Lou Thesz

**Aloysius Martin Thesz** (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002), better known as **Lou Thesz**, was an American professional wrestler and six time World Heavyweight Champion. He is widely considered by his peers and experts alike to be one of the most influential and greatest wrestlers in the history of professional wrestling.

He is the only man to have wrestled in seven different decades (1930s-1990s). He is also credited with inventing popular professional wrestling moves such as the Lou Thesz press, STF and the original powerbomb.

## Professional wrestling career

Born in Banat, Michigan, Thesz moved to St. Louis when he was a young boy. His emigrant parents hailed from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. He trained in amateur wrestling as a teenager with legendary shooter Ad Santel and made his professional wrestling debut in 1932 at the age of 16. He soon met Ed Lewis, the biggest wrestling star of the 1920s, who taught a young Thesz the art of hooking (the ability to stretch your opponent with painful holds).

The two would form a lasting friendship. By 1937, Thesz had become one of the biggest stars in the St. Louis territory, and on December 29 he defeated Everett Marshall for the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title, the first of many World Heavyweight Championships.

By winning the title, Thesz became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history, at the age of 21. A record which stands to this day. Thesz dropped the title to Steve "Crusher" Casey in Boston six weeks later. He would win the Title again in 1939, once again defeating Marshall, and again in 1948, defeating Bill Longson.

In 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance was formed, the purpose being to create one World Champion for all the various territories throughout North America. Orville Brown, the reigning Midwest World Title holder, was named the first champion. He was scheduled to face Thesz, who held the National Wrestling Association's World Title, in a unification match.

Unfortunately, just weeks before the bout, Brown was involved in an automobile accident that ended his career. He was forced to vacate the championship and the NWA awarded the title to the #1 contender, Thesz. Thesz was chosen for his skill as a hooker to prevent double crosses by would-be shooters who would deviate from the planned finish for personal glory.

Between 1949 to 1956, Thesz set out to unify all the existing World Titles into the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In 1956 he defeated Baron Michel Leone in Los Angeles for the California World Heavyweight title and became the first undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion since the days of Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt.

During the 1940s and 1950s, it was not uncommon for Thesz to put on 250 exhibitions a year. Thesz finally dropped the Title to "Whipper" Billy Watson in 1956, and took several months off to recuperate from an ankle injury. He regained the title from him seven months later.

In 1957, Thesz became the first wrestler to defend the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in Japan, wrestling Rikidozan, the father of professional wrestling in Japan, in a series of 60 minute draws. Their bouts popularized pro wrestling in Japan, gaining the sport mainstream acceptance.

Realizing he could make more money in Japan, Thesz petitioned to the NWA promoters to regularly defend the belt in the land of the rising sun. His request was turned down, and Thesz asked to drop the title to his own hand picked champion, Dick Hutton, rather than Thesz's real-life rival and the more popular choice, Buddy Rogers. Thesz then embarked on a tour of Europe and Japan, billing himself as the International Champion (a title still recognized as part of All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown).

In 1963, Thesz came out of semi-retirement to win his sixth World Heavyweight Championship from Buddy Rogers at the age of 46. Legend has it that Rogers did not want to drop the title to Thesz, and Thesz told him, "we could do this the easy way or the hard way" . He would hold the Title until 1966, when at the age of 50, he lost it to Gene Kiniski.

Thesz wrestled on a part-time basis over the next 13+ years, winning his last major Title in 1978, in Mexico, by becoming the inaugural Universal Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Champion at the age of 62.

He dropped that title to El Canek in 1979. He officially retired in 1979, after a match with Luke Graham. He stayed retired for the most part. He wrestled his last match in 1990 in Japan at the age of 74. His opponent was his protege, Masahiro Chono. During the match, Thesz suffered a dislocation of his artificial hip, which forced him to retire for good.

After retiring, Thesz became a promoter, trainer and occasionally, a referee for important matches. Some famous matches he refereed include:

* Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami at Tokyo Gym, 09/19/85
* Big Van Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto in the IWGP Championship Tournament Finals at Tokyo Dome, 4/24/89,
* Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada in the UWFi Championship Tournament Finals at Meiji Jingu Stadium, 8/19/94
* Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Heavyweight Championship, 9/17/81

Thesz became the president of the Cauliflower Alley Club in 1992, an organization for retired pro wrestlers, a position he held until 2000. He became a trainer for the Union of Wrestling Force International, and lent the promotion one of his old NWA Title belts, which they recognized as their own World Title.

He opened the Professional Wrestling Institute in Newton, Iowa, a Hall of Fame of sorts for professional wrestling stars with a successful amateur background, where he's also an inductee.

Thesz wrote an autobiography, *Hooker*, considered to be one of the best books written on the subject of professional wrestling (privately published, the book is currently out-of-print).

He was also recognized, by a ceremony at WWF PPV named *Badd Blood*, in 1997, as being the youngest and oldest World Heavyweight Champion at ages 21 and 50 (Vince McMahon would later win the WWF Championship on September 14, 1999 at the age of 54).

## Death

Thesz died on April 28, 2002 in Orlando at the age of 86 of complications from heart surgery.