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75-475: Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known by the title Rustam-e-Hind and by the ring name The Great Gama , was a pehlwani wrestler and strongman in British India and later, Pakistan . In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of British India. He

150-533: A Cornish wrestling match, while Jack claimed to be world Cornish wrestling champion. Gotch and Hackenschmidt finally met on April 3, 1908, at the Dexter Park Pavilion in Chicago. Showing his contempt for Gotch and for American wrestling in general, Hackenschmidt was not in the best condition, unlike Gotch, who used his speed, defense and rough tactics to wear Hackenschmidt down and then assume

225-424: A biography written by Mike Chapman published in 1999, and is listed as "in pre-production " on its official website, yet still does not appear on the film company's IMDb credits page as in production as of April 2015. In February 2015, WHO-TV news of Des Moines aired Iowa Icon: Gotch Up There with Feller, Warner, Gable with quotes from University of Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands , among others, with

300-444: A challenge that he could throw any three wrestlers of any weight class in thirty minutes. This announcement however was seen as a bluff by the wrestlers and their wrestling promoter R. B. Benjamin. For a long time, no one came forward to accept the challenge. To break the ice, Gama presented another challenge to specific heavy weight wrestlers. He challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch , that he would either beat them or pay them

375-798: A challenge to the rest of those who laid claim to the World Champion's Title, including Japanese Judo champion Taro Miyake , George Hackenschmidt of Russia and Frank Gotch of the United States – each declined his invitation to enter the ring to face him. At one point, to face some type of competition, Gama offered to fight twenty English wrestlers, one after another. He announced that he would defeat all of them or pay out prize money, but still no one would take up his challenge. Shortly after his return from England, Gama faced Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala in Allahabad . This bout eventually ended

450-528: A decade would begin to dominate golf. When Gotch defeated Hackenschmidt, the domination of professional wrestling passed to the Americans. In addition, many matches had still been conducted under Greco-Roman wrestling rules, but this match caused Greco-Roman to be forever replaced by the more exciting catch-as-catch-can style. Because of both his superior ability and his gift for self-promotion, Gotch became one of America's greatest sports idols. He achieved

525-582: A favorite sport and major league baseball was growing in popularity, but was not yet the national pastime. Automobile racing was in its infancy; golf was still the province of the wealthy; basketball had just been invented and was vying for attention; boxing offered a man a chance at fame and fortune, but was at this time riddled with scandals; the National Hockey League was formed the same year; and college football—the Ivy League game—was on

600-465: A few others, their real name. One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure. Low Ki used the alias "Senshi" during his second TNA stint to reserve his primary ring name for other use. A similar example is the team known as The Dudley Boyz in ECW and WWE and Team 3D elsewhere. WWE trademarked

675-487: A great deal of damage to Raheem Bakhsh. By 1910, Gama had defeated all the prominent Indian wrestlers who faced him except the champion, Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala. At this time, he focused his attention on the rest of the world. Accompanied by his younger brother Imam Bakhsh , Gama sailed to England to compete with the Western wrestlers but could not gain instant entry, because of his lower height. In London, Gama issued

750-453: A hot shower to rid his body of an abundance of oil, but the referee ignored the complaints and told Hackenschmidt he should have noticed the oil before the match began. The match continued until the two-hour mark, when Hackenschmidt was forced against the ropes. Gotch tore him off the ropes, threw Hackenschmidt down and rode him hard for three minutes, working for his dreaded toe hold. Hackenschmidt had trained to avoid this hold, which he did, but

825-472: A level of popularity similar to that formerly held by boxer John L. Sullivan and harness racehorse Dan Patch , and enjoyed later by such sports heroes of the Golden Age of Sports as boxing's Jack Dempsey , baseball's Babe Ruth , tennis's Bill Tilden and golf's Bobby Jones . This in turn made professional wrestling mainstream. Mac Davis wrote in 100 Greatest Sports Heroes , "As the idol of millions in

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900-455: A match against him without being pinned or conceding. Not once did he have to pay. He grew tired of touring and moved back to Humboldt . After a year of health troubles, Gotch died at home in 1917 of what was rumored to be syphilis, but the official cause of death was uremic poisoning . He left behind his wife Gladys and their son, Frank Robert. All are entombed together in the Gotch mausoleum in

