"He was an inspiration to the youth of America. During his entire career, he exemplified the best in American sports tradition. And when the history of wrestling is written,,, I shall see that Earl Caddock's name goes up near the top for his wrestling ability, and on top as the man who has done most for the uplift of wrestling in this country." - Nat Fleisher, author historian
It's really boring to watch wrestling matches from this time period because, more often than not, these matches would last 2 or more hours. You see wrestlers circling around each other and apply such basic wrestling moves like headlocks, armbars, wristlocks,........ Basic, plain vanilla wrestling moves. Piledrivers, sharpshooters, suplexes,...... were unknown back then.
But, I gotta admit, many of the wrestlers from this time period were legitimate wrestlers who could easily maim an opponent.
@luchador1764 Yet wrestling now a days is real, injury wise. Heck like Brock Lesnar said the ring hurts like fuck and he had to work on it 5 nights a week and for someone to call it fake they are beign so ignorant. Why else would wwe put the dont try this at home or why else did darren drozdov become a quadrapeligic.
No one really knows if this is legitimate or not. It looks completely legit. But maybe it's not. Sure you can read details about it in a book, but those aren't from reliable sources. The source for the book could be a promoter who had a grudge against Stecher or Caddock and wanted to smear them. It was dirty business back then.
@eslubin Hi..Earl Caddock was my grandfather. He was my dad's dad. This was a completely legitimate match. We watched this movie many times when I was growing up. Unfortunately the only film we have is this one where he lost his title.
@Chrissers2010 Are you being for real? I only ask because I've been a professional wrestler for twelve years. I'm one with an amateur background who is a self-taught student of the Catch-As-Catch-Can method.
@NForcerSA Yep...Earl Caddock had three sons and one daughter. Earl's son Richard Caddock was my dad. Dad started an electronics company (Caddock Electronics). I remember when they found this old film reel and had it salvaged.
Around 1915 Joe Stecher and Ed Strangler Lewis wrestled in an Iowa cornfield. The match started at 4PM, by 7PM they asked the farmers to drive their trucks to ringside to provide light for the match. By 9 they stopped the match. The sheriff thought there was some hanky panky and confiscated the receipts. The promoters finally got a judge to order the money returned.
The point is that wrestling results were pre-determined for the last 100 years. If there were no grudges who would pay to see it?
This was at the second Madison Square Garden at Madison Square on 24th Street and Madison Ave! This is the building where Harry Thaw murdered Stanford White.
Why is this the oldest pro wrestling on film? The first Gotch Hackenschmidt fight was filmed in its entirely for a movie. Anybody know if that footage is available anywhere?
but you can't watch a wrestling show without promos the japanese or mexican organisations have better wrestling matches but who whants to watch wrestling matches without stories ? if kayfabe would exist now days it would be a diffrent thing but it is what it is wwe is number 1 because they have everything they got 6 tv shows in a week and ppv's they have the best talend in there roster they could use it better butaaaa...... yea ... and they own everything
Anyone who tells you they know that this was fake or this was real, is a full of shit know it all. You can't look at this and honestly determine that it's not authentic any more than you can look at a Olympic match and say the same thing
It wasn't uncommon at all for a wrestling match to last 2 hours or more during that time period.
Joe Stecher and Ed "Strangler" Lewis wrestled to a 5-hour draw at one point.
You can just imagine how boring it was to watch a wrestling match during that time. A wrestler puts on an armbar or an armlock on his opponent and stays in that position for an hour or so..
Like your comments, tranquileye! It IS impossible to determine the advent of modern, performance theater pro wrestling. Many old-time matches, incl. some of the great Georg Hackenschmidt, were contrived, notably the music hall ones in Great Britain in the early 1900's. His legitimate matches were not faked, and to this date no one is 100% sure about what happened in his classic battle with Frank Gotch in 1911. I've read many accounts. Did Gotch pay a "hooker" to injure Hack in training? Not sure
Anywhere I can read up more on Caddock & Stecher on the web or dare I say it...books. Great piece of film too bad it could'nt have been saved in time. Thank you very much for sharing this with us all.
A) This is probably a worked match. I'm making that guess based on the fact they are fighting in a boxing ring (pro Wrestling used to be done on a mat; it was switched to a ring when it started to become almost all work, post WWI).
B) There were still Shoot matches though, and pro wrestling wasn't always predetermined. Stanislaus Zbyszko shot on Wayne Munn to win the belt in '25.
C) College and Freestyle wrestling are based on Catch (Pro) Wrestling. Hence the similarity.
This is fantastic! Footage obtained from what is probably the last "real" pro wrestling championship, without the usual histrionics & contrived tumbling seen today.
Congrats on finding it -- Rich Freeman, Author of "Wrestling Analyzed" --
this is great footage but the push for excitement led to wrestling's down fall . Plus they fixed the matches and the gambling aspect came into play. I see the ufc went from the challenge to every one now fights the same with in reason. No holds bared was still regulated by the owners and the government .
