Utter these words to any wrestling fan and instantly the vision of Earl Hebner ringing the bell a millisecond after Shawn Michaels gets Bret Hart into Bret’s own move, the Sharpshooter, at Survivor Series 1997 at the Montreal Forum despite Bret Hart not submitting and also being mid-stream in reversing the move. However, there was a screwjob in Montreal 66 years earlier at the Mount Royal Arena.
The parties involved in this debacle were on one side Montreal promoter Paul Bowser, French wrestler Henri DeGlane, DeGlane’s manager Dan Koloff, and to a degree Dr. Gaston Demers who was the president of the Montreal Athletic Commission at the time, while the other side featured American wrestler and then world champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow.
In world where politics and paybacks, or receipts as they get called, the original Montreal Screwjob is full of both. Strangler Lewis was the most dominant wrestler of his era and one of the most dangerous. The legend of Lewis is basically you had to pay him to lose because when push came to shove he was just going to steamroll an opponent and win. Such a payoff occurred in 1929 between Lewis’ camp and Bowser.
Gus Sonnenberg was a fairly famous football player with the original NFL. He began wrestling part-time during the football offseason, which would become a growing trend, in 1928 and was instantly a box-office draw. Sonnenberg’s appeal was he was using a diving tackle to finish matches which was a novel addition to a grappling match. Part of this appeal was that many times Sonnenberg’s opponents would be hit so hard they’d fly out of the ring and be counted out on the floor.
The 1928 NFL fall season would end with Sonnenberg winning the league championship. At the time he was playing for the Providence Steamrollers and with the proximity to Boston been very close Paul Bowser naturally used Sonnenberg’s on many cards to take advantage of his popularity. An agreement was reached with Strangler Lewis and Billy Sandow to drop the title to Sonnenberg on January 4, 1929. Part of this agreement was that Bowser would pay Lewis $50,000 from the $70,000 gate receipts for the show. An additional piece of this deal was that when Sonnenberg’s popularity waned the title would come back to Lewis or Bowser would have to pay an additional $70,000 to Lewis.
In October 1929 Jim Londos, one of Bowser’s promotional rivals, sent middleweight wrestler Pete Ladjimi to get into a fight with Sonnenberg’s on the streets of Los Angeles to expose Sonnenberg’s inability to legitimately wrestle. Londos figured he could damage Bowser’s claim on the world title as well as the champion’s credibility by having such a public embarrassment of Sonnenberg’s skill. This would lead to Sonnenberg being accompanied by other legitimate wrestlers as the pseudo bodyguards to protect him from another attack. Word of the fight eventually would make its way to the public and in December 10, 1930 in Los Angeles the title would go to Olympian Ed Don George.
Lewis and Sandow assumed that Bowser had double crossed them. The truth of the matter is that Bowser probably forgot the second part of the deal considering he booked Lewis against George just four months after George won the title. On April 13, 1931 Lewis would face the champion George in Los Angeles. Due to the fact that George finished fourth in the 1928 Olympics many people thought he could handle Lewis in a straight up wrestling match so having George scheduled to win the match wasn’t considered to be more than a formality. As the two combatants stood in the center of the ring Lewis would have the following conversation with George:
“Well tonight’s the night”
“Oh no”
“Oh yes! How do you want to do this? Do we give these people a great match or do you want to wrestle?”
“Let’s give them a great match”
This was the conversation has told by Ed Don George in the Lou Thesz biography Hooker. George and Lewis were friends and he knew he could not beat Lewis in a straight wrestling match.
Three weeks later Bowser managed to book Lewis in a match with French Olympian Henri DeGlane. DeGlane had won the gold medal for Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1924 Olympics. Despite the double cross on George by Lewis was in fact Bowser’s own fault, Bowser would decide that he was going to double cross Lewis instead of paying him again.
Sandow made a request for an American referee for the event. The Montreal Athletic Commission would then respond with the statement that they had very capable referees in Quebec and then appointed Eugene Trembley to be the match official. Kid is unsure whether singles request has done because he if felt that he can pick referee would be impartial or if it was done to generate interest in the match by being the proverbial bad guy American.
The first fall was a battle between Lewis’ famous headlock and DeGlane’s notorious armlock. According to the news report at the time, Montreal’s Le Devoir, Lewis had tried countering the armlock with a full nelson but the attempt resulted in DeGlane getting the first fall just after the 33 minute marker. Sandow was livid over what he perceived to be an intentional fast count on Lewis. In fact, Sandow protested so vehemently that the commission’s president Dr. Gaston Demers would intervene and award the fall to DeGlane. How much of the grandstanding over where the referee was from before the match hurt Sandow we’ll never know.
