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International Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame
The International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (IPWHF) is an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum that is located in Albany, New York (state), New York. The museum was founded by Seth Turner, Tony Vellano, the founder of Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, Michael Viscosi, Andrew Groff, Joe Defino, and Mike Lanuto on December 10, 2019. Seth Turner was named the President of the IPWHF and Tony Vellano was named Vice President of Talent and Community Relations. The launching of the IPWHF began after the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, New York State Board of Regents approved a provisional charter for the new hall. Its purpose is to "ensure the contributions to professional wrestling by individuals from various backgrounds and diverse cultures will be highlighted in the establishment". IPWHF declared itself a non profit organization. Members Class of 2021 * Bruno Sammartino * Ric Flair * Hulk Hogan * André the Giant * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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—as in televised wrestling shows—in backstage areas of the venue, in similar form to reality television. Professional wrestling as a form of theater evolved out of the widespread practice of match fixing among wrestlers in the early 20th century. Rather than sanction the wrestlers for their deceit as was done with boxers, the public instead came to see professional wrestling as a performance art rather than a sport. Professional wrestlers responded to the public's attitude by dispensing with verisimilitude in favor of entertainment, adding melodrama and outlandish stuntwork to their performances. Although the mock combat they performed ceased to resemble any authentic wrestling form, the wrestlers nevertheless continued to pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Gotch
Frank Alvin Gotch (April 27, 1877 – December 17, 1917) was an American professional wrestler. Gotch was the first American professional wrestler to win the world heavyweight free-style championship, and he is credited for popularizing professional wrestling in the United States. He competed back when the contests at championship level were largely legit (see catch wrestling), and his reign as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (from 1908 to 1913) is one of the ten longest in the history of professional wrestling. He became one of the most popular athletes in America from the 1900s to the 1910s. ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' described Gotch as "arguably the best North American professional wrestler of the 20th century". Early life The son of Frederick Rudolph and Amelia Gotch, and of German ancestry, he was born and raised on a small farm three miles south of Humboldt, Iowa. He took up wrestling in his teens, earning a reputation by beating locals. He adopted the toe hold a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatsumi Fujinami
(born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He was famously nicknamed "The Dragon", and is credited for inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex. He is also the owner and founder of the Dradition wrestling promotion. In 2015, Fujinami was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, while also becoming an ambassador for the company. Bret Hart said of Fujinami: "I always wanted to be the great wrestler that Tatsumi Fujinami was". He is a nine time World Champion, winning world titles in NJPW, NWA, UWA and WCWA. Professional wrestling career Japanese Wrestling Association (1971–1972) Fujinami started in the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) under Antonio Inoki's wing at the age of 17. When Inoki was fired from JWA in 1971, Fujinami and a few others followed him in forming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanislaus Zbyszko
'Jan Stanisław Cyganiewicz'' (April 1, 1879 – September 23, 1967), better known by his ring name, Stanislaus Zbyszko, was a Polish strongman and professional wrestler. He was a three-time World Heavyweight Champion at his highest profile in the United States during the 1920s. The surname ''Zbyszko'' was only a nickname, given to him by friends due to his bravery when he was a child. The name comes from a fictional medieval Polish knight in the historical novel, ''The Knights of the Cross'' by Henryk Sienkiewicz (published in 1900). Stanislaus Zbyszko was the brother of Wladek Zbyszko (1891-1968). Early life Stanislaus Cyganiewicz was born on April 1, 1879 in Jodłowa near Kraków, Poland. A noted intellectual, he studied music, philosophy, and law while growing up in Vienna, Austria. Standing , Cyganiewicz was heavily built, weighing 260 pounds. He also possessed remarkable strength and joined the renowned Vindobona Athletic Club while in college, where he gradually developed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Inoki
Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born ; February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He was best known by the ring name , a homage to fellow professional wrestler Antonino Rocca. Inoki was a twelve-time professional wrestling world champion, notably being the first IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the first Asian WWF Heavyweight Champion – a reign not officially recognized by WWE. Inoki began his professional wrestling career in the 1960s for the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) under the tutelage of Rikidōzan. Inoki quickly became one of the most popular stars in the history of Japanese professional wrestling. He parlayed his wrestling career into becoming one of Japan's most recognizable athletes, a reputation bolstered by his 1976 fight against world champion boxer Muhammad Ali – a fight that served as a predecessor to modern day mixed martial arts. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satoru Sayama
(born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestling, Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, MMA and wrestling promoter and writer, best known as the original Tiger Mask (professional wrestling), Tiger Mask. He has wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger. He is the only man to hold the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship simultaneously. Sayama has the distinction of being a competitor (along with Dynamite Kid, "Dynamite Kid" Thomas Billington) in the first 5 Star Rating awarded for a Match by Dave Meltzer, for their NJPW Sumo Hall Show 1983 match. This is thought of very highly in the industry. He is also recognized as a pioneer in mixed martial arts, founding Shooto in 1985, one of the first MMA organizations in the world. Sayama also pioneered mixed martial arts training and developed his own Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Muldoon
