Fakirs At Work
Chapter Four: Clarence Whistler Versus William Muldoon
#PWHS #Article #FakirsAtWork #FAW #Hippodrome #Whistler #Muldoon #SolidMan
A look at the moments in history which made audiences cry-out, "Hippodrome!"
October 31, 1883 - San Francisco Chronicle
So, this week we're looking at William Muldoon and a man who took America, Australia and the professional wrestling world by storm. Clarence Whistler is a man who was only on the mats for six years of his life due to it being cut short. His on-going relationship with William Muldoon was certainly a huge part of that career and definitely his success.
When I read through the series of events which took place between these two men, I can't help but feel slightly reminiscent of the previous article which focused a lot on William Muldoon and Professor William Miller. Hopefully I'm not alone and you will all see the same similarities as myself.
1881-1884
In January of 1881 Clarence Whistler and William Muldoon entered into a business relationship together forming a troupe to tour America. Along with them they normally took Andre Christol. The exact date of that this athletic combination was formed is currently unknown, but on January 26, 1881 the two met in a wrestling match that lasted for six hours. Around two thousand people were in attendance at the Terrace Gardens Theatre in New York City to witness it.
The only reason the pair stopped wrestling was due to the owner of the property turning off of the gas lights and refusing to allow more time to be issued in the venue. Therefore a rematch was to be scheduled. This first match saw no bad publicity (that I know of) and was very well received. Members of the audience even offered to pay one dollar each to the proprietor at the four A.M. curfew to get the lights lit again.
Two months later in a contest Whistler is said to have broken Henry Moses Dufur's arm. Two months after that on May 7, 1881, Whistler defeated Muldoon two falls to one in approximately sixty minutes. Again there is no talk of foul play here. in fact, there's no cry of hippodroming for some time in their relationship. It's worth noting that this contest on May 7 and many other contests competed between the two while touring the country as business partners were always billed as "Exhibitions" between the World Graeco-Roman Champion (Muldoon) and the World Catch-as-Catch-Can Champion (Whistler), but they were always portrayed as being competitive exhibitions. On the same night one or both men would also face Andre Christol. Muldoon would win the Graeco-Roman falls and Whistler the Catch-as-Catch-Can, Christol, who was the veteran of the combination normally lost no matter who he faced.
on March 7, 1882 in Chicago, Illinois there's the first (known) signs of dissension between the two.
Together they were putting on one of their shows. The feature presentation was to be Andre Christol versus Clarence Whistler with William Muldoon as the referee. Whistler apparently became angry during the bout and got rough with Christol, who naturally retaliated. From there it turned into what would best be described as either a "pier six brawl" or a "slobber knocker" as the two wrestlers threw the rules out the window and went at it in a rough and tumble style. Muldoon was said to be mortified and annoyed at the break down between the two men and called people around to break them up.
As Christol was dragged away Muldoon attempted to hold Whistler back. Whistler turned his attention to Muldoon and started to attack him. After what is described as quite a struggle, Muldoon managed to grasp Whistler around the neck, hook him under the legs and carry him off of the stage into the back. He came back out shortly after some loud thumps were heard back there and announced Whistler had been drunk, he was now restrained in the back with a loud cut on his head and would be back tomorrow for his performance. Muldoon himself had a large area of swelling on his forehead.
In July of 1882 the following small article is printed in a Logansport, Indiana newspaper:
"Whistler, the wrestling demon, is still out West vainly trying to make Wm. Muldoon meet him in a Graeco-Roman wrestling match for the championship."
Through-out the remainder of the year and into the early part of 1883 papers continued to report that Whistler was challenging Muldoon. In March he stated he had a man who he would back to beat Muldoon, or any man. Muldoon was claiming retirement the whole time. Then on April 1 it was reported:
"Clarence Whistler explains why William Muldoon will not meet him in a Graeco-Roman wrestling contest. The Kansas City Hercules says Muldoon is afraid of the 'double cross,' which Whistler explains as follows: 'Muldoon knows me to be the better man, but I for a stake consent to let him throw me. He backs himself heavily and I quietly cover all his bets. Then I throw him.' So this is the 'double cross' that keeps Muldoon back. Well, we don't wonder Muldoon is afraid to wrestle. If Whistler would agree to be thrown, Muldoon knows he would be 'double crossed.'"
Andre Christol recalled to a newspaper in June 1883 that through-out the winter of 1882 and up until present day that Whistler kept turning up at shows put on by Muldoon. He said every time that Whistler turned up, Muldoon would not even get on the stage. This article ends in the same way as the next though, with their bout on January 26, 1881 being the culmination of the badgering.
