Results: Pro Wrestling in Glasgow (1902-1910)

A collection of pro wrestling results from Glasgow, Scotland.This is by no means a complete list of the high profile matches that took place in Glasgow in 1902-1910. These are just the ones that I've come across. I've thrown in a few non-Glasgow results as well. Edinburgh, which was the other big town for wrestling in Scotland, I've covered elsewhere on the blog.

Wrestling's popularity was booming in the United Kingdom during most of 1902-1910, and Glasgow itself was no exception. Here's the important thing to note about Glasgow, however. Just like in England during this time, a lot of the important matches in Glasgow were being held at various music halls and theatres where wrestlers would sign on to appear nightly as part of the variety program at the hall/theatre, but in Glasgow there were also a number of wrestling matches held outdoors at big football stadiums such as Ibrox Park, Celtic Park and Meadowside. Often the wrestling matches were held in conjunction with Highland games events, police sports events or football matches, but make no mistake about it - even though pro wrestling wasn't the only attraction on the card it was always positioned as the main attraction on the card for these events.

A number big stars wrestled in Glasgow in 1902-1910: George Hackenschmidt, Ivan Poddubny, Tom Jenkins, Georg Lurich, Alexander Aberg, Jack Carkeek, Constant le Marin, etc. During this era there were also a number of popular Scottish wrestlers like Willie Withers Bain, Alex A. Cameron, Jimmy Esson, Frank Crozier, etc., but the most popular one of them all was Alexander Munro or just Alex Munro for short (sometimes also shortened as Alec Munro). He was without question the top Scottish name during the years in question and for a while probably the top UK name as a whole since England didn't really have any major superstar wrestlers at the time. In Glasgow Munro, who outside of wrestling worked as a police officer, wrestled Hackenschmidt, Poddubny, Jenkins, etc.

All attendance numbers and quotes describing the attendance are from the British press. Take them for what they're worth. If you see more than one number or quote for an event that means they're from different newspapers.

Left to right: Alex Munro, Alex A. Cameron, Willie Withers Bain

16 December 1902
Empire Theatre
1. Alex Munro def. Victor Ajax
2. Jack Carkeek def. Matt Steadman (11 minutes)
= Carkeek, who was one of the most popular wrestlers in the UK during this time, was appearing at the Empire that week as the headline attraction and it's reported the houses were always full. Matt Steadman was the son of George Steadman (one of the biggest British wrestling names from the previous few decades).

From 9 March 1903 onward the giant Turk Ali Hassan (better known as Nourlah), Antonio Pierri, Albert Sturm, Antoine Fournier and Zara Costa were appearing nightly at the Hippodrome Variety Theatre for the week. Nourlah was the chief attraction among them. He had an open challenge: £25 to any wrestler he failed to beat in 10 minutes. He had also said he would forfeit £100 if he could not beat Jack Carkeek 20 times in an hour. And on top of that he also had a £1,000 challenge out to George Hackenschdmidt.

29 April 1903
Empire Theatre
Jack Carkeek def. Matt Steadman (18:04 minutes)
= Catch rules. The stipulation was that if Carkeek could not beat Steadman in 10 minutes than Steadman would get £1 for every minute after the 10th one that he lasted. Carkeek was appearing at the Empire all week as the headline attraction.

27 June 1903
Ibrox Stadium
"a capital attendance despite the miserable weather" / £250 gate
Mixed Style Championship of Great Britain: Alex Munro def. Matt Steadman (3:2 falls) to become the champion
= Part of a Highland games event promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club. The styles were Scotch (first two falls), Cumberland (second two falls) and Greco-Roman (final fall). Munro won the first two falls in very quick fashion, Steadman took the next two, and Munro won the final fall to win the championship. Heading in Munro was billed as the Scottish champion, and now he was the champion of Great Britain.

1 August 1903
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
"a crowded house"
Alex Munro drew Ahmed Codjali (30 minutes)
= Catch rules. For a $50 stake and a £50 purse. The wrestler with the most falls within the 30-minute time limit was to be declared winner. There were no falls. Codjali, Hassan Murad, Antonio Pierri, Zara Costa and Antoine Fournier were appearing at the Hippodrome that week and the following one. Codjali and Murad (billed as Arabians, but were actually Turks) were the headline attractions.

8 August 1903
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
"crowded house"
Hassan Murad def. Alex Munro (2:0 falls) - cnc
= Catch rules. For a £60 stake. The wrestler with the most falls within the 30-minute time limit was to be declared winner. Munro injured his foot and couldn't continue.

