By Ruslan Pashayev
Part 1
How it “worked”?
It was “worked” and worked really well. Despite the numberless speculations and based on my many years of study of this matter I couldn’t find any credible evidences of the nineteenth century pro wrestling being anything but the “job”. To the best of my knowledge and expertise the pro wrestling of the 1800s was a “work”, head to toe. And just like any other “work” is, it involved the “employers” and their “employees”.
EMPLOYERS.
The organizers of the matches, the promoters, or the venues owners where the matches were held were those employers, the bosses of the game and the pro wrestlers were their hired personnel. Everything was a “job”, every single match was a predetermined finish affair, even “meeting all comers” or carnival wrestling thing was worked as well, the bosses had their “men” in the crowds who would “challenge the champion” and the rest is history. The gate receipts and a direct betting manipulation in local press and using the word of mouth were what the business was really about, that is how the money was made in pro wrestling.
EMPLOYEES.
The real money in this business was made solely by the bosses and the wrestlers who actually did the job were paid very little, it was an entry level job if you will, because when they hired wrestling professionals no experience was required just a desire to choose this profession and join a troupe of wrestling performers.
THE WORK.
Before arrival of the troupe in town the organizers of matches were building up their reputation in local newspapers and making up the “storylines” thus raising an interest to the upcoming event just to make sure the fans would follow through and bet on the outcome of the fights. And all those “the championship and the prize of 500 dollars a side at stake” were a pure ballyhoo, the wrestlers were paid per show by the bosses, who were the business owners in this case, it was an organized fooling of masses and a really well organized one.
Who were the pro wrestlers of that era?
Often time here and there we hear how the pro wrestlers have to have the amateur wrestling background. As a matter of fact they don’t and they never did. The nineteenth century pro wrestlers didn’t have any amateur wrestling background, back then amateur sports including the sport of amateur wrestling were available only for the kids of rich parents who could afford it, period. The pro wrestlers instead were all the working class people, poor people. For them it was a profession choice and a high level commitment. It was not about the background, not about their past if you will but rather about their present, and most importantly about their future in which the number one thing was that of being faithful to your profession till the very end. They would join the group and that is how their journey started, and some joined being really young, like at the age of 15, or even younger. They trained together for hours and daily to make sure that what they offered to the crowds was actually fun to watch because the gate receipts were directly affecting their paycheck. Another important thing was that pro wrestlers didn’t wrestle professionals outside their own troupe of performers. Hence double-cross was impossible. It was a safe and well-rehearsed show, for the most part.
Were they better athletes than our current wrestlers?
They definitely weren’t. Back then the pro wrestling vocabulary and wrestling vocabulary in general wasn’t as nearly as extensive as it is now. Nowadays the athletics is a science, back then it wasn’t. They had few basic holds among others as the single leg, double leg, headlock, bear hug, various standing and par-terre nelson holds, and several finishing moves such as bodyslam, flying horse, flying mare, cross-buttock, and of course the nelson holds related finishers.
THE WRESTLING PERFORMANCE.
During the whole length of the match the two men were constantly trying to get behind each other whether in standing position or on their knees and that was called taking an “advantage” and from that position attempt to turn their opponent onto their backs, either by flipping him, or by rolling him or by slowly pressing or “working” his shoulders to the ground. Or simply lift him bodily off his feet and slam him right on his two points. All kinds of such falls counted flying, rolling and pins. If the wrestlers were good quality performers that getting behind each other thing happened really fast. And that is what the fun to watch was really about; the speed and how fast that was happening. Taking hold, breaking hold, getting behind, and extricating from that position that was the art of catch wrestling. One of the most common ways of evading the shoulders touch was walking on the head technique; it was symbolic of Lancashire style.
THE RULES.
The count of three rule (or a three second pinning fall) didn’t exist back then, as soon as the shoulders touched the ground together, and if the referee saw it (quick falls) the fall was given, it was called a fair back fall, and the match was over. The only clean way of winning match was that, fair back falls, usually 2 out of 3 such falls. Of course the match could have been awarded on disqualification of one of the athletes for violating the fair play principles, or on injury of one of them and inability of them to continue the struggle, or simply won by a knock-out throw. Such quick falls often time were disputed by the wrestlers who would approach the ref claiming that their shoulders didn’t really touch the ground. Interestingly, under Wm Muldoon, in the 1920s, the New York State Athletic Commission for some short period of time brought those 1800s “quick falls” back.
But yes, long story short we should avoid any comparison between the modern day wrestling entertainment and the wrestling shows from the 1800s just like we do not compare the currently available technology with what they had back then in the nineteenth century. These two are simply incomparable.
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Wrestling Heritage 