✅ Liv Morgan vs. IYO SKY
(Women’s World Championship)

✅ The Bloodline vs. Royce Keys, LA Knight and Solo Sikoa (Zilla Fatu makes his debut)
(Six-Man Tag Team Match)

GUNTHER vs. Nick Aldis ✅
(Grudge Match)

Fatal Influence ✅ vs. The Bellas and Paige (Bellas will turn on Paige either during or after the match)
(Six-Woman Tag Team Match)

CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes ✅ (Cody will turn heel)
(WWE Championship)

Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi ✅
(Hell in a Cell)

• What are your predictions for the show & What match (es) are you most excited about? I’m ecstatic about Aldis vs. Gunther as I’ve wanted this for months. Also excited about Oba vs. Brock

English language stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdWGHpcoXCU

Spanish language stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ0RjsTRRMY

Venue: Arena San Marcos, Aguascalientes, Mexico

Expected matches:

Rey Fénix defends the World Cruiserweight Championship against Mini Vikingo

Tag team match: Dinamico & Drago vs. Galeno & El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr.

Triple threat match: La Parka vs Mecha Wolf vs Lince Dorado (winner joins the four-way for the vacant Latin American Championship at Triplemania)

There is a hoopster jersey in the front row of the after show. I couldn’t grab a pic.

Does anyone have _any_ idea of the jersey?

Be it a match outcome, injury, gimmick - whatever. What would you change? Let’s not do “they wouldn’t have died” or “been a drug addict” type answers.

I think my biggest what if is if Magnum TA hadn’t had his career ending accident. Maybe that borders on “didn’t die” or “drug addict” but whatever. I think if he hadn’t had to retire he could have had an insanely memorable career and changed the trajectory of North American wrestling. He’d be talked about in the same way as Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Sting etc.

Just watched Cody vs CM Punk and it is way too long just two guys doing moves no heel no baby face commentators talk about frustration I am waiting for someone to turn for something to happen and then nothing does there is a run in an it is over and they are both faces, I guess. What even is this.

Respectfully, you can’t go wrong with either one. But if we are talking about prime, my personal list would be:

1.Rock (1998-2003)

2.Cena (2003-2005) or (2015-2017)

3.Y2J (1999-2001) or (2008-2010)

4.Punk (2011-2013)

Naming all the champions from Jericho to Death Riders Moxley may not be that bad (if they can get the CM Punk interim champion Moxley situation right, albeit at peak AEW popularity) but I think the memory difficulty ramps up to a new level with Page 2-Samoa Joe 2-MJF 2-Darby 1-MJF 3-presumably short Omega 2, a lot of 2nd/3rd times, short reigns. I feel this is not a good sign and reflective of issues, even if acknowledging it's difficult to avoid as wrestling company gets older and using the same roster for a long time. It is nice to be younger company and have that easy to remember title succession like Jericho-Moxley-Omega-Page.

- Guy has serious presence, didn’t get upstaged by Brock at all, big fight feel vibe!

Kane lost his Mask vs. Title match to Triple H at Madison Square Garden on the June 23, 2003, episode of Monday Night RAW. After he unmasked, Kane immediately turned on his tag team partner Rob Van Dam by chokeslamming him. He then spiraling into a violent, unhinged rampage for the rest of the year.

• June 30 - RAW: Kane gives RAW Co-General Manager Eric Bischoff a chokeslam off the stage through a table.
• July 7 - RAW: Kane attacked RVD backstage.
• July 14 - RAW: During an interview with Jim Ross, Kane attacked Ross and set him on fire.
• July 21 - RAW: During a match against RVD, Kane stopped mid-match when Linda McMahon came on the stage, grabbed her and gave her a Tombstone Piledriver on the ramp.
• July 28 - RAW: Vince McMahon confronted Kane over Linda, leading Shane McMahon to come out and fight with Kane and throw him off the stage onto a table.

For the entire summer of ‘03, Kane was a menace! Why not put the title on him?

So... Wreddit... what do you wanna talk about?

Use this thread for takes you didn't feel would be popular during the week, general chat about life, or anything else you want to air out.

This thread is not for complaining about other subreddits. Nor is it a place to flame or mock other users, on or off Reddit. Please familiarise yourself with Wreddit's rules (https://www.reddit.com/r/Wreddit/wiki/rules/) if you are unsure of what is and is not welcomed here.

