Danno O'Mahony (9 September 1912 – 3 November 1950) was an Irish
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
who enjoyed a brief but meteoric rise to massive popularity in the mid-1930s following a successful introduction to the Boston regional wrestling scene. His surname was usually spelt "O'Mahoney" during his wrestling career. His signature move was the
Irish Whip, which acquired its name due to its association with O'Mahony. O'Mahony would find success as a wrestler becoming the
National Wrestling Association
The National Wrestling Association (NWA) was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA; now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional ...
's
World Heavyweight Champion
At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...
. Professional Wrestling journalist and historian
Dave Meltzer
David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.
Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON''). He has als ...
has referred to O'Mahony as "the first true ethnic super-draw" in American professional wrestling.
Family
The son of Daniel O'Mahony (1869-), and Susan O'Mahony (1878-1928), née Driscoll, Daniel Michael O'Mahony was born in
Ballydehob
Ballydehob () is a coastal village in the southwest of County Cork, Ireland. It is located on the R592 regional road, at a junction with the N71 national secondary road.
History
During the Bronze Age (2200-600 B.C.), copper was mined on Moun ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
, then within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on September 9, 1912.
He married Julia Esther Burke (1908-1965) in 1935. They had one son, Daniel, born c.1939.
Professional wrestling career
In 1933, while serving in the
Irish Defence Forces
The Defence Forces ( ga, Fórsaí Cosanta, officially styled ) derives its origins from the Irish Volunteers. Whilst the Irish for ''Defence Forces'' is , as Ó Cearúil (1999) points out, the Defence Forces are officially styled . is used in ...
, O'Mahony distinguished himself as an athlete, setting military records for the
hammer throw
The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin.
The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...
and the 56-lb. weight throw which were not broken until the 1990s. He also boxed and wrestled, with his repertoire relying heavily on standup grappling and throws.
O'Mahony was brought to America in 1934 by Boston promoter
Paul Bowser
Paul Forbes Bowser (May 28, 1886 – July 17, 1960) was a professional wrestling promoter who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s in the Boston area.Tim Hornbaker,Paul Bowser Biography" 2006
Wrestler
Bowser grew up on a farm in western Pennsy ...
. Bowser was hoping to create a new Irish star for the ethnic marketplace in New York and New England, in the tradition of 19th-century champion
William Muldoon
William A. Muldoon (May 25, 1845 – June 3, 1933) was the Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion, a physical culturist and the first chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. He once wrestled a match that lasted over seven hours. Nicknamed "Th ...
. While searching for the appropriate candidate, Bowser was less interested in their wrestling skills as their looks and physique. An offer to two-time Olympic champion
Patrick O'Callaghan
Patrick "Pat" O'Callaghan (28 January 1906 – 1 December 1991) was an Irish athlete and Olympic gold medallist. He was the first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British flag. In sport he the ...
was rejected, but the Irishman recommended O'Mahony. Using his Boston connections, Bowser obtained O'Mahony's release from army service. A crash course in wrestling training followed.
Early career
O'Mahony's first professional match was in December 1934, against the famed
Ed "Strangler" Lewis
Robert Herman Julius Friedrich (June 30, 1891 – August 8, 1966), better known by the ring name Ed "Strangler" Lewis, was an American professional wrestler and trainer. During his wrestling career, which spanned four decades, Lewis was a four-ti ...
, but after losing the first fall of a 2-of-3 match in just five minutes, O'Mahony did not return to the ring. Nevertheless, Bowser was satisfied and brought O'Mahony to America. He signed O'Mahony to a $100,000 contract, and promoted him as the strongest man in the world, and the Irish champion who was looking for international competition. His first American match, against the villainous
Ernie Dusek, degenerated into a two-on-one brawl against Ernie and his brother Rudy. When O'Mahony knocked both men down, along with the referee, the crowd cheered.
Bowser had O'Mahony win 49 consecutive matches, all the while building to a title shot against
Jim Londos
Christos Theofilou ( el, Χρήστος Θεοφίλου; January 2, 1894 – August 19, 1975), better known as "The Golden Greek" Jim Londos (Greek: Τζίμ Λόντος), was a Greek American professional wrestler. Londos was one of the most p ...
. O'Mahony's most painful win was an April 1935 match against
Dick Shikat
Richard I. Shikat (11 January 1897 – 3 December 1968) was a German professional wrestler and World Heavyweight Champion who was active in the early portion of the twentieth century. Shikat was considered to be one of the most dangerous 'hooker ...
. Shikat, who had been having professional conflicts with the promoters, ignored the script and roughed up the rookie, breaking two ribs. Because of Shikat's tactics, O'Mahony's planned win became a win by
disqualification.
