The Stanislaus Zbyszko vs. Ivan Zaikin Scandal in St. Petersburg in 1909

Probably the most famous, or rather infamous, match in Russian pro wrestling history.

Of all the Russian pro wrestling cards and matches that I've been able to research so far, the Stanislaus Zbyszko vs. Ivan Zaikin match talked about below was by far the one that received the most newspaper coverage in the Russian press (and even outside of Russia too). The match was a big deal. Not only because it was a match between two of the very top stars in Russian pro wrestling at the time, who were working for different wrestling troupes, but also because of how the match ended with a scandal.

In 1909 Greco-Roman pro wrestling was extremely popular in the Russian Empire, more than it had ever been before. It's fair to say Russia was the number one territory for pro wrestling in Europe at the time (and it would remain that way for the next few years). Between Moscow and St. Petersburg alone there were more than 650 wrestling shows that year. And with that came a lot of instances where in big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg there would often be two or more tournaments happening at the same time, with different troupes of wrestlers. Such was the case in March 1909 in St. Petersburg when there was a tournament at Mikhailovsky Manege promoted by the top Russian promoter Ivan Lebedev with wrestlers from his troupe and Stanislaus Zbyszko, and there was another tournament with the Ivan Poddubny/Ivan Zaikin troupe, promoted by Victor Meyer at New Circus.

Stanislaus Zbyszko (left) and Ivan Zaikin (right)

The whole Zbyszko/Zaikin story started in January 1909. At the time the Poddubny/Zaikin troupe was wrestling at Mikhailovsky Manege, but would soon move to New Circus, and then a few weeks later a different tournament started at Mikhailovsky Manege - the one by Lebedev. On 22 January Zaikin did a speech in front of the crowd. He said four years ago in St. Petersburg he had challenged Alexander Aberg to wrestle him and he had promised to give Aberg 300 Russian rubles if Aberg could beat him, but Aberg hadn't accepted his challenge. In Warsaw he had challenged Georg Lurich. Zaikin said he was now going to deposit 500 rubles as a guarantee that he’s willing to wrestle Aberg, Lurich, Zbyszko or Poddubny (the four biggest stars in Russia at the time). Zbyszko was in Vienna at the time. About a week later a telegram from Zbyszko was published in “Birzhevye vedomosti” newspaper stating he was accepting Zaikin's challenge. Zaikin then responded that he was fine with either option - a match with a time limit or a match without a time limit.

On 1 March Lebedev notified the jury of the tournament at New Circus that Zbyszko was officially accepting the challenge and would come to St. Petersburg to wrestle Zaikin.

On 3 March Poddubny and Zaikin made a surprise appearance in the crowd at Lebedev’s Mikhailovsky Manege show that day and said they wanted to clarify the conditions for the potential Zbyszko/Zaikin match. Since Zbyszko hadn’t arrived in St. Petersburg yet, Lebedev was speaking on his behalf and Lebedev said Zbyszko was accepting the 500 rubles/30 minute challenge as long as the match wasn’t going to be with a commercial purpose - if Zbyszko won he was going to give the money to university students. Zaikin wanted Lebedev to confirm the conditions in front of the audience, which Lebedev did, but Lebedev also said he wanted Zaikin to wrestle Karl Kornatzki first. Zaikin declined and said he was willing to wrestle Jakob Koch instead. Lebedev didn’t agree to this. Zaikin and Poddubny left and went back to their own tournament at New Circus, where Zaikin was to wrestle later that evening. In front of the audience there Zaikin explained what had happened at Lebedev’s tournament and added he didn’t want to wrestle a second-rate wrestler such as Kornatzki.

Sidenote: Both Kornatzki and Koch were part of Lebedev's tournament. Koch was one of the top stars in it while Kornatzki wasn’t a top star in Russia at this point, but he would become one later that same year when he worked as Black Mask in Moscow. Something that I found interesting is that while here we have Zaikin calling Kornatzki a second-rate wrestler, in an interview with the press around this same time Ivan Poddubny (Zaikin's business partner and mentor) actually said that of all the wrestlers competing at Mikhailovsky Manege Kornatzki was the most dangerous one. And keep in mind the Mikhailovsky Manege tournament was stacked with notable European wrestlers (Jakob Koch, Josef Steinbach, Hans Schwarz Sr., Marinus van Riel, Ivan Shemyakin, Ivari Tuomisto, Fritz Muller Sr., Ivan Spul, Alphonse Steurs, etc.). Poddubny putting over the midcarder Kornatzki like that and at the same time Zaikin not wanting a match with him, sure is interesting.

