The war for New York City Wrestling
by Juan Nunez
3rd version of Madison Square Garden 1925-1968
When you associate a city with WWE, most likely, it’s going to be New York City. Madison Square Garden was the first Wrestlemania site. The New York City-Northern New Jersey-Long Island area has hosted the most major WWE PPVs to date. We measure the greatness of hall of fame names like Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, and Bob Backlund by their MSG sell outs. Look up the earliest history of WWE on Wikipedia. You’ll probably come to the conclusion that New York wrestling was built by the McMahon family. The reality is far more complicated than that. It involves big drawing stars in wrestling history, some of the most powerful promoters in wrestling history, and multiple notorious double-crosses.
Jim Londos defending his title at MSG
It’s hard to imagine today that there was a time when big-time professional wrestling in the big apple didn’t exist for over a decade. Yet, between 1938 and 1949, Madison Square Garden didn’t run a wrestling card. The start of the 1930s was an important time for professional wrestling in New York City. It was arguably the center of the wrestling world. The New York Athletic commission controlled arguably the most credible regional variants of the World heavyweight title.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Athletic_Commission_World_Heavyweight_Championship). Wrestling promoter Jack Curley was their partner in ruling New York City wrestling. He booked the top names and championship matches at the 3rd version of Madison Square Garden. Champion Jim Londos drew 15,000 to 22,000 fans for his biggest matches at MSG. Unfortunately, as the decade rolled on, New York lost its shine. Cards that didn’t feature Londos defending the World Title didn’t draw well. For example, a May 11, 1931, MSG card that only drew a reported 7,000 fans, headlined by a Dick Shikat Vs. Sandor Szabo draw. The territory didn’t do a good enough job of creating other stars. Jack Curley and Jim Londos had a falling out in 1932 that made the Commission strip Londos of their World Title. Other competing World Titles gained more credibility. By the mid-1930s, New York City wrestling was struggling to draw big crowds. The beginning of the end came on March 2, 1936. Rival promoter Jack Pfefer paid challenger Dick Shikat to shoot-away the World title from champion Danno O’Mahoney right in the middle of MSG. Jack Curley originally solidified his spot as the wrestling Kingpin of New York by paying challenger Stanislaus Zbyszko to shoot-away the World Title from champion Wayne Munn.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heavyweight_Wrestling_Championship_(original_version)) back in 1925. Things got so bad that September 29, 1936, and November 18, 1936, drew just 2,500 fans each. Jack Curley passed away on July 12, 1937, from a heart attack. The last Madison Square Garden wrestling card of the era drew 6,000 fans on March 30, 1938.
The 1940s was a big decade for professional wrestling. While World War 2 hurt shoot-sports such as boxing, the worked results of Pro Wrestling allowed it to remain strong in many parts of the country. In particular, the middle of the country was booming, with cities like St. Louis and Kansas City regularly hosting cards that drew over 10,000 fans. For its part, New York City hosted only small and medium cards during this period. During this era, some notable New York City buildings included The Broadway Arena, a 4,000 seat building in Brooklyn that was demolished in 1951. The Ridgewood Grove Arena, a 5,000 seat building on the border between Brooklyn and Queens that was converted into a set of stores in the early 1950s. St. Nicholas Arena, a converted Ice Rink on Manhattan’s west side, served as a boxing and wrestling arena for several decades before being converted into a TV studio for ABC.
Toots Mondt in his wrestling days
If you study the history of professional wrestling in the first half of the 20th century, then there is a name that will come up repeatedly: Joseph “Toots” Mondt. WWE? Toots owned half the company for over a decade. NWA? Toots wasn’t a founding member, but he attended the 1949 St Louis convention without being an official member. The Great Depression-era? Toots was a wrestler and behind the scenes influencer in various cities. Over the years, he was linked to everyone, from Stu Hart to Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Toots Mondt got his start in wrestling via vaudeville, where he developed a good sense for working a crowd. He became a regular challenger for world champion Ed Strangler Lewis in the late 1920s. He was a part of The Gold Dust Trio, the creators of the professional wrestling style we know today, originally called “Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling.” The Gold Dust Trio also included World Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Lewis’ manager Billy Sandow. In 1932, Toots Mondt was convicted and later acquitted of Criminal negligence in the death via automobile accident of a woman named Theresa Luccioni. Allegedly, Toots tried to bribe a police officer at the scene of the crime. Toots Mondt was probably the kind of man that had to clarify that he was a legitimate businessman at least once or twice in his life.
