The 1925 Match That Ensured Pro Wrestling's Future Would Be Fixed

It was 1925, and pro wrestling was big business. A throng of fans had packed themselves into a Kansas City convention hall, expecting to see champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis easily defeat Wayne “Big” Munn, a noted former NCAA football player. Munn was a newcomer to the wrestling world, and this was his first true test. Surely, fans thought, he would wipe the floor with the novice.

What the fans got instead was an outcome so unthinkable it created a buzz that shot around the arena. The air was electric. After less than 40 minutes, Munn had defeated the great champion, throwing him across the ring and out of it. It was a loss unlike Lewis had ever faced.

The crowd left that night in amazement, with an incredible story to tell: the night Wayne Munn beat Ed Lewis.

But there was a small problem.

“Wayne Munn couldn’t beat Ed ‘Strangler’ Lewis to save his life,” says Kyle Klingman, director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. “There’s just no way he could beat him.”
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Everyone knows pro wrestling today is “a work.” A planned event. A show, no different than a television episode or film.

But it wasn’t always this way. Pro wrestling started in the world of legitimate sport, in the same way boxing did. Legitimate wrestling bouts sold out arenas across the country. In 1911, when Frank Gotch wrestled George Hackenschmidt at the newly-opened Comiskey Park, it was in front of 30,000 people, one of the biggest crowds in sports history at the time.

But professional wrestling began to change in a way unlike anything ever seen in sports history. While boxing had known to be fixed from time to time, and the “Black Sox Scandal” had briefly tarnished Major League Baseball, no legitimate sport had ever made the full transition into what the WWE now calls “sports entertainment”—fully scripted, predetermined matchups, with chosen champions.

That change didn’t happen overnight. But wrestling historians look to one match, which completely altered pro wrestling’s history: Lewis vs. Munn, Kansas City, Miss., Jan. 8, 1925...More?

source: atlasobscura.com

Century ago, Stecher-Lewis wrestling match had a stranglehold on Omaha, but disappointed most

Column by Stu Pospisil / World-Herald staff writer


Imagine sitting in a temporary wooden grandstand on the Fourth of July, watching two heavyweight professional wrestlers “bunny-hug.”

For one hour, then two. Three and four hours pass.

Now dusk is falling. No lights, still no action. Some in the crowd, likely already losers on bets on their home-state favorite, get restless and toss cushions into the ring at the wrestlers.

A few lanterns are rounded up. An auto, maybe a Model T, is pulled up ringside so its headlights can help out.

Finally, after nearly five hours, the bout is declared a draw. No winner.

But this match — Joe Stecher of Dodge, Nebraska, against Ed “Strangler” Lewis — 100 years ago on July 4, 1916, at the old Douglas County Fairgrounds in Benson became legendary.

In 1983, World-Herald columnist Wally Provost said it was Omaha’s most famous Fourth of July sports event. In 1966, Dynamo Dennison, whom Provost called “a sports historian nonpareil,” said upon his 65th birthday that Stecher-Lewis had been Omaha’s greatest sports attraction.

And Stecher-Lewis was included in the “Giant Book of Strange But True Sports Stories,” written in 1976 by Howard Liss and Joe Mathieu. It was a book I read as a 14-year-old, and I developed a fascination with this story, perhaps the only sporting event in the city’s history at that time to rate mention.

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WWE Launches Legacy Hall Of Fame

As seen at the Hall of Fame tonight, WWE launched a new wing - the WWE Legacy Hall of Fame. The 2016 inductees are Ed "The Strangler" Lewis, Lou Thesz, Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmidt, Mildred Burke, Pat O'Connor and "Sailor" Art Thomas

Details on WWE Adding the “Legacy Award” to the WWE Hall of Fame This Year

WWE posted a graphic in its online store advertising the “Legacy Award” at this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony.

The graphic lists seven pro wrestling legends including Ed “Strangler” Lewis, Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmidt, Lou Thesz, Mildred Burke, Pat O’Connor and “Sailor” Art Thomas.

According to F4WOnline.com, Gotch and Hackenschmidt responsible for the first huge gate and spearheading wresting getting national headlines, Lewis being the most famous wrestler of the 20s, Thesz being the dominant world champion of the 50s, Burke being the first women’s champion to get worldwide attention and O’Connor being one of the smoothest workers of his day.

WWE has already inducted Gorgeous George, Buddy Rogers and Antonino Rocca, who were contemporaries of Thesz and O’Connor, however the company has yet to induct anyone into the WWE Hall of Fame prior to the days of television. It appears as if the “Legacy Award” might be honoring the pioneers of pro wrestling who were not TV stars.