As was the custom at the time the wrestlers retreated to their respective locker rooms for a break. Based on the match report in Le Devoir both wrestlers re-entered the ring and Lewis went on the offensive immediately. He applied armlock after armlock until DeGlane’s arm began turning white from the loss of circulation. Lewis would then pin DeGlane just past the 9 minute marker to take the second fall. DeGlane would fall into his corner screaming and the referee rushed over to see why. Eugene Tremblay, as well as Dr. Demers, noticed bite marks on the inside of the upper arm, near the arm pit, and Demers immediately ordered Tremblay to disqualify Lewis. Lewis demanded a photograph of the bite be taken. Tremblay was said to be aghast at the request and refused to let it happen despite Lewis’ demand for one to prove his innocence.
Sandow was furious and protested with more vitriol than the first fall. Demers ordered Sandow to be quiet or lose his license. Demers then ordered three ushers to have him escorted out of the building. Lewis had a different surprise awaiting him behind the curtain as a gloating Paul Bowser was there waiting for him. Normally such bravado would be deemed foolish but Bowser had five “heavies” armed with baseball bats standing at his side.
Lewis, according to the story told by Lou Thesz, apparently assessed the situation and opted to leave a warning of sorts:
“You think you’ve stolen something from me but I couldn’t care less. You’ve actually done me a favour. I’m fed up with this scene, and I’m already booked in Europe, so you can keep the belt. I don’t need it where I’m going. Besides I’ve already proved to you I can take it back if I decide I want it.”
The next day Sandow would file an official protest and pay the $5000 bond to file citing that between a fast count and that Lewis did not administer the bite but rather DeGlane performed self-mutilation. The commission quickly rejected Sandow’s appeal. Apparently such rejections by the commission were so common that it didn’t even garner much in the way of media coverage. According to Le Devoir Sandow’s actions before the event, which were deemed insulting to not just the people of Quebec but also their culture, resulted in Demers rejecting a legitimate claim. That is very telling that a French paper would basically corroborate Sandow’s version of events.
So what did happen? According to Sandow and Lewis they believe that DeGlane bit himself when in the locker room and made sure it was in a spot where the referee couldn’t see it until DeGlane wanted him to. According to historian Tim Hornbaker, however, it was DeGlane’s manager Dan Koloff who had given the fateful bite. Either way, a deceptive ruse occurred and the first Montreal Screwjob was placed in the annals of history.
Of course like all stories there are people who believe that due to inconsistencies of events when telling the story that all parties were involved and this event was used to elevate DeGlane to prominence outside Quebec. The one flaw in this concept is that when Lewis finally got DeGlane back in the ring he absolutely demolished him in such a brutal and ferocious fashion than DeGlane had to be threatened with not just a fine but the loss of his pay before he’d come out for fall number two where Lewis again tore him apart like he was nothing. Unfortunately for Lewis the title had already been dropped by DeGlane.
The parties involved in this debacle were on one side Montreal promoter Paul Bowser, French wrestler Henri DeGlane, DeGlane’s manager Dan Koloff, and to a degree Dr. Gaston Demers who was the president of the Montreal Athletic Commission at the time, while the other side featured American wrestler and then world champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow.
In world where politics and paybacks, or receipts as they get called, the original Montreal Screwjob is full of both. Strangler Lewis was the most dominant wrestler of his era and one of the most dangerous. The legend of Lewis is basically you had to pay him to lose because when push came to shove he was just going to steamroll an opponent and win. Such a payoff occurred in 1929 between Lewis’ camp and Bowser.
Gus Sonnenberg was a fairly famous football player with the original NFL. He began wrestling part-time during the football offseason, which would become a growing trend, in 1928 and was instantly a box-office draw. Sonnenberg’s appeal was he was using a diving tackle to finish matches which was a novel addition to a grappling match. Part of this appeal was that many times Sonnenberg’s opponents would be hit so hard they’d fly out of the ring and be counted out on the floor.
The 1928 NFL fall season would end with Sonnenberg winning the league championship. At the time he was playing for the Providence Steamrollers and with the proximity to Boston been very close Paul Bowser naturally used Sonnenberg’s on many cards to take advantage of his popularity. An agreement was reached with Strangler Lewis and Billy Sandow to drop the title to Sonnenberg on January 4, 1929. Part of this agreement was that Bowser would pay Lewis $50,000 from the $70,000 gate receipts for the show. An additional piece of this deal was that when Sonnenberg’s popularity waned the title would come back to Lewis or Bowser would have to pay an additional $70,000 to Lewis.
In October 1929 Jim Londos, one of Bowser’s promotional rivals, sent middleweight wrestler Pete Ladjimi to get into a fight with Sonnenberg’s on the streets of Los Angeles to expose Sonnenberg’s inability to legitimately wrestle. Londos figured he could damage Bowser’s claim on the world title as well as the champion’s credibility by having such a public embarrassment of Sonnenberg’s skill. This would lead to Sonnenberg being accompanied by other legitimate wrestlers as the pseudo bodyguards to protect him from another attack. Word of the fight eventually would make its way to the public and in December 10, 1930 in Los Angeles the title would go to Olympian Ed Don George.
