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Book Report Guy, with my History of Pro Wrestling - 1926 - covering the "cold war" following the Double Cross from the previous year, as well as reigns of world champion Joe Stecher, and the false "world" champion Ed "Strangler" Lewis

Book Report Guy, back with my yearly look at the History of Pro Wrestling. This time we will focus on 1926, which covered a quiet period following the Double Cross of 1925.

1925 Recap

"Big" Wayne Munn started the year off winning the world heavyweight championship from Ed "Strangler" Lewis, before dropping it to Stanislaus Zbyszko in what was referred to as the Double Cross of 1925.
Joe Stecher is now reigning as the legitimate and original world heavyweight champion after winning the belt from Stanislaus Zbyszko on May 30th, 1925.
Ed “Strangler” Lewis is reigning with a false world championship claim that he and Billy Sandow manufactured after the Double Cross of 1925.
Promoters Jack Curley & Billy Sandow enter a “cold war” of sorts as communication completely broke down between the two sides following the Double Cross of 1925.
Tom Packs was quietly becoming a top promoter with his booking office in St Louis, Missouri.
The Gold Dust Trio’s internal cooperation was beginning to splinter as Billy Sandow alienated himself from Lewis & “Toots” Mondt.

Main Characters

Joe Stecher - the current reigning for the third time as world heavyweight champion at thirty-three-years-old. Stecher is also one of the most legitimate grapplers in the country.

Ed “Strangler” Lewis - currently reigning as the false world heavyweight champion at thirty-four-years-old. Lewis makes up one-third of the Gold Dust Trio, alongside Billy Sandow & Joseph "Toots" Mondt.

Jim Londos - an immigrant from Greece at thirty-two-year-old, he had spent the last decade slowly building his name value in America. The past year saw him building close working relationships with promoters Lou Daro & Tom Packs.

Jack Curley - the top promoter in the country, at fifty years old and operating out of New York. Curley has publicly opposed the Gold Dust Trio and backed wrestlers like Joe Stecher & Stanislaus Zbyszko.

Billy Sandow - one of the top promoters in the country, and the age of forty-one-years-old, he acts as the “brain” behind the Gold Dust Trio.

Joe Malcewicz - legitimate standout grappler from Utica, New York, poised to become a big name in pro wrestling at twenty-nine-years-old.

Stanislaus Zbyszko - Polish born standout grappler, and as a former world champion at the age of forty-six-years-old, was firmly entrenched in the twilight of his career.

Tom Packs - immigrant from Greece, this thirty-two-year-old promoter was partnered up with Jack Curley & Joe Stecher, though not directly opposing Billy Sandow & "Strangler" Lewis.

Paul Bowser - one of the top promoters in the country, operating out of Boston, Massachusetts. This forty-one-year-old former pro wrestler had aligned himself with Billy Sandow & the rest of the Gold Dust Trio.

World Championship Situation

Yet again, we have two disputed world heavyweight title belts in active use as we start the year. The legitimate and original world title, whose lineage dates back to George Hackenschmidt & Frank Gotch, as well as this new “world” title that Billy Sandow & “Strangler” Lewis manufactured last year…

Legitimate & Original World Heavyweight Champion - Joe Stecher – Stecher won the belt off of Stanislaus Zbyszko last year, and was currently in the midst of his third world heavyweight championship reign.

”Strangler” Lewis’ False World Championship Claim - Ed Strangler” Lewis – this belt was created in 1925, following the double cross which saw Stanislaus Zbyszko forcibly take the legitimate world title belt away from “Big” Wayne Munn.”

1926

As always, we go in chronological order and will kick off the year by looking at the legitimate and original world heavyweight champion lineage, currently held by three-time champion, Joe Stecher.

World Heavyweight Champion Joe Stecher

We’ll start the year off looking at the world championship reign of Joe Stecher, who was still a significant draw all across the country, and even up into Canada. Joe Stecher wrestled on New Years Day, turning back a challenge from Rudy Dusek at the Memorial Hall, in Columbus, Ohio. The next significant defence would see Joe Stecher retain against Dick Daviscourt, drawing over 2,000 fans to the Alhambra Garden, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on January 18th, 1926. They battled in a best-two-of-three falls match which went just over an hour, with Stecher winning two falls to one.

Less than a week later, promoter John Krone would invite the champion into Chicago, where Stecher retained his belt against Frank Judson at the Chicago Coliseum on January 25th, 1926. They competed in a best-two-of-three falls match that saw Stecher win two falls to one after an hour of grappling. Elsewhere on the card, Jim Londos defeated George Hill in under ten minutes. Just two days later, Stecher would register a successful title defense against George Bonlganz, while working for promoter John Contos, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Ivan “The Terrible”

Promoter Jack Curley was finally getting his groove back, having been exiled from pro wrestling for a couple of years by the New York State Athletic Commission. Jack Curley had his promoters licence back, and years later, he would publicly take credit for, and brag about the Double Cross of 1925, which saw Stanislaus Zbyszko shoot for real on the inexperienced Wayne Munn. Curley claimed that he had paid off Stanislaus the night before, and helped arrange the big payday for Stanislaus which saw him drop the strap to Joe Stecher.

Now, at the beginning of 1926, Jack Curley was looking to reap the rewards of his labour. Joe Stecher as champion was proving to still be a good draw in the United States, so Curley arranged to bring a special attraction over to New York, for Stecher to topple as the hero. Curley picked fifty-five-year-old Ivan “The Terrible” Podubny, a Russian-born strongman who made his living wrestling across Europe for the past three decades.** Curley brought him over and advertised Podubny as being “undefeated for over twenty-five years,” **though we can confirm that wasn’t true at all.

Podubny-Stecher

Despite the lie, the marketing paid off for Curley, who was able to sell over 12,000 tickets to the big show, which was held at the 71st Regiment Armory in New York, on February 1st, 1926. The two men battled in a single-fall matchup for the world heavyweight championship, grappling for over ninety minutes before Stecher was able to lock in his leg scissors hold and pin the Russian veteran. Elsewhere on the card, former world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko defeated Charles Lepanen in just under ten minutes of action.

Londos-Stecher

Stecher’s drawing power can’t be understated at this time, notably drawing over 500 fans to just watch him work out at the Red Ball Gym in St Louis on February 7th, 1926, with a ridiculous 1,500 fans turned away at the doors! A few days later on February 10th, 1926, 12,000 fans showed up to watch Jim Londos challenge Joe Stecher in a world championship match, at the St Louis Coliseum, at an event promoted by Tom Packs.

As a refresher, Jim Londos was a thirty-three-year-old immigrant from Greece, who had spent the past twelve years trying to break into the main event scene as more than just the “jobber to the stars” role he has had. Londos spent the previous year building up a fan base in Los Angeles while he worked for promoter Lou Daro, and put Stecher over on a number of occasions. This contest on February 11th, 1926, would be no different, with Stecher retaining over Londos.

Sweet Daddy Siki

While talking about pro wrestling history through the 1920s, it’s impossible to not mention a man who got his start in 1923, and quickly became a draw all over America as the first black wrestler to sustain a successful career, Sweet Daddy Siki.

Sweet Daddy Siki hailed from Kansas City, though most promoters billed him from Abyssinia, and presented him as an “exotico,” which was a broad term for any European wrestlers in America. Promoters told reporters that his name was Dejatch Tedelba, with fabricated stories about his time spent as wild tribes man and such.

After an early surge in popularity, there was considerable talk of Siki challenging for the world title in the late 1920s, though unfortunately that never materialized. Joe Stecher refused to defend his title against a black man and “Strangler” Ed Lewis wanted too big of a payoff to accept Siki’s challenge. When quoted on this, Lewis was surprisingly upfront, saying Siki “is a giant in size and weight, with what I understand tremendous strength. I don’t propose to take the chance of losing the title without being well paid for it.” Sweet Daddy Siki would spend the next few years wrestling all over the East coast, primarily for Jack Curley.

Londos-Stecher II

Jim Londos continued to build his prestige in St Louis through 1926, with a big world title opportunity early that year in February. Promoter Tom Packs arranged for the world heavyweight champion Joe Stecher to come defend his title against Londos on February 10th, 1926. The match headlined an event at the St Louis Coliseum, drawing an impressive crowd of over 12,000 fans for the main event title bout that lasted over an hour and half before Stecher was declared the winner of the best two of three falls matchup.

