My latest history series on Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw on Pro Wrestling’s Evolution in Texas from 1840 to 1995
This is the only place where these three wrestling history lovers, comrades and storytellers who lived and stidied this business sit down together in one place and tell it straight.
We’re going back to the very first roots of professional wrestling in the Lone Star State – back when Texas was still wild, back when the only ropes in the ring were the ones they used to tie down cattle.
From dusty carnival tents in the 1800s, where catch-as-catch-can grapplers took on all comers for a five-dollar gold piece… through the armories of the 1930s and ’40s… the birth of the territory system… the golden age when great wrestling families like The Funks, The Guerreros, and The Romeros built empires across the Lone Star State… all the way to 1995, when the last lights went out and the territory era finally died right there on Texas soil.
This isn’t some highlight reel.
If Ken Burns were to make a documentary on Texas Rasslin’, this would be it.
This is The History of Pro Wrestling in Texas – the definitive series.Every blood feud.
Every sold-out Sportatorium riot.
Every Von Erich tragedy and triumph.
Every time the boys in the back had to fight the office, the feds, and each other just to keep the doors open one more week.
We will explore the people who built it.
The people who lived it and the people who bled it.
And for the next however many episodes it takes… we’re laying it all out for you – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the parts nobody’s ever had the guts to say out loud.
So you’ll want to grab a cold one, pull up a chair, and turn the volume up.
Because in Texas… wrestling ain’t just a sport.It’s a damn religion.
And this… is the whole gospel.
Episode 1: The History of Texas Wrestling
On this debut episode, we travel back to Texas joining the Union and how the migration of people into the Lone Star State created entertainment needs. Ww cover the cattle industry, the railroads, the oil boom and other jobs which created the rough “gougers” and instant “scuffles” among the boys. Traveling carnivals and athletic shows began to rise as traveling shows and “take on the champion” matches in every Texas town.
Episode 2: The History of Texas Wrestling
On this episode, we are joined by my friend and wrestling historian Mark Hewitt. Mark specializes in the pre-territory days of professional wrestling. We discuss the workers and shooters in the carnivals and athletics shows. Frank Gotch, Farmer Burns, Tigerman Pesek, Billy Wicks, Sputnik Monroe and others. We discuss the 1911 Amarillo match where Charles Olson killed his competitor in the ring. Sam Houston, the famous Texas that Houston, Texas is named after, challenged all comers and more in this history packed episode of The History of Texas Wrestling.
Episode 3: The History of Texas Wrestling
In Episode 3 we go back to the roots of wrestling in Houston, Texas, where two brothers from New York City migrate to Texas, Julius and Morris Sigel. The are just teenagers when they arrive, but the Sigel Brothers establish the first regular boxing and wrestling cards held specifically for Houston citizens starting on 1915. As the years progress, the Sigels build a steady stable promotion in Housron. In 1928, Julius Sigel moves to Louisiana to promote boxing and wrestling and he has a part to play in. cooperating with Sam Avey from Tulsa to build the wrestling territory across Oklahoma and parts of Louisiana. In 1925, Morris Sigel establishes the Gulf Athletic Club, established regular wrestling at the City Auditorium and begins to expand to nearby towns. Don’t miss Episode 3 as wrestling in Texas is growing!
Episode 4: The History of Texas Wrestling
Our series rolls on as we cover the three Jack Curley Trusts, a collaboration among a handful of powerful promoters who ran pro wrestling across the United States. While this “macro” touring World Champion in the main event system was dominating the newspaper headlines from 1925-1935, smaller “micro” systems were starting to promote wrestling in regional hub-towns. This gives birth to the wrestling offices in Houston, Dallas and Amarillo.
Today, we also travel to West Texas with the first meeting between Cal Farley and the original Dutch Mantell. This dynamic dou meeting up again in Amarillo in 1925 working against each other in main events and building the sport of wrestling in what would eventually become a city respected for the sport worldwide. We cover the origins of Lucha Libre in Mexico as a young promoter named Salvador Luetteroth comes to Texas to recruit talent.
The Story of the amazing run of The Masked Marvel, wrestling is born in Lubbock and much, much more! It’s a history-packed episode as the History of Texas Wrestling is bigger than the state itself!
Episode 5: The History of Texas Wrestling
In this episode of The History of Texas Wrestling, the guys discuss a ten year period in Amarillo and West Texas Wrestling. From 1930 to 1941, the original Dutch Mantell established a successful promotion in Amarillo, a training school for wrestlers who would eventually be the biggest influencers in territory wrestling and a fuctional booking office to send that talent out.
By 1935, West Texas has a fully functional loop of towns including Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Borger and others. Mantell brings in a wrestling bear, establishes a group of babyfaces called The. Four Horsemen, has the first women’s match, the first sleeper hold and much, much more. The Original Dutch Mantell passes away in January 1941 and with his death, the sport of wrestling dies with him.
There would be no wrestling in West Texas for 5 years following his death.
Learn all about it in Episode 5 of The History of Texas Wrestling.
Episode 6: The History of Texas Wrestling
In Episode 6, Tony, Gerry and JBL take a look at wrestling being born in Dallas with Burt Willoughby giving birth to weekly wrestling on Tuesday nights. Not only that, but Willoughby establishes a home for grappling with the building and opening of the world famous Sportatorium in 1936. Besides that, one of Willoughby’s greatest decisions is hiring his operations manager, Ed McLemore. Willoughby pioneered it, but McLemore would take it to heights not seen before.
We also check in on Houston and Morris Sigel, who has established the Friday night weekly tradition for fans at the City Auditorium. Both McLemore and Sigel rely heavily on the man they both work with to select, manage and book talent, Karl “Doc” Sarpolis. Sarpolis books the first tag team match in Houston in 1936, he establishes the Texas Heavyweight Championship and books an exciting new talent in Houston, Leo “Daniel Boome” “Whiskers” Savage, who thrills audiences in Houston with his Kentucky hillbilly gimmick. In addition, in 1938, Sigel, Sarpolis and Frank Burke form The Texas Wrestling Agency, a powerful booking office who controls 3/4 of the talent in Texas and surrounding states for the next 15 years.
Learn about all this and more in this latest Episode 6 of The History of Texas Wrestling.