That comment shows how little you really know about pro wrestling. I'm an INSIDE MAN on the sport/business and it's a myth that the matches are scripted: it's not scripted but rather, improvized. Each wrestler tells the other what move to use and to duck etc. The end is often prearranged but not always: I've seen many matches where the outcome was not determined and actually happens for real. This is when ever the promoter really don't know who to send up for the victory. You can't rubber stamp.
it is. the work was there even when abe lincoln held the title, which was the grassroots for the nwa.
difference was, any recognized world title holder often used to be legit shooters who could defend themselves if any other territory shot on them or if they were being taken advantage of anywhere in the world.and we got some of the best catch fighters in process, from stanislus zybysko, billy robinson, hackenshmidt, frank gotch, ed lewis & thesz ofcourse & this continued till harley
Yeah. it can be guaranteed the Caddock-Stecher bouts were mostly shoots or at least works with excessive elements of catch as catch can.
BUT,since the GOLD-DUST-TRIO of Strangler Lewis, Toots Mondt & Billy Sandow were in control of wrestling here at this time, scripting was the norm.
So make no mistake about this - even in the beginning of 20th century(& in19th as well) ,most matches were worked unless some rogue territory decided to shoot on the champ of another.
@AmericanNohbuddy A lot of matches in the early years were predetermined. Eventually virtually all of them were like this. You have to remember that the wrestlers from the late 1800s and early/mid 1900s were accustomed to having submission/pinfall fights that were totally legit. Their main priority in training was to learn grappling as a Western martial art UNLIKE today. They knew REAL wrestling and high levels of conditioning and they even fought boxers and Japanese jiujitsu/karate fighters.
@Sanaa2k Back then wrestling took strength, agility, speed, you needed to be great. Matches lasted hours and hours, just to determine a winner. Now it just a big screw up
Caddock should've used a steal chair to soften up his opponent, then BAMMM!!!....use a flying high cross body to send his opponent hard to the canvas....and then...before he can recover, snap on the figure-four leg-lock and watch his opponent beg for mercy while flailing around in pain and agony!!!!!
crazylegs.. that depends on what you define as wrestling If you are talking about that WWE crap.. or whatever its called now, then you've been watching actors. Not wrestlers. i hate when people get them confused.
It was a phenomenon back then too. Even without all the media we have today, pro wrestling matches attracted HUGE gates, and sold out many of the venues of the era.
Wow, is this old. Thanks for sharing this history although it's extremely boring. Hard to believe that just 60 or so years later it exploded into a phenomenon!
Here's the Library of Congress copyright catalog entry.
WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING MATCH BETWEEN JOE STECHER AND EARL CADDOCK. 1920. 3 reels.
Pioneer Film Corp.; title, descr. & 131 prints. 27Feb20; LU14792.
This may or may not be the oldest pro wrestling film but the only one documented I've found online so far.
I have a 2 to 3 min fragment of a Zbyszko vs Lewis bout on 35mm. Promotor Jack Curely is in it. Still am looking for other info, however. I'll telecine and upload some day.
This looks real but I find it strange that it is professional and they are wrestling like amatuers do in college, Olympics and other venues. It would be interesting to see the transition to the acted material with the beating style rather than the technical style show here.
I said it looks real ass-munch. Pro wrestling normally does not appear as HS/College/Olympic wrestling because of the theatrics. Maybe you should put the pipe down, read before you reply and act like an adult. Dickweed.
I check in occationally to see what is being said about this match. I am amused by those who feel they can watch it and say its fake. Earl is my grandfather. He just simply would not have faked a match.
@NekoJinRei Thankyou for your comment. I hope I did not sound confrontational here. Many think matches were fixed then, and maybe some were. I just know my grandfather would not have faked a match.
I do remember a story dad told me. Late in his wrestling career he was offered a huge some of money to tour with a show. I think he knew then that a show meant staged matches because he turned it down.
Im not sure what made him leave wrestling. It may have been the direction of the sport; I mentioned the show he turned down. But, it was probably more about the damage to his lungs during WWI. The stories I heard as a child were about life after wrestling. He was quite a guy. It was said of him, no finer man graced the ropes than Earl Caddock.
Im not sure when wrestling changed, but these guys werent faking. They knew how to wrestle. Earl was an amateur champion before turning pro.
Oh of course, I completely understand that this is a real match. I just think it's interesting to have found someone directly related to such a figure in the history of wrestling.
Everybody keep in mind - THIS IS A REAL WRESTLING MATCH.. It's NOT a work, a job, an angle, or ANYTHING FAKE.. This was early 1900s - the business hadnt yet taken on the entertainment mantra.
The Stecher brothers ruled pro wrestling in midwest in the 1920s, Joe as a wrestler and Tony as a promoter/ manager. running against Strangler Lewis & Toots Mondt's promotion.
