Episode 120 – Wrestling True Crime

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In this episode, I look at two murders involving wrestlers or related to wrestling.

Update

Bruiser Brody in October and November 1983. Larry’s last show on October 29, 1983. Brody wrestles for Central States for the first time on November 3, 1983. We look at the November 17, 1983 Kansas City card and first St. Louis card after Larry’s promotion goes out of business on November 25, 1983.

Good matches: Ilja Dragunov vs. Tommaso Ciampa from December 19, 2025 Smackdown, Swerve Strickland vs. Kevin Knight on January 21, 2026 AEW Dynamite

Main Content

While researching the careers of Reginald Siki and Jack Claybourne, I came accross two murder cases involving or related to wrestling.

The first case was from 1926. Reginald Siki, who won his first match in 1922 beat Andre Anderson. I saw Anderson died only four years later in his late 20s, so I looked up the details of Anderson’s death.

I assumed it was an accidental death but discovered Leo Mongovern, a fight fixer, shot and killed Andre Anderson. Anderson was a professional boxer, who occassionally wrestled professionally. Anderson refused to take a dive in professional boxing match with Wayne “Big” Munn, former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion in Kansas City, Kansas.

While Anderson’s death was tragic, the next murder proved heartbreaking. Charles Eastman, who wrestled as Gorilla Grubmeyer and Frankenstein, shocks the general public with his attack on his family on May 20, 1944.

Review

Central States wrestling documentary on YouTube

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