Stanislaus-Stecher

Joe Stecher’s world title reign would continue with another defence, this time against the man he bested for the belt, Stanislaus Zbyszko. Stanislaus Zbyszko would challenge Stecher on March 12th, 1929, and unfortunately we don’t have any gate numbers for the event. Ray Fabiani was the promoter who hosted the event, holding it at the Metropolitan Oprah House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The contest was a single-fall main event, that lasted just under an hour before Stecher was declared the winner.

Paul Bowser’s Ploy

In March of 1926, Boston-based promoter Paul Bowser made a legitimate and serious offer for Stecher to come to Boston for a title defence, and even offered up $12,500 to the champion. Joe and his brother/ manager Tony both accepted the money but no one could agree on a potential opponent. Stecher didn’t seem to trust Bowser’s top picks of Joe Malcewicz or Stanley Stasiak. Stecher didn’t believes either would go along with the finish, and ultimately he agreed to defend his title against Jake Brissler, a capable but lesser known talent.

Paul Bowser had been promoting in Boston for half-a-decade at this point and introduced a mysterious new wrestler named the “Mysterious Unknown,” who was journeyman wrestler named Jake Bressler, from Iowa. After some campaigning, The world title match between the Mysterious Unknown and Joe Stecher was set to take place on April 3rd, 1926, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Wrestling His Idol

Astute readers of these reports may recall that Jim Londos favorite wrestler was Stanislaus Zbyszko, and in March of 1926, Londos would face off with Stanislaus in a special handicap bout. The rules dictated that Stanislaus only had an hour to win, and if the time ran out, Londos would be declared the victor. They battled in a best-two-of-three falls match at the City Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia, with Londos claiming the first fall, before Stanislaus tied things up shortly afterwards. The match would go the entire time limit duration with no more falls, making Jim Londos the winner. Considering how much Londos respected Stanislaus, I have to imagine this win was a significant one for the Golden Greek.

Contos Moves to Atlanta

Something worth pointing out is that it looks like the promoter for this matchup was Greek immigrant John Contos, who last we saw had a booking office in Memphis, Tennessee. Contos had spent the past four years running shows in Memphis, and for reasons I cant seem to find, he decided to move to Atlanta, Georgia, where he began promoting shows. He may have still maintained a presence in Memphis, but that can’t be confirmed.

As John Contos was setting up shop in Atlanta, the Gold Dust Trio was looking for an angle to discredit the reign of Joe Stecher.

The Gold Dust Trio in Recovery Mode

The Gold Dust Trio has been conspicuously absent from this years report so far, which seems due to the fact that their “world” championship was seen as lesser than the one held by Joe Stecher. As a refresher, ”Strangler” Lewis reigned with the original world title until he dropped it to Wayne Munn, with the plan being to draw record crowds at the rematch between Lewis and Munn.

Unfortunately, Stanislaus Zbyszko shot on Munn for real during a planned defense, and forcibly took the belt before the proposed Lewis-Munn rematch could take place. When it became clear that the Gold Dust Trio would not be afforded another opportunity for the legitimate world title belt, they simply created their own and made “Strangler” Lewis their world champion. As for the legitimate title belt, Stanislaus Zbyszko almost immediately dropped that to Joe Stecher, who still holds it as of April 3rd, 1926, when the proposed matchup between Stecher and the “Mysterious Unknown” Jake Brissler was scheduled.

Paul Bowser’s Plot Uncovered

On the day of the show, when Joe Stecher and his brother/ manager Tony Stecher discovered that the Jake Brissler was going to be replaced at the last minute with legitimate grappler Joe Malcewicz, they immediately backed out of the contest. The 1937 book “Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce,” written by Marcus Freely, included Tony Stecher’s public statement on the matter, which I have copied here…

>“As we were guaranteed $12,500 for the Boston bout and $10,000 for the Philadelphia match, I agreed, and we came east. In Boston we would meet a wrestler called “The Unknown,” but in reality Jake Bressler, whom Joe figured to beat quite easily. The promoter in Boston kept stalling on the payment of guarantee, and finally promised he would give Joe his guarantee after the bout. As the referee and terms were satisfactory, we entered the ring, Bressler was sitting by the ringside, but just as soon as we got in our corner he disappeared, as did the promoter and all the rest connected with the club. Into the ring came Joe Malcewicz. Then a different referee from the man whom we had agreed upon entered the ring and told us to get started with our wrestling. I realized it was all a plant and refused to go on with the bout. The referee wasn’t the man we agreed upon and neither was Malcewicz the opponent. I ordered my brother out of the ring, a riot started, and we went to the dressing room, where, after packing our bags, we headed for Philadelphia. I was on to the scheme. The plan was to get the referee either to disqualify Joe Stecher for some supposed foul, or see that Malcewicz, through some means within the power of the referee, was declared the winner and new champion. With that referee we wouldn’t have had a chance to win.”

Despite the fact that the match never actually began, Joe Malcewicz was announced as the winner by default, and Paul Bowser tried to claim this made Malcewicz the new world champion. Unfortunately for Bowser, this ploy didn’t work and no one really recognized Malcewicz as the world champion. For a double cross to work properly, you still need to get the champion in the ring to get away with such a claim.

Either way, Paul Bowser would promote Joseph Malcewicz as a “world” champion following the Stecher debacle in Boston, despite most of the general audiences scoffing at this. Billy Sandow and Paul Bowser decided to capitalize on this turn of events and booked a big unification match between Ed “Strangler” Lewis and the “Utica Panther” Joe Malcewicz, hoping to draw a sizable crowd. The anticipated unification match was scheduled for July 1st, 1926.

Stanislaus-Stecher II

In a rematch from several weeks ago, Stanislaus Zbyszko would once again challenge world heavyweight champion Joe Stecher. The two men met on April 13th, 1926, drawing over 6,000 fans to the City Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia in a best-two-of-three falls matchup. Stecher won the first fall after nearly forty-five minutes, with Stanislaus tying things up less than ten minutes later. The third and final fall would be awarded to the champion Joe Stecher, after another fifteen minutes of grappling.

Grenna-Lewis

Over in Illinois, promoter Joe Coffey was battling for superiority with John Krone over the Chicago market, and with Krone allied alongside Jack Curley and Joe Stecher, that forced Coffey into the open arms of Billy Sandow and the Gold Dust Trio. Ed “Strangler” Lewis headlined a show on April 19th, 1926, drawing over 8,000 to the Dexter Park Pavilion, showing that Lewis still had popularity in Chicago.

An obscure wrestler by the name of Raphael Grenna challenged Lewis in the main event, which was a best-two-of-three falls contest. Surprisingly, Brennan won the first fall in only ten minutes, with the second fall going nearly an hour and a half before Lewis tied things up. The third fall went less than ten minutes with Lewis being declared the winner. Elsewhere on the card, “Toots” Mondt defeated Chawnee Wingo, and twenty-nine-year-old Joe Malcewicz bested Theodore Govorchin.

Everyone Picks a Side

In April of 1926, Jack Curley invited a dozen other promoters to meet up and discuss the current state of wrestling and to plan out the world title scene. The other promoters Curley met here were Tom Packs out of St Louis, Lou Daro out of Los Angeles, Tom Law out of Wichita, Ray Fibiani out of Philadelphia, Joe Coffey out of Chicago, Gene Melady out of Omaha, John Contos who now operated out of Atlanta, Frank Schuler out of San Francisco, and world champion Joe Stecher, along with his manager Tony Stecher. Details on what was exactly discussed aren't readily available, but we do know the majority was in favor of Stecher as the world champion. On the other side of the fence, sat the Gold Dust Trio and those who remained loyal to them.

Though he was dealt a msssive loss last year with the Double Cross of 1925, Billy Sandow wasn't just licking his wounds here, instead he was building up his own group of promoters to counter Curley's partnerships. Sandow continued to reach out to lesser known promoters like Gus Tiefenthaler who operated out of St Louis, Gave Kaufman out of Kansas City, Sam Avry out of Tulsa, Paddy Harmon who worked with Sandow in Chicago, John Depalma out of Los Angeles, and most importantly, Paul Bowser who operated out of Boston, Massachusetts. From this point forward over the next couple of years, the two sides entered what I have referred to as a “cold war” against one another.