975-533: A rematch in Europe. As undisputed free-style heavyweight champion of the world, Gotch spent the next three years establishing his dominance over the sport, defeating the likes of Jenkins, Dr. Ben Roller , and Stanislaus Zbyszko , who was believed to have won over 900 matches before falling to Gotch on June 1, 1910. The victory over Zbyszko was particularly spectacular, as Gotch took both falls in slightly less than half an hour, and thoroughly dominated Zbyszko. He took

1050-665: A rematch on January 27, 1904, to take the championship . After trading the title with Jenkins and Fred Beell, Gotch set his sights on the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship , then held by the undefeated Estonian George Hackenschmidt . The opponent, called the " Russian Lion", had gained undisputed title recognition by defeating Jenkins in New York in 1905. Upon defeating Jenkins, however, Hackenschmidt ignored Gotch's challenge and sailed home to England. In 1905 Gotch beat Jack Carkeek in

1125-543: A reputation by beating locals. He adopted the toe hold as his signature finishing move. Gotch wrestled and won his first match against Marshall Green in Humboldt on April 2, 1899, but his first important match was in Lu Verne, Iowa on June 16, 1899, against a man claiming to be a furniture dealer from a neighboring town. Gotch held his own for nearly two hours, but lost the hard-fought contest. Only later when he received

1200-754: A variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick , such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus , Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley , Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage . Others simply use part of their name, such as Bill Goldberg using Goldberg , Nicole Garcia-Colace using Nikki Bella , Mike Mizanin using The Miz , Cody Runnels using Cody Rhodes , and Michael Wardlow using Wardlow . Many female wrestlers go solely by their first name such as. It

1275-584: A visit to India, the Prince of Wales presented Gama with a silver mace . Gama did not have any opponents until 1927, when it was announced that Gama and Zbyszko would face each other again. They met in Patiala in January 1928. Entering the bout, Zbyszko "showed a strong build of body and muscle" and Gama, it was reported "looked much thinner than usual". However, he managed to overpower the former easily and won

1350-646: Is a highly respected tradition in Mexican lucha libre for performers to hide their true identities, usually wrestling under masks, and revealing a luchador's identity without their permission is considered a serious offence with real-life consequences. Professional wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names ( The Undertaker , Mr. Perfect , and Diesel ). Ring names are often trademarked by

1425-528: Is a known admirer and incorporates aspects of Gama's conditioning into his own training routine!" Ring name Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan , Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels , Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper , Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock , Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho , and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk . A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or

1500-448: Is also common for wrestlers of all genders to use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Ricky Steamboat is an atypical instance of a wrestler adopting a ring name to sound less intimidating, as his legal name of Richard Blood was considered unfitting for his babyface persona. Some (mostly independent ) wrestlers still go to great lengths to ensure that their real names are not publicly known. It

1575-558: Is an extensive Gotch collection in the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum in Waterloo, Iowa . On display are the wrestling shoes he wore into the ring in 1911 against Hackenschmidt, his Mason's sword and leather scabbard , the roll-top desk that sat in his living room in Humboldt, and many other rare items. In addition, an independent film company acquired the rights to the book Gotch: An American Hero in 2008,

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1650-501: Is another side to this story that, when Lou Thesz was just starting out in the early 1930s, there were a good many professional wrestlers still active who had known Gotch and were not reluctant to talk about him. "The picture that emerged of Gotch from those conversations", Thesz recalled, "was of a man who succeeded at his business primarily because he was, for lack of a kinder description, a dirty wrestler. That's not to say that he wasn't competent, because everyone I ever talked with said he

1725-501: Is mispronounced as "Strangular" by River City Mayor Shinn in one of many malapropisms throughout the show. On July 4, 2012, an eight-foot tall bronze statue of Gotch was unveiled in Bicknell Park in Humboldt, the site of his outdoor training camp where as many as 1,000 people watched him train before his second Hackenschmidt match. In December 2011, a street running along the park was renamed Frank Gotch Boulevard. There