Also in a paper in June 1883 recalls the order of events differently (the paper is grossly wrong). It states the athletic combination with Andre Christol happened before the January 26, 1881 match that took place. It states any match between the two that took place during the time of the combination was note a bonafide contest, but that long match was one of the few in the history of professional wrestling which was a legitimate contest. Now, due to the fact it gets the chronology of what happened completely incorrect, it brings up large doubt in how much can be taken for certainty on the legitimacy side of things. To the best of my knowledge, the January 26, 1881 contest was their first match and the matches they had as a combination, may have included that one, but definitely included any time they met between January 31, 1881 and spring of 1882.
Finally on November 1, 1883 the two met again. This time it was in San Francisco, California at the Mechanic's Pavilion in front of four thousand strong. The match was said to be a rough one with each man winning a fall. Some claimed that Whistler should have won the match, but several falls were disallowed. Muldoon claimed he should have won the contest as in the end Whistler had to stop wrestling when he suffered a broken collarbone. Reportedly a doctor confirmed that it was broken.
The following letter was sent by Whistler to the San Francisco Bulletin which printed it on January 31, 1884:
"'I see that the two Frenchmen have again challenged Muldoon, also that the latter has deposited $1,000 to bind such matches. Since then I have heard or seen nothing in regard to Hugues or Bauer. Now, if Mr. Muldoon is in the humor for making a series of matches, I would like to get up a match with him, and I think that judging from the result of our last meeting, no man has a better right to ask a return match at his hands than I have. My shoulder is thoroughly mended, and very nearly as strong as ever, and if Mr. Muldoon will fix the time - say in six weeks - I will give him an evening's exercise which will make him sweat a little than he usually does. I shall be much pleased to learn that the $1,000 now up is also open to me. There will be no long interval between my learning the fact and covering the same.'"
It was divulged in a March 1884 edition of the New York Tribune that the original falling out between Muldoon and Whistler in late spring/early summer of 1882 was over a woman:
"The coming Graeco-Roman wrestling match between Muldoon and Whistler on Monday night is the chief topic in sporting circles. It will be a match for blood, as the men are bitter enemies, both having wooed the same woman. Muldoon proved successful in love, as he has thus far been in wrestling. If he overcomes Whister this time Muldoon may be fairly called the champion wrestler of the country."
They met again on March 24 once again at the Mechanic's Hall in front of what was said to be a "Large crowd." This time they went to a two hour draw with Muldoon claiming he was tired in the third fall and it being agreed the contest was going nowhere. The Reno Gazette recalled that the match was met with disgust by the crowd and that it proved to be a hippodrome and even Muldoon himself admitted Whistler was the better man by saying, "If I had attempted to wrestle, Whistler would have thrown me," in response to questions on why he stayed in defensive.
It was printed on March 27 that Whistler told a San Francisco Paper:
"My attention has been attracted to a card from Muldoon, published in the Alta, I have this to say in connection with the late wrestle with Muldoon. He states that the propisition to call the match a draw emanated from me. I wish to say that this is not so. And further, I will put up $1,000 that I can throw this alleged champion inside of fifteen minutes, if he will wrestle, the match to take place in the presence of four friends of each of the principals; or the match to take place in a hall, the entire proceeds go to a benevolent instritution. Muldoon sent word to me asking for the draw. I'm willing to bet $100 to ten cents that Muldoon does not know what it is to make a square match. He has never wrestled one in his life, and I can prove it. All his matches with me have been frauds. I can bring up Englehardt and Bauer to show that all of his wrestles have been arranged beforhand, so that he would be declared a victor."
This account of the match was provided by the Daily Alta California, on 31 March 1884:
"Some More Inside History About the Late Wrestle.
Muldoon has lost his old popularity here, but that is no good reason why he should not have fair play. A little clique who do not represent anyone's opinion but their own, and their opinions are more apt to be governed by dubious motives than those of the average run of men, are endeavoring to put all the blame of the late fiasco on Muldoon's shoulders and make a hero out of Whistler. If there was any improper agreement about the match, Whistler must have been a party to it. Whistler claims that his former match with Muldoon was a made-up affair. It hardly looked like it when Whistler was led from the stage suffering with a broken shoulder bone. When Whistler went ot the referee in the last match and asked for a draw, he said it was no use going on, as Muldoon would not stand up and wrestle. If he is the demon wrestler that he and his friends claim, one naturally asks why he did not throw Muldoon down and turn him over. Surely the man who boasts of his ability to throw muldoon in 15 minutes ought to be able to perform the introductory step, getting him down, in that time. Whistler has talked too much and Muldoon too little about this affair. He should come out and say frankly that when Whistler wanted the match off after $2,300 worth of seats had been sold, because he feared for his injured shoulder, Muldoon, rather than lose the prospective gate-money and disappoint his old friend Engelhardt, pledged his honor that he would not handle Whistler's hurt shoulder. He kept his word, and now has to suffer, as every man has to suffer who is not perfectly frank in dealing with the public.""
