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The History of Pro Wrestling as told by Blank.

Chapter 4: Toots Mondt: The Man Who Made Wrestling

We already talked about Mondt a bit, but we haven't truly gotten into all the things he did. Toots Mondt would do other things later on that have still had a massive effect on the sport/art form to this very day.

After the split up of the Gold Dust Trio Toots Mondt would start his own promotion with Ray Fabiani. The two would expand their territory to a multitude of places. Though the one place they couldn't expand into was Jack Curley's territory in New York. Mondt set his eyes on New York.

When Curley was on his deathbed Mondt was approached by Jess McMahon, a booker for Curley and Tex Rickard, about getting into New York. Mondt jumped at the opportunity. The Duo of Mondt and McMahon began poaching talent and promoting in New York after Curley's passing.

Tex Rickard, who owned a hockey franchise and was a boxing promoter hated wrestling. He had successfully barred wrestling from Madison Square Garden. Mondt convinced Bernarr McFadden, a wrestler turned millionaire, to back him financially. This would help him get past the barring and get him into Madison Square Garden.

With Mondt and Jess McMahon fully controlling the New York area and promoting in Madison Square Garden they started the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. This is the precursor to WWE. Mondt not only invented modern wrestling, but he was instrumental in the creation of the largest wrestling conglomerate.

With the implementation of TV Mondt was unable to fully grasp how to book wrestling now. This would cause him to have Vince McMahon Sr. take over as promoter and booker in the 60's.

Bruno Sammartino would be seen as a mid-carder by McMahon. Mondt saw him as a main eventer due to how instantly likeable he was by most people. Mondt would convince McMahon to put Sammartino into the main event. Sammartino would go on to sell out Madison Square Garden more times than any other pro wrestler in history selling it out an estimated 187 times.

Unfortunately Mondt's story doesn't have a happy ending. Mondt was a gambling addict. An addiction so serious that he would sell off his portion to McMahon in an effort to support his addiction. He would become a salaried employ by McMahon as a sign of respect for the once great visionary. Mondt would pass away on June 11, 1976. He was penniless.