Editing George Hackenschmidt (section)

== Legacy ==
The years spanning Hackenschmidt's professional career are called the Golden Age of professional wrestling; professional wrestling matches more widely believed to be [[Shoot (professional wrestling)|honestly contested]]. However, it was Hackenschmidt's showmanship that made professional wrestling arguably the most popular sport in the United Kingdom at the time, and it was he and Gotch together who brought it to entirely new heights around the world. "The Hackenschmidt-Gotch matches were the pinnacle of professional wrestling during the time period and received much attention from media, fans, and celebrities", Andrew Malnoske observed. "They were even described in the 1937 book ''Fall Guys – The Barnums of Bounce'' by famed writer Marcus Griffen. To this day, the Chicago Public Library receives requests to view the newspaper accounts and files on the bouts."<ref>{{cite web|last=Malnoske|first=Andrew|url=http://www.pwhf.org/halloffamers/bios/hackenschmidt.asp|title=George Hackenschmidt|publisher=[[Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201163504/http://www.pwhf.org/halloffamers/bios/hackenschmidt.asp|archive-date=1 February 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> As Mark Palmer pointed out, "For starters, George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch were major sports superstars of the early 20th century. Fans of all ages collected cabinet cards and postcards with their images, read their books, and devoured articles about them in newspapers. Their epic matches were front-page news around the world – akin to today's World Cup in terms of garnering global attention – and helped to launch organized amateur wrestling in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. In fact, a large number of high school and college wrestling programs can trace their roots back to the 1910s and 1920s – the era when Hackenschmidt and Gotch were still household names, and highly respected athletes".<ref>{{cite web|last=Palmer|first=Mark|date=28 August 2007|url=http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/2904|title=InterMat Rewind: Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt|publisher=Intermat|access-date=30 August 2011|archive-date=17 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017172912/https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/2904|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Having already made his mark in bodybuilding, Hackenschmidt caused the major surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in England, and he was considered unbeatable. However, Hackenschmidt probably would not be so well remembered today were it not for two things: 1) his enormous standing in the world of physical culture, and 2) his two defeats at the hands of Frank Gotch. Hackenschmidt remained in the public eye because he had become an icon in the world of physical culture, a legendary bodybuilder as well as health addict, and a world champion wrestler central to a movement that was now increasingly popular. He spoke and published widely on a wide range of subjects, but most notably on health and fitness. His most popular book was the classic ''The Way To Live'', the last words of which read, "Throughout my whole career I have never bothered as to whether I was a champion or not a champion; The only title I have desired to be known by is simply my name – George Hackenschmidt".<ref name="sandowplus"/> However, it was his matches with Gotch that ensured the growing popularity of catch-as-catch-can wrestling over the more laborious Greco-Roman that had previously dominated, and this is the style that enjoys popularity at all scholastic levels, private clubs and the Olympics to this day. Hackenschmidt was a major reason for this.

The [[H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports|H. J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports]] at the Todd-McLean Library and Special Collections in Austin, Texas, has a digitized version of a nearly 600-page scrapbook owned for decades by Hackenschmidt and bequeathed by his widow Rachel.<ref>{{cite web|last=Todd|first=Terry|date=18 July 2011|url=http://www.starkcenter.org/blog/2011/07/we-give-you%E2%80%A6the-hackenschmidt-scrapbook/|title=We Give You... The Hackenschmidt Scrapbook|work=starkcenter.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812020355/http://www.starkcenter.org/blog/2011/07/we-give-you%E2%80%A6the-hackenschmidt-scrapbook/|archive-date=12 August 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The international Georg Hackenschmidt Memorial in Greco-Roman wrestling has been held in Tartu since 1969.

 He was ranked 35 out of 100 wrestlers for [[Dave Meltzer]]'s Top 100 Wrestlers of all time in 2002.