Professional wrestling in Russia has been promoted in the country from the late 19th century.
1892 is considered the year whenprofessional wrestling appeared in Russia, when Polish wrestler Vladislav Pytljasinski came toSt. Petersburg. In 1894, the first public contest inFrench wrestling was held, in the same year wrestling was first allowed in theCiniselli Сircus. The circus administration considered wrestling to be "dangerous for inciting passions among spectators" and only allowed "demonstration of wrestling techniques" with a time limit of 10 and 20 minutes. Among the amateurs who wrestled Pytljasinski in the circus was A. F. Meo, a local clerk, for whom a performance in the circus could have caused problems in his career, so he performed wearing a mask. European and Turkish wrestlers are invited to perform in Russia. "Professionals" were considered those wrestlers who have no other job and earn solely by performing.[1]
In 1897 Vladislav Kraevsky created the "St. Petersburg Athletic and Cycling Club", which trained professional wrestlers. His pupil was the greatest wrestler of the first wave,Georg Hackenschmidt. In July 1900, Hackenschmidt took part in a forty-day wrestling tournament in Moscow, making his first appearance as a professional in Russia. Wrestling goes for two prizes, he won both, and became champion of Moscow and St. Petersburg.[2]
Circus wrestling developed in the same time. Wrestling was the highlight of the circus program; championships could last for weeks and months. By 1905, it resembled modern professional wrestling with its rules, customs, and manners. One of the most notable promoters of such shows was "Uncle Vanya" Ivan Lebedev, an associate of Kravesky's, who entertained the audience, announced the wrestlers' entrances and developed a number ofcharacters—Svyatogor, Uncle Pound, Sarakiki, Ivan the Cain, and Abel. It was considered essential forblack wrestlers to perform.Georg Lurich once persuaded the wrestler Osipov topaint himself brown and passed him off as the leader of an endangered Native American tribe. Uncle Vanya invented Sarakiki, a Chinese pretending to be Japanese, which was in vogue afterRussia's defeat in the war with Japan. There were "beasts"—wrestlers who broke the rules and excited the public with their wild antics. There were "noble beauties", who earned the audience's sympathy with their gentlemanly manners and fairness, and who would inevitably defeat the "beasts" at the end of the championship. Comic wrestlers staged parody fights, there were wrestlers in colorful masks. In the competitions were staged performances, which played on human feelings, capable of touching the heart of the then viewer. To arouse interest resorted to various tricks: started arguments in front of an audience, threatened each other with violence, hid behind the cheekswim bladder with red paint, which thenpoured faces.[3]
The fight was divided into two types:
Ivan Zaikin said: "you can't make a wrestler endure serious 'bur' fights every day. He just can't stand too much tension, and the audience won't enjoy it either". The best wrestlers rarely faced each other, as each defeat sidelined them.[3]
According toIvan Poddubny's recollections, there was the following hierarchy:[3]
At the highest level of the wrestling hierarchy were "technicals", or, as they were also called, "pirouettes"—wrestlers who had a perfect command of wrestling techniques. Below them stood "loggers". And on the lowest step were wrestlers, who were contemptuously called "padding", those who by order of the director of the championship lost by pinfall.
Circus historian Evgeny Kuznetsov writes: "...circus without championships became equally unthinkable both in the capital and in the provinces, where wrestling, which had completely lost its sporting character, took rude, punishing forms". Count George Ribopierre achieved that wrestling was allowed in the fourth week ofLent, when all other entertainments were closed: he proved that wrestling is not a spectacle, but a sport.[1] Pictures of Poddubny, Hackenschmidt, andStanislaus Zbyszko sold by the thousands.[3]
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On May 4, 1905, Hackenschmidt defeats AmericanTom Jenkins inNew York City and became the first ever recognizedworld heavyweight wrestling champion. He lost the title, losing toFrank Gotch inChicago on April 3, 1908. On September 4, 1911, Hackenschmidt failed to take revenge on Gotch and ended his career.[4] Their confrontation is considered a professional wrestling classic .[5] In the 1920s in the United States, like circus wrestling, professional wrestling transformed from a competitive sport into a show whose match results were determined in advance.[6]
In 1912–1917, Uncle Vanya published the magazineHercules, a magazine about professional wrestling.
