Verne Gagne & Bobby Bruns vs Al Williams & Rudy Kay (5/1950); Lou Thesz vs Bronko Nagurski (10/1951)

[@grawakendream8980]

Pappy Davis maybe the greatest wrestling commentator of all time. He made a good mix of belief and disbelief to give it a timeless feel, rather than over-committing or under-committing. Classic stuff

[@MrChristopherHaas]

GR AWAKENDREAM AGREED!

[@johnstewart9166]

I watched these matches on Saturday nights TV back in the early 1950’s. Great entertainment then and today, 70 years later.

[@jonathanturbide2232]

Another terrific gem being shared by this awesome channel, it's always great to see rare vintage matches of Verne and Thesz! 👍✌

[@johnsawh1867]

Wow, great stuff, thank you for posting.❤❤🎉🎉😊😊❤🎉😊

[@billalexander9181]

Glad you are adding more matches. This is the best find for wrestling in years!! Hope more are on the way?

[@chicagofilmarchivespresent1774]

Email us if you're interested in sponsoring the digitization of more matches!

[@grawakendream8980]

@@chicagofilmarchivespresent1774 Do you have a match list of the more matches? Thanks!

[@transitseeker9455]

GR AWAKENDREAM They certainly do, if you get them your email, they can send it your way!

[@jasoncrozier2575]

@@chicagofilmarchivespresent1774 As a wrestling scholar I’d be extremely interested to see more matches from the late 1960s and early 1970s

[@bradnimbus4836]

Thank you so much for taking the time to upload!

[@shikat2371]

It was Nagurski who sidelined Thesz for over a year after delivering a flying tackle that sent Thesz over the top rope and landed outside the ring where Thesz accidentally crushed his left patella during their championship match 12 years prior. Antibiotics were not available yet to the masses. So, if a wrestler got injured, it would've taken a heck of a long time for him to recover.

[@lesleychastain3376]

Love boxing and wrestling. Love the fights and fighters. Love the action. Can't get enough of the competition. Long live sports and athletes and the gagne family.

[@seangoodwin3046]

Three cheers for Rudy and Al. Another good match from them. I cannot remember an Al and Rudy match that was not at least entertaining, usually much more. They were a fun team that worked really well together. You can tell Russ loved them.

[@georgejohnson1064]

Absolutely classic. That's such a treat to see these guys. Absolute legends

[@grawakendream8980]

30:00 Not sure if this is the first time I've seen thesz vs nagurski. I think so! this was early enough to connect thesz with the previous era. since you can find nagurski vs sonnenberg elsewhere. and sonnenberg met strangler lewis. thanks for uploading. stylistically it looks closer to the work of lewis, londos etc. by the end of the 50s things seemed established to the modern style that went through the 80s

[@thaboyshawn5911]

Nice to see Strangler Lewis ringside beside Lou Thesz two tremendous champions that represented what wrestling was and grappled at the highest degree

[@transitseeker9455]

3 former world champs, the then-current champ and a future world champ (AWA) all in the same upload, once again thank you CFA for preserving this amazing footage!

[@chicagofilmarchivespresent1774]

Thank YOU Matt for sponsoring the digitization of this match!

[@transitseeker9455]

Chicago Film Archives presents "Wrestling from Chicago" It was my pleasure! Next time I have some extra cash I’ll email Matt again, there were a few more reels on that list I’m intrigued by the matches!

[@risboturbide9396]

Yeah! A rare 2 for 1 on this channel; love it! Thank you 🍻🍻

[@davidjones6470]

Nice upload 👍

[@skinhead-ej8ff]

Verne is so young

[@seanwilson4885]

My god Thesz was a savage in the ring. You can see he was still there to wrestle even though it was a performance.

[@bluemarbel1242]

Wow! Verne has a full head of hair and I didn't recognize him. LOL

[@RobinoviHudovi]

Amazing channel! Keep uploading these classics! You are preserving the history!

[@richardwakefield5569]

Verne Gagne and Bobby Burns vs. Al Williams and Rudy Kay May 12, 1950. Bronko Nagurski vs. Lou Thesz October 5, 1951.

[@frankfrank9437]

Beautiful headscissors!

[@rickyusa1000]

Never seen Verne with so much hair!

[@mda1218]

high testosterone count took care of that !

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Nagurski was built like a Draught Horse .

[@mda1218]

100% 🐂

[@jaredstanley7232]

Who's the guy doing the color commentary? He's hilarious.

[@mda1218]

love seein inked dude take it back then, when tatts were intimidating

[@TheKatsumin1024]

ガニアのパートナーのボビーブランズ(8:24で出てくる)はこの試合の翌年に日本で駐留軍慰問のために日本で最初のプロレスを公開。そのすぐ後に見学していた力道山や遠藤幸吉を教えて、力道山の日本デビューの相手(10分1本勝負引き分け)をしてます。力道山は米国へ修行、帰国して大スターになります。ボビーブランズは日本のプロレス史において大事な人物です。

[@carlosr6462]

Al Williams looks bad ass with those tattoos.

[@grawakendream8980]

51:36 53:21 this guy really wanted bronko to win

[@robertanderson49]

My kind of wrestling

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

Bobby Bruns , the other gay old school wrestling promoter

[@tonystone1016]

This definstely pre steriod era! Yikes!

[@paulquick8806]

My grandmother listen to this on the radio and later saw on black and white 📺 🖥 TV and my dad told me about professional wre

[@paulquick8806]

Terrible Terry Funk forever forever 💔 lol 😆 forever