Oldest Pro Wrestling Match On Film

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Messiah1

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January 30th 1920 - Earl Caddock vs. Joe Stecher


footage from the second Earl Caddock-Joe Stecher match for the professional wrestling world title, January 30th 1920. The match took place at the second Madison Square Garden in New York City. Stecher pinned Caddock using a wristlock and his finishing hold, the body scissors.

This is perhaps the earliest professional wrestling match of which film survives. While some have argued that this style was simply a more traditional way of "working" (performing) than what would soon follow, others have claimed that Caddock-Stecher was the last great "shoot" (real) match for a world title.

While it is impossible to determine when professional wrestling became purely performance, even at this point in its history many match outcomes were predetermined. In the coming months, "Toots" Mondt and Billy Sandow would reshape the sport into a style of performance virtually identical to what we know today.
 
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January 30th 1920 - Earl Caddock vs. Joe Stecher


footage from the second Earl Caddock-Joe Stecher match for the professional wrestling world title, January 30th 1920. The match took place at the second Madison Square Garden in New York City. Stecher pinned Caddock using a wristlock and his finishing hold, the body scissors.

This is perhaps the earliest professional wrestling match of which film survives. While some have argued that this style was simply a more traditional way of "working" (performing) than what would soon follow, others have claimed that Caddock-Stecher was the last great "shoot" (real) match for a world title.

While it is impossible to determine when professional wrestling became purely performance, even at this point in its history many match outcomes were predetermined. In the coming months, "Toots" Mondt and Billy Sandow would reshape the sport into a style of performance virtually identical to what we know today.


WHOLE SHIT! Would this match for the World Title I know the world title today the big gold belt had had been around a lot longer then has as it been around 1905 so were that in the NWA? I wonder who was the youtube who got this film?
 

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WHOLE SHIT! Would this match for the World Title I know the world title today the big gold belt had had been around a lot longer then has as it been around 1905 so were that in the NWA? I wonder who was the youtube who got this film?
Youtube was not around in the 1920's Gohan. It was filmed by the Pioneer film corporation as a newsreel.

And no, this is not for the big gold belt (the WWE WHC/WCW WHC). But rather for the world championship, which was considered the top belt of the world, no matter the promotion. It was eventually retired to be replaced by the NWA world championship which became the belt you are talking about. But the belts themselves are separate.

A better explanation:
The belt contested in that video is the daddy of the old NWA belt, making it the grandfather of the WWE one.
 
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Super Saiyan Goku

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Youtube was not around in the 1920's Gohan. It was filmed by the Pioneer film corporation as a newsreel.

And no, this is not for the big gold belt (the WWE WHC/WCW WHC). But rather for the world championship, which was considered the top belt of the world, no matter the promotion. It was eventually retired to be replaced by the NWA world championship which became the belt you are talking about. But the belts themselves are separate.

A better explanation:
The belt contested in that video is the daddy of the old NWA belt, making it the grandfather of the WWE one.

LMFAO I know youtube was not around in 1920! I said the person who upload to youtube how did it HE get it!? anyway he said lost film so I was wonder how the person who upload had it. and no b/c the NWA world title has been around since 1905 of I have dvd and that what said. so the NWA title was clearly around at the time of 1920.
 

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LMFAO I know youtube was not around in 1920! I said the person who upload to youtube how did it HE get it!? anyway he said lost film so I was wonder how the person who upload had it. and no b/c the NWA world title has been around since 1905 of I have dvd and that what said. so the NWA title was clearly around at the time of 1920.
The NWA was founded in the 1948, more than 20 years after this match took place. Their world championship did not exist back then. The NWA world championship is a descendant to the belt that the two in that match compete for, but it is not the same belt. Just as you are a descendant of your dad and his legacy, but you are not your father.

The documentary you are talking about probably say that it "traces it's legacy back to 1905", which is true, but it is not that belt. Just like you trace your legacy back to your grandfather, great grandfather and so on. It's one in a line of world championships replacing another.
 
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Super Saiyan Goku

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The NWA was founded in the 1948, more than 20 years after this match took place. Their world championship did not exist back then. The NWA world championship is a descendant to the belt that the two in that match compete for, but it is not the same belt. Just as you are a descendant of your dad and his legacy, but you are not your father.

The documentary you are talking about probably say that it "traces it's legacy back to 1905", which is true, but it is not that belt. Just like you trace your legacy back to your grandfather, great grandfather and so on. It's one in a line of world championships replacing another.

yes it was that said the world title "big gold belt" started in 1905! which is the nwa title before it was the nwa title just different name! but then measge as one in 1948 but still the same title!
 

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This was the belt (most likely)

strangler2.jpg
 

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yes it was that said the world title "big gold belt" started in 1905! which is the nwa title before it was the nwa title just different name! but then measge as one in 1948 but still the same title!
Nope.

"The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestlingworld heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title andFrank Gotch's 1908 version. "

It traces it's legacy to the original World heavyweight championship. That does not mean that it is the same belt. It's part of a lineage, a family line. It is not the same belt.
 
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