When WrestleMania 32 unfolds at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, tonight, tens of thousands of pro wrestling fans will be watching in person or via pay-per-view.
It’s known as the Super Bowl of the sport – the culmination of a year of feuds, alliances, insults and betrayals in the ring.
No doubt some of those fans will be in Toledo, a city whose own love affair with pro wrestling dates to the late 19th century.
That love affair has waxed and waned over the years, but the flame has never quite been extinguished. Back in the day – 100 years ago – pro wrestling bouts were bigger news on the city’s sports pages than boxing matches, and if you think the costumed bravado of modern wrestling is a recent phenomenon, think again. The names may have changed, but the swagger endures.
In honor of WrestleMania, we looked back through the Blade archives to survey just how enamored of wrestling Toledoans have been over the years, and were pleasantly surprised.
Beginning in the 1890s, the Blade and other papers routinely posted notices of matches between beefy brawlers like Al Woods, Clarence Meade, brothers Walter and Johnny Billiter, Chief Two Feathers, Jack O’Neil, Al Ackerman and Dummy Smith.
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PHOTO GALLERY: Pro wrestling and Toledo
Nor was it just a man’s game. The earliest mention of wrestling in our archives advertises a Feb. 26, 1879, contest: Lizzie Lough vs. Madame Gunsalus in three falls of a “collar and elbow” match.
Among the city’s first wrestling promoters was Harry Winter, who staged matches at the Empire Theater beginning in 1906. He would be followed a few decades later by Cliff Maupin, a wrestler-turned-promoter who claimed to have convinced his protégé, wrestler George Wagner, to dye his hair blond and grow it long, creating the first true celebrity wrestler, Gorgeous George.
Toledo venues that hosted pro wrestling over the decades were as varied as The Terminal Athletic Club on Cherry Street, the Valentine Theatre, the Coliseum Theater and the Commodore Club in Perrysburg.
Starting in the ‘50s, matches would be held in larger facilities: Toledo Sports Arena, the Civic Auditorium, SeaGate Center. Even Waite High School gym hosted periodic pro matches beginning in 1976.
Sometimes the action of body slams and drop kicks escaped the ring. A 1937 match between Martin Angelo and Gil La Cross spilled into the ringside seats, causing spectators to join the fray, “slinging fists, chairs, cigarette stubs, newspapers and whatever else came to hand,” according to a Nov. 12 newspaper report.
The question whether pro wrestling is real is as old as the sport itself. The answer ultimately lies in your ability to suspend disbelief.
For the men who gave themselves names like The Great Wojo, Bobo Brazil, Psycho, Magnificent Zulu and Wild Polynesian Man – and the passionate fans who flocked to see them – the sport is was as real as their belief in it, and so it continue to be.
Contact Mike Pearson at 419-724-6159 or mpearson@theblade.com.
First Published April 3, 2016, 4:00 a.m.