Catch Wrestling, Round Two: More Wild and Wooly Tales From the Early Days of Pro Wrestling [Paperback]

Mark S. Hewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

Take another trip back to the raucous early days of pro wrestling as Mark Hewitt brings you even more blow-by-blow accounts of dozens of the most famous and infamous mat battles of the day, as well as the backstage stories of the colorful characters who crisscrossed the country from the 1880s to the 1960s in search of fame, glory and cold, hard cash.

From all-comers matches to high-profile card events, from dirt lots and carnivals to packed arenas, from country boys to skilled scientific wrestlers, the fighting lore is packed in here tighter than a Strangler Lewis headlock. Filled with extremely rare photos culled from the libraries of fight fans and historians and the family scrapbooks of the wrestlers themselves, Catch Wrestling: Round Two offers up such gems as:

• The most notorious double-cross in wrestling history
  
• London's legendary Alhambra Tournament of 1908
  
• Japanese sensation Matsada Sorakichi's U.S. debut
  
• Wrestler vs. boxer mixed matches
  
• Celebrity referees, celebrity wrestlers and the French Angel
  
• The Gracie brothers and the fight scene in 1930s Rio de Janeiro

Read the true stories of Tigerman Pesek, Midget Fischer, Earl Caddock, Billy Wicks, Lou Thesz, and all the other grapplers who paid for their place in sports history with blood, sweat and pain.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Hewitt is a lifelong history buff with a great interest in old-time wrestling and boxing. Among his ongoing projects are studying the carnival athletic shows and detailing the matches of the legendary Helio Gracie in Brazil vs. pro wrestlers Fred Ebert, Wladek Zbyszko and Taro Miyake.

Product Details

• Paperback: 426 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581607202
• ISBN-13: 978-1581607208
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile addition, December 8, 2011

By 

thereader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catch Wrestling, Round Two: More Wild and Wooly Tales From the Early Days of Pro Wrestling (Paperback)

A worth while addition to the library of wrestling history. In his second book the author takes us further into the arcane subject of wrestling for profit. A previous reviewer decrys the lack of photographs of these events of a hundred years or more. A sad fact is the only available photographic history covers a small number of the top nationally recognized wrestlers and the local and regional participants reside in small town newspaper archives if at all.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cool read., September 25, 2010

By 

Hector Rico "Idiosyncratic 1" (San Anto, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Catch Wrestling, Round Two: More Wild and Wooly Tales From the Early Days of Pro Wrestling (Paperback)

As usual Paladin Press does a sales pitch, they talk a fish out of water. They just know how to sell stuff, even if it isn't what it promised. I mean they reprint 100 year old wrestling books. It would be a decent thing for them to at least release a DVD with these black and white pro wrestling matches in them. That would help these books out. At one point or another I came across their other ones. That's what sucks, they tell you it was "match of the century" and then they just tell you about it. Without ever seeing it. Paladin Press should buy the rights to these matches and sell a DVD with them. I know there's commercial videos out there. Those "budget" DVDs, with matches with Lou Thesz on them. Hell over at the [...] Their "classics on demand" section. They got some of Lou Thesz matches on there.

THE ONLY STUFF THAT SUCKS ABOUT THIS BOOK
1) A lot like the first Catch Wrestling book. It's like reading a sports section of the news page in a newspaper. That's what it feels like. At least this man knows what he's talking about. When he goes into detail about the "gory stuff".
2) The real downside to any of these 2 books. Well, they don't show you pictures of the large capacity crowds. They don't show pictures, or go too into detail about where these wrestling matches took place. It could be a carnival, or a opera/music hall. They should include pictures of that.
3) I heard back in this generation of Catch Wrestling. That one of the main rules was. The match usually took place in the CENTER of the ring. That the matches would just be like an hour long of staying in "the clinch".

All in all, good read.