Joseph Acton (8 March 1852 – 26 June 1917), known by his ringname "Little Joe" or "Limey Joe", was a British professional wrestler and world champion who competed in England and America during the late 19th century. Acton is one of a handful of wrestlers credited with introducing " catch-as-catch-can" wrestling (also known today as free-style), with its roots in old

Lancashire wrestling Lancashire wrestling is a historic submission wrestling style from Lancashire in England. It is considered an ancestor of catch wrestling, professional and amateur wrestling. The style included groundwork, submissions, throws and had a reputation ...

, to the United States. Wrestling under the name Joe Acton, and nicknamed "The Little Demon," Acton was considered one of the top wrestlers of his era.

Career

Acton began wrestling in his native Great Britain during the 1870s defeating Tom Cannon to become the first

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Catch-as-Catch-Can Heavyweight

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

on 12 December 1881. He toured the United States that same year facing several prominent wrestlers including

Edwin Bibby Edwin Bibby (15 November 1848 – 5 May 1905) was an English wrestling champion during the 1870s and 1880s. He was a popular catch-as-catch-can style wrestler in his generation. He became the first American Heavyweight Champion in 1881 with a ...

, Arkansas Heavyweight Champion

Clarence Whistler Clarence Whistler (February 24, 1856 - November 6, 1885) was a professional athlete and champion Greco-Roman wrestler of the 1880s. As the main rival to William Muldoon in wrestling of the early 1880s, he was best remembered for his unusual stre ...

, and Matsada Sorakichi as well as several rematches against Tom Cannon and was widely regarded as the best wrestler in America by 1887, although he lost the American "Catch-as-Catch-can" Championship bout to

Evan "Strangler" Lewis Evan Lewis (May 24, 1860 – November 3, 1919) was an American professional wrestler who was the first recognized American Heavyweight Champion and is credited with perfecting the "stranglehold" or "neck yoke" more commonly known today as th ...

on 14 March 1887 in one of the biggest matches of the decade. Acton would also face Australian bare-knuckle boxer William Miller in a series of wrestling matches in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

between March and July 1888 as well as

Bob Fitzsimmons Robert James Fitzsimmons (26 May 1863 – 22 October 1917) was a British professional boxer who was the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating Gentleman Jim Corbett (the man who beat John L. Sullivan), ...

in 1891. Although retiring close to the turn of the century, he did agree to several exhibition matches while a student instructor at

Multnomah Athletic Club The Multnomah Athletic Club is a private social and athletic club in Portland, Oregon, United States. Located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, it was originally founded in 1891 as the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club. It has expanded to fill ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. In one of his final matches, at age 59, Action faced Tokugoro Ito in a jacketed wrestling match at the Grand Opera House in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

on 11 May 1911. Although he had previous experience in jujitsu-style fighting having faced British judoka Yukio Tanai in 1904, he lost to Ito in two bouts, in three and two minutes respectively.

Championships and accomplishments

Catch wrestling Catch wrestling (originally catch-as-catch-can) is a classical hybrid grappling style and combat sport. It was developed by J. G. Chambers in Britain . It was popularised by wrestlers of travelling funfairs who developed their own submission ...

:*American Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship (1 time) :*European Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship (1 time) :*

World Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship The World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first recognized professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created in 1905 to identify the best catch as catch can wrestler in the world. The subsequent legacy of the championshi ...

(1 time) * Collar and Elbow wrestling :*Dublin Collar-and-Elbow Championship (1 time) *

Professional Wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

American Heavyweight Championship The American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first heavyweight professional wrestling championship in the United States. The title existed from 1881 through approximately 1922. Title history See also *Professional wrestling in the ...

( 1 time)

References

External links

Deceased Superstars: Joe Acton

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acton, Joseph 1852 births 1917 deaths 19th-century professional wrestlers 20th-century professional wrestlers English male professional wrestlers British catch wrestlers