DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The true story behind the 1870 Detroit International tournament

I have recently spent many hours digging through hundreds of pages of 1870 newspapers from Detroit, Chicago, Ontario, and beyond chronicling the real story of the biggest tournament in history of American pro wrestling in the pioneer era: the Detroit International tournament.

On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I reveal what I found.

The tournament awarded an ornate championship belt to its winner (Col. James H. McLaughlin), but McLaughlin did not become the American champion, at least not yet, but I give you that story, too.

Also, McLaughlin may have killed Barney Smith, but it probably did not happen here either. I also clear up a number of other myths and errors that history books have recorded about this milestone in pro wrestling history. This is hour 46 of my 1000 Hours series focusing on the pioneer era of wrestling.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:39 — 32.7MB)