![]() ![]() “My gimmick was wrestling,” he said, and it was evident to anyone who ever bought a ticket to see Lou Thesz that he was the real thing. ![]() In the late 1940s and well into the 1950s, he was the world heavyweight champion of the National Wrestling Alliance, its standard-bearer, and he carried those colors with dignity and class. Thesz decried the rise of “gimmick” performers like Gorgeous George and Buddy Rogers, who diminished the importance of the authentic style of wrestling he loved and practiced, but he adjusted because the bottom line of pro wrestling, as with any pro endeavor, was making money, and he could see where the future lay. In the 1940s, when television demanded more action and a flashier style of wrestling, he became the transitional figure, the link to the past. This is Thesz’ story - an adventure that took him to the heights of his chosen profession at a very young age and eventually into rings throughout the world.Ī devoted fan of pro wrestling, he won the respect and friendship of many of the legends. He was obsessive about conditioning and hungry to learn, and those qualities eventually led him, as a teenager, into the closed and secretive world of pro wrestling, the only place where he could continue to compete on the mat. He was a natural at the sport, blessed with lightning-fast reflexes and a determination to succeed. The son of European immigrants, Thesz discovered his love of amateur wrestling as a shy eight-year-old, scuffling with his father at night on the linoleum floor of the family’s kitchen in south St. One fact is indisputable, though.įor those who watched wrestling before it became “sports entertainment,” there is only one answer - Lou Thesz. Like the arguments over any effort to crown “the greatest,” “the best,” or “the worst,” that answer is unlikely to ever be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. The debate is a real one among those who seriously study the history of this American pop-culture creation. Who was the greatest pro wrestler of the 20th century? Let’s jump in and look at the best books on wrestling out there. There's Just One Problem.: True Tales from the Former, One-Time, 7th Most Powerful Person in WWEĪ Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gableīest Wrestling Books – The Top Books On Wrestling ![]()
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