Lewis “Triumphs” in Fake Match

The April 12, 1887 edition of the St. Paul Daily Globe carried a story about the bout between feared professional wrestlers, Evan “Strangler” Lewis and “Little Demon” Joe Acton.  Other wrestlers feared Lewis’ ability as a submission expert particularly his abilities with the stranglehold.  Joe Acton, while undersized at 150 pounds, was a ferocious wrestler.

The bout should have been a classic but the newspaper revealed a not-so shocking revelation.  The match was a “hippodrome”, a faked match.

Why Lewis and Acton would take part in a faked match is not known but it may have been to stimulate betting on the match.  Acton won the first fall.  A man in the crowd had been trying to get people at ringside to bet $100 to $60 that Lewis would win.

After Acton “won” the first fall in under ten minutes, this man and several backers again attempted to get wagers of $100 to $50 on Lewis’ victory.  Still no takers.  If betting was the reason for the fix, the backers were unsuccessful in “conning the mugs”.

Lewis won the next three falls with comparative ease.  Considering that Acton gave Clarence Whistler all he could handle, it does not seem possible that even the talented Lewis could have beaten Acton so easily.

Prior to the 1915 New York Wrestling Tournament, which turned the tide of professional wrestling towards spectacle, many matches were legitimate.  However, allegations of fixed matches arose in wrestling as early at the middle of the Nineteenth Century.

For the wrestlers, they may have fixed matches for a number of reasons.  To stimulate interest in a legitimate championship match, to protect against injury or because the match would not afford them any real advantage.

Just like prizefighting, organized crime bosses might have had their hands into the wrestling scene also.  Even William Muldoon was accused of fixing matches.  It appears Muldoon did take part in some prearranged contests.

The only champion not known to have taken part in fixed matches was George Hackenschmidt, the World Wrestling Champion from 1901 to 1908.

This match does appear to have been a setup due to Lewis not using his stranglehold in the match.  Lewis frequently used this hold to win his matches and became enraged when officials tried to ban it.

Joe Acton continued to wrestle in he was almost 60 years old.  Evan Lewis retired at 39 years of age.  Lewis actually beat Acton in a legitimate match in March of 1887.  This match though was not the same kind of contest.

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