Frank Alvin Gotch
Ring name(s)	Frank Gotch Frank Kennedy
Billed height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Billed weight	91 kg (210 lb)
Born	(1878-04-27)April 27, 1878 Humboldt, Iowa
Died	December 16, 1917(1917-12-16) (aged 39) Humboldt, Iowa
Trained by	Farmer Burns
Debut	June 18, 1899
Retired	April 1, 1913

Frank Alvin Gotch ( April 27, 1878 - December 16, 1917) was an American professional wrestler of German ancestry, the first American to win the world heavyweight free-style championship, and credited for popularizing professional wrestling in the United States. He competed back when the contests were largely legitimate (see catch wrestling), and his reign as World Heavyweight Champion (from 1908 to 1913) is one of the ten longest in the history of wrestling. He became one of the most popular athletes in America from the 1900s to the 1910s.

Early life[link]

The son of Frederick Rudolph and Amelia Gotch, Gotch 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 as his signature finishing move.

Wrestling career[link]

Gotch wrestled his first match against Marshall Green in Humboldt on April 2, 1899, and won. But his first important match was in Lu Verne, Iowa, on June 16, 1899, against a man claiming to be a furniture dealer from a neighboring town. Gotch held his own for nearly two hours, but lost the hard-fought contest. Only later when he received the impressed man's visiting card did he learn that his opponent had actually been reigning American Heavyweight Champion Dan McLeod.^[1] On December 18, 1899, Gotch challenged another former American Champion, "Farmer" Martin Burns, losing in 11 minutes, but impressing Burns as well, who offered to train Gotch. Under the guidance of Burns, Gotch won a series of matches in Iowa and later Alaska. While in Alaska, Gotch wrestled under the name Frank Kennedy and won the title of "Champion of the Klondike". During his time in Alaska, Gotch tried his hand at boxing, but failed miserably against the heavyweight Frank Slavin.^[2]

Gotch returned to Iowa and instantly challenged the reigning American Heavyweight Champion, Tom Jenkins. Gotch lost their first match in 1903, before defeating Jenkins in a rematch on January 27, 1904, to take the championship. After trading the title with Jenkins and Fred Beel, Gotch set his sights on the World Heavyweight Championship, then held by the undefeated Estonian Georg Hackenschmidt. The opponent, called the Russian Lion, had gained undisputed title recognition by defeating Jenkins in New York in 1905. Upon defeating Jenkins, however, Hackenschmidt ignored Gotch's challenge and sailed home to England.

Gotch and Hackenschmidt finally met on April 3, 1908, at the Dexter Park Pavilion in Chicago. Showing his contempt for Gotch and for American wrestling in general, Hackenschmidt was not in the best condition. Gotch was. He used his speed, defense and rough tactics to wear the champion down and then assume the attack. The wrestlers stood on their feet for two full hours before Gotch was able to get behind Hackenschmidt and take him down. While on their feet, Gotch made sure to lean on Hackenschmidt to wear him down. He bullied him around the ring, and his thumbing and butting left Hackenschmidt covered in blood. Hackenschmidt complained to the referee of Gotch's foul tactics and asked that Gotch be forced to take a hot shower to rid his body of an abundance of oil, but the referee ignored the complaints and told Hackenschmidt he should have noticed the oil before the match began. The match continued. At the two-hour mark, Hackenschmidt was forced against the ropes. Gotch tore him off the ropes, threw Hackenschmidt down and rode him hard for three minutes, working for his dreaded toe hold. Hackenschmidt had trained to avoid this hold, which he did, but the effort took his last remaining strength. Hackenschmidt quit the fall. "I surrender the championship of the world to Mr. Gotch," he said, and stood up and shook Gotch's hand. The wrestlers then retired to their dressing rooms before coming out for the second fall, but Hackenschmidt refused to return to the ring, telling the referee to declare Gotch the winner, thereby relinquishing his title to the American.^[3]

