Good morning!
How are all my favorite pro wrestling enthusiasts?
I'm still moving stuff and trying to get organized at the new Richards Ranch in Kentucky. I think I have at least my bed lined up and I found the boxes with my sheets and pillows, so I can sleep there at least maybe tonight.
The contractors got my bathroom all finished so I have a shower and toilet that works. My Starlink is positioned out in the backyard, and I have internet access. The speed is phenomenal. I would highly recommend to anyone who is dissatisfied with your internet access.
I'm not kidding, I am way beyond "the sticks" as they say and it sucked my emails in like a powerful vacuum cleaner. I pulled up my YouTube TV and it works great. All of my Pro Wrestling Footage on my Google Drive as well as the podcast storage we need works tremendously.
If I can find my portable desk I could be in business to start working from there by Friday.
We have some great things to cover in this issue. Sadly, it’s the RIP anniversary of two of the most beloved performers in pro wrestling history today and we have three great match flashbacks to review, two from the 1930s and one from the 1980s that I thought we would include today due to the recent passing of Hulk Hogan.
Let's begin with our daily pro wrestler tributes.
July 31st in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
"The Black Panther" Jim Mitchell 1908
Roy McClarity 1918
Kevin Greene 1962
Happy Birthday:
John Laurinaitis (63)
David Tyler "Kid" Kash (56)
Eric Watts (40)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Roddy Piper 7-31-2015 at the age of 61
"The Exotic" Adrian Street 7-31-2023 at the age of 83
91 Year Flashback
7-31-1934: Hugh Nichols defeated The Masked Marvel (Maupin) in a two out of three falls match where his mask was at stake at the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana
This particular Masked Marvel was a wrestler who was going by the name Billy Lewis at the time but would become more well known as a promoter in Ohio known as Cliff Maupin. This is a completely different Masked Marvel character and wrestler than in my "West Texas Mystery" article about the Masked Marvel who worked in both West Texas and Mexico. This is also not the same original Masked Marvel from New York. This Masked Marvel was used to imitate the popular gimmick in Louisiana and they "unmasked" Maupin several times over the next few weeks throughout the territory including a match with LeRoy McGuirk in a couple weeks on August 10th, 1934.
By the late 1930s Maupin had acquired and was running the Toledo, Ohio promotion, promoting consistent shows featuring talent across the Midwest. He developed a reputation for staging good cards that helped establish Toledo as a solid wrestling town. Maupin collaborated with Jack Pfefer and Al Haft among others and also ran Sandusky, Ohio beginning in 1957.
Cliff Maupin passed away on October 11, 1967, at the age of 69. He never achieved the stature or notoriety of Haft or Fred Kohler or some of the other more well-known NWA affiliated offices or local promoters, he did leave a lasting impact on the establishment of the state of Ohio as a significant wrestling area during its golden era.
*See my notes about Hugh Nichols in the “One Thing” section below.
90 Year Flashback
7-30-1935: Danno Mahoney defeated Ed Don George to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship (Boston Version) in Boston, Massachusetts
This match is significant because it unified the three major world heavyweight wrestling titles of this era. The AWA version held by Ed Don George, the New York State Athletic Commission version (NYSAC) and the National Wrestling Association (NWA) versions that Mahoney had won about a month earlier by defeating Jim Londos on June 27th, 1935, at Fenway Park in Boston. Check Issue 73 of this newsletter on June 27th to read about that historic match and the aftermath which led to Londos going back to Greece.
Mahoney, a former Irish Army soldier promoted heavily by Paul Bowser is Boston as an ethnic Irish hero, was on a remarkable undefeated streak in North America at this time, with this victory marking his 62nd or 63rd consecutive win, depending on which records you want to use.
Mahoney had arrived in the United States in late 1934, quickly rising to stardom under Bowser's guidance. Londos hadn't lost in years and losing to Mahoney positioned him as a top contender and set the stage for this unification match.
Pictured: The Champions, Danno Mahoney and Ed Don George
Ed Don George, as documented in Dan Murphy's excellent biography, was a skilled Greco-Roman wrestler and navy veteran from New York, had held the AWA Title since 1931 and was seen as a popular babyface champion pushed by Bowser for years. The match was announced in early July as a high-stakes title versus title clash, with Mahoney training intensively at a Massachusetts inn for preparation. It was hyped as a potential undisputed world championship decider, drawing significant interest amid the Great Depression-era popularity of wrestling.
