Adolph Ernst, better known for his ring name Ad Santel, was a German-American professional wrestler, considered one of the greatest practitioners of catch wrestling.
12 Facts About Ad Santel
1.
2.
Ad Santel was a World Light Heavyweight Champion for several years.
3.
Ad Santel fought one of the early clash-of-the-styles matches in modern martial arts history against Tokugoro Ito, a 5th degree black belt in judo from Japan.
4.
In October 1914, Ad Santel came to Seattle and challenged resident judo master Taro Miyake, who Ad Santel had already met in a draw.
5.
Ad Santel won with such a powerful half nelson slam that Miyake remained dizzy for half an hour after the match.
6.
Ad Santel assembled a team with fellow wrestlers Henry Weber and Manjiro "Matty" Matsuda, the latter being a judo black belt who had turned to catch wrestling years before.
7.
In front of a crowd of 10.000 at the Yasukuni shrine, Ad Santel defeated Nagata by TKO after a devastating headlock, and the next day he had a 60 minutes draw with Shoji, who left the mat so battered that Ad Santel himself had to help him out of the arena.
8.
In 1925, Ad Santel faced a new judoka, this time Tsutao Higami, a 165-pound lighter but highly renowned groundwork expert who had trained under Ito and Miyake.
9.
Ad Santel won the first fall, scoring a takedown and transitioning into a neckscissors hold that choked Higami out.
10.
Years after the famous 1911 match between Frank Gotch and Georg Hackenschmidt, Ad Santel told Lou Thesz that he was paid $5,000 by Gotch's backers to cripple Hackenschmidt in training, and make it look like an accident.
11.
Ad Santel is not mentioned in any account of Hackenschmidt's training by either Hackenschmidt or Roller, both of whom offered their insights and accounts.
12.
However, Ad Santel was Hackenschmidt's head trainer and sparring partner using his real name of Adolph Ernst for about a year prior and right up until the second Gotch match when he was replaced with Dr Roller.