"He is the king of the class, the greatest man by far I ever met," Hackenschmidt said. "After going nearly two hours with him, my muscles became stale. My feet also gave out. I had trained constantly against the toe hold and had strained the muscles of my legs. When I found myself weakening, I knew there was no use continuing and that I had no chance to win. That was the reason I conceded the championship to him. I have no desire to wrestle him again. A return match would not win back my title." Hackenschmidt later reversed his opinion of Gotch and Americans in general, claiming to have been fouled by Gotch and victimized in America, and calling for a rematch in Europe.^[4]

As undisputed free-style heavyweight champion of the world, Gotch spent the next three years establishing his dominance over the sport, defeating the likes of Jenkins, Dr. Ben Roller, and Stanislaus Zbyszko, who was believed to have won over 900 matches before falling to Gotch on June 1, 1910. The victory over Zbyszko was particularly spectacular, Gotch taking both falls in slightly less than half an hour, and thoroughly dominating his European opponent. He took the first fall in just six seconds with a surprise move and quick pin, and won the second fall in only 27 minutes. Gotch outmaneuvered and outclassed Zbyszko every second of the match.^[5]

Gotch became a national sensation. He was in demand everywhere for public appearances. He starred in a play called All About A Bout, and whenever he walked on stage he was greeted by a standing ovation. He was invited to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt, and wrestled a Japanese jiu-jitsu expert in the East Hall, making his opponent submit. The night before his second match with Hackenschmidt, he attended a Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field with his wife and in-laws and took his seat down front. After the game, nearly every member of the Cubs team came to his private box and asked for his autograph.^[6] When he traveled overseas with his play, he was a huge hit. It seemed that everywhere he went, fans wanted to see him. Everywhere he went, he made wrestling "big time."

Gotch met Hackenschmidt again on September 4, 1911, at the newly opened Comiskey Park in Chicago, which drew a crowd of nearly 30,000 spectators and a record gate of $87,000. The rematch is one of the most controversial and talked about matches in wrestling history, as Hackenschmidt injured his knee against Roller, his chief training partner. Years later, wrestler Ad Santel told Lou Thesz that he was paid $5000 by Gotch's backers to cripple Hackenschmidt in training, and make it look like an accident.^[7] However, according to Hackenschmidt himself, the injury was accidentally inflicted by his sparring partner, Dr. Roller, when trying to hold Hackenschmidt down onto his knees and Roller's right foot striking Hackenschmidt's right knee. According to Hackenschmidt, his sparring partners were Americus (Gus Schoenlein), Jacobus Koch, Wladek Zbyszko and Dr. Roller. Ad Santel is not mentioned in any account of Hackehschmidt's training by either Hackenschmidt or Roller, both of whom offered their insights and accounts.^[8]

Whatever the case may be, if the injury was real, Dr. Roller did not consider it serious and referee Ed Smith dismissed it as inconsequential. Hackenschmidt himself ignored it completely in declaring, the day before the match, that he was "fit to wrestle for my life" and was "satisfied with my condition and confident of the outcome." If there was a knee injury, Gotch discovered it quickly and took advantage of it. The Russian Lion was easy prey for Gotch, losing in straight falls in only 30 minutes. Gotch clinched the match with his feared Toe Hold, which forced Hackenschmidt to quit.^[9]

Gotch reigned as the World Heavyweight Champion from his first victory over Hackenschmidt in 1908 until he retired in 1913 after defeating Estonian Georg Lurich April 1, 1913, in Kansas City, Missouri.^[10][11] Gotch is one of the longer reigning World Champions in the history of professional wrestling, with a reign that spanned nearly 5 years; the only other champions to have longer reigns than Gotch are Bruno Sammartino, who held the WWF World Heavyweight Championship for a record of 7 years and 8 months, Lou Thesz, whose fifth NWA title reign lasted 7 years and 7 months and Verne Gagne who held the AWA World Heavyweight Title for 7 years and 3 months.