Sadly, Joe Stecher later suffered a mental breakdown and spent the rest of his life in an insitutuion. After his death Tony' Stecher's Minneapolis promotion was bought out by Verne Gagne who transformed it into the AWA.
This what you call wrestling. Anything from 1900 to 1970 is real wrestling. Not the same crap Vince uses for WWE. Theirs nothing to expect from WWE anymore because they care more about the gimmicks then the wrestling.
they started switching to fixed matches when people got bored with long matches. So they made them shorter by fixing them with a "finish," and it has all stemmed from there.
Well, I hate to break it to you, but this match, and all professional matches since the early 19002 were "fake" as you call it. I prefer to call it a worked match. These guys knew who was winning long before they got into the ring.
pigeon-holing like that is disregarding some of the names who held the wwe title all the way from Sammartino, Billy Graham , Backlund to Hart, Angle & Benoit..
@superparka85 wwe is an insult to pro wrestling ? wwe IS pro wrestling
dave meltzer is an insult to pro wrestling !
look at tna there made by wwe
bookerTkurt angle jeff hardy mr.anderson rvd hulk hogan jeff jerret the pope mick foley christy hemme victoria kevin nash x-pac raven orlando jordon mickie james matt morgan rhyno shannon moore scott hall stevie richards taz the dudleyz tommy dreamer spanky scott steiner ron killings bobby lashley and MANY more
@111naak111 yes you just named a lot of great pro wrestlers but wwe as a company portrays themselves as sports entertainment all they do is talk on the mic. pro wrestling is way bigger then wwe or tna alone, go watch some roh, alpw, njpw, aaa, cmll, uwfi.......pro wrestling is a sport not a dumb kids tv show like wwe is.
in great man vs great little man, the great big is going to win because talent cancels each other out & size is the deciding factor. also caddock was never the same after the War
In terms of pure straight-forward wrestling today, Kurt Angle is still the finest pro wrestler in the world with Bryan Danielson and William Regal not far behind. If you are talking about the whole package which is promos, in ring skill and just the plain unselfish ability to get guys over, Chris Jericho is easily the best wrestler in the business today.
Stuff like this video should remind us of how pro wrestling can be done right. Give guys a issue, let em feud and let them have a great match.
Pro Wrestling had it's roots in the old carnivals, (which is why kay fabe, or carney talk, is still a part of the sport.) Each carnival would boast a boxer or wrestler, that, if you stayed in the ring with them for so long, you would win a prize. Often, those men would meet--in a shoot--and find who was the best. It eventually left the carneys, but soon, with gamblers and promoters involved, it turned more into a work. Now, rarely do they shoot, although they sometimes do it within (con't)
In my opinion it has become TOO scripted now with examples being having to stand in the correct position backstage for an ambush, and the like. While this maybe "boring" don't forget this IS history.
Amen. This was the time before physio, antibiotics, etc. Reports show that a lot of guys actually did get injured (broken collar bones, torn muscles, abscesses, knockouts from slams) or even killed (see the work by Mark Hewitt and myself on Harry Mays in EJMAS). In shoots, guys tended to wrestle cautiously, often near the ropes, etc. of course the fans didn't like this and neither did the promoters!
Ah, they don't go for over two hours anymore, they should do though, as a one off, that'd be a pretty cool attraction.
AlexDCl 1 week ago
Which one is who, how can we spot the difference?
AlexDCl 1 week ago
They should dub some commentary over this.
AlexDCl 1 week ago
"Let's go Caddock" "Let's go Stecher"
AlexDCl 1 week ago
"He was an inspiration to the youth of America. During his entire career, he exemplified the best in American sports tradition. And when the history of wrestling is written,,, I shall see that Earl Caddock's name goes up near the top for his wrestling ability, and on top as the man who has done most for the uplift of wrestling in this country." - Nat Fleisher, author historian
MrCampfires 1 week ago
forget about wrestlemania, haha!
raider8sox 3 weeks ago
This is 60p!!!
mnemrod 2 months ago
This match is 100% a work
fatboymatt 2 months ago
This bring me back! I remember going after the show to get the wrestlers' autograph as they were leaving on their horses. Good times.
wsymphony 3 months ago
look at how the top rope is saggin but the other two ropes are straight
wildstar145 5 months ago
ECW! ECW! ECW!
thejesman 5 months ago
Oldest gay porn on film?
Jeffhardywhc123 6 months ago
It's really boring to watch wrestling matches from this time period because, more often than not, these matches would last 2 or more hours. You see wrestlers circling around each other and apply such basic wrestling moves like headlocks, armbars, wristlocks,........ Basic, plain vanilla wrestling moves. Piledrivers, sharpshooters, suplexes,...... were unknown back then.