William A. Muldoon (May 25, 1845 – June 3, 1933) was the Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion, a physical culturist and the first chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. He once wrestled a match that lasted over seven hours. Nicknamed "The Solid Man," Muldoon established himself as champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 1880s and over the years gained a remarkable measure of public influence that would continue through his days as a health farm proprietor in Westchester County and his service on NYSAC. Muldoon was a mainstay in New York sports for over 50 years. Early life Born in Allegany County, New York, Muldoon was the son of Irish immigrants. His father was a farmer. Showing a knack for strength athletics at a young age, Muldoon gained a local reputation as a standout in caber-tossing, weightlifting, sprinting and amateur wrestling. His youth was otherwise characterized by a brutish, flash temper, and his desire to be treated with the respect of an adult despite be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evan Lewis (wrestler)
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 the sleeperhold. He is sometimes confused with Ed "Strangler" Lewis, a later six-time World Heavyweight Champion also credited with first using the hold, whose moniker is attributed to Lewis's after a reporter noted a resemblance between the two. Life and wrestling career Born in Ridgeway, Wisconsin, Lewis began wrestling professionally winning a 64-man tournament in Montana in May 1882. He returned to Wisconsin and defeated Ben Knight for the Wisconsin Heavyweight Championship in a Mineral Point match on March 20, 1883. Moving to Madison in 1885, he later defeated several international wrestlers, including Andre Christol, Tom Cannon, and Matsuda Sorakichi. Defeating Joe Acton in Chicago, Illinois, for the American Catch-as-Catch-can C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Hackenschmidt
Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt ( – 19 February 1968) was an early 20th-century Estonian strongman, professional wrestler, author, and sports philosopher who is recognized as professional wrestling's first world heavyweight champion. Hackenschmidt launched his professional career in Reval (Tallinn), Estonia (then part of Russian Empire), at the time when contests were largely legitimate, and lived most of his life in London, England, where he gained the nickname of "The Russian Lion". He is believed to be the creator of the professional wrestling version of the bear hug as well as the person who popularised the hack squat, a deadlift with arms behind the body, Hackenschmidt is also atributed as the creator of the bench press. He was known for his impressive strength, fitness and flexibility and, later in life, wrote many books on physical culture, training and philosophy. Early life Georg Hackenschmidt's grandfather, Christian Philipp Hackenschmidt, a Prussian dyer, acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Burns
Martin Burns (February 15, 1861 – January 8, 1937), nicknamed Farmer Burns, was an American catch wrestler, wrestling coach, and teacher. Born in Cedar County, Iowa, he started wrestling as a teenager and made money traveling around the Midwest wrestling in carnivals and fairs. As a professional wrestler, he claimed the American Heavyweight Championship by defeating Evan "Strangler" Lewis in 1895 and held the title for two years, during the time when contests were legitimate. At this time, Martin Burns himself claimed to have wrestled in more than 6,000 matches and is said to have lost only seven. After the end of his active wrestling career he started a successful wrestling school in Omaha and later coached Cedar Rapids' Washington high school to the first Iowa high school state wrestling tournament title. He died in Council Bluffs in 1937. In 2001 Martin "Farmer" Burns was inducted into the International Wrestling Institute and Museum Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rikidōzan
(born Kim Sin-rak; ; November 14, 1924 – December 15, 1963), better known as Rikidōzan (), was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu, and one of the most influential persons in professional wrestling history. Initially, he had moved from his native country Korea to Japan to become a ''rikishi'' (sumo wrestler). He was credited with bringing the sport of professional wrestling to Japan at a time when the Japanese needed a local hero to emulate and was lauded as a national hero. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, becoming the first Korean inductee and the third puroresu star to be inducted after Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. He was killed in a street fight with a member of the Sumiyoshi-ikka in 1963. Biography Early years Rikidōzan was born Kim Sin-rak in Kankyō-nan, Chōsen (now South Hamgyong, North Korea), on November 14, 1924. He was the youngest son of Kim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Pons
Paul Pons (June 23, 1864–April 13, 1915), stage name ''le Colosse'' ("The Colossus"), was a French wrestler. He won the first title as world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1898 (as opposed to the first Olympic victory, won two years earlier by Carl Schuhmann). Born in Sorgues, France he won the first world championship in wrestling, organized by ''Le Journal des Sports'', by beating Polish competitor from Russian Empire, Wladislaus Pytlasinski. His fame allowed him to open a gym in Paris offering wrestling classes. His most famous student was Belgian wrestler, Constant Lavaux (stage name ''Constant le Boucher''). The championship passed to Bulgarian Nikola Petroff in 1900, when he defeated Pons at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Pons was considered one of the best wrestlers of all time during his lifetime. He published his memoirs in the sports magazine ''La Vie au grand air'' in 1907. He continued competing until 1909, when he, now aged 44, was defeated by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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