Wrestler[link]

Gotch competed in an era when a championship wrestling match was the same as a championship prize fight: i.e., it was a major event for which the wrestlers went into training and which promoters publicized for weeks. Thus, he did not have a long career in terms of the number of matches wrestled. His mentor, Farmer Burns, and later champions Ed Lewis, the "Strangler," and Lou Thesz, each engaged in more than 6,000 matches in their careers. Gotch engaged in only 160, finishing with a record of 154 wins and only 6 losses. Of those six losses, however, two were in the first year of his career – to Dan McLeod and Farmer Burns – and three were to Tom Jenkins. His last defeat was to Fred Beell on December 1, 1906, when he had crashed head-first into an uncovered turnbuckle and been rendered nearly unconscious. He defeated Beell in seven rematches and never lost again until his retirement in 1913.

Gotch was, by all accounts, a superior wrestler possessing tremendous strength, lightning quickness, genuine agility, cat-like reflexes, impeccable technique, superb ring generalship, a mastery of the use of leverage, and a full knowledge of wrestling holds, counterholds and strategy. He was always in the best of condition and possessed both enormous courage and an indomitable will to win, ever ready to match his heart, his gameness, against any man in the world. He was highly aggressive but always kept his cool. Critics saw in him both the strength of the old school of wrestling and the skill of the new, “as agile as a cat in his manoeuvers” and having “the grappling sport down to such science that he had assumed a rank all by himself.” ^[12]

Gotch's measurements for his 1911 victory over Hackenschmidt were: Age - 33; Weight - 204 pounds; Height - 5', 11"; Reach - 73"; Biceps - 17.5"; Forearm - 14"; Neck - 18"; Chest - 45"; Waist - 34"; Thigh - 22"; Calf - 18".^[13]

Gotch was among the first elected to the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame and was the first inductee to both the Professional Wrestling Writers Hall of Fame in Latham, New York and the Lou Thesz/George Tragos Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa.

There is another side to this story, however. When Lou Thesz was just starting out in the early 1930s, there were a good many wrestlers still active who had known Gotch and were not reluctant to talk about him. “The picture that emerged of Gotch from those conversations,” Thesz recalled, “was of a man who succeeded at his business primarily because he was, for lack of a kinder description, a dirty wrestler. That’s not to say that he wasn’t competent, because everyone I ever talked with said he was one of the best. But those same people described him as someone who delighted in hurting or torturing lesser opponents, even when they were supposed to be working out, and he was always looking for an illegal edge when he was matched against worthy ones. One of the old-timers I met was a fine man named Charlie Cutler, who knew Gotch very well and succeeded him as world champion…; according to Cutler, Gotch would gouge, pull hair and even break a bone to get an advantage in a contest, and he was unusually careful to have the referee in his pocket, too, in case all else failed.”^[14]

Referee Ed Smith, who officiated several of Gotch’s bouts, including both of the Gotch-Hackenschmidt contests, had observed after the second match that “to my mind…he wasn’t just exactly through one hundred percent on the courageous side. Two or three times I saw needless acts of absolute cruelty on his part that I did not like. Always will I think that the really courageous man, no matter how ferocious and filled with the killing instinct and eager to win he may be, is willing to let up on a beaten foe and not punish needlessly or wantonly.”^[15]

Marriage[link]

For years one of America's most eligible bachelors, Gotch married Gladys Oestrich on February 11, 1911. They had one son, Robert Frederick Gotch.

Retirement and death[link]

While in retirement, Gotch joined Sells-Floto Circus where he would pay any man $250.00 if they could last 15 minutes in a match against him without being pinned or conceding. Not once did he have to pay. He grew tired of touring and moved back to Humboldt. After a year of health troubles, Gotch died in 1917 of what was rumored to be syphilis, but the official cause of death was uremic poisoning. He left behind his wife Gladys and their son, Robert Friedrich. All are entombed together in the Gotch mausoleum in the Union Cemetery in Humbolt.

