My dad (Robert) and his brother (Richard) found this movie in the attic at my grand mother's home (Grace Caddock). When they asked her what it was; she said, "Oh that's a movie of your dad wrestling. Richard made arrangements with a Hollywood film company to restore it; but because it was an old celluloid film, it was very difficult. This is the best they could do. I never met my grandfather; he died just months before I was born. But, dad said of him; "he was the finest man I ever knew" If my grand father was any thing like my Dad and "uncle Dick", he must have been quite a guy. Robert Earl Caddock
@@GulfCoastSportsLLC No. I wrestled some in High School, but I was pretty average. Uncle Dicks son, Rich, wrestled at the college level. I guess he came closest.
This is incredible. Even though it's almost a 100 years old you really can take yourself back and see how this would be so fun to watch live. It's so different from modern pro wrestling but you can still see the foundation of what we view today.
Amazing to watch. Pro Wrestling back then looks more like UFC or MMA now. Especially the ground game portion of it. That was a huge part of technical and catch-as-catch-can wrestling back then - but it's almost a lost art nowadays. There's only a handful of modern day wrestlers I can think of who even know how to wrestle like that (Alex Shelley, Jonathan Gresham, Dean Malenko, a few of the older Hart family members, etc. But most wrestlers can't wrestle like that nowadays, nor do they want to. That's why "strong-style" is so popular now - it requires less skill but generally gets a bigger reaction from the audience.
Pro wrestling is a shell of itself so real wrestlers compete in MMA and grappling now. Japan is full of guys that can do this stuff, except they do it for real.
I'm surprised how poor the quality is. If you watch boxing matches from the same era they are much much better looking. This looks like it's from the 1890s. It also looks like a Jack Johnson boxing match with the non stop holding in the beginning
This is the wrestling business. They were never known for preserving footage. Still amazing film neither the less and honestly can't believe it's out there all things considered
@@vinnybrich484 it is actually you're right. I wish there was more footage of like the early pioneers. Terrible Turk and Farmer Burns n shit. All those guys were amazing
@@FirstLast-vl1uy oh my God I would kill for some farmer burns footage. Really anything before the 50s i eat up. For me I would love some more dick shikat footage. The Ed Lewis fight is an amazing piece of history but he's one of those all time great that doesn't get talked about enough and only has a few select matches on the Internet. And as a wisconsinite Evan Lewis is another I would give up a house to see. I'm a huge fan of Ed Lewis and to see the originator of the name would be amazing. And the fact there both Wisconsin natives is the cherry on top
@vinnybrich484 yea I saw a short documentary on Strangler Lewis. Pretty great stuff. I find it really amazing that the early guys were not wrestling with a predetermined outcome. Terrible Turks story is absolutely amazing. He apparently never lost and then died in a ship wreck holding his championship belt as he drowned
Well its so boring it’s probably real. Thats why pro wrestling became what it is today because wrestling can get boring to watch so they had to make it fixed so it wouldn’t lose popularity.
@@jasonbuzzalini5174 Stick to watching WWE, this is clearly too cerebral for a man(and i use the term man lightly, you're probably not over 15) of your faculties. A legitimate contest doesn't flow as smooth as silk, tit-for-tat, there would be no holes left for countering every technique.
In those days, movies were shot and printed on nitrocellulose (nitrate) film. Nitrate tends to deteriorate pretty badly, and is also highly flammable. But the stuff was in regular use until the late 1940s, when safety film became standard.
My dad (Robert) and his brother (Richard) found this movie in the attic at my grand mother's home (Grace Caddock). When they asked her what it was; she said, "Oh that's a movie of your dad wrestling. Richard made arrangements with a Hollywood film company to restore it; but because it was an old celluloid film, it was very difficult. This is the best they could do. I never met my grandfather; he died just months before I was born. But, dad said of him; "he was the finest man I ever knew" If my grand father was any thing like my Dad and "uncle Dick", he must have been quite a guy. Robert Earl Caddock
Had you or anyone in your family ever thought to carry on in the tradition of professional wrestling?
hi bob
@@GulfCoastSportsLLC No. I wrestled some in High School, but I was pretty average. Uncle Dicks son, Rich, wrestled at the college level. I guess he came closest.
This is pretty old and damaged footage but still great to see. Earl Caddock was the last legitimate world champion of Pro wrestling.