The two never squared off again. Okay, so, this one is going to have to involve a lot of me speculating. Even with both men speaking of match fixing, there's not really an awful lot to go on. To start with then, lets recap the main points of what happened:
In the same month they fought for the first time, they also formed an athletic combination together, becoming business partners.
They wrestled a few months later still as part of their own athletic combination.
After approximately eighteen months of working together they had a falling out and split ways, said to be over a woman.
For the next year and a bit Whistler called Muldoon out repeatedly in the newspapers.
They wrestle again, the match is stopped due to a Whistler suffering a broken collarbone as confirmed by a doctor.
Five months later they wrestle for the last time and it ends with Whistler slandering Muldoon.
At one time or another each man had spoken of at least one contest being fixed. They wrestled under a combination together, it was speculated in more than one newspaper that they wrestled in the hippodrome style rather than a legitimate affair, even if some of the papers were a bit sketchy on being factually accurate. The also if you remember from the last article, Muldoon had a history of questionable matches and alliances, so could it be possible the woman, the falling out, the rough matches, they were all part of a drawn out pre-planned story?
There is one thing that makes me think their partnership really did go awry and that's the continued slandering of Muldoon after the final match. Was it planned for there to be another one down the road, but with Whistler's untimely death the following year in Australia put a halt to that? Possibly, but it's just as possible given the information present that the two really did have a falling out on some level.
A reason for why there was not another match before Whistler left for Australia could be due to the nationwide printing of the last match being a hippodrome and it was simply deemed unprofitable. Whistler could have made the comments to leave the door open. As we have seen in the previous two articles, time really does seem to heal all discrepancies made against wrestlers.
I would think it's as close to a certainty as you can get that at least their first bout was a completely worked contest and so were all the subsequent contests as part of the troupe. The third one with the broken collar bone could go one of three ways in my opinion. Two options are fairly obvious, it was worked and the whole public calling out of Muldoon by Whistler was a way to build anticipation, but an accident happened during the match, or, Muldoon really did only agree to face Whistler in an attempt to shut him up and the collarbone was broken in what was a truly vicious battle.
Then you have option number three. Some people may think this is a bit far out for this particular era. However, I put it to you that we're in a time in America when gullibility was still at a high. Where swindlers were still running rampant and con artists were always on the prowl. So, would it not be possible that the meeting was indeed a work and no accident occurred at all. Instead the two wrestlers paid off a doctor, or someone pretending to be a doctor, to announce that the collarbone was actually severely broken, thus giving Whistler time to spend at home with his family and build even more interest in the eventual rematch?
Personally, I don't think that's far fetched at all and it's a lot more plausible than many would like to admit, but, only you can decide how you interpret the evidence and the speculation presented.
Was the last match a work? Again, this could go either way. Either it was and Muldoon really ripped Whistler off on the payoff or it was just another chapter to this great rivalry, may-be it was even done as a way to explain to the audience why it was a poor contest without doing too much damage to future potential earnings due to the fact they were now at odds with each other other money. I should point out that Muldoon maintained a great reputation for his whole life and I doubt he got that by constantly ripping people off. On the other hand given that Whistler appears to have liked to binge drink, may-be the claims of monetary loss were just a drunk man's ramblings?
Remember there comments made regarding how "faithful" someone's wife was in the William Miller-William Muldoon saga. It is also worth noting that although Whistler wrestled many men with no black marks against their name, he also competed with men who did. Those men included both William Miller and Thieabaud Bauer, in fact, in Whistler's biggest match of his career he defeated Miller for the Australian Heavyweight Championship. Of course that is basing it on pure "Guilty by association." Also of note is that Whistler claimed serious injury several times through-out his short career, something that raises suspicion in itself when he was active for the most part of it, apart from after this collarbone injury.