Legacy[link]

"The story of American Wrestling at its greatest," Nat Fleischer wrote in 1936, "is the story of the career of its most illustrious champion -- Frank Gotch... Gotch was to wrestling history in this country what John L. Sullivan was to boxing. He dominated the field. Through his extraordinary ability, he gained for wrestling many converts and brought the sport into such favor that it became as big in the promotorial field as boxing."^[16]

As Mark Palmer pointed out, “For starters, George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch were major sports superstars of the early 20th century. Fans of all ages collected cabinet cards and postcards with their images, read their books, and devoured articles about them in newspapers. Their epic matches were front-page news around the world -- akin to today's Super Bowl or soccer's World Cup in terms of garnering global attention -- and helped to launch organized amateur wrestling in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. In fact, a large number of high school and college wrestling programs can trace their roots back to the 1910s and 1920s -- the era when Hackenschmidt and Gotch were still household names, and highly respected athletes.”.^[17]

Most wrestling historians consider Frank Gotch to have been one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.^[18] The four men continually rated as history's greatest wrestlers are, in this order: the Great Gama, Gotch, George Hackenschmidt and Stanislaus Zbyszko.^[19] From the more modern age, many add Lou Thesz and Ed "Strangler" Lewis to that list. Gotch soundly defeated Hackenschmidt and Zbyszko, and Gama headed west in 1910 to challenge Gotch, but stopped off in England to wrestle Hackenschmidt. The Russian Lion refused, so Gama wrestled Zbyszko. Zbyszko was taken down in seconds and avoided defeat technically by hugging the mat for about 4 hours. Whether Gotch was scared of Gama or not, we will never know; but, he never accepted Gama's direct challenge to him.

Gotch was also a major sports superstar, often called the Hulk Hogan of his day, who lifted wrestling to new heights of popularity. When he became world champion, there were not many sports competing with wrestling for public attention. Horse racing remained a favorite sport and major league baseball was growing in popularity but was not yet the national pastime. Automobile racing was in its infancy; golf was still the province of the wealthy; basketball had just been invented and was vying for attention; boxing offered a man a chance at fame and fortune but was, at this time, riddled with scandals; the National Hockey League was formed the same year; and college football—the Ivy League game—was on the verge of being outlawed because it was too rough and too dangerous. Wrestling at the higher professional levels was still a legitimate sport with the added bonus that it was popular on every continent of the globe. And a number of great wrestlers were competing for top honors. In India the Great Gama was already a legendary champion, and in Europe Georg Hackenschmidt had reigned supreme with Stanislaus Zbyszko coming along. Right there you have three of the four greatest wrestlers who ever lived. But in America Tom Jenkins had been rather easily beaten by Hackenschmidt, so there was no American to capture the nation’s fancy until Gotch; and none of the other great wrestlers had either the amazing physical attributes or the gift for self-promotion that Gotch possessed.

Furthermore, the United States was beginning to dominate some of the world's major sports. Americans already dominated boxing and within a decade would begin to dominate golf. When Gotch defeated Hackenschmidt, the domination of professional wrestling passed to the Americans. In addition, many matches had still been conducted under Greco-Roman rules, but this match caused Greco-Roman to be forever replaced by the more exciting catch-as-catch-can style.^[20]

Because of both his superior ability and his gift for self-promotion, Gotch became one of America’s greatest sports idols. He achieved a level of popularity similar to that formerly held by boxer John L. Sullivan and harness racehorse Dan Patch, and enjoyed later by such sports heroes of the Golden Age of Sports as boxing's Jack Dempsey, baseball's Babe Ruth, tennis's Bill Tilden and golf's Bobby Jones. This in turn made wrestling mainstream. Mac Davis wrote in 100 Greatest Sports Heroes, "As the idol of millions in the United States, Canada and Mexico, Gotch made wrestling a big-time sport in his day. He drew larger audiences than did the heavyweight champion of boxing when defending his title."^[21]

Gotch's first match against Hackenschmidt also remains perhaps the most famous wrestling encounter of all time.^[22]

There is a park named the Frank A. Gotch County Park, three miles south of Humboldt near his childhood farm, in homage to Gotch. The Humboldt Community School District also sponsors the annual Frank Gotch Wrestling Tournament as well. Because of Gotch's legacy, Iowa remains a wrestling stronghold at the high school and collegiate levels to this day.^[23]

There is an extensive Frank Gotch collection in the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. On display are the wrestling shoes he wore into the ring in 1911 against Hackenschmidt, his Mason’s sword and leather scabbard, the roll-top desk that sat in his living room in Humboldt and many other rare items.