The Gold Dust Trio’s Struggle

For Billy Sandow and Ed "Strangler" Lewis, their biggest struggle was finding serious title contenders. Lewis may have been holding a false world title, but if he had the right opponent, they could at least make some good money. Unfortunately, the biggest name they had access to was Joe Malcewicz, who just wasn't that big of a name on his own. Outside of Malcewicz, Sandow had access to guys like Mike Ramano, Pat McGill, Ned McGuire and Jim Clinstock, but none of them were able to draw well when matched up in the main event against Lewis. If you look over at Jack Curley and his group though, they had access to much bigger names like Jim Londos, John Pesek (who jumped from Sandow to Packs that year), Olympian Renato Gardini, Stanislaus Zbyszko and much more.

Pesek-Stecher

Joe Stecher’s world title reign would next take him back to St Louis, for promoter Tom Packs. Stecher would be challenged by legitimate standout grappler, John Pesek. The pair drew over 8,000 to the St Louis Coliseum on April 29th, 1926, in a best-two-of-three falls main event contest. According to newspapers the following day, the match went for a ridiculous four hours and fifteen minutes with Stecher retaining in two falls to one against Pesek. Elsewhere on the card, Jim Londos defeated Andreas Castanos, Joe Zigmund bested Jim Browning, and Ray Steele went over Dick Daviscourt.

Londos-Stecher III

Londos stayed primarily in St Louis through the spring of that year before heading out of town for a couple more world title opportunities that summer. The first came on May 19th, 1926, where Jim Londos unsuccessfully challenging Joe Stecher for the world title at the City Auditorium, in Atlanta, Georgia, drawing over 6,000 fans. And just like the last Atlanta show, this was a John Contos promoted event.

Romano-Lewis

Taking a brief look back at the Gold Dust Trio and their false world championship, the next notable “Strangler” Lewis defense would come on June 4th, 1926, at the Lyceum Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The only promoter I know of at the time in Minneapolis was Tony Stecher, so perhaps this was Billy Sandow himself making a step into Stecher’s home base?

Whatever the case, it seems that “Strangler” Lewis was challenged by Mike Romano in the main event best-two-of-three falls match. Lewis would be declared the winner after claiming two-straight falls in under an hour. Elsewhere on the card, former world champion “Big” Wayne Munn defeated Pat McGill via referee decision after nearly forty minutes of grappling.

Philadelphia’s Centennial Celebration

In 1926, the city of Philadelphia was set to celebrate its 100th anniversary, and attempted to arrange a massive “world’s fair” type event that would draw hundreds of thousands of tourists and feature a stadium with 100,000 seats for events. Even though city didn’t exactly plan this well, local wrestling promoter Ray Fabiani was looked at to draw a big crowd for the stadium, with the city hoping to sell around 50,000 seats! Fabiani did the best he could, including getting one of the current world heavyweight champions, Joe Stecher, to defend his title in the main event. Fabiani also tapped Jim Londos to work as Stecher’s opponents and attempted to utilize all the local publicity and advertising he could.

Londos-Stecher IV

For the fourth time just that year, Jim Londos and Joe Stecher battled for the world heavyweight title on June 10th, 1926, at the Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, with Jim Londos putting up a strong fight for nearly two hours, much to the delight of a crowd who had gotten behind Londos over the past year or so. The bout would finally end after Londos failed to counter or dodge Stecher’s leg scissors hold, before Stecher pinned Londos in that hold. It seems to have been a single-fall contest.

Fallout in Philadelphia

Unfortunately for Fabiani and Londos, the event ultimately was a financial flop, with only 7,000 tickets reportedly being sold from the available 50k. They ended up camping a couple thousand tickets on top of that so they could later claim they had around 10,000 fans. But with only 7,000 paid tickets, they didn’t even pull in $10,000 total revenue. When Fabiani discovered the fair was charging people 50 cents just to get in before Fabiani tried to charge them admission prices, he threatened to sue them for compensation, but that never went anywhere.

Following the match with Stecher, Jim Londos was apparently treated for a concussion, but even in defeat, he won people over. Nat Fleischer was an editor for Ring magazine who wrote kn the match, saying, “The match proved one thing-it showed Londos was coming up as the leading light in wrestling. He showed that he was a shrewd, colorful, powerful wrestler, well versed in all the technique of the sport, and that he knew how to play to the gallery.”

Poddubny-Stecher II

Remember earlier in the year when Jack Curley brought Ivan Poddubny from Europe to put Joe Stecher over? Well, as stated, the event did great numbers for Curley, so it wasn’t long before another promoter sought to replicate that success.** Lou Daro, the self-proclaimed “King of Los Angeles,” would secure both Stecher and Poddubny for a big show**, hoping to draw big numbers like Curley did in New York.

For the second time this year, Ivan Poddubny challenged world heavyweight champion Joe Stecher on June 16th, 1926, drawing over 10,000 fans to the famed Olympic Auditorium. The two battled in a best-two-of-three falls contest, with Stecher reportedly retaining in two-straight falls.

As Joe Stecher was proving to be a well drawing champion all over the country, the false world champion “Strangler” Lewis was hoping to prove that he could still draw a big house.

”Unification” Match of False World Champions

As a refresher, Ed “Strangler” Lewis had been reigning with a false world title claim for a year at this point, with Billy Sandow manufacturing the belt after the legitimate title was forcibly taken from Wayne Munn, by Stanislaus Zbyszko. Earlier this year, Joe Malcewicz was declared “winner” in a world title contest with Joe Stecher, after Stecher refused to even get in the ring and start the match. Paul Bowser then declared that Joe Malcewicz was the “world” champion, though this claim had less merit than Lewis’ claim. Both** Paul Bowser and Billy Sandow agreed to come together and unify their respective false world title claims**, hoping to draw a big crowd and payoff.

The event was a massive success, drawing over 10,000 fans coming to the Boston Field on July 1st, 1926, event to witness two false world champions defending their prizes against one another. The match, like most Lewis bouts, was a plodding affair that lasted over three hours and ended in a unsatisfying draw. Both “Strangler” Lewis & Joe Malcewicz were defending claims to the World title and this was considered a unification match. Lewis was not the legitimate world champion, but he was still claiming to be. Malcewicz was considered “Paul Bowser’s uncrowned champion” and even had a $1000 gold belt. The match lasted 3 hours and 22 minutes.The referee stopped the match due to exhaustion and the late hour. That’s right, they of course couldn’t settle on a winner, with neither promoter wanting to give up a world champion, so the match ended in a fucking draw.

The Reign of Joe Stecher (According to Marcus Freely)

When talking about this world title reign of Joe Stecher, I would be remise not to mention the book “Fall Guys: The Barnums of Bounce,” written by Marcus Freely and published in 1937. The book was an expose-of-sorts on pro wrestling at the time, and featured a ton of behind-the-scenes details. It was basically the first time fans got access to what we call “dirt sheet” reports. The book and author Marcus Freely trashes Stecher hard when it comes to this title reign, saying Stecher was afraid to accept legitimate challengers and as a result, Joe “put the belt in moth balls.”

According to the book, Lewis was able to secure a world title match with Joe Stecher on July 5th, 1926, in Omaha, Nebraska. The match was reportedly a hard fought contest that would end in a draw. I have a really hard time believing this match to have taken place, and seems like something that was fabricated to make Lewis seem as if he were willing to work with Stecher at the time, when that couldn’t have been further from the truth. The main reason I have to question this, is because the book makes no mention of Lewis reigning with a false world title and instead presents it as if Lewis and Sandow were blackballed unfairly by Curley and Stecher, which just isnt accurate. It’s a weird take to have since the book detailed the Gold Dust Trio’s monopoly through the first half of the 1920s. Ultimately, I can’t find any record of Lewis and Stecher wrestling in 1926, outside of what was claimed in the “Fall Guys” book.

On top of that, the book also claims that the Gold Dust Trio lost a ton of wrestlers who jumped ship to head over to work with Joe Stecher, who was backed by of course, Jack Curley. From other sources I’ve read, is that following the double cross of 1925, the wrestling business entered a sort-of “cold war” between the top promoters and talent. On one side, you had Lewis, Mondt, Sandow and whoever else was in the Gold Dust Trio. And on the other side you had Jack Curley, Joe Stecher, Stanislaus Zbyszko, and others.

The “Unification” Rematch

Both Paul Bowser, and Billy Sandow knew that their individual markets weren’t benefiting from having two false champions in “Strangler” Lewis and Joe Malcewicz, and the pair would make the decision to truly unify the two claims. Between Malcewicz and Lewis, the obvious winner of star power was “Strangler” Lewis, so it didn’t take too much convincing for Bowser to agree with Lewis being the winner.

