The Tragic Story of Wrestling's First Great Foreign Heel

[@eeeeewewew]

This content is incredible. The way you list the source and give a context for the time are just a level above.

[@Jupiter-ly7mt]

I'd love to see more stories from the pioneer era of wrestling.

[@bwalyamumba-stormheart1633]

Moved beyond all expectations by this story and the wonderful way it was told. Phenomenal work, Kim.

[@faenethlorhalien]

Wrestlers back in the day had no definition because they'd not pump themselves full of steroids. That's what a strong man should look like. THAT'S PEAK STRONG NATURAL.

[@stevesleg]

Facts

[@allydrawsthings]

give me men jacked up on steroids and blow any day

[@dildonius]

Nah. Compare pictures of Georg Hackenschmidt & Frank Gotch to the picture of this guy. Night and day.

[@midnightpiledriver]

Tell that to George Hackenschmidt..

[@dylanpiazza6358]

Strongmen come in all flavors, eddie hall, brian shaw, tom stoltman, mateusz.. but yeah more fst than a bodybuilder goes a long way to being powerful and takes less oxygen to maintain work capacity such as a long match. Honestly the 50s 60s 70s guys is probably ideal for heavyweight wrestlers unless youre a freak like vader or early steiners

[@rd6931]

Your channel is high quality, you speak well, your voice is not annoying or lame, you don't interrupt the video to show your face up-close, no non-sense top 10 this top 20 that. Just excellent information about wrestling and it looks like you've done true research for the videos!

[@ultra_marcus]

A sad story, beautifully told. Thank You Kim.

[@battroman8965]

Always awesome Kim your videos are just so perfectly put to gether . Thank you for the amount of effort you put in

[@benziboy3608]

Brilliant documentrys this channel is gonna be big. What I love about your channels is you don't get click and subscribe every 2 minutes nothing more tacky and off putting then that most should take note, keep up the great work

[@readeroftruths9113]

Glad your back your videos are awesome

[@MatheusB.SdeFreitas-sn3pj]

Great video i love your wrestling analysis, RIP Yosuf ☪

[@leaderofnoone9087]

One of the thing I hate most about wrestling, and it's a little bit better nowadays. Is when someone dies for in real life, turn it into a storyline, or this act in storyline always annoyed me.

[@iwata33]

I really like it when you use the full opening title card at the start of your docs

[@facts2676]

Thanks for bringing this story, I didn't know wrestling was so old

[@lucaschapel7197]

Another phenomenal video from this channel. Well done! :)

[@ertuncdelikaya8237]

I've been subscribed to your main channel for years. As a Turkish man, I'm pleasantly surprised that you covered Yusuf İsmail's life story. The video is perfect except for two minor incorrect pronunciations. haha (The Turkish S is pronounced like the English S, not as a SH sound, and the Turkish C is pronounced like the English J, not like a K. 35:33)

[@borakaraca9788]

actualy yusuf had a great impact on that era wrestling they started the path to american pro wrestling history then nwa, wwwf and todays wwe

[@grawakendream8980]

as i understand the lewis match, the strangle hold was allowed by yusuf didn't release it when the ref call it, so he lost on a foul. that was considered the money match. yusuf agreed to wrestle again, with betting off, and ate lewis up in two straight falls, taking the match in straight falls. but the betting was paid out to lewis based on first match. if you go to the day after the accounts you get a more mundane & accurate picture imo

[@JamesR1986]

Fantastic content. I had to Google Evan "Strangler" Lewis, because at first I was thinking I was mishearing you say Ed "Strangler" Lewis. Nope! apparently, (allegedly), they are two different people..😆

[@medes5597]

Didn't Eds nickname come from Evans? Supposedly he reminded someone of Evan and with the last name Lewis, it seemed natural to give him the name.

[@grawakendream8980]

​@@medes5597 yea probably

[@grawakendream8980]

they're definitely two different people, both from wisconsin, about a generation apart

[@crooker23]

Wonder why the turk won so much and so dominantly, was there a plan for him to return down the line? Did he really just beat everyone and leave?

[@metinotje]

Yes. And they killed him on the boat on his way back to Turkey.

[@vcom741]

I mean, ultimately even if Ishmael never returned, you could kayfabe any young Turkish dood to say: he is his student, and surpassed his master. Bam, beating that guy is as good as beating Ishmael

[@Future-w8h]

​@@metinotje who killed him? The ship carrying him and numerous other people sank.