But, I gotta admit, many of the wrestlers from this time period were legitimate wrestlers who could easily maim an opponent.
harley55100 7 months ago
@harley55100 this caddock vs stecher match was back when pro-wrestling was a legitimate sport. so, ya it is boring because it is real.
luchador1764 6 months ago
@luchador1764 Yet wrestling now a days is real, injury wise. Heck like Brock Lesnar said the ring hurts like fuck and he had to work on it 5 nights a week and for someone to call it fake they are beign so ignorant. Why else would wwe put the dont try this at home or why else did darren drozdov become a quadrapeligic.
jubjubcat 5 months ago
@luchador1764
Some matches were worked back then, but not all.
AmericanNohbuddy 3 months ago
where's the hd option?
griff180789 7 months ago
These guys need bettter gimmicks, what a dead crowd
vintagejerry 7 months ago
Is this available in HD or 3-D???
kissmusiclover 7 months ago 8
This was more like Ultimate Fighting, but wrestling.
AnthonyT1978 8 months ago
@AnthonyT1978 Yep, wrestling back in those days were real, not worked. Very similar to today's MMA fights.
OrlyDudeGuy 7 months ago
Ed Strangler Lewis said that Joe Stecher was his toughest opponent.
michaeltenenbaum1 8 months ago
bacckk whe it was "real" ; P
Thebadguy1987 8 months ago 5
@Thebadguy1987 Yeah and it wasnt very entertaning now was it.
jubjubcat 5 months ago
@Thebadguy1987 "Its still real to me DAMMIT"
JoBo6772 3 weeks ago
Better than TNA
SoliloquyOfChaos 9 months ago 3
貴重な映像だ
benomsan 10 months ago
Wrestling earns over a million dollars. It's no wonder why it is so popular.
rp0772 10 months ago
This is better than TNA.
SoliloquyOfChaos 10 months ago
wheres ander the giant?
TehKarmaPolice 11 months ago
@TehKarmaPolice You mean "Andre" the giant and he wasn't even born when this match happened.
MultiMasterflash 11 months ago
Better than the Godfather.
xZippy38 1 year ago
dead crowd !
Skanablu 1 year ago
No one really knows if this is legitimate or not. It looks completely legit. But maybe it's not. Sure you can read details about it in a book, but those aren't from reliable sources. The source for the book could be a promoter who had a grudge against Stecher or Caddock and wanted to smear them. It was dirty business back then.
eslubin 1 year ago
@eslubin Hi..Earl Caddock was my grandfather. He was my dad's dad. This was a completely legitimate match. We watched this movie many times when I was growing up. Unfortunately the only film we have is this one where he lost his title.
Chrissers2010 11 months ago
@Chrissers2010 Are you being for real? I only ask because I've been a professional wrestler for twelve years. I'm one with an amateur background who is a self-taught student of the Catch-As-Catch-Can method.
NForcerSA 9 months ago
Comment removed
Chrissers2010 9 months ago
@NForcerSA Yep...Earl Caddock had three sons and one daughter. Earl's son Richard Caddock was my dad. Dad started an electronics company (Caddock Electronics). I remember when they found this old film reel and had it salvaged.
Chrissers2010 9 months ago
what was that a 40000 or 4000 purse
sonnych69 1 year ago
Around 1915 Joe Stecher and Ed Strangler Lewis wrestled in an Iowa cornfield. The match started at 4PM, by 7PM they asked the farmers to drive their trucks to ringside to provide light for the match. By 9 they stopped the match. The sheriff thought there was some hanky panky and confiscated the receipts. The promoters finally got a judge to order the money returned.
The point is that wrestling results were pre-determined for the last 100 years. If there were no grudges who would pay to see it?
michaeltenenbaum1 1 year ago
This was at the second Madison Square Garden at Madison Square on 24th Street and Madison Ave! This is the building where Harry Thaw murdered Stanford White.
michaeltenenbaum1 1 year ago
@CMPunkLiddell4LifeO9 Yeah true it is great entertainment.. but this stuff is classic..this was a time before crazy egos and Steroids took over
5tonyvvvv 1 year ago
@5tonyvvvv
Oh there were definitely egos around. There always is in sports. Especially wrestling.
AmericanNohbuddy 1 year ago
was pro wrestiling always planned out who wins?
djrouge09 1 year ago
@djrouge09 No until the 1920s alot of matches were "shoot" matches that lasted for hours.
sxwrulz 1 year ago
Your time is up, my time is now, you can't see me, my time is now!
Moredread25 1 year ago
I would like to say it's great to see at least something for that time in wreslting has survived,also where did you find this & how can I get a copy?
snowflakeflims 1 year ago
Why is this the oldest pro wrestling on film? The first Gotch Hackenschmidt fight was filmed in its entirely for a movie. Anybody know if that footage is available anywhere?
AmericanCombatAssoc 1 year ago
I love that even in 1920 it was a complete work.
gmc4 1 year ago
@gmc4 Like you'd know...
eslubin 1 year ago
where are the tables, barbed wire and thumb tacks?!?!?!!
MustardLung 1 year ago
Also notice that during that time period, very few wrestlers weighed over 250 lbs.
