<< Introduction
Wrestling as a competitive sport has ancient origins, with evidence of mock combat between men dating back to prehistory. The modern sport of wrestling developed during the 19th century in two forms, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, now collectively known as amateur wrestling. Meanwhile, during the 1830s, showmen in France started to present wrestlers as superhuman figures, with nicknames such as “steel eater” and “bone wrecker”, and challenged people to knock them out. The first circus troupe of wrestlers was formed in 1848, and they established the rule of avoiding holds below the waist. This style became popular throughout Europe, and also spread to the United States in the late 19th century.
Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a new style of wrestling, called catch-as-catch can (or catch wrestling), which allowed all kind of holds, began including elements of choreographed entertainment. During this time, wrestling was an attraction in traveling carnivals, with promoters enhancing the presentation of the athletes with fictional biographies and colorful costumes.
Around the same time, various championships also emerged in Europe and North America, and wrestlers competed for them in both legitimate and predetermined matches. By the end of the 19th century, many wrestling matches in the United States were staged, but promoters and wrestlers kept this as a secret to mantain the pretense of legitimacy. The presentation of staged events as real is known in professional wrestling as “kayfabe”, and this secret was fiercely mantained by insiders until at least the 1980s.
Estonian strongman George Hackenschmidt was one of the most popular wrestlers in Europe at the turn of the 20th century. He won the European Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship in 1902, and was booked (“to book” in wrestling jargon means to determine the events of a show) to defeat American Heavyweight Champion Tom Jenkins in 1905, becoming the first universally recognized World Heavyweight Champion in professional wrestling history. Since Hackenschmidt was legitimately a dominant champion, promoters convinced him to include elements of entertainment in his matches to make them more interesting.
George Hackenschmidt was the first universally recognized World Heavyweight Champion in professional wrestling history.
Hackenschmidt was defeated by Frank Gotch in 1908, a pupil of Martin “Farmer” Burns, one of the most popular wrestlers of the late 19th century. Gotch held the title until his retirement in 1913, and is credited with popularizing professional wrestling in the United States. To this day, he is described as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and his win over Hackenschmidt is considered one of the most significant matches in the history of wrestling.
After Gotch’s retirement, the popularity of wrestling waned in the United States, with many questioning the legitimacy of the competitions. Three professional wrestlers, Ed Lewis, Billy Sandow, and Toots Mondt, formed a new promotion in the 1920s, introducing original elements such as time-limit matches, new holds, maneuvers unique to a certain wrestler, and tactics such as distracting the referee. They also popularized tag team wrestling, and kept their performers under contract for years, instead of calling them only when they were available. This allowed them to have regular wrestling cards and to develop stories and feuds between the performers, to keep fans engaged. Because of their success, Lewis, Sandow, and Mondt were nicknamed the “Gold Dust Trio”.
Frank Gotch in 1917, he is credited with popularizing professional wrestling in the United States.
The reputation of the Gold Dust Trio was hurt when in 1925 Stanislaus Zbyszko defeated Wayne Munn to win the World Heavyweight Championship, despite being booked to lose. Zbyszko quickly dropped the title to Joe Stecher, a rival of Ed Lewis, making the situation worse. Stetcher initially refused to defend the championship, but ultimately lost to Lewis in 1928, ending the dispute.
During the 1920s and 1930s, world champions were often struggling to be recognized as such by all wrestling promotions, hindering the “undisputed” nature of the title. During this time, Lewis was one of the most notable champions, and retained the title for four years, between 1931 and 1935. Greek wrestler Jim Londos had the longest individual reign as champion with the original World Heavyweight Championship. He won the title in November 1938 and retired as champion in January 1946, reigning for a total of 2,628 days.
Jim Londos had the longest individual reign with the original World Heavyweight Championship, with a total of 2,628 days as champion between 1938 and 1946.
By this time, choreographed matches started being clearly different from the competitive contests. Matches between women and including weapons started to become common especially in the United Kingdom, until the London County Council banned professional wrestling in the late 1930s. Professional wrestling reemerged in the United Kingdom after World War II, although with a much different style that the one common in North America. British wrestling was thus shaped for decades by the rules introduced during this time, that included weight classes, rounds with time limits, and restrictions on allowed moves.
Wrestling also spread to Mexico in the early 20th century, where it became known as “lucha libre” and often included masked competitors. In 1933, Salvador Lutteroth founded the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, now called Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), the oldest professional wrestling promotion still in existence. Lucha libre became a cultural phenomenon in Mexico after the debut of El Santo in 1942, who became a national icon and inspired many other masked wrestlers for decades.
Lucha libre evolved mostly independently of the style that was common in the United States, and developed its own unique features. To this day, luchadores are often smaller and more agile than American wrestlers, and perform many aerial maneuvers. Another universal feature of lucha libre is the mask, with wrestlers usually starting their careers as masked competitors, and being unmasked only after a significant loss or on their retirement. Besides El Santo, other wrestlers that defined the lucha libre style between the 1940s and 1980s are Gory Guerrero, Blue Demon, and Mil Máscaras.
Chapter 2: the territory era >>