Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling - A Time Line of Every Major Event in Pro Wrestling History - 1910

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.

1910

1910 is discussed on the Long Form History of Wrestling Podcast Episode 12 - Click Here

1910 (unspecified): Americus (Gus Schoenlein) claims the World lightweight title.

01-12-1910: Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: International Graeco-Roman wrestling tournament: Count Koma defeated Stobart in Jiu Jitsu… Burghardt battled Cardarelli “The Giant Turk” to a draw… Hjalmar Lundin battled Charlie Johnson to a draw… Mueller defeated Sudekoff. This troupe of European and American pro wrestlers had held a tournament in Havana in 1909. The Mexico City tourney began before the 12th but the newspapers did not report the results. Lundin, a former circus strongman seems to be the star of the troupe. Lundin, Johnson and their wives are traveling together.

01-13-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Hjalmar Lundin defeated Mueller…Cardarelli battled Burghardt to a draw…Charlie Johnson defeated Sudekoff.

01-14-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma defeated Auvray in Jiu Jitsu… Charlie Johnson defeated Ulbardini… Cardarelli battled Burghardt to a draw…Sudekoff defeated Strobrant.

01-15-1910: Tom Chaaker dies following a match with Yousouf the Terrible Turk (not the original who died in 1889) in Montreal.

01-16-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma battled Burghardt to a draw in Jiu Jitsu… A. Fournier battled Cardarelli to a draw… Hjalmar Lundin defeated Sudekoff… Charlie Johnson defeated Mueller.

01-17-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma battled Burghardt to a draw in Jiu Jitsu… A. Fournier battled Cardarelli to a draw… Charlie Johnson defeated Jacobsen… Strobrant defeated Hjalmar Lundin… Mueller defeated Ulbardini.

01-18-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma battled Auvray to a draw in Jiu Jitsu… Hjalmar Lundin battled Burghardt to a draw… Sudekoff defeated Jacobsen… A. Fournier battled Cardarelli to a draw… Jack Connell challenged Charlie Johnson to a catch-as-catch-can match.

01-19-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma defeated Jacobsen in Jiu Jitsu… Jack Connell battled Charlie Johnson to a draw in catch-as-catch-can… Hjalmar Lundin battled Burghardt to a draw… Strobrant defeated Ulbardini… A. Fournier defeated Cardarelli… Sudekoff defeated Mueller.

01-20-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma defeated Jacobsen in Jiu Jitsu… Hjalmar Lundin defeated Burghardt… Leo Rockler battled Sudekoff to a draw.

01-21-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma defeated Burghardt in Jiu Jitsu… Hjalmar Lundin defeated Leo Rockler… Strobrant defeated Jack Connell… Charlie Johnson defeated Sudekoff… Jacobsen defeated Mueller.

01-22-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma defeated Burghardt in Jiu Jitsu… Strobrant defeated Jacobsen… Charlie Johnson defeated Ulbardini… Leo Rockler defeated Mueller… Hjalmar Lundin defeated Sudekoff… Hjalmar Lundin defeated Nobu Taka in catch-as-catch-can.

01-23-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma battled Hjalmar Lundin to a draw in Jiu Jitsu… Charlie Johnson defeated Mueller… Strobrant defeated Ulbardini… Leo Rockler defeated Sudekoff… Mueller defeated Jacobsen. Hjalmar Lundin mentions this bout with Count Koma in his book On the Mat-And Off, 1937 and claims to have defeated him. Primary resource research shows otherwise.

01-24-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Nobu Taka battled Hjalmar Lundin to a draw in Jiu Jitsu… Leo Rockler defeated Strobrant… Charlie Johnson defeated Sudekoff.

01-25-1910: In Mexico City, Mexico: Colon Theater: Count Koma defeated Charlie Johnson in Jiu Jitsu… Leo Rockler defeated Nobu Taka… Hjalmar Lundin defeated Jacobsen…Mueller defeated Ulbardini.

02-10-1910: Billy Potts promotes a handicap match with Stanislaus Zbyszko in Minneapolis, MN. One of the three opponents for Zbyszko is a young Robert Friedrich who lasts four minutes longer than anyone else against Zbyszko. Friedrich is the future Ed “Strangler” Lewis.

02-27-1910: In Toluca, Mexico: Jack Connell defeated Kid Mitchell. Mitchell accused Connell of being too rough and that the match was only supposed to be an exhibition. Mitchell challenged to meet Connell in a 20-round boxing bout providing Connell first defeats Jim Smith.

03-22-1910: Stanislaus Zbyszko battled Dr. Benjamin F. Roller to a two hour draw in Kansas City, MO.

04-1910: Wrestling promoters John C. Maybray, Joe Carroll, and Bert Warner (The Maybray Gang) are indicted by a Federal court for fixing wrestling matches via the U.S. Mail…. Alexander Aberg wins the World Greco-Roman championship tournament in Russia.

06-01-1910: Frank Gotch defeats Stanislaus Zbyszko in six seconds of the first fall in Chicago, IL. Gotch wins the second fall in just over 27 minutes. It was supposedly Zbyszko’s first loss in over 945 matches.

08-23-1910: In Havana, Cuba: Count Koma battled Jack Connell to a draw for the “Jiu Jitsu championship of the Americas”.