In addition, a film company currently holds the rights to the book Gotch: An American Hero, by Mike Chapman, and is actively in the process of making a movie based on the book.^[24]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Bridging belly to back suplex
  • Cross kneelock
  • Toe hold
  • Ankle Lock

• Signature moves
  • Double leg takedown

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Wrestling championships

• World Heavyweight Championship (original version) (1 time)
• American Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
• Champion of the Klondike (1 time)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Class of 2002

• Other titles

• George Tragos / Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (1999)
• Iowa Sports Hall of Fame (1951)

See also[link]

Professional wrestling portal

• "Karl Gotch": a moniker taken in honour of Frank Gotch.

References[link]

Specific

General

• Dave Meltzer & John F. Molinaro (2002). Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of all Time. Winding Stair Press. ISBN 1-55366-305-5. 
• Gotch: A German-American Hero
• Hickok Sports Biography: Gotch, Frank A.
• Mike Chapman (1990). Frank Gotch, World's Greatest Wrestler. Buffalo, New York: William S. Hein & Co.. 
• Nat Fleischer. From Milo to Londos, The story of wrestling through the ages. The Ring, Inc.. 
• Karl Stern. Pioneers of Wrestling. KarlStern.com. 

External links[link]

• Frank Gotch`s grave in Union Cemetery Humboldt,Iowa
• Frank Gotch - Online World of Wrestling profile

For other persons named William Robinson, see William Robinson (disambiguation)

Billy Robinson (born September 18, 1939) is a British professional wrestler and catch wrestling instructor. Robinson was well known in Japan where he has trained mixed martial arts fighters in catch wrestling. Robinson is one of the few wrestlers who was successful in several continents (Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania), winning titles in promotions nearly everywhere he wrestled.

Career[link]

Early days in Europe[link]

Robinson began his amateur wrestling career in England. He was the British National Wrestling Champion in 1957, and in 1958 he was the European Open Wrestling Champion in the light heavyweight class, beating an Olympic bronze medal winner in the finals.

Billy Robinson also attended the fabled "Snake Pit" started by legendary trainer Billy Riley. The Snake Pit was one of the most respected catch wrestling training schools in all of the world. Legends such as Karl Gotch had trained in catch wrestling in the Snake Pit with Riley.

Robinson had to survive bare minimum amenities (luxuries such as a toilet were not provided at the Snake Pit), a very rough training environment (Riley was very impatient with those who showed even the slightest bit of weakness on the mat) and rigorous conditioning. Robinson stayed at the Snake Pit for eight years.

In North America[link]

Robinson travelled to North America in 1970 and began wrestling for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association. He was one of the successful wrestlers of the American promotion known for hiring the "Real Deals" in wrestling. Billy Robinson was also the AWA British Empire Heavyweight Champion; he defended the title in both the United States and Canada,winning in on 3 separate occasions . October 12, 1974 Robinson's image as a legitimate wrestler landed him a role in the movie "The Wrestler" alongside Verne Gagne and Ed Asner.

He wrestled in Montreal in 1982 and 1983 becoming the International Champion beating Dino Bravo and was also International Tag Team champions with Pierre Mad Dog Lefebvre. He had a 60 minutes broadway with then WWWF champion Bob Backlund in 1982 as well in Montreal.

Japan[link]

Robinson travelled to Japan where he became immensely popular as a legitimate wrestler versed in submission holds. He participated in a professional wrestling match against legendary Antonio Inoki in 1975. The match was billed as "The Match Between the World's Top Two Technicians" by the Japanese press.