1800-417: Is not mentioned in any account of Hackenschmidt's training by either Hackenschmidt or Roller, both of whom offered their insights and accounts. Whatever the case may be, if the injury was real, Dr. Roller did not consider it serious and referee Ed Smith dismissed it as inconsequential. Hackenschmidt himself ignored it completely in declaring, the day before the match, that he was "fit to wrestle for my life" and

1875-528: Is one of the longer reigning world champions in the history of professional wrestling, with a reign that spanned nearly five years; the only other champions to have longer reigns than Gotch are Bruno Sammartino , who held the WWF World Heavyweight Championship for a record of seven years and eight months, Lou Thesz , whose fifth NWA World Heavyweight Championship lasted seven years and seven months, and Verne Gagne who held

1950-529: Is one of the ten longest in the history of professional wrestling. He became one of the most popular athletes in America from the 1900s to the 1910s. Pro Wrestling Illustrated described Gotch as "arguably the best North American professional wrestler of the 20th century". The son of Frederick Rudolph and Amelia Gotch, and of German ancestry, he was born and raised on a small farm three miles south of Humboldt, Iowa . He took up wrestling in his teens, earning

2025-653: Is the king of the class, the greatest man by far I ever met", Hackenschmidt said. "After going nearly two hours with him, my muscles became stale. My feet also gave out. I had trained constantly against the toe hold and had strained the muscles of my legs. When I found myself weakening, I knew there was no use continuing and that I had no chance to win. That was the reason I conceded the championship to him. I have no desire to wrestle him again. A return match would not win back my title". Hackenschmidt later reversed his opinion of Gotch and Americans in general, claiming to have been fouled by Gotch and victimized in America, and calling for

2100-505: The AWA World Heavyweight Title for seven years and three months. Gotch competed in an era when a championship wrestling match was the same as a championship prize fight: i.e., it was a major event for which the wrestlers went into training and which promoters publicized for weeks. Thus, he did not have a long career in terms of the number of matches wrestled. His mentor Farmer Burns , and later champions Ed Lewis ,

2175-710: The Amritsar District of the Punjab Province of British India (now in the Kapurthala district of Punjab, India ) into a Kashmiri muslim family of traditional wrestlers. Gama had two wives: one in Punjab and the other in Baroda, Gujarat . After the death of his father (Muhammad Aziz Baksh) when he was six, Gama was put under the care of his maternal grandfather Nun Pahalwan. Following his death, Gama

2250-485: The promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer. It is common to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout their career, even if their overall persona remains similar. This is especially true in WWE , which has largely forced most wrestlers that have debuted since 2006 to use a WWE-owned ring name instead of a ring name that they used on the independent circuit or, such as with Daniel Bryan and

2325-737: The "Dudley Boyz" name, leading them to have to change their name when they went to TNA. The members' individual names were also trademarked by WWE, forcing them to have to change their names. WWE partially repealed the policy in 2015, allowing wrestlers who were well known in other promotions such as Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Shinsuke Nakamura , Austin Aries , Bobby Roode , and Eric Young to use their long-standing ring names (or, in Nakamura's and Roode's cases, their real names) as well as wrestlers who sign "Tier 2" NXT brand contracts such as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa , who wrestle both on NXT and

The Great Gama - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-698: The "Gama Transport Service". Gama was given land and monthly pension by the government and supported his medical expenses until his death. He died in Lahore , Pakistan on 23 May 1960 after a period of illness. Kulsoom Nawaz , politician and wife of Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif , was the granddaughter of Gama. Gama fought and won over five thousand matches. Bruce Lee was an avid follower of Gama's training routine. Lee read articles about Gama and how he employed his exercises to build his legendary strength for wrestling, and Lee quickly incorporated them into his own routine. The training routines Lee used included "

2475-539: The "Strangler", as well as Lou Thesz , each engaged in more than 6,000 matches in their careers. Gotch engaged in only 160, finishing with a record of 154 wins and only 6 losses. Of those six losses, however, two were in the first year of his career – to Dan McLeod and Farmer Burns – and three were to Tom Jenkins . His last defeat was to Fred Beell on December 1, 1906, when he had crashed head-first into an uncovered turnbuckle and been rendered nearly unconscious. He defeated Beell in seven rematches and never lost again by

