Pioneers-Schmioneers
#PWHS #Article #Pioneers
August 29, 1896 - Seattle Post Intelligencer
Since co-founding the Professional Wrestling Historical Society a lot of results have been recorded. Articles written. Biographies penned. Plus various other means of capturing history have been utilized. Of course there are many points of contention when completing such work. People disagree on dates. They disagree on who the best was. How many fans attended shows and so on.
For me, irritation actually lays in the same ballpark as many others, a lot of whom are actually a big source of my misery. Especially those folk who consider themselves "historians," "knowledgeable" and sadly, "above the common fan." That is the constant nuisance of misinformation being shared. Presented as fact and forced down the throats of the unsuspecting.
I'm likely about to alienate a large portion of the people who enjoy the PWHS Facebook group and website with what follows. Frankly though, some days I get so fed up with the whole attitude of people when it comes to "knowing" history that the alienation seems worth it. Today, more so than normal, it really does feel worth it; just to get a point across.
Firstly, I do find it so exciting that more and more people are taking an interest in the history of professional wrestling. That in itself is a wonderful thing. To paraphrase from someone who is considered a high intellect, Stephen Fry: "There are more molecules in a single glass of water than there are grains of sand in the whole world. The gaps in my knowledge bank are greater than the molecules in a glass of water."
I say that not to belittle myself or anything of that nature, but simply because it's true. There is so much to learn in regards to professional wrestling, let alone the unfathomable amount of information still awaiting to be discovered. Yet a lot of people insist that they know the whole story and that they are entitled to tell people they're wrong. Okay, you may shrug your shoulders and say that's just human nature. In many ways you'd be right. All you have to do is look at what is going on in the world today.
Unfortunately all this does is clutter up an already messy story with more useless junk to be added to the ever growing scrap heap of rubbish. Which is just good for no-one. Especially as wrestling is almost entirely built on a story that was meant to misguide the world of its real purpose; making money for those involved.
What provoked this rant though was seeing a very well respected "old school" wrestler making comment on the importance of students learning their history. Now he is not the first guy I've seen make this statement nor will he be the last. What irritates me about these kind of comments is they always trot out the same names. Normally something like Frank Gotch, Georges Hackenschmidt, Jim Londos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Lou Thesz and Gorgeous George. Some other guys maybe mixed in, but they're all from post-1900. With a whole heap of luck you may get one guy from the 1800's mentioned. I bet you can guess who that is, right? Yes, of course, it's William Muldoon. They "are" the pioneers.
I stress that all of those guys were important to the history of professional wrestling. Very important. Yet, there were guys who had to teach them how the "game" worked. Those who pioneered the course of professional wrestling from it's roots in North America. When do they get mentioned? When do they get recognized by anyone other than a very select handful of people?
Who are these trainers, these veterans, these "historians" that have the right to tell people if they don't know the aforementioned names that they don't "belong" in professional wrestling or that they're not "real" fans? When the people saying those things haven't heard of Uzile Prickett, William Miller, Andre Christol, Harry Hill, William Ainsworth, Duncan C. Ross, John McMahon, Henry Moses Dufur, Michael Whelan, William J. Austin, Edward Cox, Ernest Roeber, Homer Lane, William Fox, Clarence Whistler, Sam Matthews, Alfred Perrier, William Farrell, Edwin Bibby, Tom Connors and so the names continue. Believe it or not, that is not even making a dent as to who was on the scene, let alone starting on the names who didn't make it big in North America, but paved the way across Europe.
So many men spent countless amounts of time touring America to carve out a wrestling scene that could live on for well over a century that still continued to this day. Yet their efforts are written off by those who think they know it all. It's not just a shame, it's damn near a bloody crime.
What's even worse on some levels is when people give a date for the start of professional wrestling. I've seen many listed. The truth is we don't know. Nor do we know when the first "fixed" or "worked" match was. There was one during the time of the Roman Empire, so your guess is as a good as mine. Like scientists the one sentence anyone who studies the history of anything should say more than any other is something along the lines of: "The current thought is that...However, we don't really know." That in itself should only ever be used if the person uttering it actually keeps up to date with theories and information. Not by those who rely on sources which are now outdated.
With that being said, outdated sources are a huge source of misinformation within the wrestling community. By no means does that mean a source just because it is modern is true either. I always say to people when discussing speculative ideas, "Don't believe anything anyone tells you. That includes what I tell you. Do you own research. Only that way can you find out what strikes you as the truth."
Possibly my biggest annoyance of all is actually pedestal that people put Hall of Fames on. Some Hall of Fames aren't so bad, others are clearly more of a pure business strategy. They all claim to honor pioneers, yet just like the disgruntled veterans, only the same names are ever mentioned and that's only in the ones that are no so bad. Recently I saw the candidates for the pioneers category of arguably the most well respected Hall of Fame among "old school" fans. It displayed that the problem is not that the 19th century pioneers receive no votes, it's that they're not even on the poll card to start with.
What do I want to accomplish with this rant? I don't really know. I guess, I just hope that it rings a bell in at least one person's mind leading to them being a bit more careful with what they spread as "fact." That just one person starts to research for themselves. That just one person realizes that professional wrestling has a legacy which goes back before Frank Gotch. Any of those would be nice.
I feel much better now that I got some of that off of my chest and even avoided naming names. All that's left is to remind you to read all the wonderful information on this website.
