tons of issues and spoke publicly on potentially need surgery of some kind.

A mini-tournament was held in Europe to determine a worthy challenger for Hackenschmidt’s belt, between Stanislaus Zbyszko, Joe Rogers, Ivan Puddubuny, and Constant Le Martin. The tournament would ultimately be won by Stanislaus Zbyszko.

1908

For reasons not made clear, Stanislaus did not receive that world title shot, instead with Hackenschmidt registering a successful defense over Joe Rogers on January 30th, 1908. Following this match, Hackenschmidt set sail for America, where an eager Frank Gotch was waiting.

Securing the Bout

Promoter Jack Curley was one of the names who reportedly bid on the right to promote the anticipated matchup between Hackenschmidt & Gotch, but he would be outbid by William Wittig. Wittig was able to secure the bout by promising $10,000 to both men.

Gotch-Hackenschmidt

Gotch would battle Hackenschmidt on April 3rd, 1908, with a reported 10,000 fans in attendance in Chicago’s Dexter Park. The match was dreadfully slow experience for everyone involved, including the fans and referee. It ran for several hours with Gotch allegedly using a myriad of dirty tactics like eye gouging and even oiling up his body.

Despite the odd flurry of action or momentum, the match was overall a plodding affair, and by midnight they were still wrestling for the first fall, of a planned three! By this point, Hackenschmidt was trying to convince them referee to call the match and draw, but the referee Ed Smith wouldn’t budge. Finally, just after 12:30 am, after trying and failing one last time to convince the ref to call a draw, Hackenschmidt turned to Gotch and said, “I’ll give you the match.”

Aftermath

Gotch was literally carried off by the fans as he claimed the world championship, while Hackenschmidt slipped away backstage. When the events promoter William Wittig begged the former champion for an answer as to why Hackenschmidt surrendered the entire match, as opposed to a single fall, Hackenschmidt just shook his head and refused to respond or elaborate.

Quiet Year

Reports emerged in June of 1908 that Geroge Hackenschmidt had suddenly passed away, though thankfully this was false, as Hackenschmidt was staying at the Kaiser Hotel in Aachen, Germany, recovering from a long overdue knee surgery he needed.

Frank Gotch had a quiet year following his world championship victory, only registering one defense against George Dennie in Sheffield, England that summer.

1909

Frank Gotch entered the year as the reigning world heavyweight champion, and unlike the previous year, Gotch would wrestle non-stop defending his title against all challengers. Some of Gotch’s more memorable matches that year include names like Youssef Mahmout, who Gotch defeated on April 14th, 1909, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Gotch also prevailed over Dr Ben Roller later that month on April 27th, 1909, in Kansas City, Missouri. The pair drew over 5,000 people to the Convention Hall venue.

An Opportunity for Jack Curley

By 1909, promoter Jack Curley, was making a name for himself as the guy who would stage almost anything if he thought he could convince people to see it. By this time he had promoted several professional wrestling matches in Chicago and Kansas City, establishing himself as a local promoter in that regard. In an attempt to expand his reach, Jack accepted an offer from John Cort in April of 1909. John Cort managed several theaters in Seattle, and was looking for a promoter to run boxing and wrestling matches out of a 5,000 seat arena for him during the upcoming worlds fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle.

The Final Encounter

For one final time, Tom Jenkings would challenge Gotch at the Stock Pavillion Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa on June 14th, 1909. Like all their previous encounters, this was a physical brawl, despite Gotch retaining in two straight falls in just under half-an-hour.

Ole Marsh's Rage

Reportedly, when Ole Marsh discovered Curley was promoting in Seattle, he actually confronted Jack over this, telling him that wrestling in that city was dead, and that Jack would be ill-advised to revive it. When Curley pressed on with this plans, Ole confronted him again, even more heated, banging his fists on Curley’s desk and promising him a fight. On this, Curley later wrote, saying “The situation almost seems unreal. For some swiftly did the dramatic sequences follow each other that a skeptic reading the chronicle of them may deemed them to be the creation of a romancer.”

The Battle Over Seattle

For most of the 1909 worlds fair festivities, Curley monopolized the wrestling scene in Seattle, while both men used their local connection with reporters and news papers to trade barbs back and forth. Usually with Marsh claiming Curley’s matches as fakes and Curley publicly calling Marsh out as a scam artist. It’s stuff like this that leads people to believe this was legitimate heat between the two, as they seemed poised to expose the other in a real way.

Finally the two men agreed to a ridiculous idea, they would have their two top wrestlers face off at the final night of the fair. Curley backed Dr Ben Roller while Ole brought in a newcomer named Bert Warner, and booked it for September 24th, 1909. Accounts differ, though based on records, we have a good idea of what went down the night three thousand people stuffed themselves inside Cort’s Arena to witness two rival promoters attempt to book a headlining match.

A Bizarre Scene

As the bell rang and the match began, in a dramatic and wholly unexpected move, Bert Warner just dropped to the mat and laid down. Then, some random guy who was sitting front row, stood on his seat and began reading a letter that Warner had written before the match. In this letter, Warner claimed that Jack Curley had insisted that “he hand over $1,000 as a guarantee he would lose the match to Roller within an hour.”