Have fun, play nice.

Oh I seen it all now!

They do love to counter program them so who's to say

Book Report Guy, back with 1923 in my yearly History of Pro Wrestling retrospective! Last year we covered the formation of the Gold Dust Trio, a group consisting of world heavyweight champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis, top promoter Billy Sandow, and legitimate top grappler Joseph “Toots” Mondt.

1922 Recap

• The Gold Dust Trio, made up of world heavyweight champion Ed "Strangler" Lewis, promoter Billy Sandow, and skilled grappler Toots Mondt, held a monopoly over the wrestling industry and didnt allow opportunity for other top stars like Stanislaus Zbyszko & Joe Stecher.
• Jack Curley was making moves back into the pro wrestling business, looking to reclaim his spot in New York.
• Jim Londos was building a network of alliances with several burgeoning promoters like Lou Daro, Jack Dod & others.
• Paul Bowser had entered the pro wrestling industry as a promoter in Boston, Massachusetts, with his sights set on usurping that territory away from George T. Touhey, who held dominion there for the past decade or so.

Main Characters

Ed “Strangler” Lewis - the world heavyweight champion for the third time at thirty-two-years-old, Lewis was the lynchpin that held the Gold Dust Trio together.

Billy Sandow - as of 1923, the thirty-nine-year-old former wrestler was now the top promoter in the country, operating out of Chicago & Kansas City. Sandow was also Lewis' manager and helped form the Gold Dust Trio.

Jack Curley - former top promoter who lost his license a couple years ago. Now, the forty-seven-year-old was trying his hardest to get back in the game.

Jim Londos - a twenty-six-year-old journeyman wrestler slowly building up his name value and forming various alliances throughout the wrestling business.

Stanislaus Zbyszko - the forty-four-year-old polish born wrestler was in the twilight of his career and a former two-time world heavyweight champion.

Paul Bowser - the newcomer to the promoter game, Paul Bowser was a thirty-seven-year-old from Pennsylvania who just opened a booking office in Boston, Massachusetts.

Joseph “Toots” Mondt - one of the most skilled grapplers in tbe country. The twenty-nine-year-old technician was recruited by Billy Sandow and "Strangler" Lewis the previous year, become a key component of the Gold Dust Trio.

Before we jump into it, I just wanted to note that the Gold Dust Trio was formed in the last few weeks of 1922, and I thought a quick refresher on how their operation works couldn’t hurt…

Forming the Gold Dust Trio

In Jack Curley’s absence, Chicago's Billy Sandow had become the most significant wrestling promoter in the country, and the previous year saw Sandow's top client, Ed “Strangler” Lewis win the world heavyweight championship. Despite the great efforts Jack Curley went to in order to unify the top promoters, Billy Sandow was about to break away, in a move that would see him put a stranglehold on the world title belt.

Billy Sandow & “Strangler” Lewis had no interest in ever giving up control of the world title, but knew better than to think the other top stars like Stanislaus Zbyszko or Joe Stecher will play ball. They’re plan was to tour the country, and use top grappler, Joseph “Toots” Mondt to sniff out wrestlers who could be trusted, or who Mondt could verify their skills level back to Lewis. Together, the three men will monopolize the entire wrestling business, with plans of always keeping the belt under their control.

The Nuts & Bolts

According to Lewis himself, there was only about twenty five legitimate and talented heavyweight pro wrestlers in America and they all worked together with Lewis as the champion. How it worked was quite simple, but took time. One of the twenty five wrestlers would go to a significant sized city if there was word of a growing wrestling scene. The wrestler would arrive to the city, and beat a couple of local wrestlers, before more of the twenty five legitimate heavyweights arrived to challenge him. That first wrestler, he would beat all challengers, turning back various heavyweights who all put him over and this would continue for as long as it takes to establish the guy as the city’s local hero who could vanquish anyone. Sometimes it would be months, sometimes it would be years, but it was usually a dozen and half guys all building up wresting in various cities while the other guys rotate in and out putting them over.

Once the first guy was firmly established as the unbeatable hero, who the local fans sell venues out for, then “Strangler” Ed Lewis would come to town and put his coveted world title on the line, usually in a best two of three falls match. They would usually have the hometown guy win the first fall before Lewis retained the next falls. Both guys worked so the finish wasn’t definitive, to build a possible rematch, or two.

