 Then with Gotch in attendance on July 5, 1915 in Omaha, Nebraska, Stecher defeated the reigning American Heavyweight Champion, Charles Cutler to claim professional wrestling's world heavyweight championship.At just 22 years old, Joe Stecher became the youngest world champion in history up to that point, yet he remained in the vast shadow of Gotch, who had retired a couple years earlier without ever losing the title and was thus still acknowledged by the public as professional wrestling's true champion.As a result, a Gotch vs. Stecher "dream match" was arranged for July 18, 1916 and was promoted as being professional wrestling's biggest matchup since Gotch's battles with George Hackenschmidt a decade earlier.