Lewis Shoots With Steele
On Monday, December 6, 1932, 41-year-old Ed “Strangler” Lewis wrestled one of his last legitimate contests to settle a promotional dispute in New York. After initially being allies in promotion, Jim Londos broke away from Jack Curley’s group in New York. To restore peace, the parties decided on a legitimate contest or “shoot” to settle the dispute.
Joseph “Toots” Mondt recruited his old training and promotional partner, Ed “Strangler” Lewis, to wrestle for Curley’s side. Despite his advanced age and worsening blindness caused by trachoma, few wrestlers could beat Lewis.
Ed “Strangler” Lewis with his world title belt (Public Domain)
Jim Londos was scared to death of Lewis even though Londos had some legitimate wrestling and submission skills. Londos knew he was not on Lewis’ level and Lewis detested Londos. When the men finally wrestled in 1934 in front of thirty-two thousand plus fans, Lewis had to put up $50,000 as a guarantee to get Londos in the ring. If Lewis shot on Londos and beat him legitimately, promoters had to pay Londos the $50,000 forfeit.
For this match, Londos chose his policeman, Ray Steele. 32-year-old Steele protected Londos from any shooters, who may show up to challenge him. Londos also gave Steele bad advice. Londos told Steele to wrestle barefoot because Lewis wrestled barefoot.
Lewis’ practice developed thick callouses on the soles of his feet. Lou Thesz said the bottom of Lewis’ foot was like shoe leather. Ray Steele, who normally wore shoes, did not have this thick layer of callouses to protect his feet.
Lou Thesz said that when Steele entered the ring, Lewis warned Steele that Londos gave him bad advice. Lewis liked Steele even though he hated his boss. Lewis warned Steele the mat would cut his feet up if Steele did not put his shoes back on.
The newspapers correctly reported the bout as a shooting match. The match progressed as many legitimate contests between skilled wrestlers. The match consisted of Lewis bulling Steele around the ring preventing any offense from Steele. The wrestlers applied no holds through the match.
Lewis also tried for the occasional body hold. Steele dove through the ropes three times to avoid Lewis’ body hold attempts.
Photo of Ray Steele courtesy of the Library of Congress (Public Domain)
At about the thirty-minute mark, Lewis and Steele fell to the mat but scrambled back to their feet. The men returned to pushing each other around again.
By now, the soles of Ray Steele’s feet were tender and bleeding. Lewis suggested to Steele that Steele punch Lewis. The referee would have to disqualify Steele for the obvious foul ending the contest. Steel agreed and punched Lewis three times in front of the referee.
The referee did not disqualify Steele at once but warned him that he would disqualify Steele for one more punch. Steele punched Lewis again causing the referee to disqualify Steele.
The ending confused some of the wrestlers from both camps. John Evko, aligned with “Strangler” Lewis, jumped into the ring and tried to attack Steele. The referee stopped Evko and both Lewis’ and Steele’s managers separated everyone.
Wrestler Jim Martin, aligned with Londos, took a swing at 56-year-old New York City promoter Jack Curley. New York City Police Officers near Curley prevented the assault and arrested Martin.
Curley appeared upset that the match was a letdown for the fans, who struggled to understand what they were seeing. The legitimate contest bored and confused the fans in the arena. However, the match settled the dispute. Curley could book entertaining cards fans could understand going forward.
Lewis wrestled a few more contests but blindness and age brought down the curtain on his career. Both played a role in Lewis’ last contest a few years later.
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Sources: Times Union (Brooklyn, New York), December 6, 1932, p. 15 and Hooker by Lou Thesz