[@grawakendream8980]

@@vcom741 that's what they did, for half a generation legions of terrible turks were promoted

[@grawakendream8980]

he said he planned to return to america in the winter

[@jimsonphoneymeister]

Well done, an interesting story

[@RemoWilliams1227]

Subbed, different, informative, lovely.

[@Youaresmall666]

Fantastic video

[@hrynyszyn]

Great video! How do you get the hardcam view of Fire Pro instead of the iso cam?

[@borakaraca9788]

he is still very popular in turkey almost everybody know him at least heard of his name

[@GokTurkBey]

Hacım bırak adamın bir filmini bile yapamadık daha

[@brucelee1082]

​@@GokTurkBey Avrupalılar bizden daha fazla tanıyor adamı, bu utanc bize yeter

[@grawakendream8980]

he came out of yagli gures so you know he is a real wrestler

[@jasoncorr4619]

Brilliant channel mate! You have a new subscriber in me

[@tokusatsunerd]

So, how's that World Japan video coming along?

[@jayharvey7043]

He's in the Book of Lists, that's how I first heard of him.

[@jjenk911]

I guess you can say that he worked himself into a shoot whilst drowning. What an interesting man.

[@WallyTony]

I fell asleep watching this. I hope everything turned out well for the dude.

[@grawakendream8980]

brady said yusuf made $1500 a month working for brady. but that's according to brady. i tend to believe it but who knows. brady reports the $25 a week from pierre you mentioned

[@trentparker3701]

Can you do a video on the 4 pillars of heaven

[@PJohnson223]

Oh, dear God, you're doing 1890s wrestling... I fuckin love you! Please do the original World Heavyweight [Collar & Elbow] Champion: Col. James H. McLaughlin. If you can go back as far as Milo of Croton, that'd be awesome too, but I mean, I know that'd probably only be like a 3 min video lol. Homer Lane, John McMahon (not related lol), William Muldoon, Thiebaud Bauer, Tom Cannon, William Miller, Evan "Strangler" Lewis. Sorry, got carried away, but I don't really know where to look to learn this stuff, and I've been looking this stuff up for years... I was very impressed with your Vader in AJPW video, man, but I was at work and got distracted before I could subscribe... Thank you, and please keep up the good work!

[@grawakendream8980]

how did you learn about all those names, like homer lane

[@mattjames6349]

Evan 'strangler' lewis? now that's a name! :)

[@Dexter037S4]

Woo reuploads!

[@CadChamberlain]

Yusuf Ismail the flyest man of all time

[@CruiserzProductions]

I love you kim

[@bobsucks9647]

Such a dope channel! Bound to catch on big soon

[@JackgarPrime]

Poor guy got exploited even after his tragic death.

[@faenethlorhalien]

Ah, yes, casual racism, the foreign heel. Because all the problems of society come from outside, instead of inside [insert nation name].

[@Toracube]

Some do…

[@thejmc4074]

I bet you’re real fun to hang out with.

[@Dexter037S4]

This is not the gotcha you think it is and I say that as a leftist

[@borakaraca9788]

as a turkish I think it is ok to do this as roleplay you can create a persona

[@albalog2449]

​@@borakaraca9788 Agreed as a Hungarian. In my case, I created a villain wrestling character called "Scourge" as a kid in the mid 1990s, but I decided to not peruse wrestling after WCW closed. The persona is basically a direct descendant of Attila The Hun. He'd be big into heavy metal music, horror movies, & voodoo/witchcraft in his creepy yurt, while having a grunge aesthetic mixed with a Turkic/Uralic vibe. He'd be a strong bully taking pleasure in other's pain, but at the same time very witty, theatrical, and sometimes silly. The type where casual fans would boo Scourge, but the rebellious fans (edgy teens, metalheads, goths, etc.) would cheer him.

[@deryaince6804]

Herkesi yenip gitti.koca yusuf.

[@Ranuyasha]

I will never understand why the English pronunciation of Ismael is "Ishmill". Even when I was studying in England, my full name included Ismael and it was pronounced this way.

[@medes5597]

It's ish-male, not ish-mill. I've never heard an English person not annunciate the double syllable. Not saying it doesn't happen but still.

[@grawakendream8980]

turks doesn't call him yusuf ismail, he's just known by his honorific title now, koca yusuf (pronounced "ko-JAH yu-SOOF")

[@pastorcodymitchell1456]

mate... thats just awful

[@FabioSalvador]

Women in that ship experienced equality far ahead in time - they were precursors to the feminist utopia!