And the audience was comprised mostly of adults, unlike today's audiences..
harley55100 1 year ago
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Right you are. Frank Gotch cheated, I think. Oiled himself and whatnot. He's what I would call the first heel.
oneUNITED7SS 1 day ago
**************************************
He's what I would call the turn-of-the-century Hulk Hogan although, unlike Hogan, Gotch really knew how to wrestle.
He also knew how to cheat when faced with a superior and more powerful opponent like Hackenschimdt or Stanislaus Zybysko..
harley55100 1 year ago
@SaveYourself57 Thank you :) Wonderfull.
KonChul 1 year ago
Right you are. Frank Gotch cheated, I think. Oiled himself and whatnot. He's what I would call the first heel.
oneUNITED7SS 1 year ago
that was awesome!!!!! dont see it done like that anymore.
djpuffenb 1 year ago
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cfhgfjfdhjr 1 year ago
Were all pro wrestling fans closet homos back then too?
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MrAllysonsledge 1 year ago
Thank you for ul. 1920´s... 90 year old footage. Amazing. Anyone know "when" exactly wrestling started and where it originated from?
KonChul 1 year ago
@KonChul wrestling was around when the Romans were. It was the first thing added to their olympic games.
Airbornerock 1 year ago
@Airbornerock No? You dont say?... I meant the beginnings of Pro-Wrestling obviously.
KonChul 1 year ago
but you can't watch a wrestling show without promos the japanese or mexican organisations have better wrestling matches but who whants to watch wrestling matches without stories ? if kayfabe would exist now days it would be a diffrent thing but it is what it is wwe is number 1 because they have everything they got 6 tv shows in a week and ppv's they have the best talend in there roster they could use it better butaaaa...... yea ... and they own everything
and ROH....... c mon its a indy show^^
111naak111 1 year ago
Now that is 1080p LOL :D
Xxskaterdude554xX 1 year ago
*** 1/2
MissDeeCole 1 year ago
Anyone who tells you they know that this was fake or this was real, is a full of shit know it all. You can't look at this and honestly determine that it's not authentic any more than you can look at a Olympic match and say the same thing
eslubin 1 year ago
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It wasn't uncommon at all for a wrestling match to last 2 hours or more during that time period.
Joe Stecher and Ed "Strangler" Lewis wrestled to a 5-hour draw at one point.
You can just imagine how boring it was to watch a wrestling match during that time. A wrestler puts on an armbar or an armlock on his opponent and stays in that position for an hour or so..
harley55100 1 year ago
Comment removed
harley55100 1 year ago
Comment removed
harley55100 1 year ago
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awrgsdgfjgfj 1 year ago
LOL They have a bigger audience than TNA. That is pretty sad.
dalonz0 1 year ago
@dalonz0 well said. no one will ever know
eslubin 1 year ago
Like your comments, tranquileye! It IS impossible to determine the advent of modern, performance theater pro wrestling. Many old-time matches, incl. some of the great Georg Hackenschmidt, were contrived, notably the music hall ones in Great Britain in the early 1900's. His legitimate matches were not faked, and to this date no one is 100% sure about what happened in his classic battle with Frank Gotch in 1911. I've read many accounts. Did Gotch pay a "hooker" to injure Hack in training? Not sure
musicalrich1 1 year ago
Anywhere I can read up more on Caddock & Stecher on the web or dare I say it...books. Great piece of film too bad it could'nt have been saved in time. Thank you very much for sharing this with us all.
mxylpx 1 year ago
A) This is probably a worked match. I'm making that guess based on the fact they are fighting in a boxing ring (pro Wrestling used to be done on a mat; it was switched to a ring when it started to become almost all work, post WWI).
B) There were still Shoot matches though, and pro wrestling wasn't always predetermined. Stanislaus Zbyszko shot on Wayne Munn to win the belt in '25.
C) College and Freestyle wrestling are based on Catch (Pro) Wrestling. Hence the similarity.
thomasknash 1 year ago
This is fantastic! Footage obtained from what is probably the last "real" pro wrestling championship, without the usual histrionics & contrived tumbling seen today.
Congrats on finding it -- Rich Freeman, Author of "Wrestling Analyzed" --
musicalrich1 1 year ago
was this match scripted or real?
mifottotuanonna 1 year ago
this is great footage but the push for excitement led to wrestling's down fall . Plus they fixed the matches and the gambling aspect came into play. I see the ufc went from the challenge to every one now fights the same with in reason. No holds bared was still regulated by the owners and the government .
dwarf2 1 year ago
FAKE WRESSTING.......WOW wtf no one cares... i wanta see real wrestling
TheRetardBoyz 1 year ago
@TheRetardBoyz Wrestling didn't become determined till the early 1930's. This is very much real, you moron.
WFChrisHammers 1 year ago
@WFChrisHammers ...ok wt chris gets hammered in the ass...im sorry
TheRetardBoyz 1 year ago
@WFChrisHammers
No actually it was still pre determined lol.