In a letter to “Novuyu rus” newspaper on 5 March Zaikin stated he would accept the match with Zbyszko only if Zbyszko put up 500 rubles of his own too.

On 10 March Zaikin had a statement/advert printed in “Peterburgskiy listok” newspaper challenging Zbyszko yet again. In the statement Zaikin quoted a challenge from 9 September 1907 from the newspaper “Segodnya” where Zbyszko and Lebedev had offered 15,000 rubles to anyone who could defeat Zbyszko. Zaikin was now asking that they deposit this money with the city administration and he was saying that if they did not do it that meant they were avoiding the match and engaging in false advertising, which according to him was detrimental to the public and the sport. Zaikin also added that if he managed to beat Zbyszko he would give the 15,000 rubles to underprivileged students.

On 11 March Zbyszko, who had now arrived in St. Petersburg, responded with a statement/advert of his own in “Peterburgskiy listok”, summarizing some of the events so far and adding some new comments. First all, Zbyszko said there was no point in quoting a challenge from two years prior. Two years ago Zaikin could have accepted the challenge, but he didn’t. Then in January 1909 Zaikin had challenged Zbyszko to a match under any conditions and offered him a prize of 500 rubles for the match (and even offered to pay his travel expenses to get to St. Petersburg). Zbyszko had responded to this challenge via telegram. Zbyszko added he accepted the challenge, even though he had already defeated Zaikin twice in the past (once in 2 minutes and once in 14 minutes). So then Zbyszko arrived in St. Petersburg and he wanted the match with Zaikin for the 500 rubles Zaikin had offered to put up, but then Zaikin started demanding that Zbyszko put up 500 rubles too so now Zbyszko was putting up 500 rubles of his own money to wrestle Zaikin. Zbyszko called for Zaikin to stop being a coward, stop hiding behind challenges from two years ago and to back his own challenge. Zbyszko said after this match was done with he would accept another match with Zaikin for whatever side bet Zaikin wanted. Lebedev and Ya. F. Krynsky (the director of Mikhailovsky Manege) added they would bet an additional 500 rubles on top of the 500 Zbyszko was pledging. All Zaikin had to do was to accept the match for an agreed upon date at Mikhailovsky Manege. Later that day Lebedev announced the same thing in front of the crowd at his show.

On 13 March a delegation from Mikhailovsky Manege came to the New Circus tournament to clarify the terms of the Zaikin/Zbyszko match. Zaikin stated he would only accept the Zbyszko challenge from 9 September 1907 for 15,000 rubles and he wanted Zbyszko to deposit the money and come to New Circus for the match.

The talk then shifted to a match where only Zbyszko would put up 500 rubles and then on 22 March Zaikin announced he was willing to accept Zbysko’s 500 rubles challenge, but the venue was still undecided.

On 23 March “Peterburgski listok” newspaper published a letter by Zbyszko. Zbyszko said back in January Zaikin had challenged him to a match and had offered to give Zbyszko 500 rubles if Zbyszko could defeat him. Zbyszko said he had stated repeatedly that he accepted that challenge and he even demanded the match take place, but Zaikin was refusing and was instead asking Zbyszko to deposit 15,000 rubles, which was a challenge Zbyszko had issued two years prior and was no longer valid. If Zaikin wanted the 15,000 he should have accepted the challenge then, but no one accepted the challenge then so Zbyszko said he considered that 15,000 rubles challenge done. Zbyszko was now offering to put 500 rubles at stake on the condition that he would give Zaikin that money if Zbyszko couldn’t beat Zaikin in 30 minutes, but the match itself should be without a time limit. Zbyszko said if Zaikin didn’t agree to wrestle him this would prove Zaikin was a third-rate wrestler who engaged in false advertising. Zbyszko said, in order for Victor Meyer and Ivan Lebedev’s financial interests to not be hurt (i.e. the promoters of the two tournaments), he was willing to do the match in private too, in the presence of sportsmen and journalists only. Zbyszko once again stated that when he had wrestled Zaikin previously he had beat him in 2 minutes and 14 minutes.

