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| | The History of Pro Wrestling |
 | | Beginning in the post-Civil War period, wrestling bouts were staged at country fairs or touring carnivals in “At Shows” (short for athletic shows), where wrestlers with costumes, nicknames, and fictionalized biographies would wrestle each other or accept challenges from all local comers (you may have seen this in a few cartoons). |
 | | Wrestling’s roots were so solidly embedded in the European culture that most of the first wave of great American wrestlers was made up of first-generation Americans of European descent, most from small-town America, and European immigrants - wrestlers such as Martin Burns, William Muldoon, Ernest Roeber, and Evan Lewis. |
 | | Wrestling sank back into oblivion until the 1980s, when promoter Vince McMahon found a way to use the media to his own advantage, and wrestling roared into its third golden age - one that it is still enjoying. |
| www.angelfire.com /hi/homeofwrestling/pwhistory.html (4632 words) |
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