Ad Santel

Ad Santel is unquestionably one of the most important figures in the history of pro wrestling. Although his name is often forgotten in the discussion of the greats, his accomplishments in the ring and contributions to the sport rival all but a few and put him among the true elite in the history of pro wrestling.

Santel, born Adolph Ernst in 1887, is considered by many to be the greatest lightheavyweight champion of all time. However, arguably his biggest contribution to the modern era of the sport came after his retirement. Santel, along with George Tragos, trained and taught the legendary Lou Thesz for his pro debut. Santel imparted his tremendous knowledge of the "hooking" style of wrestling and taught Thesz his signature stepover toehold with facelock (a move often incorrectly identified as having been invented by Thesz), later knows as the STF.

Ad Santel was also a key figure in the most significant match in the history of pro wrestling, the infamous 1911 rematch between Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt. It is rumored that Gotch paid Santel the sum of five thousand dollars to injure Hack's leg in training before the bout.Hackenschmidt himself denied that he had trained with Santel prior to the bout and that sparring partner Dr. BF Roller had accidentally caused the injury. However, Thesz related that Santel insisted later in life that the story was indeed true. The truth will most certainly never be known for sure, but Santel's name is forever linked to this piece of wrestling history.

Years after the Gotch/Hackenschmidt bout Santel gained his biggest international notoriety when he traveled to Japan to face Tukugoro Ito, a fifth degree black belt and student of Proffessor Kano, the founder of Judo. Ito had claimed the title of "Japanese Judo Champion" so, upon defeating Ito, Santel proclaimed himself "World Judo Champion". This infuriated Kano who proceeded to send his students, all fourth and fifth degree black belts, to challenge Santel. These challenges went on until 1921 with Santel only losing once (the rematch with Ito). It is said that Kano actually paid for Santel's way home to get him out of the country. Santel's exploits in Japan captivated a large segement of the Japanese population, who had never been exposed to the European style to that point.

Santel died in 1966 at the age of 79.