The man continued reading this letter though, saying “In order to protect my money, I am going to lose the first fall as soon as I possibly can, and the second just as quickly. I then want you to insist that the referee be changed, and I want to wrestle Roller on the square, and give the people a run for their money.”

Roller-Warner

After a long break, Roller and Warner finally got underway with their match, and after all the dramatics, the match itself was a dull affair. After an hour of mostly defensive maneuvering, a clearly frustrated Roller literally picked up Warner and slammed him down hard, separating the man’s shoulder and winning the bout.

Curley vs Marsh

The world’s fair was over, but neither Curley, nor Marsh were done feuding over the territory, despite most seeing that the damage they have done would leave the winner left with a dead town. The bitter back and forth only escalated, through the Seattle Star, Marsh spread a story that Curley had made arrangements for Frank Gotch to lose his world championship to Ben Roller. Roller retaliated by publishing a letter to the Seattle Times accusing the Seattle Star’s business manager of an attempt to extort Curley. That move would actually result in Roller’s arrest, on a libel charge.

On the morning of Roller’s court hearing, Jack Curley recalls stepping outside to grab the newspaper, and being shocked by the front page news. Both Ole Marsh and Bert Warner had been arrested on mail fraud. “I cannot tell you what I did or said at the moment,” Curley wrote in his book, “I suppose I was incoherent in speech, outlandish in action. It had worked out exactly as though it had all been carefully planned melodrama.”

The Mabray Gang

I wont detail it here, but the Mabray Gang was a vast con-man scheme ran by John C Mabray, who when indicted on federal charges, supplied evidence that got much of his co-conspirators arrested as well. Marsh and Warner, along with the ring leader John C Mabray, all ended up in federal prisons, after a several years long investigation, that all started because one of their coded letters was accidentally sent to the wrong person, who in turn reported it to the postal authority. Marsh never believed he could end up in prison and was shocked to find the ring leader, John C Mabray had kept information on all involved and effectively sunk them. Marsh later confirmed to have gotten revenge in prison by arranging Mabray to get hurt “accidently” while laying bricks.

I did a post up that exclusively detailed the entire battle over Seattle between Curley and Marsh. Feel free to check it out for more details and context.

World Champion Frank Gotch

With Ole Marsh in jail for several years, as result of scamming people, his old protégé, Frank Gotch, began to publicly distance himself as far away from Marsh as possible. Despite their close relationship with Ole, neither Frank Gotch, nor Martin “Farmer” Burns were never implicated with any involvement in the Mabray Gang schemes. On Gotch, Marsh was quoted as saying, “I was six years with Gotch. Took him from a nobody and made him into a world’s champion, then he turned traitor.”

Gotch continued his reign as defending world heavyweight champion through the remainder of the year, with wins over names like Giovanni Raicevich on November 9th, in Chicago, Illinois, and Dr Ben Roller on November 15th, at the Convention Hall in Kansas City.

The Rise of Stanislaus Zbyszko

Stanislaus Zbyszko didn’t slow down wrestling through Europe after his match with Hackenschmidt was called off the prior year. Through 1908 & 1909 Stanislaus registered over 200 matches before being invited to America to wrestle a non-title handicap match with the world champion Frank Gotch. Zbyszko challenged Gotch in Buffalo, New York, to a one-hour long contest where Gotch had to pin Zbyszko twice. Unfortunately for Gotch, he was unable to register even a single fall in hour.

Zbyszko-Gotch

Gotch and Zbyszko would run their match back under even stricter rules a month later, and in a bigger venue. Zbyszko challenged Gotch on December 1st, 1909, at Madison Square Garden in New York city. This time, Gotch only had to get one fall but only had fifteen minutes to do so. Unfortunately for Gotch, Zbyszko survived the fifteen minutes, proving their first encounter was no fluke.

[For anyone curious, here is my post that further details 1906 – 1909 here, including much more on Jack Curley’s exploits during this time.]

1910

By 1910, Zbyszko had built an impressive resume racking up notable wins all over the globe. Zbyszko would kickoff the year by defeating former American Heavyweight champion Fred Beell on January 1st, 1910.

A Future Great

A young wrestler by the name of Robert Frederick would be invited to compete in a bizarre shoot handicap bout where Robert and two other men attempted to take down legitimate grappler, Stanislaus Zbyszko. This bout took place at the Dewey Theater in Minneapolis, on Febuary 10th, 1910. Apparently, while Friedrich didn’t win, he lasted over twelve minutes, nearly double the amount of time from the other two men he was with. This was the first notable matchup for the future Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

Roller-Zbyszko

*Stanislaus Zbyszko would continue to build his renown when he faced off with Dr Benjamin Roller* in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 22nd, 1910. The match would be recorded as a long and grueling encounter that would end in a draw after neither man registered a fall in the two hours of match time. Even though Zbyszko failed to register a fall, he made an impressive showing and soon secured himself a world championship match set for June.

