6 Wrestling Screwjobs Other Than THAT One
5. The Ed 'Strangler' Lewis Trifecta
By the 1920s, wrestling promoters like Billy Sandow and Paul Bowser had already made names for themselves as ruthless and capable businessmen. And the screwjob was just one of the tools in their arsenals.
Curiously, Ed 'Strangler' Lewis played a role in three different screwjobs.
In 1925, Lewis (Billy Sandow's chosen one) lost the title to former college football player Wayne Munn as part of an angle to draw football fans to wrestling. But Lewis and Sandow were betrayed when the formerly-trustworthy Stanislaus Zbyszko went rogue, shooting on Munn and beating him so badly that the ref called the match for Zbyszko rather than risk inciting a riot in Philadelphia.
Sandow got the match erased from the books in Michigan and Illinois, and had the titleless "champion" Munn drop the belt back to Lewis, despite Zbyszko holding the actual title (which he'd later drop to another competitor).
In 1931, Strangler was set to lose to champion Ed Don George -- a champion chosen by Paul Bowser without Sandow or Lewis's knowledge -- but threatened to turn the match into a shoot. George, knowing he couldn't win a shoot fight with Lewis, did the job and the Strangler became champion again.
But Strangler got his just desserts later the same year, when he defended the title against Henri DeGlane.
Lewis was scheduled to win the match in three falls, but after the second fall, DeGlane retreated to the back, and bit himself in the arm, near the armpit, until he drew blood. Returning to the ring, he revealed the wound with a scream, and the ref disqualified Lewis for biting DeGlane.
A furious Lewis went backstage to take his anger out on Paul Bowser, only to be turned away by baseball-bat wielding bodyguards. He had been out-screwjobbed by a master.