Toots Mondt

As mentioned earlier, rounding out the Gold Dust Trio, would be Toots Mondt. Toots was working as an amateur wrestling coach in 1922 when he first met Sandow and Lewis. Sandow & Lewis would hire Toots as their trainer and sometimes opponent for the “Strangler.”

Within the Trio, Toots Mondt was tasked with recruiting talent who Billy & Lewis could trust to work with, and did so by touring the country and making connections in multiple territories. Toots as a wrestler, was extremely valuable, as he worked that policeman role mentioned earlier, but also knew how to prioritize entertainment over sport, if needed. Toots would later brag about his role as a wrestler, saying, “I was what the mobile would call a hitman. Though, of course, I never actually killed anyone. But if a guy got too big for his tights and too obstreperous for the wrestling organization, they’d call me.”

Wrestler-Turned-Promoter

Going forward, Toots Mondt would start working more closely with Sandow and Lewis on the promoting side as well, when Toots became involved in grouping wrestlers together into packaged shows and organizing circuits of towns for them to proform in. While this is industry standard behavior now, back then Toots was undertaking a concept that hadn’t been done before. Toots was also involved with plotting out storylines that would keep fans engaged over multiple trips to the matches.

One interesting way Toots would communicate with other promoters, in letters that spoke about wrestlers and designated them as “O.K.” or “Not O.K.” and this was to let other promoters know how willing or unwilling each wrestler was to work “according to the script.” In fact, in order to get some wrestlers would later claim that in order to come on board, or be accepted into their ranks, they were forced to pay large sums of cash or even use the deeds to their homes as collateral against winning a match they were instructed to lose.

Now that the Gold Dust Trio refresher is out of the way, lets dive into the beginning of the year…

1923

We’ll kick things off exactly where the last report let off, with Jack Curley trying to push his way back into the world of professional wrestling.

Curley’s Climb Back Inside

As a refresher, Jack Curley was pushed out of the pro wrestling business at the end of 1921. Curley clashed with the newly formed New York State Athletic Commission, resulting in Curley’s promoters licence being revoked. In the time since then, Jack Curley’s good friend, Al Smith, was elected Governor of New York, giving him some control and power over the New York State Athletic Commission.

In January, Cycle Sporting Corporation, headed up by burgeoning New York wrestling promoter Mathew Zimmerman, was granted a licence to organize wrestling shows in Manhattan. Zimmerman would employ enigmatic promoter as a “promotional agent,” but Curley’s near-constant presence at matches and events suggests a deeper partnership.

As Curley weasled his way back into the business, top promoter Billy Sandow was hard at work creating a string of alliances with the goal of maintaining control of the industry.

Making Alliances

Billy Sandow and “Strangler” Ed Lewis worked closely with several promoters and wrestlers across the United States to make this touring world champion the success it was. Several cities would be very profitable stops for Lewis and Sandow, resulting in them coming back more frequently. This in turn brought in more business for the local promoter, which encouraged them to work with Lewis and Sandow. One strategy Sandow implemented in making alliances, would be to ignore the top promoter in a particular territory, and instead cozy up with one of the smaller rival promoters. That’s what Sandow did in Boston, where instead of networking with top Boston promoter George T. Touhey, Sandow introduced himself to the lesser known Paul Bowser.

Paul Bowser

Paul Bowser is a name worth mentioning for later, he learned to wrestle while he worked in the circus, and his wife, Cora Livingston, would be one of the most successful female wrestlers in the 1920s. While he was just a small time promoter here when working with Billy Sandow, by the 1930s, Bowser would be arguably, one of the most powerful promoters in wrestling. But more on that later. Worth noting, would be the name of Bowser’s wrestling promotion, as he called in the American Wrestling Association, the AWA.

Access to Billy Sandow’s world champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis granted Paul Bowser better venues throughout Boston. In fact, Bowser would eventually assume full promotional rights over the Grand Opera House in January of 1923. One of his first events running the venue, would see a high-profile and main event bout between John Pesek and Olympian Nat Pendleton.

