10 Bell Pod

In this off-season video episode, I dive into the wild, complicated, and often misunderstood story of Yukon Moose Cholak.
Moose was 30+ year territory veteran who lived through nearly every era of professional wrestling’s evolution.
Moose Cholak was a towering presence, a road warrior who bounced from promotion to promotion and someone that left behind stories that didn't always end up in the history books. 
I'll talk about his time in Chicago & The Midwest, working the territory wrestling system and a rumored clash with a global icon.
But this isn’t just a story about a man in a moose head.
This is a deep dive into the forgotten backbone of professional wrestling: the workers who weren’t always the main event, but made the main event possible.
The trusted hands. The territory grinders. The wrestlers who could win, lose, draw, and still keep the entire machine running.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
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Discord: ⁠https://discord.gg/64GdAqEG⁠

I'm back with another off-season solo show and wrestling history deep cut.
Colonel James Hiram McLaughlin was a Civil War officer, a traveling attraction, train conductor, Klondike gold miner and arguably the first true American professional wrestling champion.
We're going all the way back to the 1800s again to uncover the brutal, chaotic, and often unbelievable origins of pro wrestling through the life of one of JH.
McLaughlin was a force of nature.
A legit grappler in both collar and elbow and catch as catch can and his matches were real, violent, and sometimes deadly.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/10bellpod⁠⁠⁠
Reddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/10BellPod⁠⁠
Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/10BellPod⁠⁠⁠⁠
ProWrestling Tees: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/related/10bellpod.html⁠⁠⁠⁠
PayPal Donation - ⁠⁠9BHDW7Y2KMBTY⁠⁠
Discord: ⁠https://discord.gg/64GdAqEG⁠

I'm back with another video episode and pro wrestling history deep dive.
In this episode of 10 Bell Pod, I uncover the incredible and largely forgotten story of one of the earliest Black professional wrestlers in American history Viro "Black Sam" Small.
A man born into slavery who rose to become a feared competitor in the brutal world of 19th century combat sports.
Drawing from scarce historical records and early newspaper accounts, this is a deep dive into a time when wrestling lived in carnivals, saloons, and underground fight clubs, where matches blurred the line between sport and survival.
More than just a wrestling story, this is about America during Reconstruction, the fight for opportunity, and how entire legacies can vanish if no one is there to preserve them.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/10bellpod⁠⁠⁠
Reddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/10BellPod⁠⁠
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PayPal Donation - ⁠⁠9BHDW7Y2KMBTY⁠⁠
Discord: ⁠https://discord.gg/64GdAqEG⁠

Stream the show: https://archive.org/details/iwa-mid-south-its-gotta-be-the-shoes
BINGO: https://www.classtools.net/bingo/202603_S7FZHi

IWA MS Vs. Elite Pro Best Of Seven Series 10/13/2007 Lucky vs. Jason Hades Deranged vs. Jay Jensen Mickie Knuckles vs. Kimberly Kash Kash Inc. (Abaddon, Baltazar & Dysfunction) vs. Team IWA Mid-South (Devon Moore, Eddie Kingston & Ricochet) ACID vs. Chuck Taylor The Iron Saints (Sal Thomaselli & Vito Thomaselli) vs. Team Taliban (Arya Daivari & Jake O'Neill) Ian Rotten vs. Brandon Thomaselli

IMPORTANT LINKS:
Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/10bellpod⁠⁠⁠
Reddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/10BellPod⁠⁠
Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/10BellPod⁠⁠⁠⁠
ProWrestling Tees: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/related/10bellpod.html⁠⁠⁠⁠
PayPal Donation - ⁠⁠9BHDW7Y2KMBTY⁠⁠
Discord: ⁠https://discord.gg/64GdAqEG⁠

This was uploaded to Spotify as a video episode. If it's just audio on other platforms, you can also find it on Patreon and YouTube.
On this solo, offseason, episode of 10 Bell Pod, Nick goes way back.
Long before AEW Dynamite, WrestleMania and before wrestling was ever called sports entertainment, there was the sport of grappling.
This is the story of where professional wrestling actually came from.
Starting in the coal towns of northern England, Nick traces the roots of modern wrestling back to the brutal catch-as-catch-can grappling matches fought by miners and laborers for money, pride, and survival.
From there, the story travels across the Atlantic to the American carnival circuit, where wrestlers challenged locals using devastating submission holds and carefully staged drama to build one of the greatest illusions in sports.
Along the way, the episode explores the birth of kayfabe, the rise of early superstars like Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt, and the moment when promoters realized that pure competition wasn’t enough to keep crowds engaged.
That realization led to one of the most important turning points in wrestling history: the arrival of The Gold Dust Trio, the group that reorganized the industry and turned wrestling from a legitimate sport into the carefully structured spectacle we recognize today.
Wrestling didn’t start in a ring under bright lights, it started in pubs, fields, and traveling tents.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/10bellpod⁠⁠⁠
Reddit: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/10BellPod⁠⁠
Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/10BellPod⁠⁠⁠⁠
ProWrestling Tees: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/related/10bellpod.html⁠⁠⁠⁠
PayPal Donation - ⁠⁠9BHDW7Y2KMBTY⁠⁠
Discord: ⁠https://discord.gg/64GdAqEG⁠