Ed Lewis Bests Dick Shikat

This week’s post is to finish up the story of the double cross involving Dick Shikat and Danno O’Mahony. The origins for the double cross actually began in a match with Ed “<ກວ້າງ bbox_x = "949​" bbox_y = "1897​" bbox_w bbox_h = "52​" = "19​" fsize = "13​" fweight = "3​" ສີ​ແດງ = "255​" ສີ​ຂຽວ = "255​" ສີ​ຟ້າ = "255​" ບໍ່​ມີ​ເພດ​; = "” Lewis in Madison Square Garden on June 9, 1932. While this match was a prearranged exhibition, the wrestlers had been in discussion about Lewis dropping the belt to Shikat. Shikat had already made a deposit of earnest money with the promoters. This money was used to make sure that the champion didn’t go into business for himself by dropping the belt to someone that the promoters didn’t agree to.

Shikat thought that everything was arranged for him to win the World Heavyweight Championship, when he lost to Lewis in MSG. ຢ່າງ​ໃດ​ກໍ​ຕາມ, the wrestling scene in the 1930s was full of shifting alliances between promoters trying to get a the upper hand on their competition. The promoters aligned with Ed Strangler Lewis and “Toots” Mondt decided that they didn’t want to put the belt on the Shikat, who wasn’t particularly exciting.

Shikat was furious after losing to Lewis, although he probably didn’t have much of a choice if it had turned into a legitimate contest. Even in his early 40s, Lewis could still beat anyone in a legitimate contest.

At a conference in “Toots” Mondt’s hotel room to try and settle their differences, Shikat became angry and punched Lewis. Lewis punched him back, which seemed to settle their animosity.

ຢ່າງ​ໃດ​ກໍ​ຕາມ, “Toots” Mondt considered himself Lewis’s policeman, both inside and outside the wrestling ring. Mondt jumped Shikat, punched him repeatedly and Shikat staggered from the room. Mondt further inflamed the situation by telling everyone about the beating. Shikat didn’t say any more about the incident but was determined to get his revenge. When he was matched with Danno O’Mahony four years later, Shikat saw his opportunity.

Most of the information comes from a book The Fall Guys by Marcus Griffin. Griffin was a journalist but also a disgruntled former worker in the Buffalo wrestling office according to Lou Thesz’s book, ແຮກເກີ. His time in the Buffalo office accounted for Griffin’s inside knowledge.

I’ve found an actual film online on YouTube of the Lewis and Shikat match although it is significantly shortened from the hour and ten minute match. I would encourage you to watch it, so you can get an idea of wrestling in the 1930s. The wrestlers in the thirties were trying to make all of the matches look like legitimate contest, so you don’t see a lot of the high-flying stuff. It’s mostly some ground based grappling.

I won’t cover many more matches from this time period but I found the story of the Shikat-O’Mahony double cross fascinating. A match and confrontation with a different wrestler led to one of the more significant double crosses in professional wrestling.

ທ່ານສາມາດອອກ ຄຳ ເຫັນຫລືຖາມ ຄຳ ຖາມກ່ຽວກັບເລື່ອງນີ້ຫລືຂໍ້ຄວາມໃດ ໜຶ່ງ ໃນພາກ ຄຳ ເຫັນຂ້າງລຸ່ມນີ້ຫຼືຂອງຂ້ອຍ ຫນ້າ​ເຟ​ສ​ບຸກ ຫຼື profile Twitter.

Sources: The Fall Guys by Marcus Griffin

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