Whether these series of matches were all worked or just some of them were and their really was an intense disliking between the two, as there was between Miller and Muldoon, we may never really know, but either way, this is one of the most interesting and arguably greatest feuds in the history of professional wrestling.
When I read through the series of events which took place between these two men, I can't help but feel slightly reminiscent of the previous article which focused a lot on William Muldoon and Professor William Miller. Hopefully I'm not alone and you will all see the same similarities as myself.
1881-1884
In January of 1881 Clarence Whistler and William Muldoon entered into a business relationship together forming a troupe to tour America. Along with them they normally took Andre Christol. The exact date of that this athletic combination was formed is currently unknown, but on January 26, 1881 the two met in a wrestling match that lasted for six hours. Around two thousand people were in attendance at the Terrace Gardens Theatre in New York City to witness it.
The only reason the pair stopped wrestling was due to the owner of the property turning off of the gas lights and refusing to allow more time to be issued in the venue. Therefore a rematch was to be scheduled. This first match saw no bad publicity (that I know of) and was very well received. Members of the audience even offered to pay one dollar each to the proprietor at the four A.M. curfew to get the lights lit again.
Two months later in a contest Whistler is said to have broken Henry Moses Dufur's arm. Two months after that on May 7, 1881, Whistler defeated Muldoon two falls to one in approximately sixty minutes. Again there is no talk of foul play here. in fact, there's no cry of hippodroming for some time in their relationship. It's worth noting that this contest on May 7 and many other contests competed between the two while touring the country as business partners were always billed as "Exhibitions" between the World Graeco-Roman Champion (Muldoon) and the World Catch-as-Catch-Can Champion (Whistler), but they were always portrayed as being competitive exhibitions. On the same night one or both men would also face Andre Christol. Muldoon would win the Graeco-Roman falls and Whistler the Catch-as-Catch-Can, Christol, who was the veteran of the combination normally lost no matter who he faced.
on March 7, 1882 in Chicago, Illinois there's the first (known) signs of dissension between the two.
Together they were putting on one of their shows. The feature presentation was to be Andre Christol versus Clarence Whistler with William Muldoon as the referee. Whistler apparently became angry during the bout and got rough with Christol, who naturally retaliated. From there it turned into what would best be described as either a "pier six brawl" or a "slobber knocker" as the two wrestlers threw the rules out the window and went at it in a rough and tumble style. Muldoon was said to be mortified and annoyed at the break down between the two men and called people around to break them up.
As Christol was dragged away Muldoon attempted to hold Whistler back. Whistler turned his attention to Muldoon and started to attack him. After what is described as quite a struggle, Muldoon managed to grasp Whistler around the neck, hook him under the legs and carry him off of the stage into the back. He came back out shortly after some loud thumps were heard back there and announced Whistler had been drunk, he was now restrained in the back with a loud cut on his head and would be back tomorrow for his performance. Muldoon himself had a large area of swelling on his forehead.
In July of 1882 the following small article is printed in a Logansport, Indiana newspaper:
"Whistler, the wrestling demon, is still out West vainly trying to make Wm. Muldoon meet him in a Graeco-Roman wrestling match for the championship."
Through-out the remainder of the year and into the early part of 1883 papers continued to report that Whistler was challenging Muldoon. In March he stated he had a man who he would back to beat Muldoon, or any man. Muldoon was claiming retirement the whole time. Then on April 1 it was reported:
"Clarence Whistler explains why William Muldoon will not meet him in a Graeco-Roman wrestling contest. The Kansas City Hercules says Muldoon is afraid of the 'double cross,' which Whistler explains as follows: 'Muldoon knows me to be the better man, but I for a stake consent to let him throw me. He backs himself heavily and I quietly cover all his bets. Then I throw him.' So this is the 'double cross' that keeps Muldoon back. Well, we don't wonder Muldoon is afraid to wrestle. If Whistler would agree to be thrown, Muldoon knows he would be 'double crossed.'"
Andre Christol recalled to a newspaper in June 1883 that through-out the winter of 1882 and up until present day that Whistler kept turning up at shows put on by Muldoon. He said every time that Whistler turned up, Muldoon would not even get on the stage. This article ends in the same way as the next though, with their bout on January 26, 1881 being the culmination of the badgering.
Also in a paper in June 1883 recalls the order of events differently (the paper is grossly wrong). It states the athletic combination with Andre Christol happened before the January 26, 1881 match that took place. It states any match between the two that took place during the time of the combination was note a bonafide contest, but that long match was one of the few in the history of professional wrestling which was a legitimate contest. Now, due to the fact it gets the chronology of what happened completely incorrect, it brings up large doubt in how much can be taken for certainty on the legitimacy side of things. To the best of my knowledge, the January 26, 1881 contest was their first match and the matches they had as a combination, may have included that one, but definitely included any time they met between January 31, 1881 and spring of 1882.
