41 Most Disgusting Promotional Tactics In Wrestling History RANKED
26. 1984 - Blackjack Mulligan’s Fake Heart Attack
A true outlaw in an era of them, Blackjack Mulligan - marine, football player, wrestler, grandfather of Bray Wyatt, jailed counterfeiter - was one of the most memorable and convincing stars of the territory era. A skyscraper of a man, he once beat up Kerry Von Erich and Rick Hazzard during a stint for World Class. Anybody who watched him would have believed it. His shoot brawl prowess extended to beatings of Harley Race, Ole Anderson and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie, all of whom very much capable of looking after himself.
As feared as he was, that didn’t prevent two fans from stabbing Mulligan with a pig fat-dipped knife that infected his leg.
If you think Mulligan knew his way around a con, you would be correct - inside and outside of the ring.
When working a programme with Kevin Sullivan in the Florida territory, he teased having a heart condition. Those who knew of what was a rigged game knew what to expect; in an angle, Mulligan suffered a heart attack. This was unquestionably in poor taste - a desperate reaction to declining business. It wasn’t instrumental in the downfall of Championship Wrestling from Florida, but the stunt evidently didn’t help; the promotion shuttered three years later in 1987. After that, the mercurial Blackjack drifted away from the business, last working the ‘Legend’s Night’ WCW Slamboree special on May 23, 1993.
In a sobering irony, Mulligan suffered from a legitimate heart attack, not his first, the year before he died, aged 73, on April 7, 2016.