Karl gotch 19242007 was a german professional wrestler, known for his. The son of a middleweight amateur wrestling champion in hungary, lou thesz was a oneman dynasty whose records will stand the test of time. The pro wrestling wing of the museum features an impressive number of rare artifacts going back to the days of frank gotch and george hackenschmidt. Feb 06, 2001 excellent book with only the drawback of thesz s attitude about modern wrestling. I thought sakaguchi was perfectly fine trying to keep up with gotch and thesz, but inoki just sorta felt there and didnt really add much aside from a nasty bump from a thesz backdrop. I have to give him credit for one thing he looked good. The heat dates back to a ride buddy and lou were sharing where buddy insulted ed strangler lewis lou s mentor and considered by most as the greatest shooter of his era and possibly all time by thesz and even karl gotch who didnt praise anyone lightly saying he. Excellent book with only the drawback of thesz s attitude about modern wrestling. Matches lou thesz wrestlers database cagematch the. Nature boy buddy rogers as the nwa world heavyweight champion. Agressive marketing is one thinglying is quite another. Billy and karl learned catch simultaneously at billy rileys famous snakepit gym in wigan, england. Karl gotch vs lou thesz prelude to territory daze youtube.
Lou thesz once described gotch as first and foremost a wrestler. Initially as karl krauser, he won several championships in europe and toured in canada and united states. With the way that he raved about rousey, i was eager to find out whether she made the grade for sadistic bastard. Charles istaz august 3, 1924 july 28, 2007 was a belgianborn german professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name karl gotch. The matches that made and destroyed legitimate american professional wrestling zimmerman jr. Aug 02, 2007 buddy rogers was the reigning nwa champion and if there was one person buddy didnt like, it was karl gotch. George tragoslou thesz professional wrestling hall of fame. With help from powerful friends, he rode out the war working in a medical company stationed at fort lewis. One result of this has been the development of new systems, but another, far more interesting result has been the resurgence in popularity of certain grappling arts.
Lou thesz, where gotch breaks theszs ribs countering the german suplex and thesz then goes all out and taps him with a. Karl gotch was my favorite because he promoted me to sadistic bastard. Jul 21, 2005 jake shannon compiler of several vintage books on wrestling, jj, and boxing recieved this letter recently from the great karl gotch concerning matt furey. Lou thesz, another old time wrestler who was also great, first introduced me to karl many years ago and told me karl. Theyd rather talk about a guy like buddy rogers or lou thesz. A trunk belonging to gotch is on display in the gallery near lou theszs robe and title belt. Lou thesz, where gotch breaks theszs ribs countering the german suplex and thesz.
Karl gotch was actually born karl istaz, in 1924 in hamburg, germany. Lou thez vs buddy rogers, in 1950, beating the shit out of. Feb 24, 2017 the son of a successful amateur wrestler and shoemaker, lou thesz was schooled in both crafts by his immigrant father and had become a standout amateur wrestler when he became the understudy of. Hooker, written by lou thesz with kit bauman, is a surprisingly, bluntly honest book. Karl gotch and jake shannon chat 111404 part two jake shannon. Likely invented the powerbomb in pro wrestling, but didnt invent the stf like many believe wrestling books predating thesz s career feature it. And billy robinson was a legit catch hooker during the years he wrestled professionally, along with karl gotch, and of course, lou thesz. Karl gotch s conditioning for combat sport deluxe expanded 3 disc set. Karl gotch, the quiet man, speaks his piece by bob leonard the ring wrestling, december, 1968 article provided by mike rodgers the sweptwing canada dc8 streaked down the long runway of vancouver international airport, powerful jet engines shrilling to a. Thesz was once nwa world champion for 1,941 consecutive days, traveling around the world to do battle with the best. Thesz, alongside some of his contemporaries like karl gotch and verne. Inoki was born in an affluent family in yokohama in 1943.
Here is a letter that karl wanted me to share with people. Thesz was one of the very best catch as catch can submission wrestlers of all time. Lou thesz was a professional wrestler in the classic tradition. Ive started a fantasy booking game from the beginning of. Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. The first female inducted into the george tragos lou thesz professional wrestling hall of fame, beth phoenix competed on the varsity wrestling team at notre dame high school in elmira, new york. Before we start, a great response from kj gould on lou thesz. The snake pit in europe was one of the most respected catch wrestling training schools in all of the world. But dont look for any mention in the media, for karl gotch died of. And thats exactly how karl gotch would want to be remembered. In this book billy robinson takes the opportunity to set the record straight on a. Shop lou thesz vs karl gotch poster pro wrestling tshirts designed by intelwarrior as well as other pro wrestling merchandise at teepublic.