"legitimate" I mean was frank gotch really a legitimate champion. Unless Im wrong but I always thought the hack vs gotch fight was very much fixed
Both can be true. Both were very legitimate, but matches were prearranged. To make it look real, you have to be able to do it.
This is incredible. Even though it's almost a 100 years old you really can take yourself back and see how this would be so fun to watch live. It's so different from modern pro wrestling but you can still see the foundation of what we view today.
stacy mirba WWE has made a joke out of wrestling. I like NWA wrestling better.
Great Extremely old school Shoot match👍
Wow 😯 Nearly 100 years ago
Amazing to watch. Pro Wrestling back then looks more like UFC or MMA now. Especially the ground game portion of it. That was a huge part of technical and catch-as-catch-can wrestling back then - but it's almost a lost art nowadays. There's only a handful of modern day wrestlers I can think of who even know how to wrestle like that (Alex Shelley, Jonathan Gresham, Dean Malenko, a few of the older Hart family members, etc. But most wrestlers can't wrestle like that nowadays, nor do they want to. That's why "strong-style" is so popular now - it requires less skill but generally gets a bigger reaction from the audience.
strong style doesn't mean what you think it does, moran!
Pro wrestling is a shell of itself so real wrestlers compete in MMA and grappling now. Japan is full of guys that can do this stuff, except they do it for real.
🔥🔥🔥
A very cool old match! Those two had to be in absolutely top notch shape to go that hard legitimately.
Earl Caddock beat Joe Stecher with a full nelson submission, Apr 4, 1917, in Omaha, NE. I found it in a contemporary newspaper online.
I'm surprised how poor the quality is. If you watch boxing matches from the same era they are much much better looking. This looks like it's from the 1890s. It also looks like a Jack Johnson boxing match with the non stop holding in the beginning
This is the wrestling business. They were never known for preserving footage. Still amazing film neither the less and honestly can't believe it's out there all things considered
@@vinnybrich484 it is actually you're right. I wish there was more footage of like the early pioneers. Terrible Turk and Farmer Burns n shit. All those guys were amazing
@@FirstLast-vl1uy oh my God I would kill for some farmer burns footage. Really anything before the 50s i eat up. For me I would love some more dick shikat footage. The Ed Lewis fight is an amazing piece of history but he's one of those all time great that doesn't get talked about enough and only has a few select matches on the Internet. And as a wisconsinite Evan Lewis is another I would give up a house to see. I'm a huge fan of Ed Lewis and to see the originator of the name would be amazing. And the fact there both Wisconsin natives is the cherry on top
@vinnybrich484 yea I saw a short documentary on Strangler Lewis. Pretty great stuff. I find it really amazing that the early guys were not wrestling with a predetermined outcome. Terrible Turks story is absolutely amazing. He apparently never lost and then died in a ship wreck holding his championship belt as he drowned
I'll give £10 to anyone that can remaster this.
This match was a 100 years ago today.
The audio sounds like a Extremely Windy Snowstorm 🌬🌨
the original film was silent. sound films were still about 7 - 8 years in the future.
This shows how long wrestling has been around
Actually, the Bible and the Odyssey (among other ancient texts) show how long wrestling has been around!
So, was it a work or a shoot? Was the outcome arranged?
Well its so boring it’s probably real. Thats why pro wrestling became what it is today because wrestling can get boring to watch so they had to make it fixed so it wouldn’t lose popularity.
they're working
This was a legit match. No doubt about that.
@@jasonbuzzalini5174 Stick to watching WWE, this is clearly too cerebral for a man(and i use the term man lightly, you're probably not over 15) of your faculties. A legitimate contest doesn't flow as smooth as silk, tit-for-tat, there would be no holes left for countering every technique.
@@jasonbuzzalini5174it legitimate but there still working. Any one after hack is essentially a work
真剣勝負でもボクシングと比べてあまりにも地味で興行には向かなかった。飛んだり跳ねたり相手に合わせて派手な動きの試合運びで結果も観客が喜ぶようにプロモーターが決める。それがプロレスの歴史だ。
what were they using to film this cause to me it looks older than 1920
In those days, movies were shot and printed on nitrocellulose (nitrate) film. Nitrate tends to deteriorate pretty badly, and is also highly flammable. But the stuff was in regular use until the late 1940s, when safety film became standard.
真剣勝負でもにもボクシングと
あの胴じめは、現代にも通用するだろう。仕掛けることができれば、だが。