Episode 4: Biggest Double-Cross

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Episode Preview

In this episode, I will be talking about the biggest double-cross in pro wrestling history.

Introduction or Update

After two weeks of COVID, my breathing finally returned to normal, so it is back to researching the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. This project has proven to be as frustrating as I expected it would be. We already discussed the issues about it not being a linear history.

Well, I have researched the first 17 years of the championship and have found less than a dozen title defenses. The inactivity was due to some champions pursuing William Muldoon, the difficulty in finding opponents willing to wrestle only catch-as-catch-can and Lewis’ illness.

Main Content

One of the first matches I researched in 2013, when I started writing about pro wrestling history, was the match where 45-year-old Stanislaus Zbyszko double-crossed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Wayne “Big” Munn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

My assumptions going into the match were all wrong based on common myths about the match.

Neither Ed “Strangler” Lewis nor Joseph “Toots” Mondt wanted to put the belt on Munn, who would be helpless if another wrestler “shot on him.” Billy Sandow convinced his promotional partners that he could protect Munn by carefuling selecting Munn’s opponents. The resulting double-cross led to the breakup of the most powerful promotional group of the 1920s, the Gold Dust Trio.

The Common Myths About the Match and What Really Happened. The Aftermath.

You can leave a comment or ask a question about this or any post on my Facebook page or Twitter profile.

Pin It