AmericanNohbuddy 1 year ago
i bet that time wrestling wasnt fake like now rofl
kingd0d0 1 year ago
@kingd0d0
i bet you are an idiot, making stupid statements like that
sayanroy36 1 year ago
@kingd0d0
It was fake then too buddy.
AmericanNohbuddy 1 year ago
That comment shows how little you really know about pro wrestling. I'm an INSIDE MAN on the sport/business and it's a myth that the matches are scripted: it's not scripted but rather, improvized. Each wrestler tells the other what move to use and to duck etc. The end is often prearranged but not always: I've seen many matches where the outcome was not determined and actually happens for real. This is when ever the promoter really don't know who to send up for the victory. You can't rubber stamp.
pharohcc2001 1 year ago
Does anybody know if this match was a shoot or a work? Did they even have worked matches back then?
SMARTMARK1981 1 year ago
@SMARTMARK1981
you mean scripted? this fight is for real. they didn't start scripting until 1940's apparently, although my source could be wrong
mazdaplz 1 year ago
@mazdaplz
it is. the work was there even when abe lincoln held the title, which was the grassroots for the nwa.
difference was, any recognized world title holder often used to be legit shooters who could defend themselves if any other territory shot on them or if they were being taken advantage of anywhere in the world.and we got some of the best catch fighters in process, from stanislus zybysko, billy robinson, hackenshmidt, frank gotch, ed lewis & thesz ofcourse & this continued till harley
sayanroy36 1 year ago
@SMARTMARK1981
Yeah. it can be guaranteed the Caddock-Stecher bouts were mostly shoots or at least works with excessive elements of catch as catch can.
BUT,since the GOLD-DUST-TRIO of Strangler Lewis, Toots Mondt & Billy Sandow were in control of wrestling here at this time, scripting was the norm.
So make no mistake about this - even in the beginning of 20th century(& in19th as well) ,most matches were worked unless some rogue territory decided to shoot on the champ of another.
sayanroy36 1 year ago
ten years from now this video footage will be a hundred years old
OJC21892 1 year ago
Specifically he is my father's mother's brother. Nebraska breed
lvferraripilot 1 year ago
This is my great uncle! Joe Stecher
lvferraripilot 1 year ago
@lvferraripilot Thats pretty cool. Was the hell or face? Can't tell from the non talkies :>)
4ThGenerationPainter 1 year ago
@4ThGenerationPainter ???
lvferraripilot 1 year ago
@lvferraripilot You have a LOT to be proud of if Stecher's your great uncle!!!
docdoom187 1 year ago
Comment removed
Chrissers2010 11 months ago
in 1920 pro wrestling was real
tigran96 1 year ago
It was fake back then too :)
As a matter of fact it's been fake for over 120 years lol.
AmericanNohbuddy 1 year ago
@AmericanNohbuddy A lot of matches in the early years were predetermined. Eventually virtually all of them were like this. You have to remember that the wrestlers from the late 1800s and early/mid 1900s were accustomed to having submission/pinfall fights that were totally legit. Their main priority in training was to learn grappling as a Western martial art UNLIKE today. They knew REAL wrestling and high levels of conditioning and they even fought boxers and Japanese jiujitsu/karate fighters.
docdoom187 1 year ago
@docdoom187
Yeah I know, never said they didn't know legit wrestling. I'm talking about the endings be predetermined.
AmericanNohbuddy 1 year ago
When does the midget come out from under the ring in vintage wrestling?
Dijitull 1 year ago
This is the definition of VINTAGE!
ToruKun1 1 year ago
Vintage Stecher
wdc2998 1 year ago 14
............old school is cool!!!
silverbeast75 1 year ago
beyond classic footage...glad to have seen it
BoomMire1984 1 year ago
People believed it was 100% real back then, and would actually *place bets* on it. Hah, now that was funny. Good stuff though.
SeanB2 1 year ago
@SeanB2 Yeah but you see that was real
Ascari2k10 1 year ago
Caddock was the first one who defeated Stecher.
Takerfanatic93 1 year ago
Wrestling is getting more Extreme now witch is good thing but more dangerous.
Sanaa2k 1 year ago
@Sanaa2k Back then wrestling took strength, agility, speed, you needed to be great. Matches lasted hours and hours, just to determine a winner. Now it just a big screw up
Airbornerock 1 year ago
Wow, thank you for this!
Dusti262 1 year ago 2
Caddock should've used a steal chair to soften up his opponent, then BAMMM!!!....use a flying high cross body to send his opponent hard to the canvas....and then...before he can recover, snap on the figure-four leg-lock and watch his opponent beg for mercy while flailing around in pain and agony!!!!!
xraycat30 2 years ago
god dang. this is 82 years (2002) 4 those who can't count, b4 i started nwatching pro wrestling.
justinrodgers74 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
dude how old are u im 11 i started in 1998 wen i was born and i kno evry thing there is to kno in wrestling
crazylegshbkthemiz 2 years ago
crazylegs.. that depends on what you define as wrestling If you are talking about that WWE crap.. or whatever its called now, then you've been watching actors. Not wrestlers. i hate when people get them confused.
madzach21 2 years ago
like no dont hate me i kno it's fake i watch czw and other compinies that make sure that their real i hate the actors
crazylegshbkthemiz 2 years ago
What was Pat O'Connor's big finisher? What was Joe Turco's nickname? How much did Nick Gulas pay Jack Brisco?
