Today’s Favorite Quote: The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way - Unknown
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Bulldog Bob Brown 1938
Happy Birthday:
Missy Hyatt (63)
Lenny Lane (56)
Juan Carlos Banos\Lizmark Jr (54)
Justin Credible (53)
Devon Nicholson\Hannibal (44)
Kenny Omega (43)
Fuego Del Sol (31)
Xia Brookside (28)
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.
Stu Hart 10-15-2003 at the age of 88
Life and Career of Blackjack Lanza
John Mortl Lanzo, known throughout professional wrestling as Blackjack Lanza, was born on October 14, 1935, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to William Lanzo and Louise Mortl. Standing 6 feet 5 inches and weighing in the neighborhood of 250 to 253 pounds, he was an imposing physical specimen even before he entered the ring. After attending the University of Minnesota, he worked for a time as a sociology teacher.
Like many big, athletic men of his generation who drifted into the territorial system, he was recruited and trained by Verne Gagne, the dominant figure in the American Wrestling Association based in Minneapolis. Lanza debuted around 1961, initially working a handful of dates for NWA Mid-America in Birmingham, Alabama, under the name Joe Lanza. He briefly held the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship in that early stretch.
By mid-1962 he had returned home and joined Gagne’s AWA as Jack Lanza, later billed as “Cowboy” Jack Lanza. In these formative years he was positioned as a babyface, a straightforward, hard-working big man who relied on size, strength, and a basic brawling style. He made occasional appearances in other territories, including a short run in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling around 1963–64 and sporadic work for the St. Louis Wrestling Club under Sam Muchnick. In February 1969 he went to a 60-minute draw with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Gene Kiniski in St. Louis, one of the more notable singles results of his early career.
The character that would define him took shape in the late 1960s. In the Indianapolis-based World Wrestling Association, run by Wilbur Snyder and Dick the Bruiser, he was transformed into Blackjack Lanza, a rugged Western heel billed from Albuquerque, New Mexico, or sometimes Laredo, Texas. Managed by the young Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, he adopted the black cowboy hat, boots, and mean-spirited persona that earned him the nickname “The World’s Meanest Wrestler.” In September 1967 he defeated Wilbur Snyder for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship and held the title for nearly two years, losing it to Dick the Bruiser in August 1969. During this period he also began the association that would make him famous.
In November 1971, still in Indianapolis, Lanza was paired with Bob Windham, who was given the name Blackjack Mulligan. The two men, both large, legitimate main-event talents, formed The Blackjacks under Heenan’s management. They were instantly recognizable: black cowboy hats, black boots, black vests, and a roughhouse style that emphasized stomping, clawholds (especially Lanza’s signature Iron Claw), and piledrivers.
Mulligan later observed that most tag teams of the era consisted of one strong man and one weaker partner, whereas he and Lanza were both main-eventers, which made them difficult to book but highly effective when they clicked. They won the WWA World Tag Team Championship in November 1971 from Paul Christy and Wilbur Snyder and held it until September 1972, when they dropped the belts to Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher.
The Blackjacks became a reliable money-drawing unit across multiple territories. They worked Indianapolis, Chicago, Dallas (NWA Big Time Wrestling), Montreal, and elsewhere. In Texas in 1974 they captured the NWA American Tag Team Championship, and Lanza briefly held the vacant NWA American Heavyweight Championship that December before losing it to Fritz Von Erich. Their highest-profile run came in 1975 in the World Wide Wrestling Federation.
On August 26, 1975, in a two-out-of-three-falls match, they defeated Dominic DeNucci and Pat Barrett to win the WWWF World Tag Team Championship. Vince McMahon Sr. had promised Lanza a World Heavyweight Championship shot once a month as part of the arrangement. The team was managed in New York by Captain Lou Albano, who described them as “big, quick, rugged guys… temperamental, but they were pretty good guys.” Their reign lasted roughly four months before they lost the titles to Louis Cerdan (Gino Brito) and Tony Parisi. Mulligan then departed for a singles career in Charlotte; the original Blackjacks partnership effectively ended in late 1975, though they would reunite sporadically later.