2550-611: The John Bull Belt. Within a minute, Zbyszko was taken down and remained in that position for the remaining 2 hours and 35 minutes of the match. There were a few brief moments when Zbyszko would get up, but he just ended back down in his previous position. Through this defensive strategy of hugging the mat in order to nullify Great Gama's greatest strengths, Zbyszko wrestled the Indian legend to a draw after nearly three hours of grappling, though Zbyszko's lack of tenacity angered many of

2625-540: The Pakistani wrestling championship for almost 20 years. His final days were difficult; he had five sons and four daughters and all the sons died young. When his youngest son Jalaluddin died in 1945 at the age of just thirteen, Gama was heartbroken and lost the power of speech for some days. He migrated to Pakistan at partition and tried his hand at different unsuccessful ventures including a bus service in Karachi called

2700-497: The Union Cemetery in Humboldt. "The story of American Wrestling at its greatest", Nat Fleischer wrote in 1936, "is the story of the career of its most illustrious champion—Frank Gotch... Gotch was to wrestling history in this country what John L. Sullivan was to boxing. He dominated the field. Through his extraordinary ability, he gained for wrestling many converts and brought the sport into such favor that it became as big in

2775-508: The United States Tom Jenkins had been rather easily beaten by Hackenschmidt, so there was no American to capture the nation's fancy until Gotch; and none of the other great professional wrestlers had either the amazing physical attributes or the gift for self-promotion that Gotch possessed. Furthermore, the United States was beginning to dominate some of the world's major sports. Americans already dominated boxing and within

2850-608: The United States in the early part of the 20th century. In fact, a large number of high school and college wrestling programs can trace their roots back to the 1910s and 1920s—the era when Hackenschmidt and Gotch were still household names, and highly respected athletes". Gotch was also a major sports superstar, often called the Hulk Hogan of his day, who lifted professional wrestling to new heights of popularity. When he became world champion, there were not many sports competing with wrestling for public attention. Horse racing remained

2925-475: The United States, Canada and Mexico, Gotch made [professional] wrestling a big-time sport in his day. He drew larger audiences than did the heavyweight champion of boxing when defending his title". Gotch's first match against Hackenschmidt also remains perhaps the most famous professional wrestling encounter of all time. Gotch was among the first elected to the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame (1951), and

3000-519: The Yukon, Gotch wrestled under the name Frank Kennedy and won the title of "Champion of the Klondike". During his time in the Yukon, Gotch tried his hand at boxing , but failed miserably against the heavyweight Frank "Paddy" Slavin . Gotch returned to Iowa and instantly challenged the reigning American Heavyweight Champion Tom Jenkins . Gotch lost his first match in 1903, before defeating Jenkins in

3075-507: The annual Frank Gotch Wrestling Tournament. Because of Gotch's legacy, Iowa remains a wrestling stronghold at the high school and collegiate levels to this day. Gotch's success and fame is credited with playing a part in the creation of the Iowa High School Wrestling Tournament in 1921. The 1957 musical The Music Man mentions the exciting contest between Gotch and Strangler Ed Lewis , whose nickname

The Great Gama - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-416: The attack. The wrestlers stood on their feet for two full hours before Gotch was able to get behind Hackenschmidt and take him down. While on their feet, Gotch made sure to lean on Hackenschmidt to wear him down. He bullied him around the ring, and his thumbing and butting left Hackenschmidt covered in blood. Hackenschmidt complained to the referee of Gotch's foul tactics and asked that Gotch be forced to take

3225-689: The bout inside a minute, winning the Indian version of the lineal World Wrestling Championship . Following the bout, Zbyszko praised him, calling him a "tiger". At forty-eight years old he was now known as the "great wrestler" of India. After the partition of India in 1947, Gama moved to Pakistan . During the Hindu–Muslim riots that broke out at the time of partition, Gama saved hundreds of Hindus from Muslim mob in Lahore . Although Gama did not retire until 1952, he failed to find any other opponents. Some other sources say he wrestled until 1955. After his retirement, he trained his nephew Bholu Pahalwan, who held

