Tag: Col. James McLaughlin

DragonKingKarl: The rise of Strangler Lewis & the fall of William Muldoon

Posted on by Karl Stern

Today on the DragonKingKarl Show and Karl Stern’s weekly ongoing look at the pioneer era of pro wrestling, it’s time to review a new era of the sport.

Evan Lewis is now Strangler Lewis, a man that crowds found barbaric along with national opinion that swung from pro wrestling being a con game to it being a brutal sport.

Concurrent with the rise of Lewis was the fall of William Muldoon. Near the same time, Muldoon, nursing a nagging hand and arm injury announced his first of many retirements. Also, the original 1870 Detroit International champion Col. James H. McLaughlin again left the sport to return to the railroad.

Things are changing.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The first-ever undisputed champion

Posted on by Karl Stern

Hour 67 of the my 1000 Hours subseries focusing on the pioneer era on the DragonKingKarl Show takes a look back at the very first ‘undisputed’ champion in pro wrestling.

As I continue a study through my latest book — DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of the Pioneer Era of Wrestling — we have just looked at the 1870 Detroit International tournament which set up the recognized rules of wrestling and crowned Col. James H. McLaughlin as champion.

But McLaughlin wasn’t yet the official American champion.

That honor belonged to Homer Lane, but McLaughlin vs. Lane decided who pro wrestling’s first undisputed champion would be.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The Barney Smith mystery

Posted on by Karl Stern

On a new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I present hour 36 of 1000 Hours, my series all about the pioneer era of pro wrestling. 

On this episode, we do a lot of research including some new tidbits about Col. James H. McLaughlin (seen above) which leads us back to our most enduring mystery: did McLaughlin kill Barney Smith?

If yes, then why is there not a shred of evidence to support it aside from Smith disappearing from the record? If not, then why does the story even exist? It’s time to resolve the Smith story once and for all.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The mystery of Barney Smith & James McLaughlin

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, it’s another episode in my 1000 Hours series.

Hour 21 focuses on the mystery of Barney Smith.

While his current status of being alive or dead isn’t a mystery (he lived 150 years ago), the question is whether Col. James H. McLaughlin (seen above) killed him.

In the early 2000s when I first really dug into the pioneers of pro wrestling, I was led to believe that in a famous wrestling tournament in Detroit, MI, in 1870, McLaughlin wrestled Smith in the finals and Smith died the day after. There were many specific details to the incident told to me by a historian.

The problem is that over 20 years later and with access to all the major newspapers of the day, there doesn’t seem to be a shred of evidence to support it.

So what happened to Barney Smith?

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