After theRevolution in Russia, professional wrestling caused skepticism in the media, newspapers wrote: "...wild, transferred to our time from the Middle Ages wrestling, the fight of gladiators and boxing - who needs it?".[3] Some of this mirrored the cynicism about professional wrestling in the media of Western nations - in 1936Pravda published a satire - "Where to go in one's spare time? To a film? A drama? A lecture onAbyssinia? ... To the circus to watch French wrestling, and argue if it's real or not."[7] Wrestling persisted in circus programs until about the beginning ofWorld War II. By the 1980s,Catch-based professional wrestling was flourishing in theUnited States,Canada,United Kingdom,France,West Germany/Austria,Mexico andJapan, but had yet to exist in theSoviet Union.
In 1989, Japanese wrestling promoterAntonio Inoki andNew Japan Pro-Wrestling prepared an agreement with the USSR State Sports Committee, under which several wrestlers went to New Japan Dojo for training, which lasted a month.[8] Two of them,Salman Hasimikov andViktor Zangiev then competed in NJPW and later, from 1989 to 1994, inUWF-I. They represented the Soviet Union atWCWStarrcade 1990 in a national team tournament called the Pat O'Connor Memorial Cup. On May 25, 1989, inOsaka, Hasimikov defeatedBig Van Vader to winIWGP Heavyweight Championship.[9]
In wrestling in Western nations in the mid to late 20th century, there were several wrestlers who played the role of Russians for most of their careers, but they were not Russians. In America, examples includedBoris Malenko,Nikolai Volkoff,Ivan Koloff andNikita Koloff.[10] (Volkoff was played by Serbian-born Josip Peruzović who claimed to be a quarter Russian). In Europe, there was longtime French star Le Grand Vladimir, while Canadian Richard Krupa toured for the BritishJoint Promotions in 1987 as Red Ivan, teaming with"Comrade" McDonald. The first Soviet-born wrestler in a major US promotion isVladimir Kozlov, who competed inWWE in the late 2000s.Alex Koslov, also born in the Soviet Union, was popular in theindependent circuit.Ilja Dragunov is the first non-kayfabe Russian-born male wrestler to have ever competed in the WWE. In 2021Leyla Hirsch was the first Russian-born female wrestler had officially signed withAll Elite Wrestling.
Thanks to good relations between Inoki and theUSSR, the first professional wrestling show in the USSR was held on December 31, 1989, in Moscow at theLuzhniki Palace of Sports with the participation ofNJPW.[11] It was calledNJPW Martial Arts Festival, and was attended by approximately 15,000 spectators. Athletes from the USSR took part in the show: Viktor Zangiev and Salman Khashimikov,Shota Chochishvili, and others. On the NJPW side, popular wrestlers took part: Antonio Inoki,Junshin Liger,Masahiro Chono, andBam Bam Bigelow. The show had a total of 9 matches with 20 wrestlers from four different countries: nine wrestlers from Japan, seven from the USSR, three from the US and one from the UK. There is a video recording of some of the matches from this show.[12]
| Result | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuniaki Kobayashi defeatsTakayuki Iizuka | 12:07[13] |
| 2 | Jushin Liger defeatsBlack Tiger | 9:32[13] |
| 3 | Masahiro Chono defeats Timur Zalasov | 10:46[13] |
| 4 | Shinya Hashimoto vs. Wahka Eveloev, time limit draw | 15:00[13] |
| 5 | Riki Choshu defeatsVictor Zangiev | 6:04[13] |
| 6 | Bam Bam Bigelow defeats Vladimir Berkovich | 9:30[13] |
| 7 | Habieli Victachev defeatsHiroshi Hase | Round 3, 1:11[13] |
| 8 | Salman Hashimikov defeatsManny Fernandez | 8:20[13] |
| 9 | Antonio Inoki &Shota Chochishvili defeatBrad Rheingans &Masa Saito | 11:35[13] |
On August 9–11, 1994, threeFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) shows were held at theLenin Stadium inKhabarovsk, which attracted 600-1100 spectators each.[14][15][16] Previously, Russian athletesSvetlana Gundarenko andGrigory Verichev competed in FMW.