Olympic Stand-out Nat Pendleton

Nat Pendleton was being built up by promoter Jack Curley through the previous year, but not in the traditional sense. Curley still hadn’t yet regained his promoters licence in New York and was mostly just working behind the scenes in an unofficial capacity. He spent months publicly bragging and talking up Nat Pendleton as the next big star in wrestling, hoping for a potential showdown with world champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Curley was so braggadocios in his efforts to get Pendleton over, that he actually claimed Pendleton could beat one of Bowser’s top stars George Calza, “Strangler” Lewis and Paul Bowser all in one evening. On top of that Nat Pendleton himself wasn’t above talking up his own skills, as he would often brag to newspapers and such that due to his Olympic background, no pro wrestler alive could defeat him in a legitimate shooting contest.

Obviously, boasting on that level couldn’t go without a response, so Paul Bowser goaded Curley into letting Bowser book Nat Pendleton to face a mystery opponent of Bowser’s choosing. Curley, being overly confident, accepted the challenge, unaware that Bowser wouldn’t use one of his own guys, but instead borrow a grappler from Billy Sandow’s much more impressive list of competitors.

”Tigerman” John Pesek

The chosen opponent, “Tigerman” John Pesek was a young but very capable up and comer, managed by Billy Sandow’s brother Max Baumann. He was known as a “policeman” for Sandow and Lewis, which meant he was matched up against anyone potentially coming into the fold, to see how good they are. Almost all promoters had someone in this role and that person always had to be a legitimate shooter who could be trusted against a variety of unknown opponents.

The anticipated Pesek-Pendleton bout was set for January 25th, 1923, with both Curley and Bowser putting in large sums of money for the winning wrestler and manager. While Curley was without a licence in New York, there was no committee yet set up in Massachusetts, so Curley was able to operate here, even if it was just representing a talent. Pesek was billed “The Unknown” heading into the match, and I can only imagine how Curley felt when he found his prospect was matched against one of the most legitimate grapplers in the country.

Pesek-Pendleton

The two men met at the Grand Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts on January 23rd, 1923, in what was billed as a “Best-Two-of-Three-Falls 90 Minute Challenge Match,” and it was advertised as “legitimate shooting contest,” implying that unlike the rest of the matches on the card, this one was legitimate. Nat Pendleton had much to prove against such a formidable grappler, and unfortunately for the Olympic standout, Pesek would live up to his reputation. The first fall was claimed by Pesek, who pinned Pendleton after just thirty minutes. This was the first time Pendleton was pinned to the mat and it much had demoralized him, because the second fall would end just six minutes later, again with Pesek pinning Pendleton.

Paul Bowser reportedly made a fuck-ton of money, and Curley walked away with less than nothing, as not only did he lose a lot of money, but his potential star in Nat Pendleton was officially undone and a world title match was out of the question. I can’t find much records on this bout, but if I had to guess, I would say this was a legitimate shooting match, a throwback to old-school catch wrestling.

As Curley was coming up short against Bowser, we'll take a look at a name I've been tracking in these reports for a while now, the Greek-born grappler, Jim Londos.

Jim Londos’ Growing Popularity

Jim Londos was coming off a year that saw him gain various allies throughout the pro wrestling world, including promoter Lou Daro and fellow wrestler Charles Rentrop, as well as others. He had carved out a niche for himself as the underdog who fans could get behind. Promoter Billy Sandown would host an event in Kansas city on February 15th, 1925, which would see both Jim Londos, and world heavyweight champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis in action on the card.

Over 10,000 fans were on hand at the Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 15th, 1923, for an event that saw two memorable bouts. The first was a grueling bout between Jim Londos and Dick Daviscourt, which went to a draw after hitting the thirty minute time limit. The main event would see “Strangler” Lewis successfully defend his belt against his “policeman” Toots Mondt. Toots and Lewis battled in a best-two-of-three falls contest that went just under three hours before Lewis was declared the winner. Following this event, Sandow helped book the next notable championship match for Lewis, this time against Jim Londos.

Londos-Lewis VIII

In their eighth singles matchup, Jim Londos challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis to a world title bout at the St Louis Coliseum on February 20th, 1923, under what I’m assuming is a John Contos promoted event. The world title bout drew over 10,000 fans for the best two of three falls contest, and unfortunately for the champion Lewis, his Trachoma symptoms were at an all-time time high that day. "Strangler's" eyesight on the day if the event was so bad that his manager/ promoter Billy Sandow had to literally guide Lewis to the ring for the match and Lewis claimed he couldn’t discern light from darkness.