Promotion consolidation
After several years of professional conflict, Bowser and the other major rival promoters were working together by late 1933, with most of the territories agreeing to support Londos as their main world champion. As wrestling's leading attraction, Londos had an enviable deal with the promotional cadre that included a $50,000 payoff were he to lose the championship. Despite their working arrangement, each promoter was grooming his own preferred heir to Londos' throne. Besides O'Mahony, various wrestlers including
Chief Little Wolf,
Orville Brown
Orville Brown (March 10, 1908 – January 24, 1981) was an American professional wrestler. He is a thirteen-time world champion and was recognized as the first NWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1948. Brown's professional wrestling career ended ...
,
Lou Thesz
Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler. He was a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and held the title for a combined total of 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 ...
,
Bronko Nagurski
Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski (November 3, 1908 – January 7, 1990) was a Canadian-born professional American football player in the National Football League (NFL), renowned for his strength and size. Nagurski was also a successful professional w ...
,
Daniel Boone Savage
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
and
Everett Marshall
Everett Marshall (November 4, 1905 - February 10, 1973) was an American professional wrestler, who won championship titles in the Midwest Wrestling Association (MWA), National Wrestling Association (NWA) and Rocky Mountains.
Early life
Everet ...
were all waiting to get the call.
After facing a string of top names, such as
Man Mountain Dean
Frank Simmons Leavitt (June 30, 1891 – May 29, 1953) was an American professional wrestler of the early 1900s, known by the ring name Man Mountain Dean.
Early life
Leavitt was born in New York City, the son of John McKenney Leavitt and Henriet ...
,
Gus Sonnenberg
Gustave Adolph Sonnenberg (March 6, 1898 – September 9, 1944) was an American football player and professional wrestler of German descent and World Heavyweight Champion. As a wrestler, he was National Wrestling Association world heavyweight cha ...
and
Henri DeGlane
Henri Deglane (22 June 1902 – 7 July 1975) was a French wrestler. He was an Olympic Champion in Greco-Roman wrestling and AWA World Champion.
In May 1931, Deglane faced Ed "Strangler" Lewis for the AWA World Heavyweight Champion ...
, the long-expected O'Mahony-Londos match was announced. Londos was not eager to lose, but a reported $20,000 bonus on top of his contractual payoff was too big a sum to refuse. On 27 June 1935, at Boston's
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...
, Danno beat Londos to win the
, which was also recognized by the
National Wrestling Association
The National Wrestling Association (NWA) was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA; now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional ...
. Londos, who hadn't lost an official match in six years, was quoted as saying, "I knew after the first five minutes I would have to be lucky to win. The kid is green, but with his strength, I believe he can beat any man in the world. And when I took the bout, the New York people told me I had nothing to fear! I wish I knew as much before I signed... and this bout would have never taken place."
His first title defence was against
Chief Little Wolf at Yankee Stadium, New York, on 8 July 1935. O'Mahoney eventually won the match, by a
pinfall
In wrestling, a pin is achieved by holding an opponent's shoulders to the mat for a three count. Pinfall is the term used in professional wrestling which is a way to win the match for that person or team.
Background
A pinfall is a victory condi ...
, after 28 minutes and 23 seconds. He went on to win the
American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship, defeating
Ed Don George
Edward Nye "Ed Don" George Jr. (June 3, 1905 – September 18, 1985) was an American amateur and professional wrestler, and wrestling promoter. A former Olympic freestyle wrestler, George competed in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and turned pro ...
at Boston's
Braves Field
Braves Field was a baseball park located in Boston, Massachusetts. Today the site is home to Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University. The stadium was home of the Boston Braves of the National League from 1915 to 1952, prior to the B ...
on 30 July 1935. The win unified the three major titles at that time, but the result was controversial. O'Mahony had been knocked out of the ring, but the inexperienced referee (boxer
James Braddock) failed to make the count. A rematch in September became O'Mahony's 70th straight win since arriving in America.
Title reign and drop in popularity
On 7 October 1935, O'Mahony married Esther Burke, whom he'd met in Boston. On 11 October, O'Mahony defeated the only man who held a win over him: Ed "Strangler" Lewis. Word of their London bout had appeared in the Boston newspapers by this time. However, O'Mahony's title reign was turning into less than the roaring success promoter Bowser had hoped for, with the young champion being booed and attendance for many of his matches slumping. Promoters were also beginning to become disenchanted with the "unified title" arrangement, since that meant only one promoter at a time could book the champion.
Rival promoter
Billy Sandow
Wilhelm Baumann (September 4, 1884 – September 15, 1972), better known as Billy Sandow, was an American professional wrestler and promoter.
Biography
Sandow is best remembered as the manager of professional wrestler Ed "Strangler" Lewis and a ...
publicly mocked O'Mahony's lack of wrestling ability and offered $5,000 if he would face Sandow's choice, Everett Marshall. To quiet Sandow, Bowser responded by offering a match with two of his other wrestlers: Ed "Strangler" Lewis or
Jim Browning, both of whom had feared reputations as "shooters."