Oh, yeah...and to question it. Check it. Then form your own damn opinions.
For me, irritation actually lays in the same ballpark as many others, a lot of whom are actually a big source of my misery. Especially those folk who consider themselves "historians," "knowledgeable" and sadly, "above the common fan." That is the constant nuisance of misinformation being shared. Presented as fact and forced down the throats of the unsuspecting.
I'm likely about to alienate a large portion of the people who enjoy the PWHS Facebook group and website with what follows. Frankly though, some days I get so fed up with the whole attitude of people when it comes to "knowing" history that the alienation seems worth it. Today, more so than normal, it really does feel worth it; just to get a point across.
Firstly, I do find it so exciting that more and more people are taking an interest in the history of professional wrestling. That in itself is a wonderful thing. To paraphrase from someone who is considered a high intellect, Stephen Fry: "There are more molecules in a single glass of water than there are grains of sand in the whole world. The gaps in my knowledge bank are greater than the molecules in a glass of water."
I say that not to belittle myself or anything of that nature, but simply because it's true. There is so much to learn in regards to professional wrestling, let alone the unfathomable amount of information still awaiting to be discovered. Yet a lot of people insist that they know the whole story and that they are entitled to tell people they're wrong. Okay, you may shrug your shoulders and say that's just human nature. In many ways you'd be right. All you have to do is look at what is going on in the world today.
Unfortunately all this does is clutter up an already messy story with more useless junk to be added to the ever growing scrap heap of rubbish. Which is just good for no-one. Especially as wrestling is almost entirely built on a story that was meant to misguide the world of its real purpose; making money for those involved.
What provoked this rant though was seeing a very well respected "old school" wrestler making comment on the importance of students learning their history. Now he is not the first guy I've seen make this statement nor will he be the last. What irritates me about these kind of comments is they always trot out the same names. Normally something like Frank Gotch, Georges Hackenschmidt, Jim Londos, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Lou Thesz and Gorgeous George. Some other guys maybe mixed in, but they're all from post-1900. With a whole heap of luck you may get one guy from the 1800's mentioned. I bet you can guess who that is, right? Yes, of course, it's William Muldoon. They "are" the pioneers.
I stress that all of those guys were important to the history of professional wrestling. Very important. Yet, there were guys who had to teach them how the "game" worked. Those who pioneered the course of professional wrestling from it's roots in North America. When do they get mentioned? When do they get recognized by anyone other than a very select handful of people?
Who are these trainers, these veterans, these "historians" that have the right to tell people if they don't know the aforementioned names that they don't "belong" in professional wrestling or that they're not "real" fans? When the people saying those things haven't heard of Uzile Prickett, William Miller, Andre Christol, Harry Hill, William Ainsworth, Duncan C. Ross, John McMahon, Henry Moses Dufur, Michael Whelan, William J. Austin, Edward Cox, Ernest Roeber, Homer Lane, William Fox, Clarence Whistler, Sam Matthews, Alfred Perrier, William Farrell, Edwin Bibby, Tom Connors and so the names continue. Believe it or not, that is not even making a dent as to who was on the scene, let alone starting on the names who didn't make it big in North America, but paved the way across Europe.
So many men spent countless amounts of time touring America to carve out a wrestling scene that could live on for well over a century that still continued to this day. Yet their efforts are written off by those who think they know it all. It's not just a shame, it's damn near a bloody crime.
What's even worse on some levels is when people give a date for the start of professional wrestling. I've seen many listed. The truth is we don't know. Nor do we know when the first "fixed" or "worked" match was. There was one during the time of the Roman Empire, so your guess is as a good as mine. Like scientists the one sentence anyone who studies the history of anything should say more than any other is something along the lines of: "The current thought is that...However, we don't really know." That in itself should only ever be used if the person uttering it actually keeps up to date with theories and information. Not by those who rely on sources which are now outdated.
With that being said, outdated sources are a huge source of misinformation within the wrestling community. By no means does that mean a source just because it is modern is true either. I always say to people when discussing speculative ideas, "Don't believe anything anyone tells you. That includes what I tell you. Do you own research. Only that way can you find out what strikes you as the truth."
Possibly my biggest annoyance of all is actually pedestal that people put Hall of Fames on. Some Hall of Fames aren't so bad, others are clearly more of a pure business strategy. They all claim to honor pioneers, yet just like the disgruntled veterans, only the same names are ever mentioned and that's only in the ones that are no so bad. Recently I saw the candidates for the pioneers category of arguably the most well respected Hall of Fame among "old school" fans. It displayed that the problem is not that the 19th century pioneers receive no votes, it's that they're not even on the poll card to start with.
What do I want to accomplish with this rant? I don't really know. I guess, I just hope that it rings a bell in at least one person's mind leading to them being a bit more careful with what they spread as "fact." That just one person starts to research for themselves. That just one person realizes that professional wrestling has a legacy which goes back before Frank Gotch. Any of those would be nice.
I feel much better now that I got some of that off of my chest and even avoided naming names. All that's left is to remind you to read all the wonderful information on this website.
Oh, yeah...and to question it. Check it. Then form your own damn opinions.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Pioneers-Schmioneers.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: December 1, 2015.
Article: #130.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Pioneers-Schmioneers.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: December 1, 2015.
Article: #130.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other articles by Jimmy can be Read Here.