The referee was James J. Braddock, the reigning heavyweight boxing champion, famous for his upset win over Max Baer that year, which was portrayed in the movie "Cinderella Man". The match lasted around 90 minutes featuring intense wrestling where both men avoided the other's signature moves. Mahoney's "Irish Whip" and all of George's holds.
The finish was controversial and chaotic. George threw Mahoney out of the ring twice. The second time, Braddock counted to 20, which was the standard for the count out, but he made no ruling, which confused everyone, including the increasingly angry crowd. George, who believed he had won, began to leave the ring area. Mahoney then re-entered the ring, threw George out, and Braddock counted to 20, declaring Mahoney the winner by count out.
This was considered by the press and the fans to be a "screw-job" finish and sparked immediate outrage. Attendants and seconds from both sides proceeded to fight, leading to a riot in the crowd that lasted about 15 minutes to get settled down. George protested vehemently and refused to hand over the "Ed Lewis" championship belt.
Reported gates and attendance vary, but estimates are in the 10,000 to 15,000 range from the New York Times & Los Angeles Times and 36,000 from the Boston Post or even in some accounts as large as 40,000 to 65,000. The gate receipts were around $60,000, an amazing sum in the middle of the Great Depression.
Pictured: The Undisputed Unified World Champion, Danno Mahoney
This match made Mahoney the closest thing to an undisputed world champion in the fragmented wrestling landscape of the era, though uneasy and difficult promoter relationships soon broke up this unification. A rematch with Ed Don George in September of 1935 saw Mahoney retain with another victory (his 70th straight). Mahoney's popularity waned due to his perceived inexperience and controversial nature of his pushes; he would lose the unified titles, first to Dick Shikat in March of 1936 and the AWA version to Yvon Robert in July of 1936.
This match remains a landmark in pro wrestling history for its role in title unification efforts and an example of how finishes not handled properly being taken so seriously by the staffs of the wrestlers and especially by the fans. The behind-the-scenes politics continued through wrestling's history until 2001.
37-Year Flashback
7-31-1988: Hulk Hogan defeated Andre the Giant in a Steel Cage Match in the main event of WrestleFest for the WWF in Milwaukee County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Pictured: Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant in a Cage Match, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 31, 1988
25,866 fans flooded into the stadium to witness this match as a next stage match in the Hogan\Andre program over a year after WrestleMania 3. This is the first and only cage match the two ever worked inside. Originally rumored to have been considered for the main event for WrestleMania 4, this match was only promoted in Milwaukee and was never referred to in any storyline.
Doing cages matches like the WWF did them, which was by using the "escape to win" rather than a pinfall victory, allowed Andre to lose again to Hogan without there being a pinfall to end the match. Andre was back with Bobby Heenan for this match and the two generated quite a bit of heat with the crowd when it was still possible to do so, even this late in the territorial era.
This match was about what most would have expected from Hogan and from Andre, which at this time, was highly immobile in the ring and lasting around ten minutes. Hogan escaped the cage after Andre once again used the "get himself tangled in the ropes" spot which allowed Hogan to escape the cage to win. Andre used that spot a lot by this time in his career. Hogan and Andre had two more matches, which were only significant for one big reason, they were in Jim Crockett Promotions' two most significant cities. Greensboro on August 7th and Atlanta on October 23rd.
Vince McMahon smelled blood in the water at this point in the war, even though he may not have known Jim Crockett, Jr and family were negotiating with Turner Broadcasting to sell at the time, he was hiring a few of JCP's significant talent who were not getting paid, so he knew times were not good. He fired two big shots at the heart of their territory with Hogan and Andre main events.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Hugh Nichols was the first World Light Heavyweight Champion, winning the championship on April 4th, 1940. Nichols' in-ring career ended after a parachuting accident that broke both his legs. He became a promoter in Southern California working with Cal Eaton And Johnny Doyle's LA Office and promoting towns like San Diego.
He experienced another tragedy when he accidentally struck and killed a 5-year old girl who was running across a highway. The accident devastated Nichols and sent him into a deep depression. Eventually, Nichols committed suicide on December 15th, 1956. He was 58 years old.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Paid Subscribers.