DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: History of pro wrestling at MSG in 1877
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, we travel back in time to the pioneer era of wrestling — 1877 — to see the first actual non-tournament pro wrestling cards at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
At this point, MSG was still known as Gilmore’s Garden but these shows were drawing sizable crowds for the day. James Owens, Charles Murphy, William Miller and Prof. Thiebaud Bauer all competed there. There was even a championship belt at stake.
Here’s more on the history of pro wrestling in 1877.
Karl Stern is a pro wrestling historian specializing in the 1980s and pioneer era (pre-1900) of pro wrestling. He is an author who has written several books on wrestling and independently runs the When It Was Cool retro pop culture website.