Catch Wrestling Round Two

Take another trip back to the raucous early days of pro wrestling as Mark Hewitt brings you even more blow-by-blow accounts of dozens of the most famous and infamous mat battles of the day, as well as the backstage stories of the colorful characters who crisscrossed the country from the 1880s to the 1960s in search of fame, glory and cold, hard cash.

From all-comers matches to high-profile card events, from dirt lots and carnivals to packed arenas, from country boys to skilled scientific wrestlers, the fighting lore is packed in here tighter than a Strangler Lewis headlock. Filled with extremely rare photos culled from the libraries of fight fans and historians and the family scrapbooks of the wrestlers themselves, Catch Wrestling: Round Two offers up such gems as:

• The most notorious double-cross in wrestling history
• London's legendary Alhambra Tournament of 1908
• Japanese sensation Matsada Sorakichi's U.S. debut
• Wrestler vs. boxer mixed matches
• Celebrity referees, celebrity wrestlers and the French Angel
• The Gracie brothers and the fight scene in 1930s Rio de Janeiro

Read the true stories of Tigerman Pesek, Midget Fischer, Earl Caddock, Billy Wicks, Lou Thesz, and all the other grapplers who paid for their place in sports history with blood, sweat and pain.