Gus Sonnenberg

[Grimmas]

GOTNW:

Sonnenberg is someone who became one of my favourites almost instantaneously. Football player turned pro wrestler is a well known trope well alive to this day, and here is one of the first guys to have done it. Like many of his stylistic descendants, his special technique is something between a Running Tackle and a blast Double Leg. It's absolutely beautiful, I could watch him just tackle someone forever. But it's not just the execution. When you watch his matches, it's treated as a big deal - the threat of it is sold huge by his opponents, and the quick nature of it allows him to constantly threaten it, adding another dynamic of excitement to the matches. However, Sonnenberg isn't just a specimen of an explosive athlete - his matches are mostly built around intricate matwork of the time that are a pastiche of amateur style, catch and the creativity of the first workers. And he's really good at both working it and adding authentic intensity to it. For my money, his match vs Count George Zarynoff is the first wrestling classic we have on tape.

[1929-03-15-Boston, MA]  vs Joe Malcewicz

[1930-04-24-Boston, MA]  vs Count George Zarynoff

[1938-08-03-Los Angeles, CA] vs Bronko Nagurski