10 WWE Big Men Who Were Surprisingly Good Wrestlers
9. Blackjack Mulligan
Blackjack Mulligan was a 6’7”, 340lb mammoth of a former US Marine whose size and power were rivaled only by Andre the Giant through the 1970s. The grandfather of current WWE stars Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas, he comprised one half of The Blackjacks with his partner Jack Lanza, and while he couldn’t pull-off the flips and dropkicks of some of the wrestlers on this list, he was an extremely under-rated professional wrestler.
Mulligan rarely put-on a bad match. He fought with such hard-hitting intensity that you genuinely felt worried for his opponents’ health and safety, and while primarily known for his brawling skills, Blackjack also brought an under-rated technical game to the table.
His Clawhold submission became one of wrestling’s most infamous finishing moves and, although his peak years had come and gone by the time wrestling reached national exposure, he’s a WWE Hall of Famer with one Tag Team Championship reign to his name.
Blackjack shared a number of similarities with kindred spirits Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen, and not just in terms of wrestling style. He was one of wrestling’s true journeymen: an independent spirit who bounced from promotion to promotion in search of the biggest payday, without ever settling in one place for too long.
As such, he never got the big-time push in a major promotion that his talents perhaps deserved, but his legacy is undeniable.