I first covered pioneer era wrestling special attraction Yusuf Ismael, aka The Terrible Turk, on an early episode of my 1000 Hours pioneer era-focused subseries here on the DragonKing Classic Wrestling Show, but the Terrible Turk deserves a follow up as requested by
I have recently spent many hours digging through hundreds of pages of 1870 newspapers from Detroit, Chicago, Ontario, and beyond chronicling the real story of the biggest tournament in history of American pro wrestling in the pioneer era: the Detroit International tournament. On
The latest entry into my 1000 Hours series on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show looks at the pioneer era of wrestling in Australia of all places. Believe it or not, there was pro wrestling there in the 1800s, and one of America’s top
The pioneer era (pre-1900) of pro wrestling flourished in the Great Lakes area of the United States. While initially the Northeast, and especially New York and Vermont were early hotspots, cities like Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and the entire Great Lakes region became very
On this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I continue my 1000 Hours research on the pioneer era of wrestling. A sponsor of the show requested some research on wrestling in Russia before George Hackenschmidt. Interestingly, wrestling in Russia came relatively late in
Strongmen and pro wrestling go hand in hand. Who can forget the muscled up 1980s? Yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the pioneer era of wrestling, your prototypical strongmen and bodybuilders were also featured alongside and inside
On a new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I present hour 36 of 1000 Hours, my series all about the pioneer era of pro wrestling. On this episode, we do a lot of research including some new tidbits about Col. James H. McLaughlin (seen
On this episode of my 1000 Hours focus on the pioneer era of pro wrestling, I go back even further to the pre-pioneer era just before the U.S. Civil War. This week, I uncover more about the first known self-promoted pro wrestling star:
On another DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I return to further discuss the pioneer era of pro wrestling in my 1000 Hours subseries which focuses on pro wrestling pre-1900 or before the era of Frank Gotch. This week, I look back at the career
My pioneer era of pro wrestling discussion continues with hour 32 of the 1000 Hours focus series on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show. On this episode, the eventual manager of Evan “Strangler” Lewis, Greek George, is promoting wrestling in Pensacola, FL, where we