4 January 1904
Ibrox Stadium
10,000 fans
Mixed Style Championship: Alex Munro (c) def. Alfred Kramer (4:1 falls)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match. In addition to being for the title the match was for a £20 cash prize. Billed as the champion of Great Britain vs. the champion of Germany. Kramer won the 1st fall (Greco-Roman) in 3:36 minutes, Munro won the 2nd (Greco-Roman) in 2:38 minutes, Munro won the 3rd (Greco-Roman) in 1:32, Munro won the 4th (catch) in 0:17, and Munro won the 5th (catch) in 1:09.

20 January 1904
Tivoli Theatre
Jack Carkeek failed to beat Alex Munro (10 minutes)
= Carkeek had to defeat Munro in 10 minutes or forfeit £25.

21 January 1904
Tivoli Theatre
Jack Carkeek failed to beat Alex Munro (20 minutes)
= Carkeek had to defeat Munro in 20 minutes or forfeit £25.

22 January 1904
Tivoli Theatre
“the theatre was crammed”
Alex Munro failed to beat Jack Carkeek
= Munro had to defeat Carkeek in 15 minutes or forfeit £25.

22 February 1904
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
"an audience that packed the building"
Tom Cannon failed to beat Alex Munro (10 minutes)
= Greco-Roman rules. The veteran Cannon, one of the top British stars from the previous two decades, was appearing nightly at the Hippodrome that week and had an open challenge - he would give £10 to anyone who he could not beat within 10 minutes.

At one point a match between Alex Munro and Jack Carkeek was announced for 27 February at Ibrox Park, but it doesn't seem like the match took place. It was to be for a £100 stake.

26 March 1904
Ibrox Stadium
£154 gate
Alex Munro def. Francois de Ridder (2:0 falls)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match. For a £40 purse and a £50 stake. Billed as the champion of Great Britain vs. the champion of France. Catch rules. Munro won the 1st fall in 1:10 and the 2nd in 4:45.

16 April 1904
Palace Theatre
Tom Jenkins failed to beat Alex Munro (20 minutes)
= Catch rules. For a £50 stake. Jenkins had to defeat Munro in 20 minutes so when he couldn't do it Munro was proclaimed the winner.

28 May 1904
Ibrox Park
12,000 fans
Tom Jenkins def. Alex Munro (2:1 falls)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match and an amateur wrestling tournament. Catch rules. For a £100 stake and a purse. Billed as the champion of Great Britain vs. America's greatest wrestler. Munro won the 1st in 12 minutes, Jenkins won the 2nd in 11 minutes, and Jenkins won the 3rd in 17 minutes.

18 June 1904
Ibrox Stadium
"a rather disappointing attendance"
Alex Munro def. Alfred Kramer (4:1 falls)
= Part of a Highland games event promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club. Mixed rules match. The first three falls were Cumberland style (each wrestler had won a fall and then Munro won the 3rd one), Munro won the 4th (catch) in 3:10 minutes, Munro won the 5th (catch) in over 6 minutes and thus won the match. Afterward the two gave a display of Greco-Roman wrestling, which was to be the third style had the match reached that point.

25 June 1904
Celtic Park
Willie Withers Bain def. Joe Carroll (2:1 falls)
= Part of the annual Glasgow police sports event. Bain won the 1st fall in about 26 minutes, Carroll won the 2nd in 7 minutes, and Bain won the 3rd in about 7 minutes.

9 July 1904
Meadowside
12,000 fans
1. James Morrison won a 8-man catch tournament
2. Georg Lurich vs. Alex A. Cameron ended without a winner (about 15 minutes)
= Part of a Partick police sports event. The Lurich match, which was under Greco-Roman rules, ended abruptly because all of a sudden Lurich's manager William Allan claimed Lurich had beat his opponent, but he hadn't. This was Lurich's debut in Scotland. The catch tournament featured seven UK wrestlers and Francois de Ridder.

On 9 July 1904, at Raploch Park in Larkhall (which is less than 20 miles away from Glasgow) there was a Highland games event that was headlined by Alex Munro trying to defeat both Victor Welsche (billed as the champion of Burma) and Pat Connolly (of Dublin) in 30 minutes or forfeit £40. Catch rules. The event drew a good attendance, reportedly. Munro beat Welsche in 3:42, 2:34 and 4:17. Then Munro beat Connolly in 4:18, 5:30 and 0:59. The total time was just over 20 minutes so Munro kept his money.