On 24 March Zaikin responded to Zbyszko with a letter of his own. Zaikin said he was glad Zbyszko shamefully refused to put up the 15,000 rubles he was offering back in 1907 and in his eyes this was proof Zbyszko was just throwing out empty challenges. Zaikin confirmed Zbyszko had indeed defeated him three years ago when Zaikin was just starting his career as a wrestler. Zaikin was now accepting Zbyszko’s latest 500 rubles challenge and said he hoped Zbyszko wouldn’t go back on his challenge like he had with the 15,000 rubles one. Zaikin also wanted the referee to be an unbiased referee, not Lebedev or someone associated with Lebedev.

And finally, after all this talk, the match was finally official. Two of the biggest pro wrestling stars in Russia, Zbyszko and Zaikin, were to wrestle on 25 March at Mikhailovsky Manege in a rare showdown between top stars from different troupes. Ticket prices for the match were higher than the usual prices for shows at the venue. The official stipulation was that if Zbyszko couldn’t defeat Zaikin in 30 minutes he would give Zaikin 500 rubles, but the match as a whole was without a time limit and was to continue until there was a winner.

Newspaper advert for Ivan Zaikin vs. Stanislaus Zbyszko (World champion vs. World champion)

The big match, however, ended in scandal and this is what gave it a lot of extra attention and press coverage afterward. Zbyszko and Zaikin wrestled for 30 minutes and the reports describe the match as very passive - they wrestled only in the standing position with a lot of circling around the stage. There were only a handful of holds applied, and both wrestlers were very defensive. It looked as if they were just waiting for the other one to make a mistake so they could capitalize on it. Once the 30 minutes was up Zaikin stopped wrestling and wanted his money for lasting 30 minutes with Zbyszko. The jury for the match was insisting that he continue because the match had to have a winner, but Zaikin refused. Lebedev told him he would get the 500 rubles once the match was over and there was a winner, but Zaikin said he didn’t trust Lebedev and forcefully grabbed the money from the chairman of the jury and began to leave. While he was walking up the aisle on his way out of the building some audience members tried to grab his robe and stop him from leaving, but he got away. Some police officers and officials tried to stop him as well, but they couldn’t either. With Zaikin gone, the jury took a vote and declared Zaikin defeated. The crowd got angry at what had transpired and were demanding refunds. Lebedev sent out another match, Nikita Rasumov vs. Grigori Gaburenko, to appease them, but the crowd wouldn’t settle down. The match was stopped at midnight and it was announced all the tickets for the show were going to be refunded on the next day at the store where they had been sold (Krynsky's bicycle shop). Also, it’s good to point out Poddubny was in attendance for the Zbyszko/Zaikin match.

Russian illustration: a moment from the Ivan Zaikin vs. Stanislaus Zbyszko match

Russian illustration: Ivan Zaikin running away with the 500 rubles

On the next day quite a big crowd gathered at Krynsky's bicycle shop. Krynsky was the director of Mikhailovsky Manege and was involved as a financial backer and promoter for the Zaikin/Zbyszko match. The tickets for the wrestling matches at Mikhailovsky Manege were being sold at his bicycle shop. The crowd turned up to get their promised refunds, however, the shop was closed. The people waited for about two hours and ultimately they went over to the police station to make this a police matter. The police decided to go after Lebedev and Krynsky, as the promoters behind the match, and about 150 plaintiffs signed on the police report. According to one article most people did not put down their signatures as plaintiffs because they thought Zaikin was the one at fault and didn’t see the point in going after Lebedev and Krynsky. Lebedev claimed he had actually turned down all involvement in the promotion of the Zbyszko/Zaikin match, forfeited his percentage of the proceeds and given all his rights to the jury for the match. He claimed the jury, which was to be neutral, was actually composed mainly of representatives from the New Circus tournament. Furthermore, Lebedev claimed Krynsky had actually split the proceeds from the match with representatives from the New Circus tournament (Meyer and others). A couple of days later Meyer denied those claims and said he had not received any money from the Zbyszko/Zaikin match. So, in short, this whole deal was a confusing mess and one article that I saw wondered who would actually return the people’s money since there were so many parties involved. It’s also worth pointing out that night and the next one there were no wrestling matches at Mikhailovsky Manege (the tournament at New Circus continued as scheduled). In fact, there were no bicycle races either - every night there had been races in addition to the wrestling matches - but now Krynsky's shop was closed and his venue was as well.