Lanza continued as a top heel in the AWA, often managed by Heenan and frequently teaming with Bobby Duncum as part of the Heenan Family. On July 23, 1976, Lanza and Duncum defeated the aging Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher for the AWA World Tag Team Championship; they held the belts for about a year before dropping them to Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne. In 1979 he had a short but successful run in Georgia Championship Wrestling, defeating Bob Armstrong for the NWA Georgia Television Championship in April or May and losing it to Ray Candy in August. He also held the AWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship at one point.
By the early 1980s his in-ring activity had slowed. He returned to the AWA around 1983, engaged in a series of bunkhouse matches with Bobby Heenan, and briefly reunited with Mulligan for tag matches in St. Louis and the AWA in 1984, including challenges against teams such as Jerry Blackwell and Ken Patera. His final recorded match came on August 2, 1985, in Denver for the AWA, when he teamed with Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher and lost to Ray Stevens, Terry Gordy, and Michael Hayes. He retired from active competition that year after roughly twenty-four years in the ring.
Lanza’s second career proved as influential as his first. He joined the World Wrestling Federation as a road agent and producer, remaining a trusted backstage figure for many years, through the national expansion of the 1980s, the 1990s, and well into the Attitude Era and beyond. Colleagues described him as a straight-talking mentor who handled match finishes, travel logistics, and venue issues while offering practical advice to younger talent. Vince Russo recalled soaking up knowledge from him; others, including JBL (who later noted Lanza as a father-figure mentor) and Matt Hardy, credited him with guidance on working the road. He was one of the agents who could deal directly with Vince McMahon Jr. He remained active in that capacity into the 2000s before fully retiring.
In 2004 Lanza inducted Bobby Heenan into the WWE Hall of Fame. On April 1, 2006, The Blackjacks were inducted as a team, with Heenan returning the favor as their presenter. In 2016 the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame also inducted The Blackjacks; by that time Lanza was in declining health and unable to attend. He had always been private and rarely gave extensive interviews. When asked in a 1976 newspaper interview whether wrestling was fake, he reportedly replied that if the questioner intended to pursue that line, there was no point in continuing the conversation. In an earlier feature he matter-of-factly listed his injuries: a broken nose, knocked-out teeth, a broken jaw, broken fingers, and damaged knees.
Pictured: WWE Execitive Paul Levesque and Jack Lanza
Lanza married Barbara Jean Kalil on September 28, 1957. They lived for many years in Douglas County, Minnesota. He died on December 8, 2021, at the age of 86 after a period of poor health; the news was announced by Jim Ross. No funeral was held, in accordance with his wishes.
Blackjack Lanza’s legacy rests on two pillars. As a wrestler he embodied the territorial heel of the 1960s and 1970s: a big, mean cowboy whose presence, whether solo or alongside Blackjack Mulligan, consistently drew money. The Blackjacks were among the earliest themed tag teams whose visual presentation and coordinated brutality translated across territories. As a road agent he helped bridge the territorial era to the modern national promotion, mentoring talent and maintaining the practical standards of match construction and locker-room professionalism that the business required. In an industry that often discarded its veterans, he remained useful and respected long after he stepped between the ropes for the last time.
One Thing I Learned About John Quinn
He was a first cousin of NHL Hall of Famer and coach Pat Quinn.
Both were from Hamilton, Ontario, and as young men they both tried out for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League before going their separate ways in sports. This family connection is rarely mentioned in wrestling circles but links a rugged territorial heel (who challenged Bruno Sammartino at Madison Square Garden as Virgil the Kentucky Butcher, later became a major draw and multi-time World Heavyweight Champion in British wrestling, and worked worldwide under numerous names) to one of hockey’s most respected figures.
Thank You for Watching and Listening
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 and each episode of our podcast show. Thanks for your support! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
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Good read