3300-556: The cat stretch ", and "the squat" (known as "baithak", and also known as the "deep-knee bend."). Today, a doughnut-shaped exercise disc called Hasli weighing 100 kg, used by him for squats and pushups, is housed at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Museum at Patiala, India . On 22 May 2022, search engine Google commemorated Gama with a Doodle on his 144th birth anniversary. Google commented: "Gama’s legacy continues to inspire modern day fighters. Even Bruce Lee

3375-464: The city of Lahore on 23 May 1960. The prominent members of Great Gama Family includes, The Great Jahara Pehlwan , Nasir Bholu , Sohail Pehalwan, Abid Pehalwan, Kalsoom Nawaz, Bilal Yasin (Ex-Federal Minister), Ibraz Butt (Youth Parliamentarian, Secretary of Information) & Moazzam Zubair (Son of Jahara The Great) Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt was born on 22 May, 1878 in Jabbowal , a village in

3450-412: The effort took his last remaining strength. Hackenschmidt quit the fall. "I surrender the championship of the world to Mr. Gotch", he said, and stood up and shook Gotch's hand. The wrestlers then retired to their dressing rooms before coming out for the second fall, but Hackenschmidt refused to return to the ring, telling the referee to declare Gotch the winner, thereby relinquishing his title to him. "He

3525-499: The fans in attendance. Nevertheless, Zbyszko still became one of the few wrestlers to ever meet the Great Gama without going down in defeat; The two men were set to face each other again on 17 September 1910. On that date, Zbyszko failed to show up and Gama was announced the winner by default. He was awarded the prize and the John Bull Belt. Receiving this belt entitled Gama to be called Rustam-e-Zaman or World Champion but not

3600-401: The first fall in just six seconds with a surprise move and quick pin , and won the second fall in only 27 minutes. Gotch outmaneuvered and outclassed Zbyszko every second of the match. Gotch became a national sensation, and he was in demand everywhere for public appearances. He starred in a play called All About A Bout , and whenever he walked on stage he was greeted by a standing ovation. He

3675-530: The impressed man's visiting card , did he learn that his opponent had actually been reigning American Heavyweight Champion Dan McLeod . On December 18, 1899, Gotch challenged another former American Heavyweight Champion, "Farmer" Martin Burns , losing in 11 minutes, but impressing Burns as well, who offered to train Gotch. Under the guidance of Burns, Gotch won a series of matches in Iowa and later Yukon . While in

3750-482: The independent circuit to keep their ring names (or, in Gargano's case, his real name). Gargano and Ciampa have since signed exclusive WWE contracts. "In-house" WWE wrestlers still use WWE-owned ring names. In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics ' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which

3825-554: The lineal champion of the world as he hadn't defeated Zbyszko in the ring. During this tour, Gama defeated some of the most respected grapplers in the world, "Doc" Benjamin Roller of the United States, Maurice Deriaz of Switzerland, Johann Lemm (the European Champion) of Switzerland, and Jesse Peterson (World Champion) from Sweden. In the match against Roller, Gama threw "Doc" 13 times in the 15-minute match. Gama now issued

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3900-493: The long struggle between the two pillars of Indian wrestling of that time in favour of Gama and he won the title of Rustam-e-Hind or the lineal Champion of India. Later in his life when asked about who was his strongest opponent, Gama replied, "Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala". After beating Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, Gama faced Pandit Biddu, who was one of the best wrestlers in India of that time (1916), and beat him. In 1922, during

3975-600: The oil, pull hair and even break a bone to get an advantage in a contest, and he was unusually careful to have the referee in his pocket, too, in case all else failed". Referee Ed Smith, who officiated several of Gotch's bouts, including both of the Gotch-Hackenschmidt contests, had observed after the second match that "to my mind... he wasn't just exactly through one hundred percent on the courageous side. Two or three times I saw needless acts of absolute cruelty on his part that I did not like. Always will I think that

4050-705: The prefix "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Numerous boxers have used ring names or nicknames as their mode of identification during their professional boxing careers, particularly during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The ring name "Kid" was particularly popular, indicating the boxer's comparative youth. Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years. Famous examples of boxers who used ring names include: Frank Gotch Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Frank Alvin Gotch (April 27, 1878 – December 17, 1917)

