Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling - A Time Line of Every Major Event in Pro Wrestling History - 1905
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.
1905
The Long Form History of Pro Wrestling covers 1904-1906 on this episode - Click Here.
01-01-1905: Frank Gotch fails to pin Emil Maupas in Montreal, Canada.
01-06-1905: In Atlanta, GA at the Athletic Club: Professor Michael J. Dwyer defeated Charles Leonhardt, mixed Greco-Roman and catch-as-catch-can style.
01-21-1905: Frank Gotch defeats John McMahon. If this is the same John McMahon of pioneer wrestling fame he would have been 64 years old. Research on the original John McMahon indicates the retired in 1891.
01-22-1905: Pinkie George (Paul Lloyd Georgeacopoulos) is born in Lowell, MA.
02-01-1905: Frank Gotch again defeats Tom Jenkins. Gotch lost the first fall and won the last two.
03-15-1905: Tom Jenkins defeats Frank Gotch to recapture the American title at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Attendance: 10,300. This was Tom Jenkins’ 3rd reign as American champion and sets up the world title match with George Hackenschmidt. In other matches: Prof. Warabuh Hakoiwa took on Fukuoka in a Jiu-Jitsu match… Young Roeber defeated Young Pons… Young Hackenschmidt defeated George Ruhlin.
03-30-1905: In Atlanta, GA: Frank Gotch defeated Prof. M.J. Dwyer. Gotch agreed to throw Dwyer two times in one hour. Gotch gained first fall in 20 minutes, shortly into the second Dwyers’ nose was badly broken and bled profusely. Dwyer withdrew. It’s said that this match was a real rough-house and that Gotch suffered cracked ribs.
05-05-1905: George Hackenschmidt defeats American champion Tom Jenkins in New York to finally become recognized as undisputed world champion in the United States.
05-19-1905: Despite his loss to George Hackenschmidt just two weeks earlier, Tom Jenkins defeats Frank Gotch winning the first and third falls in a match that lasted over two hours at Madison Square Garden in New York. An exhausted Gotch had to be carried from the ring. In other matches: Young Hackenschmidt defeated Charlie Weihl… Young Roeber battled J. Barry to a draw.
08-22-1905: Sam Muchnick is born in Novograd-Volinsk, Ukraine.
08-1905: J.C. “Kid” Nichols is recognized as U.S. Middleweight champion after beating Jimmy Parr in Iowa City, IA.
09-09-1905: George Hackenschmidt, World heavyweight champion, gives an interview to the Rock Island Argus newspaper about his tour of America the previous year. Hackenschmidt said, “One thing that I could not understand about America is the faking methods of some of the wrestlers. Wherever I went to seek a match I was confronted by a lot of schemers, who made all sorts of unsportsmanlike propositions to me… When they saw I was not a faker they avoided me and began to say unkind things about me. I guess I became unpopular with some of them but I don’t care if I have the better element on my side.”
09-11-1905: Col. James H. McLaughlin dies in Fairbanks, AK. The Post-Standard newspaper out of Syracuse, NY runs the following: “Col. James H. McLaughlin, whose widow and one daughter, Mrs. Grace Ingelbrit, are making their home at Durhamville, dies at Fairbanks, Alaska on September 11. He was born at Oriskany Falls about sixty years ago and in his day was famous as a wrestler, giving exhibitions all over the country and being the winner of notable matches. Colonel McLaughlin’s military title was earned in the Civil War. First a sergeant in the 26th New York Infantry, he was afterwards a Captain in the 24th New York Cavalry and upon the consolidation of that regiment with the 10th New York Cavalry into the 1st Provisional Cavalry, Captain McLaughlin was promoted to Major and brevetted Colonel. Upon his retirement as a professional wrestler he was, for some time, a conductor on the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad and at the time of discovery of gold in Alaska was living at Seattle, Washington. From there he went to Fairbanks. Besides his widow and daughter, Col. McLaughlin is survived by two brothers and two sisters.
10-24-1905: Evan “Strangler” Lewis visits a friend in Milwaukee, WI and tells the newspaper there he is retired and will never wrestle another match.
12-27-1905: Frank Gotch wins a supposed fifty-man tournament in Montreal in Greco-Roman defeating Emil Maupas in the finals.
1905 (unspecified): The National Police Gazette editorial theorizes that “nine out of ten wrestling bouts are prearranged affairs.”
Frank A. Gotch
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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.
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Pro wrestling history. The history of professional wrestling. Timeline of pro wrestling history.
