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Ed "Strangler" Lewis laid the groundwork for what would become professional
wrestling. Born almost 100 years before the Rock-n-Wrestling Era on June
30th, 1890 in Port Edwards Wisconsin, the young Robert H. Freidrich was
a natural athlete. He took the name Ed Lewis, as his parents did not approve
of his wrestling, and began working in carnivals as early as 1904 at the
age of 14. Lewis went on to have memorable confrontations with Stanislaus
Zbyszko, Orville Brown, Joe Stetcher, Jim Londos, Jack Leon, Charlie Cutler,
Rudy and Ernie Dusek, and United States Champion Tom Jenkins.
After leaving the ring, Lewis began training the next generation and became the manager for the man who would one day become a legend in his own right, Lou Thesz. He also appeared in two films before passing away at the age of 76. If you ask any wrestling historian who the great "Strangler" was, you will, no doubt, hear the name of the great Ed Lewis, now a member of the UWOW Hall of Fame. |
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In 1916, Ed Lewis set a world record for the longest wrestling match with
a five hour, time limit draw against Joe Stetcher and was soon nicknamed
the Strangler. Ed Lewis would be an antagonist in the press for boxing
legend Jack Dempsey, but Dempsey refused to face Lewis feeling he couldn't
win. Lewis became NWA World Heavyweight Champion and went on to become
the most noted submission wrestler in the history of the sport. He began
to withdraw from wrestling in 1937, disapproving of the new direction wrestling
had taken. Lewis won his farewell match, finally in 1947. Lewis wrestled
over 6,000 matches and only lost 33, giving him one of the most impressive
won-loss records in wrestling history.