Prepping Munn for Lewis

On Sunday, December 14, 1924, “Big” Wayne Munn wrestled Joseph “Toots” Mondt in the main event of the wrestling card at the Kansas City, Missouri, Convention Hall.  10,000 fans showed up to cheer on Munn, a former college football player for the University of Nebraska.

Munn was billed at 6’06”, which may have been an exaggeration but he was significantly taller than most professional wrestlers.  He also legitimately weighed between 250 and 260 pounds.

Drawn by Munn’s popularity on the football field, Billy Sandow, the promoter/manager of the Gold Dust Trio, recruited Munn into professional wrestling in 1924.  Sandow intended to build Munn up for a match with World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis.  Lewis and Mondt were the other two members of the Trio.

The challenge with developing Munn was his lack of experience with wrestling.  He wasn’t an accomplished amateur wrestler, so he had no background in actual wrestling.  In general, it takes much longer to develop skills in grappling arts than striking arts.  Munn would be considered a “performer”.  Performers could skillfully work a wrestling match but didn’t have any legitimate wrestling skills.

To hide his limitations, Munn originally worked short matches lasting only a few minutes.  He would lift his opponents off the mat with a crotch hold, drop them to the mat and follow the opponent down landing with all his weight on the helpless foe.  Munn did this well enough to convince fans he could wrestle.  He became extremely popular in a short time particularly in the Kansas City, Missouri area.

Although Lewis and Mondt were against putting the world title on Munn because of his vulnerability to a legitimate wrestler, Sandow insisted.  With his burgeoning popularity, Sandow saw Munn’s earning potential.

As the final preparation for a match with Lewis, Mondt booked himself with Munn.  Since championship matches sometimes lasted a couple hours, the Trio needed Munn to at least wrestle for 30 minutes.  Mondt wanted to lead Munn through a longer match to make sure Munn was ready and, more importantly, make sure fans saw Munn as a legitimate contender.

The plan went well as Munn won this match in two straight falls.  Munn again used his crotch hold to throw Mondt but it took him 29 minutes, 35 seconds to secure the first fall.  The second fall occurred in a much faster 4 minutes, 20 seconds.

Fans left the venue happy and talking about Munn being the man to defeat Ed “Strangler” Lewis.  Sandow felt the same way.  Would it be a mistake?

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Source: The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska), December 15, 1924 edition, p. 3

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