In March 2012, wrestling historians George Lentz and Fred Hornby discovered a rare 1950s
wrestling television taping, likely the first of its kind, happening in Racine, Wisconsin.  The
following information was shared by J Michael Kenyon:

Racine WI Journal-Times: October 30, 1952 (Thursday)
(advertisement) ... WRESTLING – EAGLE HALL ... "SUPER WRESTLING TV SHOW" ...
FRIDAY, Oct. 31 ... 24 NATIONALLY FAMOUS WRESTLERS ... Including VERNE GAGNE,
HANS SCHMIDT, BILL MELBY, MIGHTY ATLAS, BILLY GOELZ ... 8 Hours of Wrestling for T.
V. ... Elimination Bouts From 2 p.m. 'til 6 p.m. are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ... FINALS ON
SINGLE AND TAG TEAM EVENTS 7 p.m. 'til 11 p.m. ... Admission $2.00 (Tax Incl.) ...
1000 Seats – First Come, First Served ... RACINE WILL BE SEEN ON NATION-WIDE TV
PROGRAMS

The event was sponsored by the American Television Corporation, which wanted to beef up
its wrestling film library.  Booking agent and promoter Fred Kohler of Chicago wasn't able to
pull off the feat due to an Illinois State Athletic Commission statute.  Instead, Kohler worked
with one of his affiliate promoters, Milt Olsen of Racine.  This was definitely a landmark show,
and it stands out quite substantially against the normal TV presentations of of the era,
featuring maybe up to 5 matches per program.  Much later on, the WWF held TV Tapings
with maybe two dozen matches at a time, filling up all of their television shows with fresh
content.

Racine WI: October 31, 1952 (Friday)
(Eagle Hall, TV filming) ... Bob Orton drew Sonny Myers ... Verne Gagne beat Rudy Kay ...
Verne Gagne beat Bobby Nelson ... Verne Gagne beat Red Bastien ... Verne Gagne beat
Count Von Meyer ... Sonny Myers beat Mke Kilonis ... Sonny Myers beat Jack Rush (as
Canadian Angel) ... Sonny Myers beat Baron Arena ... Bob Orton beat Balk Estes ... Bob
Orton beat Al Williams ... Bob Orton beat Billy Hickson ... Morris Shapiro (as Mighty Atlas)
beat Jerry Woods ... Morris Shapiro (as Mighty Atlas) beat Red Bastien ... Morris Shapiro (as
Mighty Atlas) beat Ned Taylor ... Balk Estes & Reggie Lisowski beat Baron Arena & Mike
Kilonis ... NOTE: Rudy Kay was "shaken up" in an afternoon bout with Gagne and so the
vaunted Kay-Al Williams tag team did not perform ... " ... but Schmidt and Orton provided
enough fireworks to make up for their absence. Schmidt and Orton made mincemeat out of
several unfortunate duos in the afternoon, as did the team of Myers and Bill Melby." – Racine
WI Journal-Times, Nov. 1, 1952 ... This was an eight-hour filming session conducted by the
American Television Corporation.
Wisconsin TV Wrestling History
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