Robinson continued an active professional wrestling career, travelling throughout the world to participate in various events.

Japanese professional wrestlers learned the art of "hooking" and "shooting" from another of catch wrestling's greatest icons, Karl Gotch. The new movement led to the formation of the Universal Wrestling Federation.

The UWF had wrestlers like Yoshiaki Fujiwara who had personally been to the Snake Pit in Wigan. Billy Robinson became a part of the shoot style movement when he wrestled in an exhibition match for the UWFi against fellow AWA legend Nick Bockwinkel on May 8, 1992.

After wrestling[link]

As well as being one of the key influences on the shoot style movement, Robinson began training youngsters in catch wrestling at the UWF Snake Pit in Japan. Robinson has contributed immensely in training several mixed martial arts legends including Kazushi Sakuraba and Josh Barnett. Currently, he trains up and coming UFC fighter Rolando Delgado and has a training program available through Scientific Wrestling.

Robinson was inducted into the International Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003.

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Bridging double underhook suplex^[1]

• Signature moves
  • Abdominal stretch^[1]
  • Backbreaker^[1]
  • Back suplex backbreaker
  • Bear hug / Hammerlock combination
  • European uppercut
  • Piledriver^[1]
  • Single arm DDT

Championships and accomplishments[link]

Amateur wrestling[link]

• British National Wrestling Championship (1 time)^[1]
• European Open Light Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (1 time)^[1]

Professional wrestling[link]

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

• NWA United National Championship (1 time)^[1]
• PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (3 times)^[1]
• AWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Verne Gagne (1) and Crusher Lisowski (1)^[1]

• Cauliflower Alley Club

• Other honoree (1994)

• Championship Wrestling from Florida

• NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (1 time)

• Continental Wrestling Association

• CWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)^[1]

• International Pro Wrestling

• IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[1]

• Joint Promotions

• British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• Lutte Internationale (Montreal)

• Canadian International Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[1]
• Canadian International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Pierre Lefebvre^[1]

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • (Class of 2011)^[2]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1974)^[3]

• Stampede Wrestling

• Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame^[4]

• World Championship Wrestling (Australia)

• IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Scientific Wrestling's Certification Camp where Billy has coached since 2007
• Robinson's Catch Instructional Trailer
• International Wrestling Hall of Fame
• Website of the film 'Catch - the hold not taken', a documentary on the history of Riley's gym where Robinson trained
• http://kickboxingandbjj.com/coaches.htm

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2008)

Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz^[2] (Born Lajos Tiza^[3] April 24, 1916 - April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler and 6-time^[4] world champion, most notably holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. Combined, he held the NWA Championship for 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 days total), longer than anyone else in history. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with inventing a number of professional wrestling techniques such as the belly to back waistlock suplex (later known as the German suplex due to its association with Karl Gotch), the Lou Thesz press, STF and the original powerbomb.

He is generally considered to be among the greatest professional wrestlers of the 20th century.

Wrestling career[link]

Born in Banat, Michigan, Thesz's family moved to St. Louis when he was a young boy.^[2] His working-class immigrant parents hailed from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Beginning in Thesz's early youth, his father personally gave him a tough and thorough education in Greco-Roman wrestling, which provided the fundamentals for his later success. While in high school he was a successful freestyle wrestling competitor on his school team; as he recalled many years later, he and a friend once "worked" a dramatic match against each other at a tournament, and were amused when nobody could see how much they were faking. As a teenager, he also trained in amateur wrestling with legendary wrestler Ad Santel. Thesz made his professional wrestling debut in 1932, at the age of 16. He soon met Ed "Strangler" Lewis, the biggest wrestling star of the 1920s, who taught a young Lou the art of "hooking" (the ability to stretch your opponent with painful holds). The two formed a lasting friendship. By 1937, Thesz had become one of the biggest stars in the St. Louis territory, and on December 29 he defeated Everett Marshall for the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title, the first of many World Heavyweight Championships. Thesz became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history, at the age of 21.^[1] Thesz dropped the title to Steve "Crusher" Casey in Boston six weeks later. He won the title again in 1939, once again defeating Marshall, and again in 1948, defeating Bill Longson.

