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By: “DragonKingKarl” Karl Stern (Patreon / Facebook / Email)

Webmaster & Writer - When It Was Cool

Podcast Host - Wrestling Observer, When It Was Cool

The Real History of Pro Wrestling is More Interesting Than You Can Imagine…

The stories of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, and others have been told and retold in countless newsletter articles, books, documentaries, and feature films. The rich history of professional wrestling and its uniqueness in the entertainment world gives no shortage of source material. However, even for serious hardcore wrestling fans you might think the story of pro wrestling begins with Frank Gotch and continues until Roman Reigns. It’s an understandable belief, but some of the most colorful and interesting people and events happened before Frank Gotch and that is why I am writing DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of 1800s Pro Wrestling to be released in the late fall of 2024.

I have been studying and writing about the pioneers of pro wrestling since the 1990s. I have recorded many hours of podcasts discussing these pioneering entertainers. Yet, even I have been dupped. Many of the stories concerning these pioneers of wrestling are unfounded, untrue, and fictionalized. However, the REAL stories of these entertainers are proving to be far more interesting than the mythologized and hippodromed versions.

Here is just a sample of the stories that thousands of pages of archived newspapers and books have uncovered about the pioneer era of pro wrestling:

• William Muldoon Restored, Not Created, Pro Wrestling in America

For the few people who understand that pro wrestling in the United States existed before Frank Gotch, they probably believe that William Muldoon popularized wrestling in the United States during the 1880s. William Muldoon was a newspaper sensation, a true celebrity in the era before movies or even radio. William Muldoon was a New York City police officer who kept getting in trouble with his superiors for taking pro wrestling matches. Muldoon was a Greco-Roman specialist, and here is where the history gets deep…

Greco-Roman wrestling in the pioneer era is not what you might think of when you think of modern Greco-Roman wrestling. The Greco-Roman of the pioneer era was a French import style of entertainment wrestling popularized by Prof. Thiebaud Bauer and Prof. William Miller who traveled literally from coast to coast- from San Francisco to New York with their fraudulent style of theatrical (and not legitimate) pro wrestling. The newspapers, by the time of William Muldoon, had seen enough of Greco-Roman and Muldoon’s participation rubbed the police department the wrong way, both because Greco-Roman wrestling was considered a fraud and because Muldoon was taking money to wrestle. Muldoon ultimately had to quit the police department in order to continue wrestling…

• Muldoon Traveled the Country Putting on Exhibitions

William Muldoon in the early 1880s began traveling all across the United States “reeducating” people on Greco-Roman wrestling, taking with him Clarence Whistler, Andre Christol, and others. Muldoon gave the appearance of legitimacy. In New York City he was viewed as “a real wrestler” who took a stand against the police department and the “fraud wrestlers” by being real. He probably wasn’t, at least not all the time, but he was real enough to convince the public that this new star of Greco-Roman was worth taking note of.

William Muldoon didn’t even try to present real wrestling matches. Instead, he toured his show across the country billed and presented as demonstrative exhibitions. Muldoon would wrestle (and beat) Clarence Whistler in Greco-Roman wrestling and then give lectures, on the style and techniques used during the match. Then, in a turn-about, Clarence Whistler would wrestle (and beat) Muldoon in Catch-as-Catch-Can style, again accompanied by a tutorial on what the audience had seen. These exhibition shows would also feature strongman acts by the two along with whatever other wrestlers they were taking with them at the time. The public got an entertaining and educational show without ever feeling dupped out of their money. Muldoon earned the public trust in this way.

• Wrestling Was Already Popular Pre- Muldoon

But pro wrestling had already been very popular in the 1870s. Col. James H. McLaughlin had won the most prestigious tournament held to that date in 1870 in Detroit, MI and used the fame of that tournament to propel himself into a newspaper superstar all across the country. Newspapers from coast to coast told of the exploits of Col. James H. McLaughlin and treated him as a legitimate sports star. McLaughlin’s style of choice was collar and elbow which was distinctive from Greco-Roman and followed different rules, but eventually, McLaughlin would learn the value of cross promoting with others and came into the orbit of Prof. Thiebaud Bauer and Prof. William Miller who were touring their Greco-Roman shows. Mix in the carney promoter Harry Hill from New York, and soon it was nearly impossible to distinguish the real from the fake years before William Muldoon came onto the scene.

• Gimmicks Are Not New to Pro Wrestling

You might think of gimmick wrestlers and gimmick matches as a modern pro wrestling invention, but they are not. Charles the King of Wrestling was presenting theatrical wrestling matches as early as the 1840s. Bear wrestling was common in the 1870s and even a big attraction, at one point, in New York City. Women’s wrestling had already begun by 1880 and the first star, Ida Alba, wrestled both men and women before taking her own life in 1881 by drinking a bottle of opium.

Before the time of William Muldoon there were masked men, bear wrestling, intergender matches, and shows and gimmicks of almost every source imaginable. An early proto-four-man match even took place in 1882 (featuring William Muldoon, Andre Christol, Duncan C. Ross, and H.M. Dufur).

Pro Wrestling is a strange, entertaining, and far older spectacle than most know could even imagine. Join me on my 1000 Hours Podcast series where I discuss the pioneer era of pro wrestling and support my upcoming DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era of Wrestling Omnibus book to help me continue to research and documentation of pro wrestling and pro wrestling history. Support us on Patreon.

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