4125-511: The prize money and go home. The first professional wrestler to take his challenge was the American Benjamin Roller . In the bout, Gama pinned Roller in 1 minute 40 seconds the first time, and in 9 minutes 10 seconds the other. On the second day, he defeated 12 wrestlers and thus gained entry to the official tournament. He was pitted against world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko and the bout was set for 10 September 1910. Zbyszko

4200-509: The promotorial field as boxing". As Mark Palmer pointed out, "For starters, George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch were major sports superstars of the early 20th century. Fans of all ages collected cabinet cards and postcards with their images, read their books, and devoured articles about them in newspapers. Their epic matches were front-page news around the world—akin to today's Super Bowl or soccer's World Cup in terms of garnering global attention—and helped to launch organized amateur wrestling in

4275-543: The really courageous man, no matter how ferocious and filled with the killing instinct and eager to win he may be, is willing to let up on a beaten foe and not punish needlessly or wantonly". For years one of America's most eligible bachelors, Gotch married Gladys Oestrich (born 1891) on February 11, 1911. She died on October 15, 1930. They had one son, Frank Robert Gotch (February 24, 1914 - December 7, 1971). While in retirement, Gotch joined Sells-Floto Circus where he would pay any man $ 250.00 if they could last 15 minutes in

4350-522: The time of his retirement in 1913. Gotch was, by all accounts, a superior professional wrestler possessing tremendous strength, lightning quickness, genuine agility, cat-like reflexes, impeccable technique, superb ring generalship, a mastery of the use of leverage, and a full knowledge of professional wrestling holds , counterholds and strategy. He was always in the best of condition and possessed both enormous courage and an indomitable will to win, ever ready to match his heart, his gameness, against any man in

4425-532: The verge of being outlawed because it was too rough and too dangerous. Wrestling at the higher professional levels was still a legit sport with the added bonus that it was popular on every continent of the globe. A number of great professional wrestlers were competing for top honors. In India, The Great Gama was already a legendary champion, and in Europe George Hackenschmidt had reigned supreme with Stanislaus Zbyszko coming along. However, in

4500-535: The world. He was highly aggressive, but always kept his cool. Critics saw in him both the strength of the old school of professional wrestling and the skill of the new, "as agile as a cat in his manoeuvers" and having "the grappling sport down to such science that he had assumed a rank all by himself". Gotch's measurements for his 1911 victory over Hackenschmidt were: age – 33; weight – 204 pounds; height – 5'11"; reach – 73"; biceps – 17.5"; forearm – 14"; neck – 18"; chest – 45"; waist – 34"; thigh – 22"; calf – 18". There

4575-458: The wrestler's gimmick changes, either subtly or dramatically. After debuting in WWE as the " Connecticut Blueblood " Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H . A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous , such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. His new attitude

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4650-702: Was "satisfied with my condition and confident of the outcome". If there was a knee injury, Gotch discovered it quickly and took advantage of it, so Hackenschmidt was easy prey for Gotch, losing in straight falls in only 30 minutes. Gotch clinched the match with his feared toe hold, which forced Hackenschmidt to quit. Gotch reigned as the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion from his first victory over Hackenschmidt in 1908 until he retired in 1913 after defeating Estonian Georg Lurich April 1, 1913, in Kansas City , Missouri . Gotch

4725-604: Was a huge hit, as it seemed that everywhere he went, fans wanted to see him. Everywhere he went, he made wrestling "big time". Gotch met Hackenschmidt again on September 4, 1911, at the newly opened Comiskey Park in Chicago , which drew a crowd of nearly 30,000 spectators and a record gate of $ 87,000. The rematch is one of the most controversial and talked about matches in professional wrestling history, as Hackenschmidt injured his knee against Roller, his chief training partner. Years later, wrestler Ad Santel told Lou Thesz that he

4800-408: Was an American professional wrestler . Gotch was the first American professional wrestler to win the world heavyweight free-style championship , and he is credited for popularizing professional wrestling in the United States. He competed back when the contests at championship level were largely legit (see catch wrestling ), and his reign as World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion (from 1908 to 1913)

