Prehistory of wrestling on Polish soil

Although the history of Polish wrestling is commonly agreed to begin with the inception of Do Or Die Wrestling in 2009, there have been wrestling shows on Polish soil going as far back as late 19th century. This article takes a look at pre-DDW events.

In the latter half of 18th century Poland underwent partitioning and as a result did not exist as an independent political entity for 123 years. Most of the events covered in this article, therefore, are better described as taking place on Polish soil (mostly under Prussian occupation) rather than in Poland.

The oldest known wrestling show took place in Russian-controlled Łódź on Saturday, 9th February 1895, followed by three more over the next three weeks. All four of these events saw the German wrestler Ernst Roeber defeat his opponents, including the Polish competitors Władysław Pytlasiński and John Pohl, with only one fight (against Emil Voss) ending in a draw. The last wrestling event of the 19th century took place in Warsaw on 27th March 1900 in Circus Ciniselli, where Władysław Pytlasiński won against the Bulgarian Nikola Petroff.

The early 20th century saw the Circus Sidoli hold two shows in Szczecin, both on 11th May 1901 and featuring John Pohl – first losing to the Estonian George Hackenschmidt, then triumphing over the German Jakob Koch. Over the course of the next several years wrestling shows would follow this formula of single-match cards playing out in circuses or theatres, pitting representatives of different countries against each other. The show in Warsaw on 21st November 1905 is the oldest known appearance of Stanisław Zbyszko on his home soil, in a victorious fight against the Russian Peter Jankowsky “Ursus”.

The year 1906 was rich in wrestling, with as many as 15 shows, all of them in Wrocław – 14 of which took place in December. These 14 shows were organised by Cirus Sidoli, and they were all single-match cards featuring Jakob Koch who won 10 times, with the other three fights ending in a draw, and one being declared no contest. One more match in this series, and another of Koch’s victories, fell on 1.01.1907. On the 15th July of the same year, the Grand Prix of Silesia in Wrocław saw likely the first American wrestler to work on Polish soil: Jack Lewis.

1908 set the all-time record for the number of wrestling shows on Polish soil in one year: over the course of 12 months, 31 shows were held, of which 23 in Szczecin (the second-closest result – 27 shows – only came about in 2023). Once again, the vast majority of these shows features single-match cards with Jakob Koch almost always the victor, and only a handful of fights ending with a draw. It wasn’t until 31st November 1908 in Poznań’s Apollo Theatre that Jakob Koch was bested by Stanisław Zbyszko. This defeat marked Koch’s final appearance on the Polish land.

The following year, the number of shows was more than halved with nothing in particular standing out, except one event: on the 5th June 1909 in Bytom’s Hotel Sanssourci, the German Albert Sturm defeated Stanisław Zbyszko by disqualification, the first such case on record. 1910 and 1911 both only saw three shows, however each year there was one fight featuring a masked wrestler – likely a first for the era. Both of them lost to men named Karl (Saft and Pospischil, respectively).

1912 is notable for the only two known local matches of Władek Zbyszko, the real-life brother of Stanisław Zbyszko, who would later pursue a career in the United States. Also, it wasn’t until 2nd August of that year in Toruń that the first show was held to feature more than two fights – something that wasn’t repeated until 26th October 1913 in Poznań (two of the three fights on the card there featured the same wrestler, however: Albert Hein). Finally, the last year before World War I saw the return of John Pohl, not seen since his loss to Stanisław Zbyszko in 1911. The last match to be held before the outbreak of the Great War, on the 31st May 1914 in Wrocław, saw the Estonian Alexander Aberg and the German Karl Saft end the fight in a draw.

After the war, only two shows in 1919 are known to have been held, one in Wrocław and one in Warsaw, with Karl Saft and Stanisław Zbyszko making their returns, and also probably the first appearance of a wrestler fighting under a clear ring name: Cyklop. This marks the end of the prehistoric era of wrestling on the Polish soil.

Following World War II and the restoration of Polish sovereignty on the arena of international politics, Poland held no wrestling events for decades. It wasn’t until the late ‘80s when Andrzej Supron, a Polish Olympic silver medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling, accidentally found out about pro-wrestling when channel surfing during his stay in the United States. After meeting with Ivan Putski, Supron decided to introduce the modern flavour of pro-wrestling to Poland and after returning home, gathered a group of athletes and sportsmen whom he instructed on his own, despite not being a trained pro-wrestler himself. In the early ‘90s the group – known as SupronStars – went on tour of Poland (including Warsaw and Poznań) and the USSR (Georgia, Kazakstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia and Moscow, probably more), with the show in Tbilisi drawing up to 14 thousand people in an arena designed for eight thousand. With the tour over, the group disbanded.

In 1993 an independent American group named World Wrestling Superstars, featuring such names as Bob Orton (Randy Orton’s father), The Iron Sheik or Greg Valentine, was touring Europe. Andrzej Supron learned about this and invited them to do a single show in Warsaw, which took place in the Torwar Hall on 14th December 1993 before a crowd of 600 people. The show was covered by Polish newspapers and television.

At the end of the ‘90s or the beginning of 2000, Andrzej Supron was contacted by Paweł “Boryss” Borkowski, who proposed creating the first fully professional Polish pro-wrestling federation, aptly named “Polish Pro-Wrestling Federation”. Despite gathering a group of people (none of whom had any prior contact with wrestling), holding trainings and even importing a professional ring (albeit very late), PPWF held no shows. The initial attempt failed due to very low ticket sales and the second try, in 2003, ended when the sponsor pulled out mere three weeks before the planned show. PPWF folded, marking the end of the pre-modern era of Polish wrestling.

Before the emergence of DDW in 2009, however, there was also a transitional period when backyard wrestling began gaining popularity in Poland, with pre-DDW amateur organisations such as Pomerania Indy Wrestling Group or Polish Wrestling Underground being places where people like Kamil Aleksander and Jędruś Bułecka first attempted wrestling. The Polish backyard scene was particularly active in Silesia, which a hundred years earlier was under the Prussian rule and saw numerous early shows. Following the inception of Do Or Die Wrestling the backyard scene grew rapidly, although many of these amateur groups were short-lived. Later, around the time Maniac Zone Wrestling was created, the popularity of backyard started gradually diminishing. As of 2024, the only still active backyard known is Mine City Wrestling.

References
  • The only surviving photo of a SupronStars show (Andrzej Supron standing on the left, in black clothes).
    Wikipedia