Lewis and Sandow assumed that Bowser had double crossed them. The truth of the matter is that Bowser probably forgot the second part of the deal considering he booked Lewis against George just four months after George won the title. On April 13, 1931 Lewis would face the champion George in Los Angeles. Due to the fact that George finished fourth in the 1928 Olympics many people thought he could handle Lewis in a straight up wrestling match so having George scheduled to win the match wasn’t considered to be more than a formality. As the two combatants stood in the center of the ring Lewis would have the following conversation with George:
“Well tonight’s the night”
“Oh no”
“Oh yes! How do you want to do this? Do we give these people a great match or do you want to wrestle?”
“Let’s give them a great match”
This was the conversation has told by Ed Don George in the Lou Thesz biography Hooker. George and Lewis were friends and he knew he could not beat Lewis in a straight wrestling match.
Three weeks later Bowser managed to book Lewis in a match with French Olympian Henri DeGlane. DeGlane had won the gold medal for Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1924 Olympics. Despite the double cross on George by Lewis was in fact Bowser’s own fault, Bowser would decide that he was going to double cross Lewis instead of paying him again.
Sandow made a request for an American referee for the event. The Montreal Athletic Commission would then respond with the statement that they had very capable referees in Quebec and then appointed Eugene Trembley to be the match official. Kid is unsure whether singles request has done because he if felt that he can pick referee would be impartial or if it was done to generate interest in the match by being the proverbial bad guy American.
The first fall was a battle between Lewis’ famous headlock and DeGlane’s notorious armlock. According to the news report at the time, Montreal’s Le Devoir, Lewis had tried countering the armlock with a full nelson but the attempt resulted in DeGlane getting the first fall just after the 33 minute marker. Sandow was livid over what he perceived to be an intentional fast count on Lewis. In fact, Sandow protested so vehemently that the commission’s president Dr. Gaston Demers would intervene and award the fall to DeGlane. How much of the grandstanding over where the referee was from before the match hurt Sandow we’ll never know.
As was the custom at the time the wrestlers retreated to their respective locker rooms for a break. Based on the match report in Le Devoir both wrestlers re-entered the ring and Lewis went on the offensive immediately. He applied armlock after armlock until DeGlane’s arm began turning white from the loss of circulation. Lewis would then pin DeGlane just past the 9 minute marker to take the second fall. DeGlane would fall into his corner screaming and the referee rushed over to see why. Eugene Tremblay, as well as Dr. Demers, noticed bite marks on the inside of the upper arm, near the arm pit, and Demers immediately ordered Tremblay to disqualify Lewis. Lewis demanded a photograph of the bite be taken. Tremblay was said to be aghast at the request and refused to let it happen despite Lewis’ demand for one to prove his innocence.
Sandow was furious and protested with more vitriol than the first fall. Demers ordered Sandow to be quiet or lose his license. Demers then ordered three ushers to have him escorted out of the building. Lewis had a different surprise awaiting him behind the curtain as a gloating Paul Bowser was there waiting for him. Normally such bravado would be deemed foolish but Bowser had five “heavies” armed with baseball bats standing at his side.
Lewis, according to the story told by Lou Thesz, apparently assessed the situation and opted to leave a warning of sorts:
“You think you’ve stolen something from me but I couldn’t care less. You’ve actually done me a favour. I’m fed up with this scene, and I’m already booked in Europe, so you can keep the belt. I don’t need it where I’m going. Besides I’ve already proved to you I can take it back if I decide I want it.”
The next day Sandow would file an official protest and pay the $5000 bond to file citing that between a fast count and that Lewis did not administer the bite but rather DeGlane performed self-mutilation. The commission quickly rejected Sandow’s appeal. Apparently such rejections by the commission were so common that it didn’t even garner much in the way of media coverage. According to Le Devoir Sandow’s actions before the event, which were deemed insulting to not just the people of Quebec but also their culture, resulted in Demers rejecting a legitimate claim. That is very telling that a French paper would basically corroborate Sandow’s version of events.
So what did happen? According to Sandow and Lewis they believe that DeGlane bit himself when in the locker room and made sure it was in a spot where the referee couldn’t see it until DeGlane wanted him to. According to historian Tim Hornbaker, however, it was DeGlane’s manager Dan Koloff who had given the fateful bite. Either way, a deceptive ruse occurred and the first Montreal Screwjob was placed in the annals of history.
Of course like all stories there are people who believe that due to inconsistencies of events when telling the story that all parties were involved and this event was used to elevate DeGlane to prominence outside Quebec. The one flaw in this concept is that when Lewis finally got DeGlane back in the ring he absolutely demolished him in such a brutal and ferocious fashion than DeGlane had to be threatened with not just a fine but the loss of his pay before he’d come out for fall number two where Lewis again tore him apart like he was nothing. Unfortunately for Lewis the title had already been dropped by DeGlane.