Meanwhile over at New Circus that same night, 26 March, Zaikin was advertised to wrestle Poddubny (Poddubny won that match). When Zaikin appeared there were whistles and the fans were upset with him. The referee Petr Yaroslavtsev then spoke to the crowd on Zaikin’s behalf. He said Zaikin’s goal had been to expose Zbyszko’s boastfulness and he had done just that when he proved Zbyszko couldn’t defeat him in 30 minutes. In addition to that, Yaroslavtsev claimed Zaikin hadn’t wrestled defensively - he had been just as much the aggressor as Zbyszko had been. The crowd cheered and the hostility toward Zaikin calmed down.

A Zbyszko/Zaikin rematch was then announced for 28 March at Mikhailovsky Manege. The tickets from the previous match were going to be honored and those people didn’t have to buy new tickets as long they first went to Krynsky’s shop to get the tickets transferred. The rematch, however, didn’t take place. Lebedev announced in front of the audience that the previous night Zaikin had informed them of his conditions for the match and because of those conditions the match couldn’t take place. The crowd demanded a more detailed explanation and Lebedev wasn’t willing to give one, but the policemen in attendance made him explain and Lebedev explained that Zaikin had asked for 2,000 rubles to do the match. Instead of Zaikin, Zbyszko ended up wrestling Hans Schwarz that night. Because of the whole Zbyszko/Zaikin fiasco the mayor of St. Petersburg issued an order that Ledebev's tournament at Mikhailovsky Manege tournament could not continue and the tournament never finished.

On the same night when Zaikin was advertised for the rematch with Zbyszko, Zaikin wrestled at New Circus. He had been advertised to face Zbyszko at Manege, but he had also been advertised to wrestle at New Circus. When he came out for his match the audience reacted with a large applause because they didn't expect to see him - they thought he was going to be at the other venue to wrestle Zbyszko. It was then announced to the crowd that Lebedev had never asked New Circus whether Zaikin would be allowed to wrestle Zbyszko again that night at Manege, but yet Lebedev still went ahead and advertised him for a rematch with Zbyszko, and because of this the management of New Circus had not allowed Zaikin to wrestle at Manege.

And that's where the Zbyszko/Zaikin story ended. On 22 March a third tournament had started in St. Petersburg, promoted by Baron Mikhail Kister at Circus Ciniselli, and Lebedev moved his troupe over to that tournament, which ended up becoming one of the most important tournaments in Russian pro wrestling history, because it kicked off the masked wrestler craze in Russia. Zbyszko was part of that tournament up until 30 March when he had to leave town, reportedly due to a personal matter. The New Circus tournament ended on 2 April, with Zaikin as the winner. And then on 3 and 4 April Zaikin and others from his troupe wrestled at... Mikhailovsky Manege. The matches were promoted by Krynsky.

So, was the big Zbyszko/Zaikin match a shoot or a work? On paper the descriptions of the match itself make it sound like a shoot and certainly that's how it was presented to the audience, but given how connected all of the people involved with it seem to have been, it could very well have been a work where they were trying to get a big payday out of it while keeping both wrestlers undefeated.

And now here's where things get very interesting and where we get the answer to the question posed above. In his 1913 book "How wrestlers deceive the public" Petr Yaroslavtsev, who was part of the Poddubny/Zaikin troupe for a few years as promoter and referee, flat out states that Zbyszko and Zaikin were working together. In the book there's a copy of, supposedly, a contract between Zbyszko and Zaikin as well as a copy of a contract between Zbyszko, Zaikin and Krynsky agreeing to split the gate, which Yaroslavtsev says reached 5,000 rubles. According to the contract the agreement was for Zaikin and Zbyszko to wrestle for 30 minutes without a winner. Another point of the plan mentioned in the contract was for Zbyszko not to demand the continuation of the match beyond the 30 minutes (and based on this wording it seems like Zbyszko didn't uphold that part of the deal). The promoter of the match Krynsky was to give 2/3 of the gate proceeds to Meyer, who based on the condition that everything in the match had went as planned, was to give half of that money to Zaikin and the other half to Zbyszko. If Zbyszko didn't deliver on his end of the deal Zaikin was the get the whole sum, and vice versa.