BaronTurco 1 year ago
Thism was addressed to the 11 yr old know-it-all.
BaronTurco 1 year ago
joe t was the tiny tim of wrestling.
funk51 1 year ago
Yes, he was. I loved his antics and that's why I used his name as my name on YouTube
BaronTurco 1 year ago
o'connor finishing move was a piledriver. briso ?
funk51 1 year ago
Pat had a lot of different finishers, but the Irish Roll Up was the big one, although he did use the piledriver as well.
BaronTurco 1 year ago
Comment removed
justinrodgers74 1 year ago
@crazylegshbkthemiz 15. born 1-22-1995. and i do 2.
justinrodgers74 1 year ago
@justinrodgers74 yea like i watch it alot
crazylegshbkthemiz 1 year ago
5 star.. awesome..
fairhillnorrie 2 years ago
Comment removed
lakebay972 2 years ago
It was a phenomenon back then too. Even without all the media we have today, pro wrestling matches attracted HUGE gates, and sold out many of the venues of the era.
RandomAct 2 years ago
Wow, is this old. Thanks for sharing this history although it's extremely boring. Hard to believe that just 60 or so years later it exploded into a phenomenon!
gymrat29 2 years ago
Here's the Library of Congress copyright catalog entry.
WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING MATCH BETWEEN JOE STECHER AND EARL CADDOCK. 1920. 3 reels.
Pioneer Film Corp.; title, descr. & 131 prints. 27Feb20; LU14792.
This may or may not be the oldest pro wrestling film but the only one documented I've found online so far.
I have a 2 to 3 min fragment of a Zbyszko vs Lewis bout on 35mm. Promotor Jack Curely is in it. Still am looking for other info, however. I'll telecine and upload some day.
DarrenNemeth 2 years ago
This looks real but I find it strange that it is professional and they are wrestling like amatuers do in college, Olympics and other venues. It would be interesting to see the transition to the acted material with the beating style rather than the technical style show here.
bjw7171 2 years ago
They are wrestling that way BECAUSE it's real.
ultimatehammer 2 years ago
@bjw7171 Are you an Idiot? This is the real stuff.
madlineman 2 years ago
I said it looks real ass-munch. Pro wrestling normally does not appear as HS/College/Olympic wrestling because of the theatrics. Maybe you should put the pipe down, read before you reply and act like an adult. Dickweed.
bjw7171 2 years ago
I check in occationally to see what is being said about this match. I am amused by those who feel they can watch it and say its fake. Earl is my grandfather. He just simply would not have faked a match.
recaddock 2 years ago
@recaddock Wow, thanks for sharing this interesting comment. I could not imagine having such regal lineage.
NekoJinRei 2 years ago
@NekoJinRei Thankyou for your comment. I hope I did not sound confrontational here. Many think matches were fixed then, and maybe some were. I just know my grandfather would not have faked a match.
I do remember a story dad told me. Late in his wrestling career he was offered a huge some of money to tour with a show. I think he knew then that a show meant staged matches because he turned it down.
The match you are watching is very real.
recaddock 2 years ago
Didn't Earl get out of the game when it started falling into disrepute. He was pretty young when he left the mat
eslubin 2 years ago
Im not sure what made him leave wrestling. It may have been the direction of the sport; I mentioned the show he turned down. But, it was probably more about the damage to his lungs during WWI. The stories I heard as a child were about life after wrestling. He was quite a guy. It was said of him, no finer man graced the ropes than Earl Caddock.
Im not sure when wrestling changed, but these guys werent faking. They knew how to wrestle. Earl was an amateur champion before turning pro.
recaddock 2 years ago
Oh of course, I completely understand that this is a real match. I just think it's interesting to have found someone directly related to such a figure in the history of wrestling.
NekoJinRei 2 years ago
Everybody keep in mind - THIS IS A REAL WRESTLING MATCH.. It's NOT a work, a job, an angle, or ANYTHING FAKE.. This was early 1900s - the business hadnt yet taken on the entertainment mantra.
This is a SHOOT we're watching.
hcvang 2 years ago
@hcvang yep every body thats a wresling fan should watch this to see where it all started.
tag1989 2 years ago
That is not real, I can tell
PreparationH 2 years ago
stop talking bullshit, this was NOT better than wrestling nowdays, how it could possibly be ?..
edaaaaaaaaarz 2 years ago
@edaaaaaaaaarz it's all relative, man... it's all relative. your opinion is different from other peoples, and so are theirs..
hcvang 2 years ago
Thank you for this... a real piece of wrestling history for all to see. This is the roots of what we love and respect....
