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Undisputed Championship (professional Wrestling)
An undisputed championship is a professional wrestling term for a champion who has obtained all of the major individual championships in his field during his era. The undisputed championship is an extremely rare and prestigious accomplishment. The first undisputed champions The reported first undisputed champion was George Hackenschmidt, who won a series of tournaments in Europe, including a world championship tournament to win the title. Amongst the other tournaments he won were the annual major tournaments in Paris, France; Hamburg, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Berlin, Germany. Hackenschmidt also defeated European Greco-Roman Champion Tom Cannon on September 4, 1902, in Liverpool, England to become the first undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. The only other reigning champion with claim to the belt at the time was Tom Jenkins the American Heavyweight Championship, which unified the American Greco-Roman Championship with the American Catch-As-Catch Can Championsh ... [...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 pre ... [...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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a group of regional professional wrestling promotions, the heads of which made up the Board of Directors. The group operated a territory system which sanctioned their own company championships while recognizing a singular world champion who defended his title across all the territories, participated in talent exchanges, and collectively protected the territorial integrity of member promotions. Prior to the 1960s it acted as the sole governing body for most of professional wrestling. It remained the largest and most influential body in wrestling until the mid-1980s by which time most of the original member promotions went out of business as a result of the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) national expansion. In September 1993, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York State Athletic Commission
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, professional wrestlers, seconds, ring officials, managers, and matchmakers. In 2016, the NYSAC was authorized to oversee all mixed martial arts contests in New York. The commission is based in New York City. History The NYSAC was founded in 1911, when the Frawley Law legalized prizefighting in New York state. The bill was signed on July 26, 1911 and that same day Governor John Alden Dix appointed Bartow S. Weeks, John J. Dixon, and Frank S. O'Neil to serve on the state athletic commission. Weeks declined to serve on the commission so James Edward Sullivan was appointed for the final seat. The Frawley Law was repealed in 1917 and the state athletic commission was disbanded. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Wrestling Association
The National Wrestling Association (NWA) was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA; now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional wrestling in the United States. The group created a number of "World" level championships as an attempt to clear up the professional wrestling rankings which at the time saw a number of different championships promoted as the "true world champion". The National Wrestling Association's NWA World Heavyweight Championship was later considered part of the historical lineage of the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA World Heavyweight Championship when then National Wrestling Association champion Lou Thesz won the National Wrestling Alliance championship, folding the original championship into one title in 1949. With the creation of the National Wrestling Alliance and Thesz winning the Alliance World title the National Wrestling Association woul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Wrestling Association
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), becoming an independent territory in 1960. History Early years Anton Stecher, brother and manager of former World heavyweight champion Joe Stecher, was a founding member of the NWA in 1948 and had promoted wrestling in Minneapolis since 1933 through his Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club. In 1952, he sold a one-third interest in the promotion to his son Dennis and Wally Karbo. Stecher died on October 9, 1954, and control of the promotion passed to Karbo and Dennis. Verne Gagne, an amateur wrestling champion, had become a well-known and popular wrestler nationally in the 1950s as a result of his appearances on the DuMont Network. He aspired to become NWA World Champion, but political sent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States. Boston is one of the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Munn
Wayne Munn (February 19, 1896 – January 9, 1931) was an American professional wrestler and collegiate football player from the University of Nebraska. As a wrestler, Munn was a World Heavyweight Champion. His world title win is historic as it was the first time that a pure performer (as opposed to a legitimately skilled wrestler) had won a world championship in professional wrestling. Wrestling career His fame from playing football attracted the attention of wrestling star, Ed Lewis and promoters Toots Mondt and Billy Sandow, who prematurely pushed Munn as the next big star in the sport. Munn won the World title from Lewis in 1925, despite his limited wrestling and shooting (out of ring performing) ability. This backfired on Lewis and his camp, as Munn subsequently lost the title to Stanislaus Zbyszko in a famous double-cross (shoot), as Zbyszko legitimately pinned Munn, despite agreeing to lose to him prior to the match. Munn, unable to defend himself against Zbyszko's hold ... [...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 develope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Lewis (wrestler)
Robert Herman Julius Friedrich (June 30, 1891 – August 8, 1966), better known by the ring name Ed "Strangler" Lewis, was an American professional wrestler and trainer. During his wrestling career, which spanned four decades, Lewis was a four-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and overall recognised officially as a five-time world champion. Considered to be one of the most iconic and recognizable sports stars of the 1920s, often alongside boxer Jack Dempsey and baseball player Babe Ruth, Lewis notably wrestled in over 6,000 matches (many of which were real contests) and lost only 32 of them. He was posthumously inducted as a charter member into the following hall of fames: ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', Professional Wrestling, George Tragos/Lou Thesz and WWE's Legacy Wing. One of the most legitimately feared grapplers of all time, Lewis was known for his catch wrestling prowess and trained many future champions, most notably Lou Thesz, Danny Hodge, Dick Hutton a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Stecher
Joe Stecher (April 4, 1893 – March 29, 1974), sometimes spelled Joe Stetcher, was an American professional wrestler and three-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. Known for his ferocity, tremendous leg strength and extensive knowledge of the sport, Stecher is considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. In 2000, Stecher was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Childhood The son of Bohemian immigrants, Joseph "Joe" Stecher was born on April 4, 1893 on a farm in Dodge, Nebraska. Joe was the youngest of the family’s eight children, and as a youth, he excelled in numerous sports, including swimming, golf, tennis, and baseball. While the boys were still young, Frank Stecher enrolled his three sons in a wrestling course at the local Fremont YMCA, and Joe's older brothers soon emerged as accomplished amateur grapplers. Joe's eldest brother, Lewis, would earn a commission to Annapolis, and as a Lieutenant Commander i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Caddock
Earl Caddock (February 27, 1888 – August 25, 1950) was an American professional wrestler and World Heavyweight Champion who was active in the early portion of the twentieth century. As the first man to bill himself as "The Man of 1,000 Holds" (a nickname used many times since), Caddock was one of professional wrestling's biggest stars between the years of 1915 and 1922. Early life Earl Caddock was born February 27, 1888 in Huron, South Dakota to parents of German Jewish heritage. His family name may have been "Caddach," "Craddock," or "Caddack," but he used the spelling "Caddock" exclusively throughout his wrestling career. As a child, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and the family moved to Chicago where he could be treated. Swimming was recommended as part of this treatment and he was given a membership in the local YMCA to facilitate this. During his time at the YMCA young Earl Caddock was exposed to wrestling. After his father was killed in a bizarre accident in which h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