This Day In Wrestling History

Mayor Bosse and the Sheriff of Evansville, IN confiscate the $2,756 in ticket sales from the previous night's match on the basis that they believe the Stecher-Lewis match was "not on the square" and was in fact "rigged." Mayor Bosse then proclaims that there would be no more wrestling in Evansville. Show promoter W. F. Barton is left with just $13 after the incident and claimed to owe $400 to the wrestlers.
October 21, 1915

All Japan Pro Wrestling holds it's first ever show at Machida City Gym in Tokyo, Japan. The show is headlined by a two out of three fall tag team match, with Bruno Sammartino & Terry Funk defeating Giant Baba & Thunder Sugiyama. Funk pinned Sugiyama to win the first fall, Sugiyama pinned Funk to win the second, and Baba & Sugiyama were counted out in the final fall.
October 21, 1972

Ernie Ladd defeats Carlos Colon in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the WWC North American Heavyweight Title.
October 21, 1974

Ken Patera defeats Tony Atlas to win his second NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title in Greensboro, North Carolina.
October 21, 1978

Bret Hart, ending months of rumors and speculation, signs a 20-year contract with the World Wrestling Federation, turning down a lucrative offer from WCW. As part of the agreement, which will see Hart become a part of the WWF office following his in-ring career, Bret is allowed to go into the ring during a live edition of Raw and discuss his decision. Hart does not blast WCW (as some within WWF were hoping), but does reveal that he is staying with the WWF. One year later, Vince McMahon would be asking Bret to drop the WWF Title to Shawn Michaels at the Survivor Series and releasing him from the contract, beginning the most famous story in wrestling history, the Montreal Screwjob.
October 21, 1996

Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeats Marc Mero the WWF Intercontinental Title, his first title in WWF/E.
October 21, 1996

Chris Jericho defeated The Rock for the WCW Heavyweight title.
October 21, 2001

Triple H simulated sex with a mannequin while dressed as Kane, in the infamous Katie Vick necrophilia skit.
October 21, 2002

This Day In Wrestling History

Ed "Strangler" Lewis defeats Joe "Scissors" Stecher to finally unify the World championship in St. Louis, Missouri. Lewis had been recognized as World champion in various areas, while Stecher held the linear championship belt. This match had been put off several times since 1925. While Lewis now has the strongest claim as World champion, the New York State Athletic Commission decides to recognize Hans Steinke as champion.
February 20, 1928

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat defeats Ric Flair for the NWA World Title.
February 20, 1989

This Day In Wresatling History

After yet another "retirement," Frank Gotch returns to action defeating Carl Hammerschmidt in Minneapolis.
November 26, 1912

Charlie Cutler defeats Ed "Strangler" Lewis in Chicago.
November 26, 1913

The first, and only, head-to-head Pay-per-view war between the WWF and NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions, takes place. After years as a live and closed circuit event, the decision was made to turn Starrcade into the very first non-WWF Pay-per-view wrestling event. However, WWF countered them by presenting the very first Survivor Series. Due to WWF's track record with Pay-per-view (Wrestlemania III was the biggest event of its kind on PPV), many cable systems opted to present WWF's event over the unproven Starrcade. The result was Survivor Series pulling in a 7.0 buyrate, while Starrcade (on a lot less systems) did a 3.3. Cable companies stepped in after this showdown and made it clear that they would not allow the companies to go head to head (at least PPV to PPV) again.

The first WWF Survivor Series was held at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio, drawing 21,300 fans to see the first in-ring meeting of Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant since Wrestlemania III. The show was a unique event, as the card was made up of four elimination matches, one of which featured 10 tag teams in one bout.
November 26, 1987

This Day In Wrestling History

Joe Stecher defeats Ed "Strangler" Lewis in a tournament match designed to crown an undisputed World Champion in New York City. Stecher now has the most legitimate claim to a world championship.
November 3, 1919

Jesse "The Body" Ventura is elected the Governor of Minnesota.
November 3, 1998

This Day in Wrestling History

The Wilwaukee Journal says this about Ed "Strangler" Lewis: "...Lewis...who with Joe Stecher is the logical claimant of world's wrestling honors now that Frank Gotch has come out with a statement that he is through with the mat game...he [Lewis] will appear in motion pictures, taking the part of Hector in a movie play called The Illiad.... 'If Gotch retires, as he says he will, and Stecher makes good on his statement that he will not wrestle me again, I will lay claim to the heavyweight wrestling title....' "
July 25, 1916