12 July 1904
Palace Theatre
"large audience"
Ernst Siegfried failed to beat Alexander Aberg (15 minutes)
= The Antonio Pierri troupe was appearing here nightly and the German Siegfried was one of the two star wrestlers of the troupe along with the Turk Ahmed Madrali. Siegfried had an open challenge: £25 to anyone who he could not beat in 15 minutes (Greco-Roman rules). At the very start of the show William Allan (Georg Lurich's manager) spoke up from the private box he was sitting in and said he had a man for Siegfried to wrestle. Alex Munro was in the box with Allan so the crowd started chanting Munro's name, but Allan said it's not Munro who would be facing Siegfried. Instead it would be a young Russian wrestler by the name of Alesko Aberg (which is how Alexander Aberg was billed in the UK during this time). Pierri accepted the challenge on behalf of Siegfried. Then there was an argument as to who would referee - Pierri said he would be the ref, but Allan protested and wanted Munro to referee. While this was going on Aberg simply walked on to the stage and indicated he was ready to wrestle, regardless of who would referee (it ended up being Pierri). In the match Siegfried kept strangling Aberg, but Pierri did nothing about that so the crowd became unruly and the bout had to be stopped for a couple of minutes. Ultimately Aberg went the distance, with the crowd being behind him big time. Afterward Pierri was suggesting Aberg hadn't wrestled fairly and didn't want to pay him the money, which lead to some more back and forth arguing and a lot of excitement in the crowd. In the end Aberg was paid.

30 July 1904
Queen's Variety Theatre
Alexander Aberg failed to beat Alex A. Cameron (15 minutes)
= The stipulation was that Aberg had to defeat Cameron in 15 minutes or forfeit £25. Greco-Roman rules.

30 July 1904
Ibrox Park
4,000 fans
1. Alex Munro def. K. A. Houta (11:33, 19:14)
2. Georg Lurich def. James Morrison (15:19)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club. The first match was under catch rules and the second under Greco-Roman rules. Afterward it was announced Lurich was prepared to challenge Munro to a Greco-Roman match, but nothing resulted from that. It's not clear whether the K. A. Houta here was the Indian wrestler Said Kahouta or the guy who wrestled as Ernest Ka Houta (it was probably Ernest, but no way to know for sure).

8 April 1905
Palace Theatre
British Catch-As-Catch-Can Championship: Alex Munro (c) def. Willie Withers Bain (16:19 minutes)
= The match was also for £200. After the match Munro was challenged by the American Dennis Gallagher.

14 April 1905
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
Pat Connolly def. Tom Connors (2:1 falls)
= Catch rules. Connolly won the 1st and 3rd falls.

22 April 1905
Palace Theatre
Alex Munro def. Dennis Gallagher (2:1 falls)
= Mixed rules. Munro won the 1st fall (catch) in 9 minutes, Gallagher won the 2nd (colow-and-elbow) in 5:53, and Munro won the 3rd (Greco-Roman) in 9:20.

10 May 1905
Pavilion Theatre
Alex Munro def. Emile Deriaz (15 minutes)
= Greco-Roman rules. For a £50 stake.

13 May 1905
Pavilion Theatre
Alex Munro def. Emile Deriaz (40 seconds)
= Greco-Roman rules. For a £100 stake.

3 June 1905
Pavilion Theatre
"the hall was filled to its utmost capacity"
Alex Munro def. Ivan Romanoff (11:40 minutes)
= Catch rules. For a £100 stake. William Allan, who had managed Lurich and Aberg previously, was Romanoff's manager.

24 June 1905
Celtic Park
Alex Munro def. H. Aberg (2:0 falls)
= Part of the annual Glasgow police sports event. Catch rules. For a £100 stake. H. Aberg was billed as the brother of Alexander Aberg. The falls were 10 minutes and 7:32 minutes.

8 July 1905
Meadowside
"a large crowd"
1. James Morrison won a 8-man catch tournament
2. Alex Munro def. Alex A. Cameron (23:26 minutes)
= Part of the annual Partick police sports event. The Munro/Cameron match was under Greco-Roman rules and for a £100 stake.

19 July 1905
Palace Theatre
“4,000 fans”
Georg Strenge failed to beat Alex Munro (10 minutes)
= The stipulation was that Strenge had to defeat Munro in 10 minutes or forfeit £25. The theatre management invited Hackenschmidt, who was wrestling at another Glasgow theatre, to come to the Palace and wrestle Strenge. That's how the newspaper reported the attendance but I believe the capacity of the theatre was about 1/3 of that number so I don't think that number is accurate.