After a few weeks of negotiating, Billy Sandow and Bowser booked a rematch between the two false world champions at the beginning of August, hoping to replicate their success, and maybe put an end to the confusing state of their “world” title picture. The rematch took place on August 2nd, 1926, with over 8,000 fans on-hand at McNulty Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and despite one of the three falls ending in disqualification, Ed “Strangler” Lewis was declared the winner, and walked away with both belts.

A True Unification Match!?

In what genuinely surprised me, it sounds like a unification match was actually agreed to between Joe Stecher and Ed “Strangler” Lewis! The two camps agreed to hold the contest on October 6th, 1926, at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Promoter Lou Daro brokered the deal and secured the contest, drawing over 10,000 fans for the show, which unfortunately, would end in disappointment.

In what turned out to be a calculated move, Ed “Strangler” Lewis did not show up on the day of the show, with promoter Billy Sandow instead showing up with his own top grappler, John Pesek. Pesek was something of a snake at this time, a wrestler who was known to work for the Gold Dust Trio or the Jack Curley led contingent. This last minute swap of Lewis for Pesek, put the champion in a bit of a bind. Joe Stecher, not wanting to refund the gate, agreed to the best-two-of-three-falls world championship match. The two men would trade one fall each before John Pesek locked the world champion in a wrist lock, and had the match won before the referee stepped in and disqualified him for the use of an “illegal” move. No-showing the event cost Lewis a $2,500 bond.

Londos-Stecher V

Jim Londos would spend most of the year back in Los Angeles, working for promoter Lou Daro once more for an extended tour. It would be during this trip that Londos grew to truly love California, spending much if his time at the 420-acre Rancho Minerva, owned by fellow countryman, Nick Huntalas. The tour would end for Londos with yet another world title opportunity against Joe Stecher, this time at the famed Olympic Auditorium. Lou Daro set the match up for December 1st, 1926, and I unfortunately couldn’t find attendance records, indicating it to be a pretty average night. The finish would see Londos and Stecher exchange a fall each before wrestling a third fall to a time limit draw after two hours of action.

From here, both Londos and Stecher would go their separate ways through the remainder of the year, each recording a couple of more matches in December.

Last Matches of the Year for Stecher & Londos

Jim Londos would round out the year with a couple of matches. The first brought him back to his home base of St Louis, on December 9th, 1926, where Londos main evented a Tom Packs promoted event, wrestling Dick Daviscourt in a best two of three falls matchup. Over 6,000 fans came to the St Louis that evening and watched Londos and Daviscourt trade falls before Londos won the match after an hour and half.

Promoter John Contos secured Joe Stecher for a pair of back-to-back world championship matches. The first took place on December 15th and emanated from the City Auditorium, in Atlanta, Georgia, drawing a crowd of 5,000 for the main event that featured Dick Daviscourt challenging Joe Stecher. The two men battled in a best-two-of-three falls match that saw neither man claim a fall for the first hour. The finish would see both men tied with one fall each before the referee awarded the win to Stecher by decision. The next day, Stecher made the near 400 mile trip to Memphis, Tennessee, where Contos had Joe Komar waiting as his opponent. The match was a best-two-of-three falls match and would interestingly enough, also end with Stecher getting the win due to a referees decision.

The next day, Joe Stecher would wrap his year up with one more title defense that I can find in record. The day after Stecher retained over Komar, he hit the road again and made it to Little Rock, Arkansas, for his scheduled matchup with Ad Santel. The pair reportedly drew 2,500 to the Kempner Theater on December 17th, 1926, for a best-two-of-three falls match that ended with Stecher winning two falls to one. On the same day, Jim Londos would find himself working for Ray Fabiani in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where Fabiani had Londos go over Andreas Castanos in a forty minute single-fall matchup. Curiously enough, this was not the main event of the show though, as that honor would belong to Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

The “False” Reign of Ed Lewis

For anyone reading these reports concurrently, it must be jarring to see how little we have heard from Lewis, Sandow and the Gold Dust Trio as a whole, for this year. The Gold Dust Trio dominated the story for half-a-decade, and then in one calculated move between Curley, Stanislaus and Stecher, they were left licking their wounds all year. I struggled to find much news from the Gold Dust Trio camp in 2026, outside of just vague stories of a growing frustration behind the scenes, specifically between “Toots” Mondt and Sandow’s younger brother Max Baumann. Though, more on that in future reports.

Despite the tension and heavy losses dealt, the Gold Dust Trio still tried to market Ed “Strangler” Lewis as the rightful world champion all year, though they struggled to make it into markets like New York, Philadelphia and bigger venues in Chicago. In what I’m sure was a match that saw Lewis defend his false world title claim, Ray Fabiani had Mike Ramano challenge the “Strangler” on December 17th, 1926. The show drew around 4,000 people to the Metropolitan Oprah House in Philadelphia, for a contest in which Lewis was declared the winner after an hour of grappling.

By the close of 1926, a desperate Billy Sandow and Ed “Strangler” Lewis were more than willing to work with Curley’s group again, and Tom Packs knew there was interest in getting “Strangler” Lewis back in St Louis.

Tom Packs of St Louis

Promoter Tom Packs was said to be the one who bridged talks between Billy Sandow and Jack Curley. Tom Packs negotiatee directly with Billy Sandow, as the relationship between Curley and Sandow was at an all-time low. While the talks didn’t immediately lead to a working relationship between the two sides, it was tge first time a potential bridge was made in over eighteen months. Tom Packs was asked by a St Louis newspaper on his talks with Sandow, and was quoted saying, “I had not spoken to either the former champion (“Strangler” Lewis) or his shrewd manager, Billy Sandow, since both were barred from wrestling under my promotion in St. Louis three years back. Billy was utterly surprised at my visit. I enjoyed the hospitality of his home for several hours, a nice dinner, and then asked him if he would care to bring Lewis to St. Louis to meet an opponent I would pick.” Tom Packs initially went to talk on behalf of Curley and Stecher, but soon negotiated a matchup for his St Louis market, instead. Tom Packs wanted to host a “world” title match between “Strangler” Lewis and John Pesek.

After some time talking it over, Billy Sandow and Lewis agreed to the match wity John Pesek, who served as the “policeman” role when he worked for Sandow and Lewis, now challenging Lewis. Obviously, Lewis was more than comfortable working with someone who he knew he could trust in the ring, as opposed to the potential Stecher-Lewis contest, which was what Packs originally set the meeting up for. The Lewis-Pesek match was set for April 7th, 1927, at the St Louis Coliseum, and public interest immediately shot sky high.

How was Curley and Stecher to react to such a turn of events? Well, that will be covered in my next report on 1927, since we’re st the end of 1926 now.

Considering which, that’s a good place to stop, with…

Joe Stecher still reigning as the legitimate world heavyweight champion, backed by top promoter like Jack Curley, Ray Fabiani, Tony Stecher, and more
Ed “Strangler” Lewis still reigned with his false world championship claim, backed by promoters Billy Sandow, Paul Bowser, and “Toots” Mondt.
Tom Packs is primarily aligned with Jack Curley, but ended the year opening up a working relationship with Billy Sandow, booking a big matchup between “Strangler” Lewis and John Pesek, set for April of 1927.
Jim Londos was still struggling in breaking up into the main event scene, entering his mid-30s and still primarily putting over bigger stars like Lewis & Stecher.

Championship History 1926

Legitimate & Original World Heavyweight Championship

Joe Stecher (3), May 30th, 1925 – next post

”Strangler” Lewis’ False World Championship Claim

Ed “Strangler” Lewis, January 8th, 1925 – next post

Promoters 1926

New York, New York – Jack Curley

Kansas City, Missouri – Billy Sandow

Los Angeles, California – Lou Daro

St Louis, Missouri – Tom Packs

Boston, Massachusetts – Paul Bowser

Minneapolis, Minnesota – Tony Stecher

Omaha, Nebraska – Gene Melady

Canton, Ohio – William Barton

Atlanta, Georgia – John Contos

Chicago, Illinois – John Krone

Chicago, Illinois – Joe Coffey

El Paso, Texas – John McIntosh

San Francisco, California – Frank Schuler

Kansas City, Missouri – Gabe Kaufman

Omaha, Nebraska – Pete Loch

Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Art Reynolds

And that’s all I got for 1926. Ill be back next week with an extensive look at the History of the Gold Dust Trio, as well as Part 3 on my Ed “Strangler” Lewis career retrospective. Ill have 1927 up the following week, if all goes according to plan.

