Pro Wrestling at the Campo Pequeno Bullring in Lisbon in 1937

French promoter Raoul Paoli sends his wrestlers to wrestle in Portugal for the first time.

As of 1937 professional wrestling had some history in Portugal, but that history was almost all in the Greco-Roman style. Lisbon itself had hosted over a dozen Greco-Roman pro wrestling tournaments, dating back to 1906. The catch-as-catch-can style wasn't as well-known there. In 1930 there was a freestyle (a.k.a. catch) tournament in Lisbon, won by the popular Belgian star Constant le Marin, but in general the style le Marin and his wrestlers were doing was a more amateur-like version of the catch style and not the more Americanized style that would gain popularity in Europe a couple of years later.

In 1933 the French promoter Raoul Paoli introduced catch to France. This was his version of the American pro wrestling that he had seen while living in North America for a few years, with a French twist to it (i.e. wrestling similar to the American one, but not as a wild and violent as the American stuff). This new style of pro wrestling immediately became very popular in France. Soon after Paoli began booking out his wrestlers to go to other European countries and introduce the new style there. 

Eventually in the summer of 1937 the Portuguese capital Lisbon got its first taste of French style pro wrestling (catch) too when a group of Paoli wrestlers wrestled on a series of events at the famous Campo Pequeno bullring. That was the first time Campo Pequeno had hosted pro wrestling. In later years it would host many shows. Back in those days it could fit up to 10,000 people, I believe.

The 1937 shows in Lisbon were built around Al Pereira. Pereira, who was of Portuguese descent, was born in Half Moon Bay, California. By 1937 he had been a pro wrestler for about 5 years, but wasn't much of a star. From 1933 through 1935 the Bulgarian pro wrestler Dan Koloff was the boss of pro wrestling Northern California and was running a booking office out of Oakland. It was during that time that Koloff took a liking to Pereira and took him under his wing. Koloff eventually sold his NorCal office and relocated to Europe, because he became a major star in Paoli's French promotion (and also had a behind the scenes role in it). It was Koloff who brought Pereira to France with the intent of making him a big star there, which he did. After a series of victories over midcard wrestlers, in March 1937 Pereira got to wrestle the reigning European Heavyweight champion (French version) Dan Koloff and defeated him for the title.

And so with Pereira as the European champion, Paoli's wrestlers headed to Lisbon for the first time. They ended up having four shows at Campo Pequeno. Regrettably, results are not available for all shows, nor is attendance information available. The shows:

10 August 1937
Lisbon, Portugal
Campo Pequeno
1. Dick Perron vs. Oscar Nygren
2. George Krassavine vs. Louis Loew
3. Margerich Anaconda vs. Mehmet Arif
4. Al Pereira vs. Bonnie Muir

17 August 1937
Lisbon, Portugal
Campo Pequeno
1. Louis Loew def. Bonnie Muir
2. Oscar Nygren drew George Krassavine (30 minutes)
3. Dan Koloff def. Margerich Anaconda
4. Al Pereira def. Al Sparks (2:0 falls)

24 August 1937
Lisbon, Portugal
Campo Pequeno
1. Louis Loew def. Oscar Nygren
2. Mehmet Arif def. George Krassavine
3. Bonnie Muir drew Dick Perron (30 minutes)
4. Al Pereira drew Al Sparks (45 minutes)

27 August 1937
Lisbon, Portugal
Campo Pequeno
1. Dick Perron vs. George Krassavine
2. Bonnie Muir vs. Mehmet Arif
3. Al Sparks vs. Oscar Nygren
4. Al Pereira vs. Dick Perron 

Newspaper advert for one of the Lisbon shows in 1937

Later in the year Pereira lost the European Title back to Koloff and returned to the United States. There were no further shows with Paoli wrestlers in Lisbon in the 1930s.