By Ruslan C. Pashayev
Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.
The Evolution Of The Species 13
Around 1925 a group of American pro wrestlers headed by famous Austrian wrestler called Henry Irslinger first started running regular pro wrestling matches on hybrid conditions, according to which to win the pro wrestling match you can either pin, submit or knock-out your opponent. Irslinger first tried his system, which he called “all-in wrestling”, in Australia and New Zealand “rasslin ring”, and the fans there loved it, which happened in 1926-28. Then in 1929-30 Irslinger brought his style to Great Britain, where it was explained to the audience that all-in wrestling is an amalgamation of three most efficient wrestling cultures in the world: Western European (French Greco-roman), English (Lancashire catch-as-catch-can) and Japanese (Judo and Jiu-jitsu). In the 1930s all-in wrestling was the only official style of pro wrestling in Great Britain, sometimes different promotions used different names for it (like let’s say some called it “XX Century Catch-as-catch-can”) but essentially it was still the same all-in. The most prominent all-in wrestling promoter in Great Britain during that time period was Sir Atholl Oakeley. The wrestling matches (exhibitions), even though they pleased a great audience of modern wrestling fans, were nothing but the demonstration of various atrocities, brutalities like kicking, punching, tearing ears, noses and mouths, biting, gouging, and other non-wrestling ugly strategies in the ring. The all-in wrestling matches closely resembled the old American rough-and-tumble or gouging matches. The former catch wrestling star from the 1800s Tom Connor of Wigan, Lancs summarized his opinion on all-in wrestling by saying that “there’s no actual wrestling in this kind of wrestling”. As we can tell by its popularity fans liked it anyways, that speaks for the big major switch in tastes and preferences of the crowds.
Among Oakeley’s major business competitors was Geo Relwyskow Sr (former Olympic catch-as-catch-can champion) who was succeeded by his son Relwyskow Jr. who was one of the “chosen people” who owned British pro wrestling for decades. In the 1940s-50s the “new system of pro wrestling” was introduced in the United Kingdom it became known as Mount Evans Style of Wrestling which was still basically all-in with more attention to the wrestling skill and showmanship, and less to the ultra-violence which was the main feature of the original 1930s all-in matches. This style was “created” and promoted everywhere in Great Britain by Norman Morell the boss of them all in British pro wrestling of that era.
Page added
28069
Wrestling Heritage 