“I am a wrestler. Not a wrassler, not a clown. A wrestler.”
Lou Thesz once spoke these words, and they truly speak to the type of competitor that Lou Thesz was. While Buddy Rogers was bleaching his hair blond and Gorgeous George was prancing around the ring, Lou Thesz made his career on wrestling hard fought matches with legitimate skills and ability. Lou Thesz brought a real athletic aspect to professional wrestling, and helped to legitimize the sport. However, it wasn’t just his natural wrestling ability that helped to make him a legend. Lou Thesz blazed professional wrestling trails with everything he did, accomplishing more in his seven-decade career than any professional wrestler can ever even dream to.
Thesz was a first generation American whose parents came to America from the Austo-Hungarian Empire. Thesz learned Greco-Roman style wrestling from his father, freestyle wrestling in high school, and trained in amateur wrestling with Ad Santel, a Judo master from Japan. Thesz clearly loved the combat arts, and he began wrestling professionally at sixteen. It wasn’t long before he met Ed “The Strangler” Lewis and was taken in as his protégé. Thesz quickly became the most popular wrestler in the St. Louis territory, and he won his first NWA Title at 21 years of age. He held the title for six weeks before dropping it, but would win it back in two years later, and then again in 1947 and 1948.
However, in 1948 the NWA decided to create one heavyweight title that would span all the regions in North America. Lou Thesz was chosen to be in a title unification match between himself and Orville Brown, the Midwest World Champion. Unfortunately, that match never took place as Brown was in a car accident that would end his career a few weeks before the fight was scheduled to take place. As a result, Thesz was granted the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Thesz was chosen to be the face of the NWA for many reasons. He was insanely popular in the St. Louis territory, and promoters knew that he would be a success anywhere he wrestled. Additionally, Thesz wrestled at a time when wrestlers would be out for themselves and were willing to forego the scripted outcome and try to win for themselves. Thesz’s training in the various styles of wrestling and hooking (using painful submissions to wear down the opponent, a skill taught to him by Ed Lewis) would help him prevent these renegades from achieving their goal.
Thesz would go around the country unifying his NWA World Championship with the World Championships of the other regions. He completed this goal in 1952 by defeating Baron Michele Leone for the California World Heavyweight Championship. Thesz would drop the title to Whipper Billy Watson in 1956, but won it back later that year after taking time off to heal an ankle injury.
Lou Thesz’s next accomplishment may be bigger than any other professional wrestler can claim; he popularized professional wrestling to Japan. Yes, the group of islands that is now famous for their culture surrounding professional wrestling did not appreciate the art of professional wrestling until they were treated to a series of matches between Lou Thesz and Rikidōzan. Thesz loved wrestling in Japan and wanted to stay there, but the NWA would not allow it. They insisted that Thesz drop the title to an opponent of his choosing, and Thesz chose Dick Hutton. From there, Thesz toured Japan and Europe as the self-proclaimed NWA International Champion.
Thesz went into semi-retirement for a while, but came out of it to beat real life rival Buddy Rogers for the his sixth world title in 1963 at the age of 46. Rogers was considering not doing the job for Thesz, but Thesz talked him into it by threatening to use his legitimate fighting abilities to force Rogers into losing the match. Thesz held the title for another three-year period until he was defeated by Gene Kiniski.
Thesz would wrestle sporadically until 1990 when he was 74 years old. He is the only male wrestler to wrestle matches in seven consecutive decades.
Thesz not only popularized the concept of a World Champion and technical wrestling, but he was also a brilliant wrestling mind. He created many of the moves that superstars use as their bread and butter today, including various suplex variations and the famous Thesz Press. Additionally, Thesz innovated the powerbomb and the STF, two moves that the wrestlers of today use as finishing moves.
Lou Thesz is truly the greatest pioneer of the wrestling business. He was the first Undisputed World Champion and he earned it through dedication the profession and hard work. He entertained fans from St. Louis to Toronto to London to Tokyo. Along with his wrestling ability, he brought his unconditional love for the sport everywhere he went. Unlike some stars that live for the spotlight, Lou Thesz lived for the grappling.
Lou Thesz died in 2002 at the ripe old age of 86 after suffering complications from a triple-bypass surgery and aortic valve replacement. The man may have died, but the legend of Lou Thesz will forever live on. Unlike some of his peers that used gimmicks or gags to stand out, Lou Thesz will always be remembered for his ability to climb between the ropes and wrestle like there’s no tomorrow.
To quote Thesz one more time.
"The reality, or substance, of professional wrestling is the ability to perpetuate a fantasy. I never distinguished between fantasy and reality. I made my fantasy reality for over 60 years."
Did you know?
Lou Thesz wrestled up to 250 events per year. Thesz estimates he wrestled around 6,000 matches, and travelled over 16 million miles.
From 1948 to 1955 Lou Thesz won 936 matches consecutively.
He was a member of the WCW Hall of Fame, but not the WWE Hall of Fame.
Thesz was allegedly involved in a large controversy that led to the creation of the WWWF. He defeated Buddy Rogers in a one-fall bout for the NWA Championship, but normally you had to win a two-out-of-three-falls match to win the belt. A group of promoters refused to acknowledge the title change, and they formed the WWWF and made Rogers their first champion. Thesz himself denies this, and claims that the match with Rogers never even happened.