4875-551: Was born in the Kashmiri Butt caste in Jabbowal village ( Amritsar District ) in the Punjab Province of British India in 1878, and was awarded a version of the World Heavyweight Championship on 15 October 1910. Undefeated in a career spanning more than 52 years, he is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. After the partition of India , Gama migrated to Pakistan, where he died in

4950-596: Was due to Hogan being advertised as " The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character. Sometimes, a wrestler will buy the rights to their own ring name; for example, Steve Borden owns the rights to the name Sting and licenses it to the musician of the same name . The wrestler formerly known as Test took this one step further and legally changed his name to "Andrew Test Martin". Jim Hellwig, known as The Ultimate Warrior , had his name legally changed to simply "Warrior". In many cases, ring names evolve over time as

5025-604: Was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white. Steve Williams adopted the ring name Steve Austin to avoid confusion with the then-more established performer "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Austin would wrestle under that name for several years before signing with the WWF and being given the name "the Ringmaster". This gimmick failed to catch on, and Austin reverted to his established name, reaching his greatest level of success with

5100-663: Was invited to the White House by United States President Theodore Roosevelt , and wrestled a Japanese ju-jitsu expert in the East Hall, making his opponent submit . The night before his second match with Hackenschmidt, he attended a Chicago Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field with his wife and in-laws and took his seat down front. After the game, nearly every member of the Cubs team came to his private box and asked for his autograph. When he traveled overseas with his play, Gotch

5175-601: Was much older than Gama, and near the end of his career. The bout continued for hours and eventually ended in a draw. The contest with Raheem was the turning point in Gama's career. After that, he was looked upon as the next contender for the title of Rustam-e-Hind or the Indian Wrestling Championship . In the first bout Gama remained defensive, but in the second bout he went on the offensive. Despite severe bleeding from his nose and ears, he managed to deal

5250-424: Was one of the best. But those same people described him as someone who delighted in hurting or torturing lesser opponents, even when they were supposed to be working out, and he was always looking for an illegal edge when he was matched against worthy ones. One of the old-timers I met was a fine man named Charlie Cutler, who knew Gotch very well and succeeded him as world champion; according to Cutler, Gotch would check

5325-482: Was paid $ 5,000 by Gotch's backers to cripple Hackenschmidt in training, and make it look like an accident. However, according to Hackenschmidt himself, the injury was accidentally inflicted by his sparring partner, Dr. Roller, when trying to hold Hackenschmidt down onto his knees and Roller's right foot striking Hackenschmidt's right knee. According to Hackenschmidt, his sparring partners were Americus (Gus Schoenlein), Jacobus Koch, Wladek Zbyszko and Dr. Roller. Ad Santel

5400-472: Was subsequently taken into training by the Maharaja of Datia . In 1895, at the age of 17, Gama challenged the then Rustam-e-Hind, middle-aged Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, another ethnic Kashmiri wrestler from Gujranwala . At about 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, with a very impressive win–loss record, Raheem was expected to easily defeat the 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) Gama. Raheem's only drawback was his age as he

5475-494: Was taken care of by his uncle Ida, another wrestler, who also began training Gama in wrestling. He was first noticed at the age of ten, in 1888, when he entered a strongman competition held in Jodhpur , which included many gruelling exercises such as squats. The contest was attended by more than four hundred wrestlers and Gama was among the last fifteen and was named the winner by the Maharaja of Jodhpur due to his young age. Gama

5550-661: Was the first inductee to both the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum (2002) in Amsterdam, New York and the George Tragos & Lou Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame (1999) in Waterloo, Iowa . There is a 67-acre camping park named the Frank A. Gotch State Park , four miles south of Humboldt near his childhood farm, in homage to Gotch. The Humboldt Community School District sponsors

5625-539: Was then regarded among the premier wrestlers in the world; and he would then take on the mammoth challenge of India's feared Great Gama, an undefeated champion who had been unsuccessful in his attempts to lure Frank Gotch into a match. And so, on 10 September 1910, Zbyszko faced the Great Gama in the finals of the John Bull World Championships in London. The match was worth £250 in prize money and

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