In the past we have discussed when the first tag matches took place. Definitely not early 1960s as claimed by Kent Walton.
The issue was clouded by team matches that were not tag matches as we knew them in the 1960s.
Ron managed to locate tag matches as we know them them back to the late 1940s, I can't remember the exact year. It may have been a year or two earlier than this, but I don't think we've shared this July 1949 programme before, explaining the rules of something very similar to what we knew as tag wrestling.
This is certainly not a tag match and so doesn’t better Ron’s first sighting in 1949.
But there are elements that will be very familiar to post war tag fans and shows us yet again that there is nothing new.
It’s a report of a match at Lanes London Club in August, 1937.
The match was described as a four handed whirlwind over ten minutes. Four wrestlers, two a side faced each other. When one wrestler was thrown from the ring it continued two against one until the fourth wrestler was able to return to the ring. The endinging will certainly sound familiar. One pair, each with an opponents head under his arm, rushed across the ring, the heads clashed together and the wrestlers were counted out.
Black Angel from the Gold Coast. Couldn't have been Sandy Orford .
Just had a look and found my research on Tag
https://www.wrestlingheritage.com/getthistag
The first I found was Jan 1949 and if I remember rightly it was about to go ahead in Australia. Leo Demetral was campaigning for it to be pushed there after seeing it in America.
At that time Australian Sam Burmister (Australian) was here for six months and my theory was that he stole the idea and Relwyskow got it going here before Australia.
This stuff is distinct from anything reported as "Team Wrestling"
Jim Mellor was in a lot of the early team & tag matches.
Hi Hack, that was similar but not exactly the same with the tag matches that I saw. This is half tag and half team matches, with points scored etc.
The rules for change of partners are the same, but the winners were the first to 2 falls. A disqualification meant that ,if one wrestler was involved ,he could no longer wrestle.
A knockout of one wrestler and he dropped out of the bout.
If both wrestlers were disqualified or knocked out on one team ,that team lost the tag match.
Here's an Example of an Early 'Team Match' at SUTTON-Late 1940's!
MAIN MASK