Thesz didnt call fujiwara a hooker even though by 1999 submission master was out. The george tragoslou thesz professional wrestling hall of fame is a professional. An authentic wrestlers adventures inside the bizarre world. Karl gotch that thesz gotch match is pretty interesting, i might like to book a rematch between these two later on. Tampa, 18th july 05 dear jake, thanks for sending me that copy of the fat man matt fureys website. Aloysius martin lou thesz april 24, 1916 april 28, 2002 was an american professional. This is a book for everyone with an interest in professional wrestling. I would laugh out loud when lou would talk about him being so stubborn. Robinson had to survive bare minimum amenities luxuries such. Lou thesz insisted for many years vernes lack of size was the reason gagne never. And yes, karl gotch did try to once turn a work into a real shoot only to be submitted by thesz with a double wristlock kimura immediately. Oct 04, 2012 ranking the 20 toughest pro wrestlers of all time. He held the world title for more than years, more than any other wrestler in history, with his eightyear reign from 1948 to 1956 ranking as the longest title run of all time.
Historical perspective the world of george hackenschmidt and frank gotch was a vastly different place than we know today. Lou thesz was also the first western catch wrestler to go to japan and teachwrestle the japanese professionally. He would adopt the name karl gotch after famous catchascan wrestler frank gotch, who dominated the. Ranking the 20 toughest pro wrestlers of all time bleacher. Judo gene lebell was on joe rogans show a while ago and he was talking about former pro wrestler and catch wrestler karl gotch. He speaks of people who are dead, who cannot defend themselves in any way, shape or form. Lou thesz, where gotch breaks theszs ribs countering the german suplex and thesz then goes all out and taps him with a kimura happened in detroit, never seen the match. Thesz makes him out to be a guy he could have mopped up the floor with. The power bomb, bellytoback waistlock suplexthe popular name german suplex comes from the mistaken belief karl gotch invented it, the stepover toehold facelock stf and the lou thesz press, naturally, are all credited to him. Gotch held the belt for two years before dropping the title to lou thesz, one of the few american wrestlers he.
His father, sajiro inoki, a businessman and politician, died when kanji was five years old. Lou thesz hides none of his opinions and speaking openly about his peers and his own career inside the squared circle. These two had some great chemistry, sad that lou hated rogers and it prevented them from doing a long program against each other. Academics praised the book, too, for its clear depiction of an era and the rise of a. Rogers often compared gotch with lou thesz, whom he also distrusted, and let anyone within earshot know his feelings. Buddy rogers was the reigning nwa champion and if there was one person buddy didnt like, it was karl gotch.
Lou thesz aloysius martin lou thesz born april 24, 1916 april 28, 2002 was an american professional wrestler and 6time world champion, most notably holding the nwa world heavyweight championship three times. Lou plummer 04 memphis, tn dorv roche beat lou thesz 0420 memphis, tn otto kuss beat lou thesz 0422 nashville, tn jack morgan beat lou thesz 0504 phoenix, az lou thesz vs. Its about time this money hunger scam artist is exposed for what he is. Four great names left to become the first world champion in our history. Yeah, this was good and i agree with your stance on gotch and thesz. Matches karl gotch wrestlers database cagematch the. Karl gotch project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. He started his career in the mid1950s, after being trained at snake pit billy rileys gym in britain, and he originally used the name karl krauser. Posts about lou thesz written by flairwhoooooo and admin. From catch wrestling masters strangler lewis and billy robinson to prowrestling icons like frank gotch and lou thesz, from olympic heroes danny hodge. Lou thesz entertained more people than cm punk, ergo he was more entertaining. Karl gotch, masakatsu funaki, minoru suzuki, tom puckett, jake shannon. He was the sixth son and the second youngest of the seven boys and four girls.
Dec 14, 2015 apparently there is a website posting a letter from karl gotch explaining the true nature of his relationship with matt furey, if real the letter is a big piece of proof that matt is as full of shit as we thought his is. Lewis friend, lou thesz, never had any desirer to go over seas to fight germans. Again, i quoted lou thesz as saying that he and by extension gotch and robinson had no reason to teach hooking to the japanese pro wrestlers. That took a lot of dedication and a lot of selfless effort on his part. Gotch, for his part, hated gimmicks and performers, feeling them inferior to a skilled shooter such as himself. Rewind the cassette of time until it spins back to the year 1937, a time when wrestling was real. Its gotch taking a wrestler through a couple different exercises, you probably havent see before. Sep 11, 2014 lou thesz aloysius martin thesz faces verne gagne laverne clarence gagne in a best 2 of 3 falls match with a 30 minute time limit. The greatest wrestler of all time ring master norfolks lou. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited with inventing a number of professional wrestling techniques such as the belly to back waistlock suplex later known as the german suplex due to its association with karl gotch, the lou thesz press, stf and the original powerbomb.