I actually have extra room on this report, since 1926 was pretty light on newsworthy events, so I have room below to include my past reports.

Thanks for taking the time to check this out, I hope y'all have a great weekend!

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u/OShaunesssy — 5 days ago

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Book Report Guy, with my History of Pro Wrestling Reports - 1924 - covering the continued dominance of the Gold Dust Trio, as well as the growing tension among top talent not in the group, and the first schism in the long-standing alliance between Billy Sandow & "Strangler" Lewis

Book Report Guy, back with my stupidly ambitious History of Pro Wrestling reports, and this week we will be looking at 1924.

1923 Recap

Ed "Strangler" Lewis still reigning as world heavyweight champion.
The Gold Dust Trio, made up of "Strangler" Lewis, Billy Sandow & Toots Mondt, had monopolized the wrestling buisness, cutting out top names and promoters who could rival them.
Jack Curley had regained his promoters license for New York.
Tom Packs took over as the top promoter in St Louis, Missouri & Paul Bowser took over as the top promoter in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jim Londos continued his steady climb and continued to gain significant allies within the wrestling business.

Main Characters

Ed “Strangler” Lewis – the reigning world heavyweight champion was thirty-two-years-old and had made up one-third of the Gold Dust Trio.

Billy Sandow – the brain of the Gold Dust Trio was this thirt-nine-year-old promoter who primarily operating out of Kansas City, Missouri.

Stanislaus Zbyszko – Polish-born former world heavyweight champion was in the twilight of his career at forty-five-years-old.

Tom Packs – immigrant from Greece, this thirty-year-old promoter had just recently purchased the booking office in St Louis from fellow Greek immigrant John Contos.

Jim Londos – another immigrant from Greece, this thirty-year-old had spent the last decade slowing building up his name value in America.

Joe Stecher – possibly the best legitimate graopler in the country, the thirty-one-year-old cormer world champion was having a hard time while being black balled by the Gold Dust Trio.

Joseph “Toots” Mondt – the final member of the Gold Dust Trio, the thirty-year-old acted as Lewis' policeman and worked closely with Sandow & Lewis.

”Big” Wayne Munn – this former standout football player for the University of Nebraska was now interested in trying his hand in wrestling at the age of twenty-eight-years-old.

Jack Curley – this forty-eight-year-old was one of the most succesful promoters in the country, and was now back in control of the New York market after being exiled for a couple of years.

As always we go in chronological order, and we will kick things off on New Year's Day…

1924

As a refresher, Ed “Strangler” Lewis had been reigning as world heavyweight champion since March 3rd, 1922, and at nearly two years into his time as champion, the pro wrestling business was back on the precipice of another potential power shift. Lewis, along with his manager/ promoter Billy Sandow, and fellow tough-as-nails wrestler Joseph “Toots” Mondt, had monopolized the entire wrestling business under their partnership, which would be known as the Gold Dust Trio.

The Gold Dust Trio

Considering his legitimate mat grappling skills, “Toots” Mondt was primarily tasked with feeling out potential challengers, and with his advanced grappling ability, was able to determine their skills if matched up with Lewis, or root out of they would be good working opponents for Lewis. These men ideally, had no interest in shooting on the champion, making them perfect working opponents. Lewis was as legitimate as one could be, but they took no chances and often used Mondt or others to test opponents before they got anywhere near the world champion.

As the world heavyweight champion, Ed "Strangler" Lewis acted as the top star and biggest draw in the country as he put a stranglehold over the world title belt. Another wrestler who worked for Billy Sandow would head into a quiet town and slowly make a name for himself as the home-town hero. This would allow Lewis to come in as champion, drive up the local betting scene in the challengers favor, before Lewis would retain his belt. Ideally the finish leaves room for another big money rematch.

Rounding out the Gold Dust Trio would be top promoter Billy Sandow. Billy Sandow was a former wrestler who turned towards promoting a decade prior, and in that time, Sandow opened up booking offices in Chicago, Illinois, & Kansas City, Missouri. While initially Sandow focused on his efforts in Chicago, throughout Lewis’ most recent reign as champion, Sandow had turned a lot of his attention towards Kansas City. I can’t confirm exactly when Sandow left Chicago entirely, but Id wager that 1924 makes the most sense when you look at the influx of other promoters who began making headlines in the mid-1920s.

Myake-Lewis

The first one to look at would be John Krone, who unfortunately I don’t have a lot of information on. According to some sources online, he was active as a promoter in the Chicago area through the 1910s and 1920s, but I couldn’t tell you where he came from or how old he is. I can tell you that John Krone was able to secure world champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis for a big show on New Year’s Day, 1924.

Japanese veteran, the forty-three-year-old Taro Miyake challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis on January 1st, 1924, drawing over 4,000 fans to the Chicago Coliseum for promoter John Krone. The two men battled in the best-two-of-three-falls main event, in what would be a short match. Lewis secured the first fall just fifteen minutes into the contest, and then only three minutes later, Lewis would repeat that feat and secure the second fall over Taro Miyake, retaining his world heavyweight championship. Elsewhere on the card, Stanislaus Zbyszko defeated Joe Zickman in a single-fall matchup that lasted just under an hour.

St Louis Shakeup

As a refresher, Greek born immigrant John Contos had been the top promoter in St Louis up until last year, when he decided to go set up a new office in Memphis, Tennessee. Fellow countryman Tom Packs was quick to jump in the offer when Contos suggested Packs buy his booking office in St Louis. During his first year promoting, Tom Packs leaned on family and friends a lot to put on events and it seemed like he was a natural when it came to being a promoter. Within his first year, Packs was already making a profit.

Promoters' Partnerships

The Gold Dust Trio, made up of promoter Billy Sandow, his top guy, Ed “Strangler” Lewis, and fellow legitimate grappler "Toots" Mondt ruled the wrestling world in the 1920s, with Sandow using several lower end promoters to support him against Jack Curley along the East coast. Tom Packs was one of those promoters Sandow used and worked with, offering Packs access to book world champion “Strangler” Lewis and other big names. Billy Sandow was purposely using smaller promoters who he knew wouldn’t backstab him, as he was worried would be the case if he sent Lewis to New York to work for Jack Curley.

Despite this, Tom Packs wasn’t exactly “loyal” to any one promoter and didn’t get involved in their personal squabbles, instead trying to remain neutral and put on the best show possible. Packs even clashed a bit with Sandow, after Packs gained access to some of Jack Curley’s top guys. One of Tom Packs first massive shows came from these working relationships, and culminated when Packs matched up former world champions Stanislaus Zbyszko and Joe Stecher against one another, at the St Louis Coliseum, with over 10,000 fans in attendance on January 22nd, 1924.

On that same card, Packs had Italian Renato Gardini defeat Jim Londos in the undercard. This set Gardini up for a world title match with Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Before we get to that, Packs had another big show planned for the following week.

Stecher-Zbyszko

Tom Packs was able to secure former world champion Joe Stecher for a couple big show in the new year, while also featuring Jim Londos. On January 27th, 1924, Londos lost to Renato Gardini on a show that was headlined by Joe Stecher defeating Stanislaus Zbyszko in the main event. The event drew over 6,000 fans to the St Louis Coliseum, with Tom Packs quickly arranging to bring Stecher back and this time have him wrestle Jim Londos, though not as Londos would have wanted.

Gardini-Lewis

Renato Gardini was a thirty-five-year-old veteran grappler from Italy who Tom Packs had high hopes on in his St Louis market. After getting the win over Jim Londos, Renato Gardini was able to secure a world heavyweight championship opportunity through Tom Packs the following month. Renato Gardini challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis on February 5th, 1924, only drawing around 4,000 fans to the St Louis Coliseum, due to a reported snowstorm. The best-two-of-three-falls matchup would see Lewis secure two-straight falls to retain his belt in just under an hour and a half.

Meeting at the Top

Tensions were growing among the top promoters and wrestlers. Issues would come to a boiling point in February of 1924, with a meeting between promoter Billy Sandow, his champion “Strangler” Ed Lewis, former champions Stanislaus Zbyszko, Joe Stecher and his brother/ manager Tony. Remember that $25,000 Sandow and Lewis gave to Joe and Tony with he promise of dropping the title back? Well not only did that not happen, but most of that $25,000 was loaned back to Lewis and Sandow over the past few years. Now, Joe and Tony were pissed, not only because they figured Lewis had no intention of dropping the belt back, but also because they figured they weren’t going to get their loans back.

