The Astonishing Wrestling Record of the “Toughest” U. S President Abraham Lincoln

Wrestling has a history that goes back hundreds of years. From ancient Greece to medieval Europe and America when British settlers brought the sport with them. In the past century, we have also witnessed many iconic wrestlers who earned worldwide popularity.

When talking about famous names in wrestling, the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Buddy Rodgers, Hulk Hogan, and André the Giant pop up.

These are the names on the tongue of every wrestling fan. But what most fans don’t know is that the 16th President of the USA, Abraham Lincoln was quite the accomplished wrestler of his time!

When talking about Abraham Lincoln, his achievements as U.S President are mentioned in high regard. But the man who had many victories as a statesman was also nearly unbeatable as a wrestler.

To many people, it may come as a surprise, especially given his lean build. But Lincoln loved to wrestle and was really good at it.

Abraham Lincoln and his astonishing wrestling record

Wrestling, or more specifically pro wrestling, is all about storytelling. The likes of Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, became larger than life due to their ability to entertain the crowd.

Although Abraham Lincoln didn’t get a chance to work in the drama-filled world of pro wrestling, he made a name for himself in the catch-wrestling.

Abe Lincoln weighed 180 lbs and was tall and thin, standing at 6ft 4 inches. Still, at 21 years of age, in 1830 he was a wrestling champion of his county in Illinois.

He would defeat Jack Armstrong, who was part of the Clary’s Grove gang in New Salem. The gang members had proclaimed Armstrong as an unbeatable champion.

After goading Lincoln into a match, the future president of the United States knocked Armstrong out cold to continue his winning run.

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Lincoln wrestled for almost 12 years and suffered only one defeat. He has a stunning record of 299 wins out of 300 wrestling matches in 12 years!

That is a record that perhaps even some of the greatest wrestlers of all time wouldn’t boast of. Pvt. Lorenzo Dow Thompson, himself the St . Clair wrestling champion is the only individual to have defeated Lincoln.

Bob Dellinger, a director emeritus of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, said, “We could only find one recorded defeat of Lincoln in 12 years.”

He also added, “He was undoubtedly the roughest and toughest of all the wrestling presidents.” Due to his record, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame inducted Lincoln as an Outstanding American in the sport in 1992.

Notably, Lincoln wasn’t the only president with a wrestling background. George Washington also enjoyed grappling and wrestled in the British style known as collar and elbow.

William Taft, the 27th U.S. President, was also a two-time undergraduate champion at Yale.

Abraham Lincoln was shockingly assassinated while he was the President in 1865 at Ford’s theater in Washington D.C. He is still revered by the people as one of the greatest American Presidents ever elected.

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