#vintage wrestling

Though it is tiny (and regrettably I have been unable to locate a larger copy), this photograph is well worthy of inclusion, as it depicts a pair who proved exceedingly popular the first time they featured here! Once again they do an admirable job of holding their pose, neccessary stillness without losing the muscular tension and strength applied.

Two muscular men strike a powerful and physically demanding pose for the camera of Lous Jean-Baptiste Igout, c1870. We have seen this pair before, in a similar scene.

As my previous picture of Victorian wrestlers proved exceptionally popular, I thought you may like another, this donated by Alan. Poses wold have been held still to capture artificial action, when cameras could not use the fractions-of-a-second exposures we take for granted in sporting scenes today - at least with his fingers and toes against the ground, his partner is not having to support too much weight without moving and blurring the photograph!

As past images of vintage wrestlers and the work of Eadweard Muybridge have proved popular when posted here, I now present a sequence combining the well-received subject and much-lauded photographer. Taken in 1885, published in 1887.

I readily admit I know next to nothing about wrestling and cannot even tell which of these two 19th century gents would be getting the upper hand at this point in their extraordinary pose, but wrestling photographs always go down rather well on here (and besides I like the prominent presence of sock garters!)

Belagov Leg Defense Techniques. 1990

DJ Coyote McCloud with Wrestlemania II’s special celebrity timekeeper, Clara Peller (aka the “Where’s the Beef?” lady)