In 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) was formed, the purpose being to create one World Champion for all the various wrestling territories throughout North America. Orville Brown, the reigning Midwest World Heavyweight Title holder, was named the first champion. Thesz, at the time, was head of a promotional combine that included fellow wrestling champions Longson, Bobby Managoff, Canadian promoter Frank Tunney and Eddie Quinn, who promoted in the St. Louis territory where NWA promoter Sam Muchnick was running opposition. Quinn and Muchnick ended their promotional war, and Thesz' promotion was absorbed into the NWA. Part of the deal was a title unification match between Brown and Thesz, who held the National Wrestling Association's World Title. Unfortunately, just weeks before the scheduled bout, Brown was involved in an automobile accident that ended his career. He was forced to vacate the championship and the NWA awarded the title to the #1 contender, Thesz. Thesz was chosen for his skill as a "hooker" to prevent double crosses by would-be shooters who would deviate from the planned finish for personal glory.

Between 1949 and 1956, Thesz set out to unify all the existing World Titles into the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In 1952 he defeated Baron Michele Leone in Los Angeles for the California World Heavyweight title and became the first undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion since the days of Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt. Thesz finally dropped the Title to Whipper Billy Watson in 1956, and took several months off to recuperate from an ankle injury. He regained the title from Watson seven months later.

1957 was an important year for Thesz; on June 14, the first taint to Thesz' claim of undisputed Champion occurred in a match with gymnast-turned-wrestling star, Edouard Carpentier. The match was tied at two falls apiece when Thesz claimed a back injury and forfeit the last fall. Carpentier was declared the winner, but the NWA chose not to recognize the title change, deciding a championship could not change hands due to injury. Despite the NWA's decision, there were some promotions who continued to recognize Carpentier's claim to the World Heavyweight title. That same year, Thesz became the first wrestler to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Japan, wrestling Rikidōzan in a series of 60 minute draws. Their bouts popularized pro wrestling in Japan, gaining the sport mainstream acceptance. Realizing he could make more money in the land of the rising sun, Thesz petitioned to the NWA promoters to regularly defend the belt in Japan. His request was turned down, and Thesz asked to drop the title to his own hand picked champion, Dick Hutton, rather than Thesz's real-life rival and the more popular choice, Buddy Rogers. Thesz would embark on a tour of Europe and Japan, billing himself as the NWA International Champion; this title is still recognized as a part of All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Championship.

In 1963, Thesz came out of semi-retirement to win his sixth World Heavyweight Championship from Buddy Rogers at the age of 46. Legend has it that Rogers was having second thoughts about dropping the title, and Thesz responded by saying, "we could do this the easy way or the hard way". He would hold the title until 1966 when, at the age of 49, he was dethroned by Gene Kiniski.

Thesz wrestled on a part-time basis over the next 13 years, winning his last major Title in 1978, in Mexico, becoming the inaugural Universal Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion at the age of 62, before dropping the championship to El Canek a year later. Thesz officially retired in 1979, after a match with Luke Graham. He remained retired for the most part, before wrestling his last match on December 26, 1990 in Hamamatsu, Japan at the age of 74, against his protégé, Masahiro Chono.^[1] This made him the only male wrestler to wrestle in seven different decades.^[1]

Post-wrestling career[link]

After retiring, Thesz became a promoter, manager, color commentator, trainer and occasionally, a referee for important matches. Some famous matches he refereed include:

• Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami at Tokyo Gym, 09/19/85
• Big Van Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto in the IWGP Championship Tournament Finals at Tokyo Dome, 4/24/89,
• Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Heavyweight Championship, 9/17/81 ^[5]

