#GAY MEN WRESTLING IN A RING IN TRUNKS PRO#
These changes accelerated in the 1940s and 50s with the advent of TV coverage that turned up the theatrical aspect a few notches, with flamboyant costumes and personalities, and more acrobatics.Įven as pro wrestling started to become more theatrical and look less like what takes place on college mats, a number of collegiate wrestling champs found fame and fortune in the pro ring, starting with Columbia's Nat Pendleton, Oklahoma State's Earl McCready and Michigan's Ed Don George in the 1920s and 30s. Some contend that pro wrestling always had predetermined outcomes however, a number of historians believe most matches were legitimate until the 1920s, when theatrical aspects started to take hold with the introduction of clearly identified "bad guys" and time-limited matches, among other developments.
#GAY MEN WRESTLING IN A RING IN TRUNKS PROFESSIONAL#
Historians who study professional wrestling can't seem to agree on when this changeover took place. At some point, however, pro wrestling changed into something more familiar to today's fans. The two world championship matches between George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt and Frank "the Iowa Plowboy" Gotch in Chicago in 19 received extensive front-page coverage akin to today's Super Bowl or World Series. (See for yourself check out silent films of a couple pro matches from a century ago - a 1920 Madison Square Garden bout between Earl Caddock of Iowa and Nebraska native Joe Stecher, and a 1913 match featuring Gustav Fristensky and Josef Smejkal in Prague that is believed to be the oldest existing film of professional wrestling.)Ī hundred years ago, pro wrestling was viewed as legitimate sport, covered by major newspapers in the same way as baseball or boxing or other significant sporting events of the time. One wrestler would come out the winner through honest competition, not what was written in a script.
And, it isn't the last.įor those whose understanding of pro wrestling is limited to today's WWE, there was a time when athletes climbed into a wrestling ring without costumes, managers or a backstory, and used holds and moves that any amateur wrestling fan would immediately recognize today. Real Pro Wrestling wasn't the first attempt at professional wrestling without the scripted outcomes, soap opera-ish storylines and other showbiz elements that seem to be as much a part of today's pro wrestling as wrestling rings and trunks. and that the commissioner and matchmaker for FPL would be none other than Ben Askren, two-time NCAA champ for Missouri, 2008 Olympian, and undefeated MMA fighter who recently won the ONE FC welterweight crown.įor those reasons - and more - the time seems right to look back at Real Pro Wrestling. caught the attention of wrestling fans by announcing the first Flo Premier League match would feature recent collegians Chris Perry, a two-time NCAA champ for Oklahoma State, taking on Robert Hamlin, a two-time NCAA finalist for Lehigh at its Who's Number One showcase for top high school mat talent on October 18. There's another timing issue: Earlier this month, the amateur wrestling website announced it was launching Flo Premier League, a professional wrestling venture featuring former college athletes which will have a handful of events to coincide with the 2014-15 college wrestling season. Others have gone on to become coaches at major college wrestling programs. At least a trio of RPW participants went on to make a name for themselves in mixed martial arts. For starters, RPW featured highly accomplished amateur wrestlers - most coming off impressive college mat careers, or freestyle and Greco-Roman experience. So, why write about Real Pro Wrestling now?īeyond the fact Real Pro Wrestling telecasts were filmed almost exactly a decade ago, there are other reasons why InterMat is looking back at RPW. (Later, sportswriter Matt Krumrie conducted a two-part interview with the two principals. but then the enterprise seemed to vanish without a trace - not even a press release.
RPW planned a Season Two, and, in fact, conducted some preliminary qualifying events. The Real Pro Wrestling telecasts from March to May 2005 generated considerable buzz within the amateur wrestling community, and decent ratings. What happened in that LA studio on October 7-9, 2004 was later shown on cable TV the following spring, over the course of eight weeks. Ten years ago this month, at a studio in Los Angeles, 70 wrestlers, a number of coaches, and hundreds of fans participated in the filming of Season One of Real Pro Wrestling, a new venture designed to provide former college wrestlers an opportunity to continue to compete in the sport they love, on TV, and earn money doing it.