To make things even more conflicted, Stanislaus Zbyszko was also upset, seemingly not happy since dropping the belt back to Lewis, though more details on that conflict aren’t known. Both of the Stecher’s and Zbyszko were threatening to go to the press and sell their stories immediately if their issues aren’t corrected. When things grew to a boiling point, Jack Curley was called to mediate the conflict and though the details aren’t known, we do know that Curley was able to keep everyone on the same page with all the men agreeing to continue working together. Though it’s clear things were reaching a boiling point for the group.

A good example of these growing tensions, was a melee of sorts that took place at a Billy Sandow promoted event in February of that year. As a refresher, last year Jack Curley successfully brought together several estranged promoters and wrestlers, that came about as a result of the Gold Dust Trio’s monopoly over the business The prior year saw former world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko welcomed back into the fold when he was able challenge Ed “Strangler” Lewis on a couple pf occasions. Now it was time to see if Joe Stecher was also willing to play ball and work with the Gold Dust Trio.

A Legitimate Melee Between Stecher & Mondt

Billy Sandow arranged a show on February 11th, 1924, highlighted by a main event between Joe Stecher, and Sandow’s policeman Joseph “Toots” Mondts. “Policemen” were roles that the most skilled grapplers took on, as it was their job to test new or untrustworthy opponents before they received a shot at the top guy, who in this case was world champion “Strangler” Lewis. Mondt & Stecher met at the Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, in a best-two-of-three falls matchup. The contest drew a respectable 7,000 fans that evening, but the resulting matchup would be anything but respectable.

To most everyone in attendance, it was clear that Joe Stecher and "Toots" Mondt wrestled in a legitimate fashion through most of the contest, with both men trying their hardest to pin their opponent. Despite Stecher having more experience than Mondt, the first fall would go to Toots who was able to secure a pin fall after over an hour of action. The second fall would devolve into a mess as the two men began throwing legitimate and real punches and blows. The finish, if you can call it that, would come at just shy of two hours, when “Toots” Mondt was disqualified after he legitimately knocked Joe Stecher unconscious with a blow to the head.

A Drop in Gate Numbers

Astute readers may be able to notice that as the champion entering his third year, “Strangler” Lewis was losing some of his drawing power throughout the country. A few years ago, Lewis was able to draw 10,000 + seat houses several times throughout the year, but now, in 1924 this just was not the norm. In fact, gates were mostly dropping across the board for Sandow’s shows, and with Lewis growing exhausted in his role as champion, the inevitable title change was coming, but who would be the one to finally dethrone Lewis?

"Big" Wayne Munn

The answer to that question came in the form of a 6’6” ex-college football player named Wayne Munn. After a standout football career for the University of Nebraska, Wayne tried his hand in everything from selling cars, to boxing and even preaching, before landing in the world of pro wrestling, despite the lack of experience.

After laying eyes on the former football star, Billy Sandow didn’t see Munn as anything other than a potential star, and set him up to be the young, wholesome American-born giant who the people could get behind. Despite the fact that Munn only wrestled his first match that year, Sandow pushed him hard, though he was notably gassed after a few minutes.

Wayne Munn was paired with popular Kansas City promoter Gabe Kaufman, who acted as Munn’s ringside manager and Sandow gave Munn the basic-as-fuck nickname “Big” Wayne Munn. “Big” Wayne Munn would make his professional wrestling debut on February 12th, 1924, and while he was officially signed by Billy Sandow, Munn’s debut would come at a Jack Curley produced show. “Big” Wayne Munn’s debut match was seen as a success, with Munn defeating Bill Beth at small show in New York, and he did so by utilizing a series of football tackles to Beth.

Zbyszko-Lewis

The next significant world heavyweight championship defence for “Strangler” Lewis would come on February 26th, 1924, in a bout between Lewis and former champion Stanislaus Zbyszko. Stanislaus Zbyszko was the forty-five-year-old former world heavyweight champion from Poland, who actually spent half-a-decade incarcerated as a prisoner-of-war during the First World War. He was basically in the twilight of his career, but he still felt he was due for one more world championship run.

Stanislaus Zbyszko challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis on February 26th, 1924, drawing nearly 8,000 fans to the Dexter Park Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The two men met in a best-two-of-three falls match with Lewis securing the first fall twenty-four minutes into the contest. Stanislaus would tie things up less than ten minutes later when he got the second fall. Just under fifteen minutes later “Strangler” Lewis locked in his headlock to claim the third fall and retain his world championship.

While this win may be inconsequential to Lewis, it seems Stanislaus Zbyszko was growing more and more frustrated in his role of putting Lewis over again and again. Elsewhere on the card, “Big” Wayne Munn defeated Jack McCarthy in a short seven minute bout.

A Show in Kansas City

The “Big” Wayne Munn push continued into March, with Billy Sandow booking Munn on a show that also featured Lewis & Mondt. The show opened with “Big” Wayne Munn making quick work of Jack Paulson, beating him in two-straight falls in just under ten minutes. Next up we would see “Toots” Mondt & Pat McGill wrestle to a time-limit draw after neither man secured a fall in an hour. The main event saw “Strangler” Lewis retain against Taro Miyake, defeating him in two-straight falls in under fifty minutes.

Busy World Champion

Later that month, “Strangler” Lewis travelled back to Chicago, where another championship defence awaited him. Stanislaus Zbyszko once again challenged “Strangler” Lewis for his world championship belt, drawing an incredible crowd of 12,000 to the Dexter Park Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois on March 25th, 1924. I can’t confirm the promoter, but I’m assuming it was either John Krone or Joe Coffey. The two men battled in a best-two-of-three falls main event, with each man trading a fall apiece before Lewis claimed the third fall and retained his world championship. Elsewhere on the card, “Big” Wayne Munn defeated Joe Zingalewicz in another short match for the rookie.

The world heavyweight champion wasn’t only busy in his professional life, but he was making waves in his personal life as well. On March 27th, 1924, Ed Lewis was married for the second time, to Bessie McNear of Kansas City. And unfortunately, just like his first marriage, any more details on this are lost to time, and we only know for certain that the marriage wouldn’t last more than five years.

Londos-Lewis IX

Jim Londos continued to work for promoter Tom Packs, and would become a strong draw in St Louis, with the St Louis Star and Times reporting on it, saying, “St. Louisans are passionately fond of Londos. He can make sardines can out of any enclosure, the packed fish being persons who want to see him wrestle.”

Jim Londos would even get a couple world title opportunities that year working for Tom Packs, reuniting Londos with his old foe, the world champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Their ninth matchup would take place on April 1st, 1924, at the St Louis Coliseum in front of a crowd of 6,000 that evening. Lewis would retain his world title in the best two of three falls contest when he caught Londos with an illegal move, kneeing him behind the ear, knocking Londos out cold by all accounts. The referee didn’t see the knee and the St Louis Star and Times reportedly the next day on the match, hilariously saying the referee “was conveniently looking at a blonde in the third row” during the finish.

Controversial Finish

Both Lewis and Billy Sandow claimed the kick was an accident, but those on hand for the contest said that the referee should have disqualified Lewis for the kick. It’s worth noting that the referee for the contest was Sam Avey, who was on loan from Billy Sandow. Londos later claimed that the kick caused a brain tumor to develop under his right ear, but considering this is pro wrestling, I don’t know how sincere that claim is.

Supposedly Londos was out cold for a ridiculous twenty minutes and diagnosed with a concussion and hematoma on the back of his skull. If that injury was real, he powered through it because Tom Packs was able to arrange a world title rematch for Londos, this time at the outdoor stadium, the St Louis University Field.

After some negotiations beteren the Gold Dust Trio and Tom Packs, "Strangler" Lewis agreed to come back for an insane guaranteed pay of $12,000 from Packs, leaving the promoter with no choice but to jack ticket prices up to $11. Average ticket prices back then we’re around the $5 mark so this was a gamble that unfortunately wouldn’t pay off.

