WRESTLING EVOLUTION

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 110, 11 May 1935, Page 23

WRESTLING EVOLUTION

SONNENBERG ANSWERED

Some space was devoted last week to a discussion on the evolution of wrestling from the style of a decade or so ago down to the acrobatic feats which are today served up, and even demanded, in its place.' Mention was made of the names of Ike.Robin and Billy Edwards as typical examples of exponents of the old and the new respectively, with some recent utterances on the part of the ex-champion, Gus Sonnenberg, who commented that "wrestlers just about had to kill one another to satisfy the public." Of course Sonnenberg was expressing his sentiments in figurative language but the remark serves to illustrate the general acceptance by "the trade" of the constant and persistent demands for more real wrestling thrills. BLOOD NOT WANTED. It would be well, however, to examine the case a little more clpsely. The patrons of the game may quite candidly and truthfully observe, by way of reply to Sonnenberg and his fraternity, that they, .do not.want any

massacres. Nor do they even want blood. Admitting that halls are not now being packed to the doors and that there has set in a decided relapse in box office returns, one may be excused for telling "the trade" that they are all wrong when they suggest that patrons want slaughter, or anything of the kind. New Zealand ticket buyers certainly do not want that. What they want is just honest competitive wrestling.

For some years now the followers of the game in America have been loud in their complaints. They, like New Zealanders, do not want to see the ambulances waiting outside. There are thrills enough in the modern style to satisfy anybody. The complaint is, to use an Americanism, that there is too much "boloney" in the game.

COMPETITION WANTED. When Harry Mamos was asked in Auckland why he did not take a fall over his prostrate opponent, Sonnenberg, on the occasion of the .notorious "no contest" bout, he very modestly declined to give an explanation. The public drew their own . conclusions The wrestlers were under the control and direction of Dan Koloff, one of their own number who, incidentally may be credited with being,the best wrestler ever to visit these shores. No, it is not the actual wrestling that is at. fault.' Houses would fill again once the public were given some evidence of competition and rivalry Visiting wrestlers wonder why George Walker draws the crowd. The answer is at the root of the matter under discussion.' Walker wrestles "to win every time, and the public go to see his matches. It is a commentary on Sonnenberg's statement, referred to above. Walker is not a man killer. He is not even an exponent of the hot modernity. What has the American spokesman to say about that? It was,asked in this column last week if there was a "cycle" and if it was due to a turn in that mystic evolution that interest in the game had fallen so noticeably. Many will find the real reason revealed in these discussions. - TROUBLE ELSEWHERE. 1A writer in an American exchange, in referring to similar complaints, gives the example of a match between Joe Malcewics and "Man Mountain" Dean in a Californian Stadium. Malcewics is a brilliant wrestler of considerable fame and Dean is, as his name indicates, a huge matman who relies on his tonnage to aid his ringcraft. It was clearly not a competition in science though possibly in "tactics. We may pass over the antics. "White with indignation," the statement reads, "a prominent attorney rushed the press table and demanded to know .'What are the papers going to do about.it? You fellows are not going to let them get away with it are you?' Up in the gallery the "four-bit" customers hollered until [ the rafters rattled!" More perhaps in sorrow than in* anger the contributor closes his narration by observing "It is these faithful souls who suffer most when their heroes, doing their best to follow an ill-composed script, commit a sour performance such as the one the other night." 111-composed script is right!