The world was changing quickly in the late 1940s. Television was the hot new technology that was changing the world. Promoter Fred Kohler from Chicago did the first Wrestling TV broadcasts starting locally in the Chicago area in July 1946. In 1949, Fred Kohler’s “Wrestling from Marigold” became the first nationally televised wrestling show on the DuMont TV network. Promoters across the country quickly took notice. Some feared that fans would stop coming to the arena if they could watch wrestling at home, and some saw television’s power to create big stars. Promoter Bill Johnston from New York City saw the glass half full. The Johnstons were an influential family made up of multiple boxing and wrestling promoters, and Bill had plenty of promoting experience. He too jumped on television early on by promoting local TV wrestling shows from St. Nicholas Arena in late 1946. Another major revolution happening in wrestling was a trend towards unifying the sport. Attempts had been made many times before, always with disastrous endings that sparked intense feuds, but times were changing. Many of the old-guard of Wrestling promoters that controlled the sport for decades were retiring or dying. The modern National Wrestling Alliance was formed on July 18, 1948. Bill saw the writing on the wall: television, influential promoters looking for alliances, and the untapped potential of Madison Square Garden and the New York City Media market right in his backyard. The time was right to make a move. November 23, 1948, Bill Johnston announced a partnership with Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Montreal, and Los Angeles to form a circuit for top wrestlers. January 19, 1949, Bill Johnston announced that he had leased the right to run wrestling in Madison Square Garden. Toots was there.
The first wrestling show back at Madison Square Garden was on February 22, 1949. The main event was the legendary Gorgeous George, at the peak of his popularity, defeating veteran of New York City wrestling Ernie Dusek. The card drew 4,197 fans and a disappointing $13,957 gate due to a strategy of trying to pack the arena with a relatively aggressive ticket pricing scheme. Some cards promoted by Jack Curley 20 years earlier drew gates over $40,000.00. Clearly, this wouldn’t do. Toots and Johnston knew that in order to promote wrestling at the scale of Madison Square Garden, they needed a star. It was not just someone that was a big name elsewhere, but someone they could make big in New York. Lucky for them, a new fresh face was making waves in the wrestling world.
Antonino Rocca was born in Treviso, Venice, Italy, sometime in the 1920s. The exact details of his early life are a bit of a mystery due to conflicting reports. In his teenage years, he moved from Italy to Argentina. He was a gifted multi-sport athlete in his youth. Rocca broke into the business via Kola Kwariani. Kola was a Georgian journeyman wrestler who also worked under the name Karl Zbyszko in various American territories and who promoted wrestling in South America. After several years working in Argentina, Antonino “Argentina” Rocca made his USA debut in Galveston, Texas, on July 29, 1948, with Kola as his manager. He gained experience in the East Texas area before Fred Kohler put him in his Chicago TV Wrestling broadcast on April 29, 1949. Rocca was an instant success. He was an electrifying showman and an outstanding athlete with an exciting moveset for his era that featured dropkicks, head scissors, monkey flips, cartwheels, and more. Johnston and Toots took notice. Rocca would be perfect as a potential local hero for Italian and Latin American fans in New York City.
The second Madison Square Garden wrestling card of 1949 waited until the very end of the year. It was December 12, 1949, headlined by Antonino Rocca Vs. Gene Stanlee. “Mr. America” Gene Stanlee was a bodybuilder-like wrestler with movie star looks. He was never a long term top star in any area, but Stanlee was an effective and popular journeyman at the peak of his career. The match drew 17,854 fans and a gate of $50,639.28. The biggest crowd and gate for wrestling at MSG since the days of champion Jim Londos. New York City wrestling found its star.
Bill Johnston, real name William F. Johnston, passed away on May 14, 1950. The day before a Madison Square Garden card drew 14,246 fans and a gate of $42,311. The card was headlined by Primo Carnera Vs. Gene Stanlee. Carnera was an Italian professional boxer, actor, and professional wrestler. He won the National Boxing Heavyweight title(modern-day WBA heavyweight title) on June 29, 1933, with alledged help from the Irish mob. He was someone New Yorkers were familiar with for decades. By the early ‘1950s, Carnera was the second most popular New York City wrestler of Rocca’s era. Primo Carnera was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2019.
After that, New York City wrestling entered a recession. Toots formed the Manhattan Booking Agency in October 1950 and joined the NWA. The Manhattan Booking Agency controlled MSG, St Nicholas Arena in Manhattan, Philadelphia Arena, Hershey Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Baltimore, and a few other smaller towns. Think of it as a prototype WWWF. Under Toots, there wouldn’t be another MSG wrestling card for a couple of years. Toots was crafty and smart about some aspects of promoting, but he wasn’t a good matchmaker or long term booker. The periods of success he had in his career always had another long time promoter by his side. After Johnston’s passing, wrestling veteran Milo Steinborn served as Toot’s matchmaker between 1950-early 1952. The next MSG card that took place January 14, 1952 with NWA Champion Lou Thesz, and the main event of Rocca Vs Carnera drew 9,000 fan and a gate of $26,901.82. It was a disappointing number considering the star power. That same month Toots Mondt sold the Manhanttan Booking Office to upstate New York promoter Pedro Martinez for $100,000.
To be continued…