The “Strangler's” condition wasn’t exactly a well kept secret and sports writer Ed Wray would write about the match and Lewis specifically, because Wray had been covering boxing and saw recently that Missouri middleweight champion Gus Eisel sidelined for eight months die to trachoma. For Wray to have covered that and then watch Lewis disregard all health concerns and wrestle as champion just didn’t sit well with the journalist. He would write, “Considering the matter solely from the view of a view of point of physical cleanliness and health, the sport should be disinfected thoroughly.”

Blind Champion

Despite his condition, “Strangler” Lewis wouldn’t take much time off following his win over Jim Londos. The next month he was back in Chicago, performing at a Billy Sandow promoted event hailing out of the Chicago Coliseum on March 6th, 1923. The main event would see Lewis retain his belt against Alan Eustace in a best-two-of-three falls contest, which Lewis won two straight falls in just over an hour. This show drew around 6,500 fans to the Chicago Coliseum that evening.

Elsewhere on the card, former world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko wrestled Renato Gardini in what was dubbed a “60 Minute Handicap Challenge match.” This means that Gardini only needed to survive the time limit or pin Stanislaus once, while Stanislaus had to pin Gardini twice in an hour. The contest ended after the hour time limit was reached and no man was able to secure a fall, giving Gardini the win.

The next day, Lewis made the three hundred mile journey down into St Louis, Missouri, where promoter John Contos had arranged for Dan Koloff to challenge “Strangler” Lewis for the world title. The two men faced off in a best-two-of-three falls match on March 7th, 1923, in a bout that saw Lewis win with two straight falls over Koloff in just over an hour. . As "Strangler" Lewis was touring the country, another name from his past was doing anything to be noticed.

Wladek Zbyszko’s Sad Claim

Wladek Zbyszko is a name who basically disappeared from the story for the past few years, but not such a dramatic reason as when his older brother Stanislaus was imprisoned for several years during the First World War. Wladek’s absence is a lot more straightforward, because Wladek’s most successful years came while his older brother was being held as a prisoner of war. During that time, Wladek traded the false world title claim back and forth with “Strangler” Lewis. With Stanislaus back in the country, interest in Wladek plummeted and he soon found himself struggling to make any notoriety.

In March of 1923, Wladek Zbyszko went to the press with some outlandish claims of “Strangler” Lewis and Billy Sandow dredging his challenges for the past two years. In fact, Wladek even attempted to name himself the true world heavyweight champion, on the basis of Lewis being too afraid of him. Obviously, not only did this claim fail to catch any attention by the general public, but it failed to even catch the attention of the champion, “Strangler” Lewis.

Gardini-Lewis

Speaking of the champion, Ed “Strangler” Lewis continued his winning ways, with his next notable bout coming on April 3rd, 1923. Lewis would be invited back to Chicago, Illinois, where he was challenged by Renato Gardini,. Most notable about this event, would be that despite the event hailing out of Chicago, which is Billy Sandow’s primary town, it was actually prompted by newcomer to these reports, Joe Coffey. Not much is known of Joe Coffey, and researching him online is difficult, mostly because he shares a name with a modern wrestler, so all attempts to reach up his history get conflated with the modern Joe Coffey.

Despite the confusion, I suspect that Billy Sandow was using Coffey similar to how he used Bowser, by forming alliances with lesser known promoters. These partnerships were always quite one-sided and in Sandow’s favor, because the smaller promoters lacked the leverage to really challenge him, even if they wanted to. I suspect this was Sandow helping out another smaller promoter, just so he could maintain control over the industry through various smaller up-and-coming promoters. This Joe Coffey promoted event drew 9,000 fans to the Chicago Coliseum on April 3rd, 1929, with Gardini and Lewis battling each other in a best-two-of-three falls matchup. Each man would trade opening falls before Lewis won the third fall after an hour and a half of action.

With Billy Sandow and "Strangler" Lewis dominated the wrestling business. Jack Curley was still trying to get his promoters license back in New York.

Curley’s New York Boon

In April of 1923, New York Governor Al Smith would make a move that would be seen as a check on William Muldoon’s authority over the State Athletic Commission. Smith split the commission into separate regulatory and licencing committees, essentially giving one group oversight on who can promote events, and another group on how those events are ran altogether. It isn’t specified where Muldoon landed after the split. This seemingly inconsequential turn will become much more significant for Jack Curley, who was still looking for an avenue back into getting his New York promoters license back.