Conflict in St Louis

Before we get to the second Lewis-Londos bout of 1924, it’s worth mentioning Tom Packs first local competition as a promoter. Hopeful promoter Gus Tiefenthaler started his own promotions in St Louis, in direct competition with Packs and his first show was held on May 7th, 1924, at the Battery A Open Air Arena, featuring a main event between Marin Plestina and Mike Howard. Just over 1,000 fans were on hand for Plestina beating Howard, and afterwards, Plestina publicly challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis to a world title match. Billy Sandow and Ed “Strangler” Lewis already had an established working relationship with Tom Packs though, and didn’t see the value in working with a lesser promoter in the same market. The challenge went unanswered, but more on Marin Plestina later in this report.

American Wrestling Association

As a refresher, Paul Bowser officially took over as the top promoter in Boston the previous year, when George T. Touhey filed for bankruptcy. Paul Bowser’s company, the “American Wrestling Association” (AWA) wasted no time in establishing itself as one of the top wrestling companies on the East coast. Paul Bowser had quickly formed a working relationship with Billy Sandow, and had spent his first year building up one of his top guys, with the hopes of one day managing a world champion. Bowser’s first choice would be twenty-nine-year-old Polish grappler Stanley Stasiak.

After months and months of slowing building up his guy, Bowser's hard work would be rewarded with a world championship opportunity for his Stankey Stasiak. Stanley Stasiak challenge Ed “Strangler” Lewis at the Boston Arena on May 8th, 1924. Just over 10,000 fans were on-hand for the best-two-of-three falls main event. The match itself was well remembered for being a bloody affair, with both men said to have been bleeding heavily by the conclusion. Both men traded a fall each in a matchup that just lasted an hour, and would end in disqualification. I cant confirm what the exact nature of the disqualification was, but considering both men were bleeding heavily, I suspect that match may have just been called off.

Ray Fabiani's Philadelphia

Also worth noting would be the regular booking of Jim Londos in Philadelphia starting in 1924, following a chance encounter between Londos and Oprah house manager, Ray Fabiani, in Chicago before Fabiani worked in wrestling. It seems Ray Fabiani took a liking to Jim Londos as he routinely booked him to win whenever Londos came to Philadelphia and always prominently featured the Greek athlete. At this point, Londos wa just a journeyman worker who was usually used to put over the world champions like Joe Stecher and Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

As a promoter, Fabiani pushed for the end of gimmicky handicap bouts that became popular with shady wrestling shows and also did as little draws as possible. Fabiani liked to have clear winners on his shows where most promoters were comfortable booking draws and screw job finishes.

Travelling Champion

Just like most burgeoning promoters at the time, Ray Fabiani was quick to make connections with Billy Sandow and would actually secure the world heavyweight champion for a match that summer. Italian grappler Renato Gardini would challenge Ed “Strangler” Lewis to a world title match on May 21st, 1924, drawing nearly 7,000 fans to the Philadelphia Arena for promoter Ray Fabiani. The two men would trade falls in their best-two-of-three falls match before Lewis was declared the winner via referees decision at just under fifty minutes into the contest.

Lewis resumed touring as world champion, registering another successful defence against Renato Gardini three days later up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they drew around 3,000 fans. Lewis was back stateside a few days later on May 28th, 1924, when he defended his belt against Stanislaus Zbyszko yet again. This time the two met in Chicago for promoter John Krone, where they drew nearly 6,000 fans to the Chicago Coliseum, where Lewis retained over Zbyszko in a best-two-of-three falls contest. Following that succesful defence, Lewis would turn his attention back towards his old foe, Jim Londos.

Londos-Lewis X

The second Lewis-Londos bout of 1924, which took place on June 12th, at the St Louis University Stadium, drawing of over 4,000 fans, with a gate that exceeded $14,000 for Packs! This match would end without controversy though, and while Londos secured the first fall, Lewis came back and won the next two falls to keep his title**. This was very common for Lewis matches as champion during this timeframe, as Lewis liked to give his opponent the first fall, leaving opportunity for a rematch.

Fellow Countryman Conflict

Getting back to a name mentioned earlier this year, Marin Plestina didn’t really shut up about his world title aspirations , and publicly boasted about his ability to beat Lewis after every show Plestina competed at. Eventually, Tom Packs decided to indulge Plestina and offered him a match with his guy, Renato Gardini, with Plestina being promised a main event spot within Packs’ growing organization. Gardini was a legitimate Olympic amateur wrestler, and Packs had no doubt Gardini would easily beat Plestina.

Perhaps his would-be opponent knew this, because Plestina refused this offer and instead started to negotiate directly with Jim Londos for a match. Londos was actually open to the idea of working with Plestina on a smaller show, but Packs wasn’t having it. Londos was scheduled to face Joe Stecher at a Packs promoted event on July 9th, 1924, but Londos actually pulled out of the match so he could instead wrestle Plestina. I have no idea what made Londos turn agaisnt a fellow countryman, as he would spend most of his career preferring to work with people from Greece. Packs didn’t take this lightly and obtained an injunction that prevented Londos from wrestling Plestina. Obviously, this would cause a bit of a divide between Packs and Londos going forward, though the two will try to remain professional.

Londos-Plestina

Eventually, the issue between Packs & Londos was all wrapped up all and both parties agreed to a Plestina-Londos match happening at a Tom Packs promoted event, on July 30th, at St Louis University Stadium. Plestina and Londos fought under convoluted handicap rules, which required Plestina to secure two falls to Londos in under ninety minutes, while Londos just had to pin him once. Over 3,000 fans showed up for the dull affair, that would end after neither man secured a fall in the alloted time. After all the drama of getting the match booked, that was an anticlimactic finish.

Fallout Between Packs & Sandow

Soon after this event, a falling out would happen between promoters Billy Sandow and Tom Packs, with Packs severing all ties to Sandow and instead forming a closer working relationship with Jack Curley going forward. Details on this rift are lost to time, but I suspect it had to do with the monopoly of sorts that Sandow and Lewis held over the world title. Lewis had been reigning champion for a couple years and neither he, nor Sandow, showed any signs of handing it over to another promoter. In fact, the person Lewis and Sandow had pegged as the next work champion, was a green-as-grass wrestler who was working for Sandow and Lewis already.

Before we can get to the talk of "Big" Wayne Munn challenging "Strangler" Lewis, we first have to pause and look at those who didnt work within the Gold Dust Trio, but challenged their monopoly over the buisness.

William Demetral’s Scheme

William Demetral was a thirty-eight-year-old wrestler who long wished he could be world heavyweight champion. At his most succesful, he was only ever to challenge for the world title infrequently. Now, entering his twilight years, Demetral had high hopes of securing another world title matchup. But in reality, he had a much more ambitious plan up his sleeve.

In order to get the high profile match, Demetral took out a five thousand dollar lone from Sandow, and in return he gave Sandow the mortgage to his own home! Demetral and Lewis met in a matchup in Chicago, Illinois, with Lewis going over. The next day, Demetral went to the press and claimed he lost on purpose, for fear of his home being foreclosed on. Demetral also ran his mouth about the inner-workings of the Gold Dust Trio, but because he was never closely involved, all his claims were either blatant lies or heresy he couldn’t possibly verify.

The public outcry was immediate, with the Governor of Illinois ordering an investigation and promising to declare Lewis’ world title as forfeit if any evidence turns up against the Gold Dust Trio. Eventually both Demetral & Lewis were ordered by the governor to appear in Springfield, Illinois for each to give a testimony. Demetral's testimony was overshadowed by Lewis' who offered Demtral a shot at the world title right then and there. Demtral refused and that was tbe end of the investigation.

Ole Marsh & Marin Plestina

Here is a name that astute readers may recall. Ole Marsg was 50% con-man, 50% wrestler, and 100% underhanded. He was an old-school barnstormer who actually helped train a young Frank Gotch back in the early 1900s, and was involved in the first ever territory battle with Jack Curley in 1909, over Seattle. Ole Marsh even spent time in prison in the 1910s, for his involvement in a vast scheme that some theorize pocketed somewhere around 4 million dollars! He returned to the pro wrestling scene in the 1920s with his personally trained wrestler, Marin Plestina.

The aforementioned Marin Plestina, was a Croatian-born grappler who was as legitimate as they come in the ring. Now in his thirties, I would argue that the only thing really holding him back, was who his manager was. Ole Marsh had Plestina under contract and worked hard trying to get him involved with top talent. Unfortunately for Plestina & Marsh, they failed to garner interest from either Billy Sandow or Jack Curley.