09-10-1910: A supposed 100,000 spectators pack the stadium in White City, London to see Stanislaus Zbyszko verses The Great Gama (Gama Pahelwan). The match was £250 in prize money and a championship belt. The match was to be fought in the Catch as Catch Can wrestling style. The match was described this way by Farid Azam at the Wrestling-Titles.com website: “Both wrestlers exchanged holds for 5 minutes seeking other sides weak points and a chance to deliver an attack. Later Gama tried to grab Zbyszko in a hold, but Zbyszko slipped away. However, Gama attempted the same hold for the second time but failed to apply it successfully once more time. But later he made the third attempt and was successful in bringing his opponent down to the ground. Zbyszko landed face first on the floor and Gama landed on him. Gama tried to pin him but Zbyszko stick to the, and was all over him. Both men struggled for more then 20 minutes remaining in the same position. But Zbyszko kept himself glued to the mat. He resisted getting up. Finally Gama released him and got up. Sending a roaring sound across the arena. He asked Zbyszko to get up on his feet. Zbyszko got a chance and attacked the Indian. He caught Gama in a Greek submission hold. Gama resisted the hold, but Zbyszko managed to throw the Indian opponent off balance and bring him down. Gama landed on the mat and this time Zbyszko was on top of him. But Gama could fight as well as lying on earth as he could do in a standing position. Therefore he was able to break out of Zbyszko’s hold in less then 3 minutes. Both wrestlers got up and faced each other once again. Zbyszko lost his enthusiasm and now he was very cautious. The cautious struggle lasted for four minutes, and then Gama realized that his opponent had weakened up and was very careful in his approach. He immediately launched a series of attacks, and finally managed to apply his favorite maneuver (Pat Khench) by pulling both the feet’s of his opponent off the ground. And down went Zbyszko again. Now Gama was in a commanding position with both of them struggling on the mat. This time Zbyszko remained glued to the mat like a lizard for another half an hour and didn’t let go off the mat. He was desperately trying to avoid a pin fall. The sun was setting down and it was getting late so the spectators got impatient and started and started yelling and shouting. After 30 minutes Zbyszko somehow managed to slip away and got up on his feet’s and started shouting angrily in polish language. The angry public booed at him. This booing from the angry spectators got him mad. He charged at the Indian Gama with intense ferocity. Gama managed to avoid his aggression with ease. This made the pole mad and the attack continued for another 5 minutes, until suddenly Gama got strangulated in a Greek submission hold. In order to make the Indian submit, Zbyszko bought him down on the mat and started applying pressure from above. People saw Gama being crushed under Zbyszko’s weight. But after 3 minutes Gama managed to break out of the fearsome hold… Until now, Gama remained in Zbyszko’s hold twice for only 3 minutes, while Zbyszko was dominated by Gama for 55 minutes. This was the beginning of psychological victory for Gama. The public was able to judge, and knew that Gama was far superior. Zbyszko’s actions of sticking to the ground and remaining on the defensive to avoid defeat irritated the public as they were getting bored, and they started booing him. Gama Pahelwan wrestled Zbyszko for more then 2 hours in the Catch as Catch Can Style wrestling match. But the match remained undecided. Two hours passed out and nothing happened.  Zbyszko always remained glued to the floor and was not getting up. At last the referee warned him that if he continued doing this then he will be expelled from the contest… Zbyszko got onto his feet’s and took a fighting stance staying at a safe distance from the Indian champion. Gama charged at him but Zbyszko tried to avoid contact and moved away. He avoided the Indian for 5 minutes and ran inside the arena, but finding no way out he again avoided con by dropping to the ground and sticking to the mat. The spectators got mad and yelled at Zbyszko to show some action. Gama  inflicted pain on Zbyszko's  neck by pressing with his knee… Zbyszko tried to get up but Gama didn’t let go free of his neck.  The Public got impatient and threw abusive language towards the arena. The referee warned Zbyszko.  Gama suddenly applied a dangerous hold and started punishing his opponent. Zbyszko signaled the referee, asking for a break. The Referee immediately stopped the match.  Zbyszko got up and asked the referee to postpone the bout for the time being. Zbyszko hugged the match for nearly 2 hours, but he was severely outmatched at the hands of the Indian Gama. He displayed tremendous power of resistance that saved him from defeat. The referee consulted the judges, and they allowed the break because the fight started at 1600hrs had come to a halt at 1845hrs, and darkness has set in. So the match was called off for 1 week.  The newspapers reported two hour and thirty four minutes, the actual time of this fight. The match lasted for 154 minutes. The following week, Zbyszko never returned.  The bout was supposed to resume on September 17, 1910, but since Zbyszko didn’t show up at the arena, therefore the Judges awarded the world championship to Gama.

10-25-1910: Henry Ordeman defeats Kid Cutler in Minneapolis, MN with Frank Gotch as the referee. Gotch proclaims Ordeman the new American champion and is now publicly claiming he is retired. Gotch would claim retirement many times over the next seven years.

11-11-1910: Robert Friedrich (AKA” Ed “Strangler” Lewis) defeated Canadian champion Jack Foley in Grand Rapids, MI.

12-13-1910: Leroy McGuirk, future NWA World Junior champion and Tri-States promoter, is born in Garvin, OK.

12-1910: in Allahabad, India: Allahabad Stadium drawing 40,000: Great Gama beat Rahim Sultani Wala to win the Indian title.

Chicago newspaper cartoon touting the arrest of John C. Maybray and gang.

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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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