Zbyszko's World Championship Challenge

Frank Gotch was set to defend his world heavyweight championship against Stanislaus Zbyszko on June 1st, 1910, at the Chicago Coliseum, in front of an estimated 8,000 fans. Going into the match, Stanislaus was advertised as not being pinned in the past 900+ matches, which makes what happened all the more shocking to those in attendance. Frank Gotch wouldn’t waste any time, charging at the challenger at the opening bout, reportedly catching Zbyszko off-guard and pinning him in the first six seconds! The second fall would go nearly half-an-hour before Gotch pinned Stanislaus again to retain his title.

Jack Curley in Europe

Promoter Jack Curley arranged to tour with boxing legend Jim Jeffries, following Jeffries coming out of retirement to challenge boxing’s world champion, Jack Johnson. Unfortunately for Curley, Jeffries lost the fight, thus killing any interest Curley had in touring. Following this, Curley and Dr Benjamin Roller would travel to Europe. Curley would spend the the next several months in Europe, setting up massive matches, including a match between Roller and the Great Gama, another match between Roller and Stanislaus Zbyszko, as well as abig event featuring The Great Gama battling Stanislaus Zbyszko.

Jack Curley would return to the United States by the end of the year, and despite some set-backs in England, Curley considered the trip a success. Between recruiting Stanislaus Zbyszko and having soaked up the presentation of pro wrestling in Europe, which would see grand international tournaments set in elegantly appointed theatre’s, Curley felt confident in his return to America. But most importantly, Curley had a chance encounter with another wrestler who was willing to come back to the States, who Curley felt would shock life back into the world of pro wrestling yet again. Jack Curley had convinced George Hackenschmidt to come back for one more bout against Frank Gotch.

*Securing the Rematch

Upon returning to the States, Curley immediately began negotiating with Gotch in order to secure a potential Gotch-Hackenschmidt rematch. Hackenschmidt didn’t take much convincing, but Gotch was another story. Reportedly, it took a $20,000 guarantee, deposited directly into Gotch’s bank account, before Frank agreed.

Vacating the American Championship

Speaking of world champion Frank Gotch though, it’s worth noting that when he won the title in 1908, Gotch was also the reigning American Heavyweight champion, and spent the last two years reigning as double champion. Gotch would officially give up his claim to the American heavyweight title on October 25th, 1910, when Henry Ordemann was crowned as the new American champion in a battle against Charles “Kid” Cutler in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Frank Gotch reportedly serving as the guest referee for the match, and Gotch would ultimately make the call to end the match and declare Ordemann the winner, and new champion, by referees’ decision.

Retirement?

Before we close out the year, its worth noting that Gotch was talking publicly about retirement, and in fact had been openly talking about retirement since 1907. An article published in August quoting a letter from Gotch to a sportswriter, where Gotch announced his retirement. Gotch would clear things up shortly after and of course, he didn’t retire quite yet.

And that’s an ideal place to stop, with…

• Frank Gotch as the reigning world heavyweight champion, having it won it from George Hackenschmidt in 1908.
• George Hackenschmidt secluded himself to Europe following his loss, but was now finally ready to challenge Gotch to a rematch.
• Jack Curley secured the big rematch between Gotch & Hackenschmidt, and had set up shop promoting our of Kansas City, Missouri and primarily Chicago, Illinois.
• Younger wrestlers like Stanislaus Zbyszko and Ed “Strangler” Lewis were starting to emerge as names to look out for.

I also like to track the significant championships I’m cover as well…

Championship History

Championship History (1901 – 1910)

World Heavyweight Championship

George Hackenschmidt, May 4th, 1905 – April 3rd, 1908 (1065 days)

Frank Gotch, April 3rd, 1908 – next post

American Heavyweight Championship

Tom Jenkings, November 7th, 1901 – December 25th, 1902 (413 days)

Dan McLeod (2), December 25th, 1902 – April 3rd, 1903 (99 days)

Tom Jenkings (2), April 3rd, 1903 – January 27th, 1904 (299 days)

Frank Gotch, January 27th, 1904 – March 15th, 1905 (413 days)

Tom Jenkings (3), March 15th, 1905 – May 23rd, 1906 (434 days)

Frank Gotch (2), May 23rd, 1906 – December 1st, 1906 (192 days)

Fred Beell, December 1st, 1906 – December 17th, 1906 (16 days)

Frank Gotch (3), December 17th, 1906 – October 25th, 1910 (1408 days)

Frank Gotch vacated the title

Henry Ordemann, October 25th, 1910 – next post

And that’s the end. Below, you will find my current ongoing report series’ which I will continue as I continue my History of Pro Wrestling posts.

Jack Curley Part 1

Jack Curley Part 2

Joe Stecher Part 1

I’ll be starting report series’ on “Strangler” Lewis, Jim Londos and more as well since I just finished a really good book on Jim Londos.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reads these and a big shout out to anyone who starts discussions off something they read here! I hope y’all have a great week and Ill be back soon with the post that covers 1911 – 1920!