Finally on November 1, 1883 the two met again. This time it was in San Francisco, California at the Mechanic's Pavilion in front of four thousand strong. The match was said to be a rough one with each man winning a fall. Some claimed that Whistler should have won the match, but several falls were disallowed. Muldoon claimed he should have won the contest as in the end Whistler had to stop wrestling when he suffered a broken collarbone. Reportedly a doctor confirmed that it was broken.
The following letter was sent by Whistler to the San Francisco Bulletin which printed it on January 31, 1884:
"'I see that the two Frenchmen have again challenged Muldoon, also that the latter has deposited $1,000 to bind such matches. Since then I have heard or seen nothing in regard to Hugues or Bauer. Now, if Mr. Muldoon is in the humor for making a series of matches, I would like to get up a match with him, and I think that judging from the result of our last meeting, no man has a better right to ask a return match at his hands than I have. My shoulder is thoroughly mended, and very nearly as strong as ever, and if Mr. Muldoon will fix the time - say in six weeks - I will give him an evening's exercise which will make him sweat a little than he usually does. I shall be much pleased to learn that the $1,000 now up is also open to me. There will be no long interval between my learning the fact and covering the same.'"
It was divulged in a March 1884 edition of the New York Tribune that the original falling out between Muldoon and Whistler in late spring/early summer of 1882 was over a woman:
"The coming Graeco-Roman wrestling match between Muldoon and Whistler on Monday night is the chief topic in sporting circles. It will be a match for blood, as the men are bitter enemies, both having wooed the same woman. Muldoon proved successful in love, as he has thus far been in wrestling. If he overcomes Whister this time Muldoon may be fairly called the champion wrestler of the country."
They met again on March 24 once again at the Mechanic's Hall in front of what was said to be a "Large crowd." This time they went to a two hour draw with Muldoon claiming he was tired in the third fall and it being agreed the contest was going nowhere. The Reno Gazette recalled that the match was met with disgust by the crowd and that it proved to be a hippodrome and even Muldoon himself admitted Whistler was the better man by saying, "If I had attempted to wrestle, Whistler would have thrown me," in response to questions on why he stayed in defensive.
It was printed on March 27 that Whistler told a San Francisco Paper:
"My attention has been attracted to a card from Muldoon, published in the Alta, I have this to say in connection with the late wrestle with Muldoon. He states that the propisition to call the match a draw emanated from me. I wish to say that this is not so. And further, I will put up $1,000 that I can throw this alleged champion inside of fifteen minutes, if he will wrestle, the match to take place in the presence of four friends of each of the principals; or the match to take place in a hall, the entire proceeds go to a benevolent instritution. Muldoon sent word to me asking for the draw. I'm willing to bet $100 to ten cents that Muldoon does not know what it is to make a square match. He has never wrestled one in his life, and I can prove it. All his matches with me have been frauds. I can bring up Englehardt and Bauer to show that all of his wrestles have been arranged beforhand, so that he would be declared a victor."
This account of the match was provided by the Daily Alta California, on 31 March 1884:
"Some More Inside History About the Late Wrestle.
Muldoon has lost his old popularity here, but that is no good reason why he should not have fair play. A little clique who do not represent anyone's opinion but their own, and their opinions are more apt to be governed by dubious motives than those of the average run of men, are endeavoring to put all the blame of the late fiasco on Muldoon's shoulders and make a hero out of Whistler. If there was any improper agreement about the match, Whistler must have been a party to it. Whistler claims that his former match with Muldoon was a made-up affair. It hardly looked like it when Whistler was led from the stage suffering with a broken shoulder bone. When Whistler went ot the referee in the last match and asked for a draw, he said it was no use going on, as Muldoon would not stand up and wrestle. If he is the demon wrestler that he and his friends claim, one naturally asks why he did not throw Muldoon down and turn him over. Surely the man who boasts of his ability to throw muldoon in 15 minutes ought to be able to perform the introductory step, getting him down, in that time. Whistler has talked too much and Muldoon too little about this affair. He should come out and say frankly that when Whistler wanted the match off after $2,300 worth of seats had been sold, because he feared for his injured shoulder, Muldoon, rather than lose the prospective gate-money and disappoint his old friend Engelhardt, pledged his honor that he would not handle Whistler's hurt shoulder. He kept his word, and now has to suffer, as every man has to suffer who is not perfectly frank in dealing with the public.""
