SHOOTMAS Day 17
Frank Gotch Vs George "The Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt
I present to you one of the most famous wrestling feuds of all time. Crowds as large as 30,000 showed up in Chicago to watch these 2 men wrestle for the right to call themselves world champion.
First before we discuss the impact of the feud and the match itself lets look at the competitors.
souce(September 3rd, 1911 New York Times)
Lets look at George Hackenschmidt:
The best way to describe him was he was the worlds strongest man, the worlds best wrestler, and the worlds best bodybuilder all at the same time. He held world strength records and was way ahead of his time with his body building regime. This was before HGH, before steroids, and before bodybuilding was a popular art/sport. The man was a monster.
Now on to Frank Gotch:
"Frank Gotch may be the most influential wrestler in U.S. history"- Dave Meltzer[/QUOTE
The professional wrestler. Frank Gotch came out of Iowa to become one of if not the greatest wrestler to ever live. He would wrestle 160 times and lose 6 times. He steped into the ring with no skills and managed to hold his own against world champions and was trained in shoot holds under Farmer Burns. The toe holds that he would use along with the smart tactics of wearing Hackenschmidt down showed that his mind was his key weapon. He was the most popular athlete in America. He would even wrestle against Japanese Jiu Jitsu experts in the east room of the white house for President Teddy Roosevelt.
The promotion of the matches was epic. Gotch was traveling around the nation taking on all comers while calling out Hackenschmidt for ducking. It is again the simple truth that a long term feud between 2 people will always draw. Its a time old feud that can make money. Especially since there was a national interest of watching an American beat Hackenschmidt. Then when Hackenschmidt lost he demanded a rematch and claimed Gotch cheated by eye gouging and oiling himself up. Then he showed up at the rematch in front of 30,000 and was quickly pinned twice. (The first match he lost via surrender because of Gotch's toe holds). Claims of Gotch hiring somebody to injure Hackenschmidt also were floated around but those were proven false. All the drama with scripted wrestling mixed with shoot holds and wrestlers going out to just wrestle. Some fans were convinced the results were fixed.
Sadly this was in the early 1900's so we do not have video(or at least I was unable to find any) but the impact of this feud on professional wrestling, submission grappling, MMA, and freestyle wrestling lives on today.
I'm the last person I would consider an expert on this but I'd recommend everyone read up on it.
Past Days
Damn. That's good.