20 Pro Wrestling Firsts You Need To Know

8. Masked Wrestler

Wrestling Bladejob
wikipedia.org

An interesting one this. Masked wrestlers are most closely associated with Lucha Libre, but we have to go all the way back to 1865 and Paris of all places to find the first masked professional wrestler. Theobaud Bauer was the man under the hood, and he went by the incredibly creative name of 'The Masked Wrestler'. Bauer would continue to work under a mask throughout France, before relocating to the United States in the 1870s.

The first masked wrestler in the United States debuted in 1915, when Mort Henderson began wrestling as the 'Masked Marvel'. Masks quickly became a vehicle for workers to add extra longevity to their careers, especially in territories where they had become old hat.

It was an American who also took the gimmick to Japan, with The Destroyer being the first to work under a hood in the land of the rising sun.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.