WWEPB33 2 years ago 21
I AGREE THIS IS WAY BETTER THAN WWE!
daddievic 2 years ago
The Stecher brothers ruled pro wrestling in midwest in the 1920s, Joe as a wrestler and Tony as a promoter/ manager. running against Strangler Lewis & Toots Mondt's promotion.
Sadly, Joe Stecher later suffered a mental breakdown and spent the rest of his life in an insitutuion. After his death Tony' Stecher's Minneapolis promotion was bought out by Verne Gagne who transformed it into the AWA.
Lfdjake91 2 years ago
This what you call wrestling. Anything from 1900 to 1970 is real wrestling. Not the same crap Vince uses for WWE. Theirs nothing to expect from WWE anymore because they care more about the gimmicks then the wrestling.
whowantscake25 2 years ago 3
they started switching to fixed matches when people got bored with long matches. So they made them shorter by fixing them with a "finish," and it has all stemmed from there.
dantheman9856 2 years ago
Well, I hate to break it to you, but this match, and all professional matches since the early 19002 were "fake" as you call it. I prefer to call it a worked match. These guys knew who was winning long before they got into the ring.
BaronTurco 2 years ago
Thank you.
NoisyWolfXII 2 years ago
was this a real match like sub wrestling today.When did the switch to fake shite take pace.
billysue2 2 years ago
Hard to tell, eh? That was the thing with wrestling during this era. Even if they were 'working' it, it was generally pretty difficult to discern.
cnhatton 2 years ago
still better than the crap on tv.
jedigamer619 2 years ago 3
Those guys are better than Cena.
WECENANUFF 2 years ago 4
cena is an insult to pro wrestling, so is wwe
superparka85 2 years ago 15
@superparka85 True
ilinaeternity 1 year ago
@ilinaeternity
pigeon-holing like that is disregarding some of the names who held the wwe title all the way from Sammartino, Billy Graham , Backlund to Hart, Angle & Benoit..
sayanroy36 1 year ago
@superparka85 wwe is an insult to pro wrestling ? wwe IS pro wrestling
dave meltzer is an insult to pro wrestling !
look at tna there made by wwe
bookerTkurt angle jeff hardy mr.anderson rvd hulk hogan jeff jerret the pope mick foley christy hemme victoria kevin nash x-pac raven orlando jordon mickie james matt morgan rhyno shannon moore scott hall stevie richards taz the dudleyz tommy dreamer spanky scott steiner ron killings bobby lashley and MANY more
so what is pro wrestling in your opinion?
111naak111 1 year ago
@111naak111 yes you just named a lot of great pro wrestlers but wwe as a company portrays themselves as sports entertainment all they do is talk on the mic. pro wrestling is way bigger then wwe or tna alone, go watch some roh, alpw, njpw, aaa, cmll, uwfi.......pro wrestling is a sport not a dumb kids tv show like wwe is.
superparka85 1 year ago
I cant see shit
FatFadi 2 years ago 3
This is what I call professional wrestling. What I would give to have a time machine to visit Madison Square Garden and watch this match live.
NForcerSA 2 years ago
in great man vs great little man, the great big is going to win because talent cancels each other out & size is the deciding factor. also caddock was never the same after the War
eslubin 2 years ago
wrestling back then looked like ufc today
MegaCrazy78 2 years ago
In terms of pure straight-forward wrestling today, Kurt Angle is still the finest pro wrestler in the world with Bryan Danielson and William Regal not far behind. If you are talking about the whole package which is promos, in ring skill and just the plain unselfish ability to get guys over, Chris Jericho is easily the best wrestler in the business today.
Stuff like this video should remind us of how pro wrestling can be done right. Give guys a issue, let em feud and let them have a great match.
RSXemperor 2 years ago
Kurt Angle is the total package as he has a strong legit amature background,and great ring skills & mic skills.
Lfdjake91 2 years ago
Pro Wrestling had it's roots in the old carnivals, (which is why kay fabe, or carney talk, is still a part of the sport.) Each carnival would boast a boxer or wrestler, that, if you stayed in the ring with them for so long, you would win a prize. Often, those men would meet--in a shoot--and find who was the best. It eventually left the carneys, but soon, with gamblers and promoters involved, it turned more into a work. Now, rarely do they shoot, although they sometimes do it within (con't)
paladin313 2 years ago
In my opinion it has become TOO scripted now with examples being having to stand in the correct position backstage for an ambush, and the like. While this maybe "boring" don't forget this IS history.
YTfan24 2 years ago 4
Amen. This was the time before physio, antibiotics, etc. Reports show that a lot of guys actually did get injured (broken collar bones, torn muscles, abscesses, knockouts from slams) or even killed (see the work by Mark Hewitt and myself on Harry Mays in EJMAS). In shoots, guys tended to wrestle cautiously, often near the ropes, etc. of course the fans didn't like this and neither did the promoters!
cnhatton 2 years ago