Marsh pushed hard for a world title match between Lewis & Plestina, but according to Marcus Griffon, the author of the 1937 book, "Fall Guys," Billy Sandow was terrified of the prospect. Sandow allegedly argued that neither Toots or Lewis can wrestle Plestina, on the suspicion of a crooked referee or a fix of some kind. According to Griffon, Sandow was genuinely concerned that Plestina could beat Lewis or Toots in a legitimate contest.

Plestina-Lewis

By chance, or by design (we’ll never know) Toots Mondt would run into Marsh & Plestina at a hotel bar and chat them up for several hours. After plenty of drinks, Toots Mondt layed out the pitch. Toots invited Plestina to come with him up to “Strangler” Lewis’ summer home in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, where Lewis was currently training with a few other guys.

Toots really talked up Marsh and Plestina, playing to their egos with Toots telling Plestina that he could beat Lewis and even admitted that he didn’t think he himself could go toe-to-toe with Plestina. Toots invited Plestina to come and challenge Lewis to a closed doors matchup at his own home with Marsh serving as the referee. If Plestina wins, then they would run the match back at Madison Square Garden or somewhere that could draw big money and put the belt on Plestina. But If Plestina looses, he must give up this crusade against Lewis, with both Plestina and Marsh coming into the fold and working within the Gold Dust Trio.

After some deliberation, Marsh & Plestina agreed to the idea, and together with Toots Mondt, the next day, the three of them drove to Lewis’ summer home. Allegedly, to those lucky enough to be on-hand for this insane idea, they said that Billy Sandow’s hair started turning grey when he saw Ole Marsh and Marin Plestina roll up to Lewis’ home. Sandow was the last one who needed to be convinced, as Lewis was clearly in on the plan with Toots Mondt. When Sandow protested the idea, Lewis was interrupted and said played to Plestina's ego and tried to trick him into agreeing.

This speech from Lewis worked, because within an hour the men were ready to grapple with Marsh as referee. Ed “Strangler” Lewis would defeat Marin Plestina without controversy, throwing him twice in just thirty minutes. Ole Marsh & Marin Plestina were men of their words, and agreed to “play ball” and work within the Gold Dust Trio. This move would prove beneficial for Marsh and especially Plestina, who after a decade of grinding, was able to make some real money for his family through the Gold Dust Trio.

Schism

The private contest between Lewis & Plestina would be the first time that the Gold Dust Trio wasn’t united. Billy Sandow was pissed at what Toots & Lewis had planned behind his back, and would let his feelings be known. Three days later, at a meeting between the three, they were discussing Lewis defeating Plestina, before Sandow cut them off and said, “Yes, Ed did a great job. But do you fellows really believe Plestina was trying?” This one remark would stick with Lewis & Toots, and begin festering a conflict between the three most powerful men in the wrestling business.

Sandow’s Cowardice

The next potential outside challenger to Lewis would come from Chicago-based promoter, Ed White. Ed White suddenly debuted a new masked wrestler, called The Masked Marvel. That’s a super common name for masked wrestlers back then. This is at least the third different Masked Marvel I’ve seen in history up to this point. Ed White announced the Marvel to be openly calling on “Strangler” Lewis to come into Chicago and defend his belt.

This publicity ploy worked with the Masked Marvel becoming a legitimate draw in Chicago as he beat opponents and kept calling out Lewis. Lewis, to his credit, saw value in working with Ed White & the Masked Marvel, and tried hard to convince Sandow to agree with the terms. Lewis was quoted in saying, “That fellow’s getting a lot of publicity, especially in Chicago. Now if you let me shoot with him we might draw a hundred thousand dollars, and that’s important money. We can make a deal with White and if the fellow beats me leveling up and shooting the works, then his champion can work with us and we’ll make a lot of money. The game needs a new face. It’s getting tired of me.”

Sandow answered simply with, “Nope. You stay champion until I get a better man to take your place.” Not long after this, the Masked Marvel would be revealed to be John Freeberg, a competent grappler who Lewis had beaten a dozen times in the past with no real concern. Ed White was bluffing, all a play to gain more notoriety as a promoter and Billy Sandow fell for it. Obviously, Lewis was pretty pissed when he discovered he would have easily beaten the Masked Marvel.

The King of Los Angeles

Even with growing tensions, another promotor who Sandow and Lewis worked with during this time would be Lou Daro. Lou Daro was a former wrestler and strongman from Austria, who began promoting wrestling shows in 1922. He started staging events in Sacramento, but was chased off by local government, who refused to let him promote events because they accused him of fixing the winners. Lou would take his talents to Los Angeles, where he was able to establish himself as the promoter in LA. Not long after opening a booking office in LA, Lou Daro dubbed himself, “The King of Los Angeles.”

An early example of Lou Daro forming a working relationship with Billy Sandow can be found on August 3rd, 1924, when Daro was able to secure some of Sandow’s top talent for a show in Los Angeles. Joseph “Toots” Mondt challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis in the main event of a Lou Daro promoted event in Los Angeles, California. The two men drew over 5,000 fans to the Philharmonic Auditorium For a show that saw Lewis retain his world title belt in a match that reportedly lasted over two hours. Mondt & Lewis would run back the same match at the same venue in August 13th, 1924, again ending with Lewis going over Mondt.

A Disputed Finish Followed by a Sellout

Lou Daro was cooking something up with Lewis & “Toots” Mondt, because he again had the two men battle it out at the Philharmonic Auditorium on September 29th,1924, with goal of drawing even bigger crowds down the road. The next encounter between Mondt & Lewis drew the same 5,000 response at the Philharmonic Auditorium, but this time the finish didn’t go down the same. The two men faced off in a best-two-of-three falls contest and each man held one fall apiece, but instead of Lewis getting the third fall, the referee called for the bell and declared the match a tie due to reaching the time limit at two hours.

Lou Daro had hoped the screwy finish could pull even bigger numbers and booked the rematch for the outdoor venue, the Washington Dog Park in Los Angeles. The plan paid off bigtime because when “Toots” Mondt & “Strangler” Lewis met jn a rematch on October 13th, 1924, they drew an enormous crowd of over 10,000! The two men of course faced off in another best-two-of-three falls match that saw Mondt secure the first fall after thirty minutes. Just over half-an-hour later Lewis tied things up, and capitalizing on that momentum, Lewis would secure the third fall just a few minutes after that, retaining his world title belt. For all his boasting and arrogance, there was no doubting that Lou Daro was living up to his “King of Los Angeles” moniker.

Wrestling in El Paso

Just two days later “Strangler” Lewis found himself eight hundred miles away in El Paso, Texas, working for a promoter who has mostly kept his head down when it came to the conflict between Sandow & Curley up North. John McIntosh had framed the El Paso Wrestling Association (EPWA) in 1918 and had been quietly building up his home base for the past half decade. In late-1924 he was able to link up with Billy Sandow and secured the world heavyweight champion for a show in October.

George Kotsonaros challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis on October 15th, 1924, at the Liberty Hall in El Paso, Texas. Unfortunately we don’t have attendance numbers for this show, but we do know that Lewis retained his world title belt in the best-two-of-three-falls main event, securing two-straight falls in just under an hour.

As "Strangler" Lewis travelled the country as world champion, Billy Sandow had been preparing his potential successor all year.

The Next World Heavyweight Champion?

Since February, Billy Sandow had spent slowly building up Wayne Munn into a credible challenger and potential star attraction, featuring him in squash matches all over the country. His goal was to smash Munn over as a dominant force who couldn't be stopped, and by the close of the year, Sandow was starting to think his plan was working.

Billy Sandow went all in on Wayne Munn, putting Munn over Toots Mondt in Kansas City, on December 11th, 1924, winning two straight falls in front of ten thousand fans in attendance. Toots was the biggest name Munn had faced up to that point, and the decisive win put him right into world title contention to challenge champion "Strangler" Ed Lewis. Their world heavyweight championship encounter was set for January 8th, 1925!

And thats an ideal place to stop, with...

Ed "Strangler" Lewis still reigning as world heavyweight champion, with a high profile world title match againat "Big" Wayne Munn scheduled for January 8th, 1925
The Gold Dust Trio still held dominion over the wrestling business, but there was growing tension between Sandow, Lewis & Mondt.
Stanislaus Zbyszko and Joe Stecher were growing more and more frustrated every day by the monopoly the Gold Dust Trio had over the business.
Jim Londos was slowly building up a fan base in St Louis alongside promoter Tom Packs.

Championship History 1924