Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling - A Time Line of Every Major Event in Pro Wrestling History - 1908
By: Karl Stern
Much of the text of this entry comes from issue 82 of the DragonKing Press Newsletter available as a downloadable .pdf in the digital downloads section.
1908
The Long Form History of Pro Wrestling Podcast covers the years 1907-1911 on this episode - Click Here.
01-08-1908: The first pro wrestling show is held in Newfoundland, Canada at British Hall: St. John’s: Jim Smart defeated Fred Widlund... Ben Stafford defeated Singby Bye. Referee: Otto Oppelt.
01-09-1908: In Baltimore, Maryland Frank Gotch failed to throw Americus twice in 60:00 (Gotch won the first fall in 41:00, but was unable to win a second fall). Gotch weighed 205 to Americus' 175.
01-30-1908: George Hackenschmidt defeated Joe Rogers in London, England in two straight falls.
George Hackenschmidt vs Joe Rogers
02-07-1908: Frank Gotch defeated Fred Beell in Chicago, IL.
03-06-1908: Frank Gotch fails to defeat Yankee Joe Rogers the required five times in one hour to meet his handicap. He does pin Rogers twice.
03-10-1908: The first NWA World heavyweight champion Orville Brown is born in Cedar Township, KS.
03-21-1908: In Baltimore, Maryland George Hackenschmidt failed to throw Americus in 15:00. Hackenschmidt weighed 208 to Americus' 174.
04-03-1908: Frank Gotch, the American champion, defeats George Hackenschmidt the World heavyweight champion to unify the title in Chicago, IL. Hackenschmidt leaves the ring and refuses to return. This is the first time the two had met and the event was promoted by W.W. Wittig. Hackenschmidt, who outlived Gotch by many years, had throughout his life told his version of being cheated out of the championship including claims that Gotch had covered himself in oil. Whether or not any or all of Hackenschmidt’s claims are true is debatable. Many experts feel that the match was heavily tilted in Gotch’s favor by a partial referee and questionable tactics by Gotch. Marcus Griffen, author of the 1937 book Fall Guys described the first match this way, “It was one of the most disgraceful exhibitions ever witnessed by a capacity audience of enthusiastic mat devotees and it all started the ball rolling toward the general discrediting of wrestlers and grapplers.” Other matches on the show: Chicago, IL: Dexter Park Pavilion drawing 28,000: Americus beat L. Loudenbach… Dick Sorenson beat Ted Tonneman… William Demetral beat Mort Henderson… Emile Stegemiller drew Henry Ordemann… Young Billeter beat Young Linberg… Young Rooney beat Tom Jenkins.
Frank Gotch vs George Hackenschmidt
04-08-1908: In Baltimore, Maryland, Americus defeated Fred Beell to capture the World Light Heavyweight Title.
06-02-1908: Jim Crockett, Sr. is born in Bristol, VA.
11-26-1908: At Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY: Attendance: 3,500: Yussif “The Terrible Turk” Mahmout defeated Tom Jenkins.
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DragonKingKarl (Karl Stern) is a long time pro wrestling historian who has been published in books, newsletters, and podcasts since the mid-1990s.
The Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling Zone is Karl Stern's attempt to chronicle the entire history of pro wrestling and is a work in progress with hundreds of pages of text added each month.
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Pro wrestling history. The history of professional wrestling. Timeline of pro wrestling history.
