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Lewis was instrumental in bringing more theatrics to wrestling. Just watch Caddock vs. Stecher then watch Lewis vs. Dick Shikat and the obvious working nature of wrestling will slap you in the face but pro wrestling had been working matches (not all but some) since the mid-1880’s. In fact, wrestling largely had a "fake" reputation by the 1870’s, so much so, that many newspapers openly insulted it. So, to sum it up, wrestling did not become worked in the Ed Lewis era, nor was Ed Lewis a boring wrestler. He probably had some boring matches and I imagine the five hours against Joe Stecher was worse than Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn II, but Lewis was highly innovative in bringing a more entertaining style to wrestling.
The 1930’s-1940’s didn’t exist on this DVD except for Lewis. Your notable linear world champions during this era were: Gus Sonnenberg (you think wrestlers of the modern era have problems, Sonnenberg got drunk and ran over a policeman and killed him and died at the age of 46.), Ed Don George, Henri Deglane (the guy bit himself and blamed it on Lewis thus winning by DQ), Danno O’Mahoney (likely the originator of the Irish Whip), Dick Shikat (an under rated shooter), Ali Baba (a Pacific Northwest promoter and gimmick wrestler), Dean Detton, Bronko Nagurski (NFL Hall of Famer who actually hated wrestling and bashed it at every opportunity), and Jim Londos (maybe one of the top three biggest drawing wrestlers in history who gets totally glossed over).
Next the DVD gives a simplified explanation of the territorial system and the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance in 1948. By this point in time, it is almost impossible to say who the linear (Gotch/Hackenschmidt) world champion is as the belt is splintered into a million different champions recognized by various magazines, athletic commissions, and promoters). They explain that Orville Brown (the first NWA World champion) was to face Lou Thesz but Brown was seriously injured in a car accident so "basically Lou Thesz just took over as champion." It’s a little more complex than that. Lou Thesz was the National Wrestling ASSOCIATION World champion which split off from the National Boxing Association. The NWAlliance was going to unify it’s title with the NWAssociation World title when Brown was nearly killed in a car wreck, so Thesz was a recognized world champion headed into the match. Neither of these men were the linear world champion which had essentially vanished by the mid-1930’s.
We then get a decent segment on Lou Thesz. Everyone has their opinion about who the "greatest world champion" in history was. Mike Chapman says Frank Gotch, Mae Young says Ed "Strangler" Lewis, and Karl Stern (for what it’s worth) says Lou Thesz. No one blended legitimate skill and working ability like Thesz. I am a bigger FAN of Ric Flair but if I had to rank all the so called "World" champions in order of greatness as defined by this DVD then Thesz goes on top. For example, the drop kick has long been one of those moves than non-fans point to as "fake" and making wrestling look bad yet there is an awesome clip on this documentary of Lou Thesz beating the total hell out of a guy with drop kicks. I don’t know who that guy was but it sucked to be him.
After several wrestlers commenting on Thesz we get a quick mention of the main post-Thesz champions and one interesting name mentioned. They list "Whipper" Billy Watson, Eduard Carpentier, Pat O’Connor, and Buddy Rogers. That’s a great list, the only problem is, historically Eduard Carpentier has never been recognized as NWA World champion. Here’s the deal, depending on who you believe. Lou Thesz lost to Carpentier on June 14, 1957 by DQ. This is the origins of the old "the world title can’t change hands on a disqualification" stipulation. Carpentier was awarded the title by disqualification when Thesz could not continue the match due to a back injury. For 71 days, the NWA recognized the title as being in dispute between Carpentier and Thesz. There are some who claim that the Carpentier title change was legitimate and voted on by the NWA board but they went back on it and withdrew the claim when Montreal promoter Eddie Quinn quit the NWA in August 1958. Some territories such as Boston, Nebraska, and Los Angeles (NAWA/WWA which spawned such champions as Fred Blassie and the Destroyer) continued to recognize Carpentier. The AAC recognized Killer Kowalski when he defeated Carpentier in Boston. Nebraska recognized Verne Gagne when he defeated Carpentier in Omaha. The NAWA/WWA recognized Carpentier as World Champion and Fred Blassiewhen he defeated Carpentier in 1961. So you see, Carpentier really screwed things up.
We then get a segment on "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. Rogers could have fit in today with no problem. They have a quick clip of his famous "To a nicer guy it couldn’t have happened" promo.
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