At the same time, moralists became concerned with chivalry and fair
play. As a result, there were new issues about rules. Some early matches fol-
lowed Greco-Roman rules, which were essentially those of La Lutte
Française. (During the 1870s, La Lutte Française came to be known as
Greco-Roman, as that facilitated its spread through Europe.) However,
Greco-Roman was not much appreciated in the English-speaking world: It
was perhaps “productive of some excitement when witnessed by the unini-
tiated,” sniffed Walter Armstrong and Percy Longhurst in the Encyclopædia
of Sport and Games in 1912 (4, 346–347). “But apart from that it may be
asked, ‘What useful purpose does it serve?’... For, instead of being the art
of standing up against an adversary, it is simply the art of getting down in a
certain position, so as to avoid being thrown in a backfall.” As a result, by
the 1890s the style preferred in North America was catch-as-catch-can.
Prominent late nineteenth-century wrestlers and promoters included
New York’s William Muldoon, Germany’s Karl Abs, England’s Tom Can-
non, and Scotland’s Donald Dinnie. Ethnic wrestlers included the Japa-
nese Sorakichi Matsuda, the African American Viro Small, and a host of
“Terrible Turks,” most of whom were ethnically Bulgarian or Armenian.
There were also novelty acts. Masked wrestling, for example, appeared in
France as early as 1870, and in 1889, Masha Poddubnaya, wife of the
Wrestling, Professional 737Professional wrestlers British Bulldog and Brett Hart (in a headlock) battle it out in the ring, England.
(Courtesy of Mike Lano, [email protected])