Four Wrestling Cards in Belgium Draw a Total Audience of 38,000 people (in 1899!)

In the span of a week a reported total audience of 38,000 people watches four pro wrestling events in Belgium.

Between 20 and 22 August 1899 there was a big Greco-Roman professional wrestling tournament held in Namur, Belgium. The tournament was held at the local velodrome and was organized by Fédération Athlétique de Belgique (the Athletic Federation of Belgium). The tournament was a huge success attendance-wise, attracting a total reported audience of 28,000 over the course of the three days.

The biggest names in the tournament were the top two Belgian stars at the time - the brothers Constant le Boucher and Clement le Terrasier. Both of them were born in Florennes, which is in the Namur province, so they were local guys. Another notable name in the tournament was the Frenchman Raoul le Boucher. He was just 16 years old at the time and would soon become one of the top French stars.

For the tournament the wrestlers were split into two categories - heavyweights and lightweights. In the context of Greco-Roman pro wrestling anyone who wasn't a heavyweight was classified as a lightweight (so anyone below 90 kg / 198 lbs).

Tournament results:

20 August 1899
Namur, Belgium
Velodrome
10,000 fans
1. Lightweights: Martin def. Marc le Lyonnais (7:49)
2. Heavyweights: Louis Walford def. Francois Hauward (4:50)
3. Lightweights: Emile Toussaint def. Louis Grevin (3:56)
4. Lightweights: Ignace Nollys def. Telter Epinoche (1:51)
5. Heavyweights: Henri Lorange def. Raoul le Boucher (8:07)
6. Lightweights: Jean Schackmann def. Emile Melotte (1:11)
7. Heavyweights: Pierre Lenoir def. Jaccavail (4:32)
8. Lightweights: Eugene de Paris def. Jean Debruyn (1:16)
9. Heavyweights: Constant le Boucher def. Charles le Meunier (3:58)
10. Lightweights: Raoul de Cahors def. Loustalot (5:40)
11. Lightweights: De Spinito def. Bartholomeo (8:04)
12. Lightweights: Gerard de Lille def. Peters (3:00)
13. Heavyweights: Clement le Terrassier def. Victor Diericks (6:20)
= Elysee Pierard no-showed so Edgar Joly was awarded a win by default. One report put the attendance at 6,000, but three other newspapers have it at 10,000.

21 August 1899
Namur, Belgium
Velodrome
6,000 fans
1. Lightweights: Jean Schackmann def. Gerard de Lille
2. Lightweights: Ignace Nollys def. Jean Schackmann
3. Heavyweights: Raoul le Boucher drew Clement le Terrassier (45:00)
= There were other matches that day, but I couldn't find a report that mentions them.

22 August 1899
Namur, Belgium
Velodrome
12,000 fans
1. Heavyweights: Raoul le Boucher drew Clement le Terrassier (60:00)
2. Heavyweights: Raoul le Boucher def. Henri Lorange - cnc
3. Lightweights: Jean Schackmann def. Eugene de Paris
4. Lightweights: Ignace Nollys def. Jean Schackmann
5. Lightweights: Eugene de Paris def. De Spinito
6. Lightweights: Jean Schackmann def. De Spinito
7. Lightweights: Ignace Nollys def. Eugene de Paris
8. Heavyweights: Clement le Terrassier drew Louis Walford
9. Heavyweights: Constant le Boucher def. Edgar Joly
10. Heavyweights: Constant le Boucher def. Louis Walford
11. Heavyweights: Clement le Terrasier def. Edgar Joly
12. Heavyweights: Louis Walford def. Edgar Joly
13. Heavyweights: Constant le Boucher def. Clement le Terrassier
14. Final (top heavyweight vs. top lightweight): Constant le Boucher def. Ignace Nollys
= One newspaper reported the attendance as 8,000, but three other reports said 12,000.

Final placements in the tournament:

Overall
1. Constant le Boucher
2. Ignace Nollys
3. Jean Schackmann
4. Clement le Terrasier

Heavyweights
1. Constant le Boucher
2. Clement le Terrasier and Louis Walford (tie)

Lightweights
1. Ignace Nollys
2. Jean Schackmann
3. Eugene de Paris
4. De Spinito

Photos from the tournament:

And then just five days later there was another card in the same province, which drew yet another big crowd, reportedly. This was a standalone card, not a tournament.

27 August 1899
Florennes, Belgium
Chateau de Beaufort (Florennes Castle)
10,000 fans
1. Omer def. Emile Melotte (3 minutes)
2. Clement le Terrassier def. Dirk van den Berg (46 minutes)
3. Arthur Leroy def. Lame (19 minutes)
4. Constant le Boucher def. Charles Fengler (21 minutes)
5. Arthur Leroy def. Omer (7 minutes)
= As best as I can tell, le Boucher and le Terrassier's matches were the only ones advertised in advance. The Omer here doesn't seem to have been popular Belgian wrestler Omer de Bouillon. This Omer was listed as being from La Louviere.