19 July 1905
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
George Hackenschmidt vs. Georg Strenge ended without a winner (about 12 minutes)
= Hackenschmidt was appearing at the Hippodrome nightly that week and had an open challenge, specifically out to Alex Munro and Alex A. Cameron. Strenge, who had been appearing at the Palace Theatre, turned up and challenged Hackenschmidt to wrestle him under Greco-Roman rules. Hack accepted. At the end of the match it appeared as if Hack had pinned Strenge so Hack stopped wrestling, but Strenge was protesting this. The referee couldn't announce an official decision because the crowd got unruly.

On 22 July 1905 at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock (which is about 25 miles away from Glasgow) there was a Kilmarnock police sports event headlined by Alex Munro def. Michaelivich (2:0 falls).

29 July 1905
Palace Theatre
"a good attendance, which is usual when Munro is involved"
Alex Munro def. Georg Strenge (7:35 minutes)
= Catch rules. For a £50 stake. This was their third match here.

12 August 1905
Palace Theatre
"the theatre was filled to its utmost capacity"
Alex Munro def. Albert Sturm (22 minutes)
= Catch rules. For a £100 stake.

On 19 August 1905, at Cappielow Park in Greenock Alex Munro def. Franz Josef (12:10 minutes). Catch rules. 3,000 fans in attendance. This was a rematch from three days prior when Munro lasted 10 minutes against Josef and won £25 since the stipulation was Josef had to beat him in 10 minutes.

2 September 1905
Ibrox Park
4,000 fans
Alex Munro def. Georg Oettinger
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match. For a £100 stake and a purse. Billed as the British champion vs. the World's champion Greco-Roman wrestler. There were to be two falls, catch and Greco-Roman, and whoever won a fall quicker would be declared the winner. Munro won the catch fall in 8:42, and in the Greco-Roman fall after about 10 minutes the ref warned Oettinger that he was using an illegal grip, Oettinger got offended and refused to continue wrestling. Munro was declared the winner.

23 September 1905
Palace Theatre
"all parts of the building were filled"
Alex Munro def. Tom Jenkins via disqualification
= Catch rules. For a £100 stake. Jenkins was disqualified for using a strangling hold.

30 September 1905
Tivoli Theatre
Alex Munro def. Georg Oettinger
= Greco-Roman rules. For a £60.

14 October 1905
Palace Theatre
"the theatre was crowded to the doors"
Alex Munro def. Tom Jenkins (17:39, 10:52)
= Catch rules. For a £100 stake.

28 October 1905
Ibrox Park
15,000 fans (£1,600 gate)
World Catch-As-Catch-Can Championship: George Hackenschmidt (c) def. Alex Munro (22:40, 11:20)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match. The match was also for a £200 stake. The tickets were more expensive than the usual prices for wrestling at Ibrox Park. Most reports have the crowd at 15,000. Some reports have it 20,000, but I've also seen one-off claims of 10,000 and 30,000. In his book, "The Way to Live", Hackenschmidt says the attendance was 16,000. Either way, this match was a big deal and the most high profile wrestling match of all-time in Scotland up to that point.

15 December 1905
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
World Catch-As-Catch-Can Middleweight Championship: Willie Withers Bain def. Peter Gotz to become the champion

From 18 December 1905 Antonio Pierri's troupe was appearing nightly that week at the Queen's Variety Theatre, Ahmed Madrali being the chief attraction. There ended up being a lawsuit between Bernard Armstrong (the director of the theatre) and Pierri. What happened is that at the end of the week's engagement Armstrong refused to pay Pierri and his troupe. Armstrong was saying that the agreement was for two weeks and therefore Pierri hadn't fulfilled his contract, while Pierri was saying it was for one week only. Furthermore, Armstrong was claiming that part of the agreement was for him to promote a Madrali vs. Alex Munro match at Ibrox Park, where Munro had agreed to lose to Madrali, but instead Pierri went back on their agreement and the big Madrali/Munro match took place in Edinburgh. Ultimately Pierri won the lawsuit.

30 December 1905
Palace Theatre
1. Raymond Cazeaux def. James Morrison (14:10)
2. Raymond Cazeaux def. Corporal Kyle (5:44)
3. Raymond Cazeaux def. Emile Terrasier (11:03)
4. Raymond Cazeaux def. Wilhelm Hoing (about 6 minutes)
5. Raymond Cazeaux failed to beat Alex A. Cameron (23:43)
= Greco-Roman rules. Cazeaux had to beat five wrestlers in an hour or forfeit £50. Prior to the matches Albert Sturm's manager spoke up and wanted Sturm to be one of the five, but that wasn't allowed since the five wrestlers had already been decided. Cazeaux lost the money since he couldn't beat Cameron in the remaining time.

