Time – January 19, 1925
Two men shook hands on a mat in full view of 15,000 Kansans. One was Wayne (“Big”) Munn of Kansas City, local hero. The other was Ed. (“Strangler”) Lewis, world’s heavyweight wrestling champion, whose unpopularity was evinced by squalls of boos.
Then began the slapping, spanking bout of brawn and brain. A sinewy limb slipped under an unprotected crotch, another encircled an unguarded torso, there was a sudden jerk forward, followed by a heavy fall, and Champion Lewis found himself pinioned beneath 250 pounds of his opponent.
The second fall began with feline caution. The two wrestlers stepped this way and that but never a hold did they get. Suddenly Munn strode forward, seized the hapless Lewis, heaved him high into the air and over the ropes. The fall was heavy, but its noise was drowned by the thunderous applause from the Kansans. Lewis lay prone. Invectives were hurled at his limp form.
Meantime, Billy Sandow, Lewis’ manager, had jumped into the ring. “It’s a foul!” cried he. “A dirty foul! You’ve got to award us the match!” The swarthy Munn peered querulously across the mat, tore off his bathrobe, assumed a bellicose attitude, confronted the irate manager. Munn’s manager likewise grew threatening; but for all that the referee gave the fall to Lewis on a foul, allowing the latter 15 minutes to get back into the ring. The crowd was indignant, stormed about the ringside, hooting, booing.
The last fall was quickly decided. Lewis appeared, his back well bandaged; soon he was lying limp on those bandages. The heavyweight title had passed to Wayne Munn. The crowd went “mad-dog,” scrambled on its seats, shook the rafters of Convention Hall as it screeched, boomed, barked salvos of shouts for the victor. Many sportsmen caterwauled at the dejected figure with the bowed head in the centre of the ring. A yokel was heard to shout: “You big bum, I hope you’re hurt!”
After the match, Lewis was taken to a hospital, where it was said that he was suffering from a strained sacroiliac joint (that part of the vertebra that joins the pelvis). His discharge from the hospital was considered imminent, but there were plenty of opinions that said he would never Wrestle again.
Manager Sandow remarked after the match:
“If Munn thinks he is going to get that diamond belt* he is mistaken, for he should have been fouled out of the bout when he threw Lewis from the ring.”
* Belt studded with 39 diamonds and worth $10,000. It was awarded to the champion several years ago by the Central Athletic Club.
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