The two never squared off again. Okay, so, this one is going to have to involve a lot of me speculating. Even with both men speaking of match fixing, there's not really an awful lot to go on. To start with then, lets recap the main points of what happened:
In the same month they fought for the first time, they also formed an athletic combination together, becoming business partners.
They wrestled a few months later still as part of their own athletic combination.
After approximately eighteen months of working together they had a falling out and split ways, said to be over a woman.
For the next year and a bit Whistler called Muldoon out repeatedly in the newspapers.
They wrestle again, the match is stopped due to a Whistler suffering a broken collarbone as confirmed by a doctor.
Five months later they wrestle for the last time and it ends with Whistler slandering Muldoon.
At one time or another each man had spoken of at least one contest being fixed. They wrestled under a combination together, it was speculated in more than one newspaper that they wrestled in the hippodrome style rather than a legitimate affair, even if some of the papers were a bit sketchy on being factually accurate. The also if you remember from the last article, Muldoon had a history of questionable matches and alliances, so could it be possible the woman, the falling out, the rough matches, they were all part of a drawn out pre-planned story?
There is one thing that makes me think their partnership really did go awry and that's the continued slandering of Muldoon after the final match. Was it planned for there to be another one down the road, but with Whistler's untimely death the following year in Australia put a halt to that? Possibly, but it's just as possible given the information present that the two really did have a falling out on some level.
A reason for why there was not another match before Whistler left for Australia could be due to the nationwide printing of the last match being a hippodrome and it was simply deemed unprofitable. Whistler could have made the comments to leave the door open. As we have seen in the previous two articles, time really does seem to heal all discrepancies made against wrestlers.
I would think it's as close to a certainty as you can get that at least their first bout was a completely worked contest and so were all the subsequent contests as part of the troupe. The third one with the broken collar bone could go one of three ways in my opinion. Two options are fairly obvious, it was worked and the whole public calling out of Muldoon by Whistler was a way to build anticipation, but an accident happened during the match, or, Muldoon really did only agree to face Whistler in an attempt to shut him up and the collarbone was broken in what was a truly vicious battle.
Then you have option number three. Some people may think this is a bit far out for this particular era. However, I put it to you that we're in a time in America when gullibility was still at a high. Where swindlers were still running rampant and con artists were always on the prowl. So, would it not be possible that the meeting was indeed a work and no accident occurred at all. Instead the two wrestlers paid off a doctor, or someone pretending to be a doctor, to announce that the collarbone was actually severely broken, thus giving Whistler time to spend at home with his family and build even more interest in the eventual rematch?
Personally, I don't think that's far fetched at all and it's a lot more plausible than many would like to admit, but, only you can decide how you interpret the evidence and the speculation presented.
Was the last match a work? Again, this could go either way. Either it was and Muldoon really ripped Whistler off on the payoff or it was just another chapter to this great rivalry, may-be it was even done as a way to explain to the audience why it was a poor contest without doing too much damage to future potential earnings due to the fact they were now at odds with each other other money. I should point out that Muldoon maintained a great reputation for his whole life and I doubt he got that by constantly ripping people off. On the other hand given that Whistler appears to have liked to binge drink, may-be the claims of monetary loss were just a drunk man's ramblings?
Remember there comments made regarding how "faithful" someone's wife was in the William Miller-William Muldoon saga. It is also worth noting that although Whistler wrestled many men with no black marks against their name, he also competed with men who did. Those men included both William Miller and Thieabaud Bauer, in fact, in Whistler's biggest match of his career he defeated Miller for the Australian Heavyweight Championship. Of course that is basing it on pure "Guilty by association." Also of note is that Whistler claimed serious injury several times through-out his short career, something that raises suspicion in itself when he was active for the most part of it, apart from after this collarbone injury.
Whether these series of matches were all worked or just some of them were and their really was an intense disliking between the two, as there was between Miller and Muldoon, we may never really know, but either way, this is one of the most interesting and arguably greatest feuds in the history of professional wrestling.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Fakirs At Work: Chapter Four.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: August 19, 2014.
Article: #54.
Fakirs At Work: Chapter Four.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: August 19, 2014.
Article: #54.
Fakirs At Work: Chapter Five - Read Here.
Fakirs At Work: Chapter Three - Read Here.
Other articles by Jimmy can be Read Here.