13 February 1906
Ibrox Park
£300 gate
Alex Munro def. Harry Lauder (2:1 falls)
= Part of a charity sports event promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club.

30 June 1906
Celtic Park
10,000 to 12,000 fans / 20,000 fans / 25,000 fans (conflicting estimates)
Georg Strenge def. Gustavus Rennart (4:30, 10:30)
= Part of the annual Glasgow police sports event. Greco-Roman rules. The story here was that George Hackenschmidt had selected Strenge's opponent and Strenge would find out who Hack had selected only when he went to the ring.

On 25 August 1906 at Recreation Ground in Dunoon there was a Highland games event, where Alex Munro def. Von Keilish (2:0 falls). The match was for a £25 stake. There were also a few different wrestling tournaments (Scotch and Cumberland style) - Jimmy Esson won the Scotch one.

From 15 October 1906 onward Antonio Pierri's troupe was appearing nightly at the Hippodrome Variety Theare. Hussein Mahmout, Pierri's latest foreign import, being the chief attraction.

8 December 1906
Ibrox Park
"a very disappointing crowd due to the bad weather"
1. Alex Munro def. W. Foster (5:40)
2. Alex Munro def. Alexander Nelson (7:12)
3. Alex Munro def. Bob Strachan (10:24)
4. Alex Munro def. Alfred Edmonds (4:07)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match. Munro, billed as the British catch-as-catch-can champion, had issued an open challenge that he could beat any four British-born wrestlers in an hour. Willie Withers Bain nominated the four wrestlers who were to face Munro.

12 January 1907
Ibrox Park
"limited attendance even though the weather was favorable"
Alex Munro def. Louis Burgions (6:10, 5:05)
= Promoted by the Glasgow Rangers football club and preceded by a football match. Catch rules. For a £50 stake. Billed as the British champion vs. the Romanian champion.

22 June 1907
Celtic Park
Willie Withers Bain def. Pat Connolly (2:1 falls)
= Part of the annual Glasgow police sports event. Catch rules.

From 5 August 1907 onward Constant le Marin was appearing nightly at the Hippodrome Variety Theatre.

16 October 1907
Coliseum
1. Ivan Poddubny def. Jimmy Esson
2. Ivan Poddubny def. George Paterson
3. Ivan Poddubny failed to beat Alex Munro (15 minutes)
= Poddubny was appearing nightly at the Coliseum during the week and, reportedly, drawing good houses. He had an open challenge that he could beat any opponent within 15 minutes. Greco-Roman rules.

19 October 1907
Coliseum
"huge attendance" / “large attendance” / “crowded house”
Ivan Poddubny def. Alex Munro via disqualification (19:04)
= Greco-Roman rules. For a £200 stake. To a finish. Munro was disqualified for applying a catch-as-catch-can hold.

29 November 1907
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
Taro Miyake failed to beat Alex Munro (10:17)
= Miyake had to beat Munro in 10 minutes or forfeit £20.

From 23 March 1908 onward Antonio Pierri's troupe was appearing nightly at the Hippodrome Variety Theatre, the main attraction being the Turk Coord Derelli. Derelli had an open challenge - he would give £50 to any wrestler he failed to beat in 15 minutes. The Scots Alex Munro, Jimmy Esson and Alex A. Cameron were especially invited.

8 May 1908
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
"crowded house"
Thirteen Stone World Championship: Maurice Deriaz vs. George Paterson ended without a winner (60 minutes)
= The match was stopped because it was getting too late and the theatre had to close. A rematch was booked for a few days later.

12 May 1908
Hippodrome Variety Theatre
Thirteen Stone World Championship: Maurice Deriaz def. George Paterson

12 February 1909
Coliseum
Alex Munro def. Yukio Tani (58 minutes)
= Jiu-jitsu match.

9 July 1909
Hengler's Circus
Alex Munro drew Pat Connolly
= Mixed rules match - Cumberland, collar-and-elbow, catch-as-catch-can.

On 24 July 1909, at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock there was a Kilmarnock police sports event headlined by Alex Munro def. Jack Bain in a catch match. Munro had to beat Bain three times in 30 minutes. Munro managed it in 27:30 minutes. He also won a Cumberland style tournament.

24 June 1910
Palace Theatre
Pat Connolly def. Alex Munro (16:30 minutes) - cnc
= This was to be a two out of three falls match, for a £25 stake. After the first pinfall Munro claimed to have dislocated his arm and said he couldn't continue so Connolly was declared the winner.