From Shoot to Show.

We will never know for sure when it was that pro wrestling changed from being a genuine competitive sport to today's highly skilled but totally non- competitive exhibition. Truth is, a sport with roots in the English music hall and American carnivals rather than the playing fields of Eton, is unlikely to ever have been entirely straight. No one expects the magician to REALLY cut the lady in half after all. The money in wrestling was always in getting bums on seats rather than gambling on the result as in prize fighting. When the "Russian Lion" Georges Hackenschmidt joined forces with showbiz impresario C B Cochran in 1904 the result was that wrestling took London by storm. Box office records were broken and the West End experienced its first traffic jam the night that the "Russian Lion" squared off with the "Terrible Turk" at Olympia. Hackenschmidt was the real deal all right, but there is no reason to suppose that he was averse to a little gentle choreography to keep the punters happy.
All good things come to an end. The public started to lose interest and when Hackenschmidt split from Cochran and decamped to the States only to lose to Frank Gotch, the end of the golden age of wrestling was in sight.
America was to be the scene of the next major innovation with the transformation of the old corrupt and brutal business of carnival wrestling into something just as corrupt but with only the appearance of brutality. The so called " Goldust Trio" of Toots Mondt, Ed "Strangler" Lewis and Billy Sandow more or less invented the form of pro wrestling that has been around for the last ninety years.By introducing aerial acrobatics, unlikely submission holds and fast moving matches, public interest was restored. By 1920 the business was well established and with Lewis as a World Champion more than happy to drop (and win back) the title on demand, their fortune seemed assured. By 1925 it was felt that the game required a new hero to keep the punters happy, and to this end the trio recruited ex football star Wayne Munn, taught him a few moves and put him on the roster. Lo and behold, in no time at all the hapless footballer is deemed ready for a championship match and, who would have thought it, beats Lewis for the title.
Even the gullible and long suffering wrestling fans found this difficult to swallow. What was needed for the new champion was a convincing win over a really reputable challenger. Enter Stanislaus Zbyszko.
Now approaching middle age, Zbyszko was a tough old bird who had really been around the block. From the Greco-Roman tournaments of the Austro Hungarian Empire, he had graduated to working for Cochran during the golden age and was now a key player in the slam-bang world of the new style. The deal was done. Zbyszko would roll over for Munn and credibility would be returned to the title. Ah! the frailty of human nature. The wily old Pole had changed horses in mid stream. Had signed with rival promoter and title claimant Joe Stecher. Did the screw job. Beat the crap out of Munn and pinned him so many times that even the house referee had no choice but to declare Stan the winner and new World Champion. Later that year Zbyszko dropped the title to Stecher. Mission accomplished.
Stanislaus Zbyszko retired from wrestling a few years later but was to tread the boards one last time. In 1950 aged 70 he secured a major role alongside Richard Widmark and Googie Withers in Jules Dassin's film noir classic, Night and the City. In one final touch of irony, the old trouper played the part of formerly great Greco-Roman wrestler appalled at the shenanigans of the modern game.