Thesz became the president of the Cauliflower Alley Club in 1992, an organization for retired pro wrestlers; a position he held until 2000. He became a trainer for the Union of Wrestling Force International, and lent the promotion one of his old NWA Title belts, which they recognized as their own World Title. As an announcer, Thesz was the color commentator for International World Class Championship Wrestling's weekly television show. In 1999, his name was given to the Lou Thesz/George Tragos Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame for professional wrestling stars with a successful amateur background at the International Wrestling Institute & Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, where he was an inaugural inductee. Thesz was honored by a ceremony at WWF's Badd Blood 1997^[1] as being both the youngest and oldest World Heavyweight Champion at ages 21 and 50, respectively (technically, Verne Gagne holds the record for oldest champ, when he held the AWA Championship in 1980 at age 54).

Thesz wrote an autobiography, Hooker. He underwent a triple bypass surgery for an aortic valve replacement on April 9, 2002, but died due to complications on April 28, 2002 in Orlando, Florida.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Thesz was married three times. His first marriage to Evelyn Katherine Ernst in March 22, 1937.^[7] Thesz was convalescing from a severe knee injury suffered in 1939 and from 1941 to 1944 and worked as a dog breeder and trainer for Dogs for Defense and later as a supervisor for the Todd Houston Shipyard.^[7] He divorced his first wife in 1944 and at the shipyard, Thesz met his second wife, Fredda Huddleston Winter with whom he fathered three children, Jeff Thesz, Robert Thesz and Patrick Thesz.^[7] Thesz was drafted into the army in 1944 despite a legitimate injury to his knee and multiple medical deferments. He was placed into medic training and eventually teaching hand to hand combat defense for medics and was discharged in 1946.^[7] Thesz's 2nd marriage came to an end in 1975.^[7] He married Charlie Catherine Thesz and remained with her for the rest of his life.

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Bridging belly to back suplex
  • STF – innovated

• Signature moves
  • Backbreaker submission
  • Belly to back waist-lock suplex – innovated
  • Double wrist-lock
  • Headlock
  • Lou Thesz Press^[8] – innovated
  • Powerbomb – innovated

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• American Wrestling Association

• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston version) (1 time)
• AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio version) (1 time)

• Cauliflower Alley Club

• Iron Mike Mazurki Award (1998)

• International Wrestling Enterprise

• TWWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• International Wrestling Institute and Museum

• George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame (1999)

• Japan Wrestling Association

• NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Montreal Athletic Commission

• World Heavyweight Championship (Montreal version) (4 times)

• National Wrestling Alliance

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)¹
• NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)

• NWA All-Star Wrestling

• NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time) – with The Outlaw

• NWA Mid-America

• NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) – with Jackie Fargo

• National Wrestling Association

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)²

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Stanley Weston Award (1982)

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame

• Pioneer Era (Class of 2002)

• Southwest Sports, Inc.

• Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times)³

• Stampede Wrestling

• Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame^[9]

• St. Louis Wrestling Club

• NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• St. Louis Wrestling Hall Of Fame

• Class of 2007

• Universal Wrestling Association

• UWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• World Championship Wrestling

• WCW Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)

• World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)

• WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

• Other titles

• World Heavyweight Championship (original version) (2 times)⁴
• World Heavyweight Championship (Los Angeles) (1 time)

Notes[link]

¹Records are unclear as to where Thesz first won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and which promotion he was wrestling in when he won it. ^[10]
2The World Heavyweight Championship of the National Wrestling Association is not the same championship nor does it have any connection to the world championship recognized and used by the National Wrestling Alliance.
³Thesz reigns with the title occurred prior to the NWA assuming control of it. In fact, he won the title before the NWA was created.
⁴Thesz also has two reigns with the title before the formation of the NWA and the title being renamed the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dave Meltzer & John F. Molinaro (2002). Top 100 Pro Wrestlers of all Time. Winding Stair Press. ISBN 1-55366-305-5. 

External links[link]

• Lou Thesz forum
• Lou Thesz Profile - Online World of Wrestling
• Lou Thesz on IMDB.com
• Puroresu.com: Lou Thesz