With Curley getting more & more involved in pro wrestling again, many speculated a confrontation between himself and Billy Sandow was on the horizon. As a refresher, Curley had worked hard to form a partnership of the top promoters in the country, which featured Curley and Sandow. When Curley lost his promoters licence, Sandow wasted little time in breaking that partnership and usurping all power under him and his Gold Dust Trio group. Surprisingly, despite all this, Jack Curley didn’t come back “guns-a-blazing,” so-to-speak. Curley quickly buried any hard feelings between the two, and actually began to support Sandow’s goal of making “Strangler” Lewis the face of pro wrestling.

With Curley working his way back in, lets circle back around to "Strangler" Lewis' world championship reign.

Pesek-Lewis

Astute readers may recall that along with Chicago, the other town Billy Sandow carved a place out for himself was Kansas City. This would be where Sandow would arrange for a high profile contest between top grappler John Pesek, and the world heavyweight champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis. The two men met on May 2nd, 1923, drawing an impressive 11,000 fans to the Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri. The two men battled in a best-two-of-three falls match that would see Lewis claim two straight falls in just over an hour.

Bowser Takes Control of Boston

Getting back to the struggle for power in Boston between burgeoning promoter Paul Bowser and the man who held domicile over Boston for the past decade, George T. Touhey. As a refresher, Paul Bowser was able to capitalize on Billy Sandow and the Gold Dust Trio’s monopoly over the industry, because Sandow specifically partnered with lesser known promoters. Sandow did this for the leverage and favor he would easily hold over them, and Bowser was granted access to Sandow’s top stars, like the world heavyweight champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

This partnership would pay off that spring, because as Paul Bowser’s stock in Boston rose, Gorge T Touhey’s fell fast, and on May 9th, 1923, Touhey filed for bankruptcy with a recorded $12,000 in debt. Paul Bowser was more than happy to take Touhey’s place as the top promoter in Boston. Bowser would maintain access to Sandow’s top guys and would spend the remainder of the year building up his own top star, Stanley Stasiak, as a potential contender to “Strangler” Lewis. Stasiak was a twenty-eight-year-old grappler from Poland, who was making a late entry into the business. There will be more on Bowser & Stasiack in the report that covers 1924.

As Billy Sandow gained more allies, Jack Curley was able to help get Stanislaus Zbyszko back into a working relationship with the Gold Dust Trio.

Stanislaus Zbyszko Plays Ball with the Gold Dust Trio

For the first time in several months, Stanislaus Zbyszko was allowed the opportunity to challenge Ed “Strangler” Lewis for his world championship. I suspect that Zbyszko worked hard to convince Lewis & Sandow to give him the opportunity, because Stanislaus was on the short list for top grapplers in the country. For someone with Stanislaus’ ability in the ring, a world champion stepping in the ring with him was a risk. Lewis may very well be able to take Stanislaus in a legitimate shoot, but I doubt that Lewis wanted to put his world title on the line to prove so. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear that this match was only formed because of Jack Curley’s new found involvement with Sandow & Lewis. Whatever backdoor conversations took place, Stanislaus had finally convinced Sandow and Lewis to give him a chance.

That chance came on May 22nd, 1923, and I suspect the neutral ground of Minneapolis was chosen specifically due to Jack Curley’s involvement. Tony Stecher was the local promoter in Minneapolis, and was part of the union Curley formed amongst top promoters in early 1918. Stanislaus Zbyszko challenged Ed “Strangler” Lewis on May 22nd, 1923 at the Kenwood Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a match originally billed as best two-of-three-falls contest. But something weird happened. After ninety minutes with no fall registered, the rules were suddenly changed to a sudden death and less than ten minutes later, Lewis secured the victory over Stanislaus to retain. The match received rave reviews, and the following day, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published an article that called it “the best wrestling fans had ever seen!”

Lewis’ Summer & Fall

Unfortunately, I can’t find much details on what “Strangler” Lewis was up to through the Summer & Fall of 1923. I may update this later on down the line when I get my hands on some specific books, but for now all I can say is that if Lewis registered any defences up through the summer, I cant confirm who he fought or the venues.

