Double-Crossing the Gold Dust Trio: Stanislaus Zbyszko's Last Hurrah by Zimmerman Jr. Ken

Author:Zimmerman Jr., Ken [Zimmerman Jr., Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ken Zimmerman Jr. Enterprises
Published: 2021-08-05T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 30-Ad Santel from the Public Domain

Born in Germany, Santel began his wrestling career as a protégé of Georg Hackenschmidt under his real name of Adolph Ernst. By the mid-1910s, he was using the name Ad Santel exclusively. Santel had a deserved reputation as both a shooter and hooker.

One of the legends around professional wrestling is Frank Gotch paid Santel $5,000 to purposely injure Hackenschmidt prior to his 1911 rematch with Gotch. Gotch took the world championship from Hackenschmidt in 1908.

I do not believe Gotch would pay Santel to injure someone he beat convincingly a couple years earlier, but the story has prevailed. [cxlvii] Santel was capable of injuring people as he demonstrated a few years later, which is why the legend had credence.

Santel specialized in taking on Judo black belts in legitimate contests of “wrestling versus jujitsu” in the mid-1910s. Santel ended all the bouts by injuring his opponent with a submission hold or slam.

Even though Santel wrestled in mostly worked wrestling matches, he had a short temper and mean streak. If he felt a wrestler was taking liberties, Santel would legitimately injure them like Evan “Strangler” Lewis in the 19th Century. Fans were aware of Santel’s reputation, which helped make Mondt’s angle believable.

Mondt wrestled Santel for an hour in the April 25th match before Santel secured a toehold. Santel held the hold for several minutes before Mondt submitted at the 1 hour, 6-minute mark to score the first fall. [cxlviii]

The match stopped for the 10-minute intermission. When the referee called for the 2-out-of-3-falls match to continue, the doctor would not let Mondt continue. The doctor stated Mondt had torn ligaments in his ankle. Despite protests from Mondt, the referee stopped the match and awarded to Santel. [cxlix]

When Mondt reentered the ring in early May to defeat Renato Gardini, the early return revealed he had worked the injury. [cl] The fans didn’t seem to be any the wiser. Mondt would use the injury angle again during the rematch with Gardini.

In the rematch, Gardini and Mondt would wrestle a 2-out-of-three fall match. Gardini and Mondt had wrestled for an hour in an even match. Gardini grabbed a headlock, but Mondt slipped out. Gardini transitioned into a crotch hold and slammed Mondt to the mat. Gardini won the first fall in 1 hour, six minutes. [cli]

Mondt hit the mat hard and appeared woozy. The ringside physician checked on Mondt based on his actions. The doctor told the referee Mondt couldn’t continue the match. [clii] The referee awarded Gardini the second fall and match due to Mondt’s injury.

Mondt used the injury angle for the final time in 1922 during a November 14th match with Dick Daviscourt. By this time, Mondt had joined with Sandow and Lewis. Mondt lost a 2-out-of-3 falls match to Ed “Strangler” Lewis on November 10, 1922. [cliii]

The match with Daviscourt was again 2-out-of-3 falls but this time the match wouldn’t end after the first fall. Mondt won the first fall with a Japanese step over. [cliv]

Daviscourt won the second fall with a slam, which brought the injury angle into play.

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