Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling - A Time Line of Every Major Event in Pro Wrestling History - 1904
By: Karl Stern
Much of the text of this entry comes from issue 82 of the DragonKing Press Newsletter available as a downloadable .pdf in the digital downloads section.
1904
The Long Form History of Pro Wrestling covers 1904-1906 on this episode - Click Here.
01-22-1904: Farmer Burns gives a wrestling exhibition and physical culture lecture in Humeston, IA. One of the challengers from the crowd is Frank Mondt, whom Burns defeats. Frank Mondt is the father of Joe “Toots” Mondt.
01-28-1904: Frank Gotch wins his first American title from Tom Jenkins. Gotch wins two straight falls, the second one by foul. The January 24 edition of the Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper proclaims this match is to determine the “champion of the Anglo-Saxon race!” The match was for a $2000 purse and $1000 side bet.
01-30-1904: George Hackenschmidt defeated Ahmed Medrali at Olympia Stadium in London, England to retain the Greco-Roman World championship.
03-23-1904: In Chicago, IL: John J. Rooney, Chicago’s wrestling policeman, challenges to throw any ten New York City policemen, all in one hour’s time.
03-30-1904: Frank Gotch defeats Farmer Burns in Des Moines, IA.
06-13-1904: Frank Gotch defeats Farmer Burns in Sioux City, IA.
07-02-1904: Tom Jenkins loses to George Hackenschmidt in England. The New York papers print a scathing review of the match by George Lurich, a wrestler who had defeated Hackenschmidt in Moscow and the two hated each other. Lurich claimed the match was “not on the level”. The article goes on to say that Lurich had passed out a flier to expose Hackenschmidt. The flier said, “In the vital interest of good sport and self protection I am obliged to expose a so-called world championship match…” Lurich went on to attempt to discredit Tom Jenkins for getting the match in the first place but said of Hackenschmidt, “Hackenschmidt then led me to understand that Jenkins was not only prepared to go down to him in Greco-Roman, but also in Catch-As-Catch-Can, and that he, Hackenschmidt, would go down in Catch-As-Catch-Can to Jenkins in America and pretended that he was in a dilemma, adding, “Jenkins is prepared to go down in both styles and what am I to do?”
08-06-1904: Frank Gotch defeats Dan McLeod in Vancouver, BC.
10-05-1904: Frank Gotch defeats Dan McLeod in Vancouver, BC again.
11-25-1904: Frank Gotch defeated Charles “Yankee” Rogers in Buffalo, NY in a rough match.
12-08-1904: Prof. M.J. Dwyer, “the celebrated boxing and wrestling instructor who “taught President Roosevelt” will teach self-defense at the Atlanta Athletic Club. Dwyer, 165 lbs. issued a sweeping open challenge to wrestle any man in America of equal weight. The challenge was published in the Atlanta Journal, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Baltimore Sun and the National Police Gazette.
12-16-1904: Charles Leonhardt of Newark, N.J. has accepted the challenge of Prof. Dwyer and a catch-as-catch-can contest will be held in Atlanta, GA during the holidays. It will be the first wrestling match in Atlanta in many years. About 15 years ago William Muldoon appeared there and some twelve years earlier Ernest Roeber’s troupe, featuring Leonhardt taking on all comers was in Atlanta. The Dwyer verses Leonhardt bout is billed for “the middleweight championship”.
12-29-1904: Fred Beell defeats Americus (Gus Schoenlein) in Baltimore, MD.
In Atlanta, GA at the Grand Theater: Prof. M.J. Dwyer defeated Charles Leonhardt two straight falls, catch-as-catch-can. Referee: Harry Staten, local boxer. Leonhardt challenged Dwyer to a Greco-Roman match. Dwyer agreed to a rematch at mixed styles.
Frank A. Gotch
If you found this article interesting consider becoming a Patreon supporter. That is how When It Was Cool keeps our website and podcasts online, plus you get lots of bonus content including extra and extended podcasts, articles, digital comics, ebooks, and much more. Check out our Patreon Page to see what's up!
If you don't want to use Patreon but still want to support When It Was Cool then how about a one time $5 PayPal donation? Thank you!
DragonKingKarl (Karl Stern) is a long time pro wrestling historian who has been published in books, newsletters, and podcasts since the mid-1990s.
The Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling Zone is Karl Stern's attempt to chronicle the entire history of pro wrestling and is a work in progress with hundreds of pages of text added each month.
Please spread the word about the Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling project and support this website on Patreon to help it continue to grow and build.
Pro wrestling history. The history of professional wrestling. Timeline of pro wrestling history.