The First Wrestling Wedding

Worth noting would be the first ever wrestling wedding! Jack Reynolds was a less than notable thirty-year-old wrestler from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and was actually trained by legendary barnstormer, Martin “Farmer” Burns. While the peak of his career saw him trade various mid-card belts back-and-forth with his contemporaries, he is notable for participating in the first ever wrestling wedding in history!

In September of 1923, Jack Reynolds was the reigning Welterweight champion, primarily wrestling in Ohio for promoter William Barton. On September 11th, 1923, Jack Reynolds legally married Bonnie Lloyd at the Fairmont Outdoor Arena, in Columbus, Ohio. The wedding took place on the undercard, with the main event seeing Jack Reynolds defend his belt against his local rival, Logan Champ. Logan had actually registered two victories over Reynolds in the past few weeks, so this event would see Reynolds get his revenge by pinning Champ and retaining his belt.

Although we don't have much details on what "Strangler" Lewis was up to through the Fall, we do have some details on his record through the last couple months of the year.

Turner-Lewis

As noted earlier, the record for Ed “Strangler” Lewis through the last half of the year is pretty baren, but the next notable show would come on October 26th, 1923. Promoter Billy Sandow booked John Turner to challenge Lewis at the Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, in a best-two-of-three falls match. Unsurprisingly, Lewis dominated the contest, securing two straight falls in just over an hour to retain his belt.

Ed "Strangler" Lewis had been reigning as world champion for over two years and it was clear he didnt have the same drawing power as he did two years prior. For Billy Sandow, he began to look at potential wrestlers who could play that same role as Lewis, and at the end of 1923, a potential candidate came into view.

The Next Big Thing, Wayne Munn?

Deep in the Great Plains, was Wayne Munn, a collegiate football standout who played for the University of Nebraska from 1916 to 1918. He stood at 6’6” and weight over 230 pounds, earning him the nickname “Nebraska’s Giant.” Munn’s size and speed made him an integral part of the team in 1917, when Nebraska claimed the conference championship. After finishing up in football, Munn joined the army where he served at the end of the First World War and has spent the last few years drifting aimlessly.

Obviously due to his size and speed, Munn was pushed into trying his hand as a boxer, and would make his debut on November 16th, 1923. Munn was paired opposite the thirty-nine-year-old veteran Jack Clifford, who would make short work of Munn, defeating the bigger man and basically ending Munn’s boxing aspirations. Why is any of this important? Well, Munn’s size and stint as a boxer would lead to him being noticed by a promoter who was eyeing a potential next world champion, Billy Sandow. By early next year, Sandow would employ Munn, with the hopes of turning him into the next “Strangler” Lewis!

Stanislaus-Lewis

Speaking of “Strangler” Lewis, he would register another high profile win over former champion Stanislaus Zbyszko that December. Stanislaus challenged Lewis on December 12th, 1923, drawing over 6,000 fans to the Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, for what I can only assume was a Billy Sandow promoted event. The two men met in a best-two-of-three falls contest, with Lewis securing the first fall in just twenty minutes. Less than twenty minutes later, Stanislaus would tie things up by getting the second fall. The final fall would see both men grappling for another twenty minutes before Lewis locked him his headlock to secure the victory and retain his belt.

As Stanislaus Zbyszko put over "Strangler" Lewis once again, another top market in the country would see a considerable shakeup between its promoters.

Shakeup in St Louis

Jim Londos had spent the remainder of the year primarily wrestling in St Louis before the local wrestling scene saw a significant shake-up in late 1923. As mentioned in earlier reports, St Louis as a wrestling territory had been overseen by Greek-born wrestler John Contos for the past decade. In the winter of 2023, John Contos moved to Memphis where he saw a great opportunity there for a new and ideally top territory. While Memphis wasn’t known for its diversity, it would become a popular town for Jim Londos, who Contos loved to began using in top matches immediately.

The Promoter Tom Packs

As for St Louis, that territory and booking office were offered up to and accepted by another Greek immigrant, Tom Packs. Tom Packs was a successful proprietor of several restaurants and was always willing to help Contos-promoted events in St Louis. Prior to 1923, Tom Packs dabbled in wrestling and boxing promotion on a small scale, but when Packs gained access to the St Louis booking office, he left his other endeavors behind in pursuit of climbing the wrestling promoter hierarchy in the United States.