She also competed in the wwe, where she was a wwe divas champion and a threetime wwe womens champion. I also discovered i had lightningquick reflexes, a godgiven gift for a wrestler if there ever was onethe wellrounded wrestler is one who has. The debate is a real one among those who seriously study the history of this american popculture creation. Karl gotchs conditioning for combat sport deluxe expanded 3. He is just one of those guys like lou thesz, that the more you learn about him, the more you dislike him.
Judo gene lebell, last of the sadistic bastards, part. The matches that made and destroyed legitimate american professional wrestling. 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. Not only was he the more frequent wrestler of the two, but he. Judo gene lebell, last of the sadistic bastards, part one. Understandable, but it got in the way sometimes and became a bit exasperating at times. Antonio inoki and lou thesz all cite him as one of there toughest opponents. Billy robinson also attended the fabled snake pit started by legendary trainer billy riley. Certainly didnt invent the german suplex not even karl gotch did when he used it. Aloysius martin lou thesz april 24, 1916 april 28, 2002 was an american professional wrestler. Thesz was once nwa world champion for 1,941 consecutive days, traveling around the world to do battle with the best regional.
Speaking of, those two thesz backdrops were brutal for 2018 standards, more so for the. Shooters ecw press a canadian indie book publisher. They would be even more surprised to know that lou thesz is the greatest wrestler of this century and, in the opinion of many, the finest who ever lived. An authentic wrestlers adventures inside the bizarre world of. If you like this site, please consider a small donation that will keep the site alive and advertisingfree in the future. And lou thesz made millions of dollars as a pro wrestler not the case with karl gotch. Lou missed him in later years when he became reclusive, but he never pushed seeing him. God of wrestling legacy on wrestling may be forever karl gotch dead at age 82 by chris. As karl krauser, he won several tournaments throughout his native europe during the first few yeas of his career.
And bert assarati, everybody that ive known including karl gotch said the guy was an animal when it came to the ring. Judo gene lebell on karl gotch sherdog forums ufc, mma. Not that karl gotch wasnt controversial in his own way. Jun 14, 2012 i just stumbled across this awesome video showing you some genuine karl gotch bodyweight training.
Lou est une petite fille qui ne connait pas son more. Legends such as karl gotch had trained in catch wrestling in snake pit with riley. My father wrestled him in the late 40s and tells how he tried to roll a headlock on him. Now as much as i like billy robinson you need look no further than videos of there old matches albeit worksif you have any experience in wrestling and compare between, robinson, gotch, thesz it is clear that thesz is a much smoother athletic wrestler than both karl gotch, and robinson. Ranking the 20 toughest pro wrestlers of all time bleacher report. He was with family and friends at the time of his death in tampa, florida, just days before what would have been his 83rd birthday. What i learned over the months that we actively worked on the book is that lou was at his best if my questions were specific and narrow. In japan, thesz was known as a god of wrestling and was called tetsujin, which means. Among his many accomplishments in the sport, he is credited with inventing a number of professional wrestling moves and holds such as the bellytoback waistlock suplex later known as the german suplex due to its association with karl gotch, the lou thesz press, stepover toehold facelock stf, and the original powerbomb. Throughout the past few years, the leg lock game has become a major aspect of competition grappling, more so than ever before. This article is a stub, an article too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject. Lou thesz vs karl gotch poster pro wrestling tshirt.
It looks like this came from a video titled conditioning for combat sports. Oct 05, 2018 karl gotch was my favorite because he promoted me to sadistic bastard. Karl gotch to billy rileys gym and the sport of catchascatchcan wrestling. Karl charles istaz 1 august 3, 1924 july 28, 2007 was a german professional wrestler and trainer, best known by his ring name karl gotch. A trunk belonging to gotch is on display in the gallery near lou thesz s robe and title belt.
He was a former grecoroman and freestyle champion in germany before moving to england to train catch wrestling in billy rileys wigan snakepit. Thesz was born on april 24, 1916, in banat, michigan, to martin and katherine thesz. In japan, gotch was known as the god of wrestling due to his influence in shaping the japanese professional wrestling style. Lou thesz was also the first western catch wrestler to go to. While both thesz and gotch were already big names in japan at the time of this match, it is important to note that gotch was particularly important to njpws early history. Sadistic bastards can really take care of themselves, and there were only a few of em, including karl gotch, lou thesz, vic christy, and me. Lebell said that gotch would love it when jiujitsu guys would get on their backs and stick their legs in the air for the guard because gotch would just grab one of their legs and break it. He was a pro wrestler and that was his only obsession. Our latest release stars none other than mark fleming. A fifteentime world champion, he held the nwa world heavyweight championship three times for a combined total of 10 years, three months and nine days 3,749 days longer than anyone else in history.