The tournament will go on all summer and will feature the 21 U.S. champions from the Crockett era competing in single elimination bracketing.
Because there are 21 entrants, Rickard (the author of "Wrestling's Greatest Moments") declared that three of them will get a first round bye: Ric Flair, Blackjack Mulligan, and Wahoo McDaniel. "These three wrestlers receiving a bye are the ones who held the title the most time," he explains.
Rickard's introduction to the tournament and complete list of competitors posted today as part of the 4th of July celebration. What better way to celebrate our nation's independence than to kick off the tournament of its greatest championship?
We'll update links each week as each match moves along and the bracketing progresses. The results should be interesting, and since we all have our own favorites and opinions, could stir some controversy as well. Should be fun!
Happy Independence Day!
Introducing the Mike Rickard Greatest U.S. Champion of All Time Tournament
by Mike Rickard, Canadian Bulldog's World
Mike Rickard is the author of "Wrestling's Greatest Moments", as well as the autobiographical "Laughing All the Way to the Bank (Robbery): How An Attorney Survived Prison" and the new novel "Flunky: Pawns and Kings." His website is located at MichaelRickard.com.
Mike recently wrote a nice review of our book on the history of the United States Championship. We appreciate that very much and are happy that the book was perhaps a part of inspiring this tournament.
Read Mike's review here.
You can order the full color book on Amazon.com here.
COMING SOON!