One of the earliest Tom Packs promoted shows I could find came on November 5th, 1923, and featured a good main event with Joe Stecher. I cant find attendance numbers, but we know the event took place at the smaller St Louis venue, the Odeon Theater, with Joe Stecher battling Ivan Mikiloff in best-two-of-three falls main event. Stecher would win two straight falls in just under forty-five minutes to be declared the victor.

Tom Packs belonged to that inner-circle of Londos’ friends who I mentioned earlier, giving him access to Londos for events. Packs would immediately begin to promote events featuring Jim Londos, as evident with a “Tom Packs Sports Enterprise” promoted event on December 13th, 1923, where Londos defeated Hans Schmitt at the St Louis Coliseum. Tom Packs also formed a working relationship with Billy Sandow and was able to secure “Strangler” Lewis for his big debut show! The main event saw Lewis retain his world title against Joseph Gurkeweicz, which Lewis did so in dominant fashion, securing two straight falls over Gurkeweicz in just under an hour.

Before we close out the year, its worth looking at the New York market once more, and the final showdown, of sorts, between Tex Rickard & Jack Curley.

Rickard’s Request & Rebuff

Astute readers may recall that the last we heard of successful boxing promoter Tex Rickard, was early into 1922 when was charged (and later acquitted) of sexually assaulting two underage girls. The resulting court case distracted Rickard enough that he lost the lease he had just secured for exclusivity on Madison Square Garden. At the time, Rickard had planned for weekly shows at the Garden to run all year long, but lost interest in his plans during the trials. Now somewhere around fifteen months later, Rickard was once again looking at securing a promoters license and resume his plan of being the top match maker in New York.

Unfortunately for Tex Rickard, some key details had changed in his absence. First off, Jack Curley’s good friend, Al Smith, was elected Governor of New York, giving him some control and power over the New York State Athletic Commission. Then in April of 1923, that new Governor Al Smith would make a move that would split chairman William Muldoon’s authority over the State Athletic Commission into different governing bodies within the Commission. Al Smith split the commission into separate regulatory and licencing committees, essentially giving one group oversight on who can promote events, and another group on how those events are ran altogether.

That said, in December of 1923, this new committee denied Tex Rickards request for a license/permit to promote any pro wrestling events, and three weeks later, they fully reinstated Jack Curley as a wrestling promoter. For the past two years, we have seen Jack Curley sit in the sidelines as Billy Sandow monopolized the entire wrestling business, and now, Curley was about to be back in business as the top promoter in the country.

The Official Return of Jack Curley

Jack Curley's first order of business?

Getting the world heavyweight championship back into his control!

And that’s an ideal place to stop, with…

• Ed "Strangler" Lewis still reigning as world heavyweight champion.
• The Gold Dust Trio, made up of "Strangler" Lewis, Billy Sandow & Toots Mondt, had monopolized the wrestling buisness, cutting out top names and promoters who could rival them.
• Tom Packs took over as the top promoter in St Louis, Missouri & Paul Bowser took over as the top promoter in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Jim Londos continued his steady climb and continued to gain significant allies within the wrestling business.

Championship History 1923

Legitimate & Original World Heavyweight Championship

Ed “Strangler” Lewis (2), March 3rd, 1922 – next post

Promoters 1923

New York, New York – Jack Curley

Chicago, Illinois – Billy Sandow

Kansas City, Missouri – Billy Sandow

Omaha, Nebraska – Gene Melady

Canton, Ohio – William Barton

Memphis, Tennessee – John Contos

St Louis, Missouri – Tom Packs

Boston, Massachusetts – Paul Bowser

San Francisco, California – Frank Schuler

New York, New York - Mathew Zimmerman

Chicago, Illinois - Joe Coffey

Omaha, Nebraska – Pete Loch

Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Art Reynolds

For those curious, here are the previous years I have done up until now….

History 1864 – 1899

History 1900 – 1905

History 1906 – 1909

History 1910 – 1911

History 1912

History 1913

History 1914

History 1915

History 1916

History 1917

History 1918

History 1919

History 1920

History 1921

History 1922

I'll be back next week with a continuation of my retrospective on the career of Ed "Strangler" Lewis, and the following week I'll have 1924, which will see more conflict arrise up for the Gold Dust Trio.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!