In 1998, for the first time in Russia, professional wrestling shows began to be broadcast on national TV channels. A program called Titans of Wrestling appeared onTNT withNikolai Fomenko as its announcer. Until 2000, theWCW Monday Nitro show was broadcast on it. Then WCW broadcasts were briefly replaced by theWomen of Wrestling (WOW!) promotion. From 2000 to 2002, The World Wrestling, a shortened 45-minute international version ofWWF/WWE SmackDown! was broadcast onSTS, with voice actors Vsevolod Kuznetsov and Alexander Novikov as announcers. In September 2002, wrestling returned to TNT, with the new Titans of Wrestling airing a 45-minute version ofWWE Raw. The broadcasts lasted exactly one year, until September 2003. After that, the contract with WWE expired and was never renewed. Since 2012,Eurosport broadcasts only two international programs from WWE—Review of the Week andWWE Vintage Collection.[17]
On November 30, 2010, it was announced that from February 2011, the2x2 television channel would begin airing WWE Raw[18] and WWE SmackDown.[19]
On April 11, 2012, WWE held its first Raw World Tour house show in Russia at theLuzhniki Palace of Sports.[20] In the main eventCM Punk defeatedDolph Ziggler for theWWE Championship. On April 25, 2013, WrestleMania Revenge Tour 2013 hosted the first WWE Raw show inSt. Petersburg Ice Palace, and the next day, April 26, the show returned to Moscow at the Luzhniki.
Since April 2016, all new WWE pay-per-view shows have been available on theWWE Network with Russian-language voiceover, with Moti Margolin and Jean Pomerantsev as announcers.[21] After the end of the contract, 2x2 did not renew it with WWE, but switched toLucha Underground broadcasts.[22][23] As of April 6, 2019, Lucha Underground is broadcast on 2x2 with commentary by Roman Alexandrovich and Alexander Barybin.[22]
Beginning January 7, 2020, theMatch! Fighter channel broadcasts WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown shows in Russian.[24][25] The announcers are Artem Davydov and a representative of the Independent Wrestling Federation (IWF) Mikhail Vakhneev. The channel announces that Raw and SmackDown live from the U.S. begins at 03:55 am Moscow time. Replays of the show are shown throughout the week.
As of March 3, 2022, WWE terminated its broadcast partnership with the Match TV station and removed access to WWE network and all related products for Russian audiences.[26]
In November 2002, theIndependent Wrestling Federation (IWF) held its first show inMoscow. The first two shows were The Physical Punishment Zone and Judgment Day. Since 2003, Danger Zone shows have been held monthly in Moscow and the Moscow region.[27] Once a year the shows President's Cup, King of Hardcore, and Wrestliada began to take place. The IWF also gives showcases, and wrestlers participate in various festivals. In 2006, one of the IWF shows was attended byShane McMahon, who was in Russia to negotiate the return ofWWE to Russian television.[28] At various times, professional wrestlers such asEl Generico,Sonjay Dutt,Zema Ion andMatt Cross have appeared at IWF. From 2005 to 2010, IWF shows were broadcast on7TV and Russian Extreme. IWF has its own school. As of February 2018, the IWF has hosted over 100 shows.[29]
In 2014, Northern Storm Wrestling (NSW) was established inSt. Petersburg.[30] In 2015, the promotion's wrestlers performed atComic-Con Russia.[31] NSW hosts a monthly Northern Storm show. On September 20, 2015, the company's first major show, Battle on the Neva, was held at the Leningrad Palace of Youth, featuring former WWE superstar and two-timeNWA World Heavyweight ChampionColt Cabana.[32] In September 2015, NSW became part of the Union of European Wrestling Alliances.[33][34] In November 2016, NSW wrestlers participated in the IWF Danger Zone 100 anniversary show. NSW has its school.
Professional wrestling by country | |
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| Attendance records | |
| Related | |