On 13 November, O'Mahony wrestled to a draw with Ernie Dusek, his first non-win. He was also having visa problems, and there was speculation about how long he might remain in the country before having to drop the title. Bowser arranged for an angle in which Canadian wrestler
Yvon Robert
Yvon may refer to:
* Yvon (given name), a masculine given name
* Yvon (surname), a surname
See also
* Chapelle-Yvon
* Evon
* Ivon
* Jaille-Yvon
* Pierre-Yvon
* Yvan
* Yvonne (disambiguation) Yvonne is a female given name.
Yvonne may also ...
taunted O'Mahony during a match, then rushed the ring after the match to pin and knock out the champion. The staged incident made an instant star of Robert.
Touring the country in early 1936, the underskilled O'Mahony started encountering "doublecrosses" from other promoters. Informed that an opponent planned to "hook" and injure O'Mahony in their match, the champion and his manager simply left the arena. He was stripped of his title in the Texas jurisdiction, and the National Wrestling Association soon did the same.
On 2 March 1936, O'Mahony lost his
National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship to Dick Shikat at New York's
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
. Shikat used his wrestling ability to genuinely hurt and punish O'Mahony, who tried to quit twice before the finish of the match. Shikat reportedly made the decision on his own, and following the win, immediately put his title up for "sale" to the various promoters. He eventually reached a deal with Sandow. Bowser, who held a management contract on Shikat, retaliated by booking him into various states without informing him. When Shikat failed to appear, he was frequently suspended by the local commissions. In the aftermath of this, the behind-the-scenes negotiations were exposed in a court case, no fewer than five wrestlers were being billed as champions, and the pseudo-sport's popularity fell.
O'Mahony continued to be recognised as champion by the AWA in Boston, though his own popularity was on the wane and he was planning a return to Ireland. Before one of his matches, the
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
printed a headline reading "Expect Danno to Lose His Crown at Garden Tonight." That prediction proved premature, but only by three weeks. Before the largest Montreal wrestling crowd in a quarter-century (10,000+), O'Mahony lost the belt to
Yvon Robert
Yvon may refer to:
* Yvon (given name), a masculine given name
* Yvon (surname), a surname
See also
* Chapelle-Yvon
* Evon
* Ivon
* Jaille-Yvon
* Pierre-Yvon
* Yvan
* Yvonne (disambiguation) Yvonne is a female given name.
Yvonne may also ...
on 16 July 1936. Two days later, O'Mahony set sail for home. He told reporters that he'd been cheated of the title, which allowed him to bill himself as the AWA champion upon his return.
Later career
O'Mahony was met by thousands of supporters who greeted him at the dock and lined the streets. In August, he matched his own army record for the 56-pound weight throw. Over the next two months, he won several "title defenses" in Ireland, England and Scotland. By October, he was back in the United States, but under the reduced status of "title claimant." A series of rematches with the new AWA champion were postponed when Robert broke his leg. By 1937, O'Mahony was starting to suffer draws or losses, including losing regional title matches against Everett Scott and Lou Thesz. His won-lost record worsened in 1938, and he went back to Ireland to promote pro wrestling there. The effort was short-lived, and O'Mahony again returned to America to fulfill his contract with Bowser. By this point, he was mostly used as a "name" opponent who lost to the top wrestlers.
O'Mahony moved to Los Angeles, where he ran a restaurant and wrestled locally. He joined the Army during World War Two. After the war, he wrestled in various parts of the US from 1945–1948. He returned permanently to Ireland in September 1950.
Death
He died from injuries suffered in a road accident near
Port Laoise,
County Laois
County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medie ...
, in the Republic of Ireland, on 3 November 1950.
Danno O'Mahoney, at ''Find a Grave''.
/ref>
Championships and accomplishments
*American Wrestling Association ''(Boston)''
**AWA World Heavyweight Championship
The AWA World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship and the highest ranked championship in the defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA). All AWA trademarks, including the AWA World Heavyweight C ...
(1 time)
*National Wrestling Association
The National Wrestling Association (NWA) was an early professional wrestling sanctioning body created in 1930 by the National Boxing Association (NBA; now the World Boxing Association, WBA) as an attempt to create a governing body for professional ...
**NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus, who is in ...
(1 time)
*New York State Athletic Commission
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, ...
** NYSAC World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*Other Titles
** World Heavyweight Championship ''(original version)'' (1 time)
Legacy
In 2002, the wrestling promotion Irish Whip Wrestling
Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) is an Irish-owned independent professional wrestling promotion established in January 2002. The company is named after a wrestling move called the 'Irish Whip'. IWW runs shows Nationally throughout the whole of Ireland, ...
was named in his honour.
See also
* List of premature professional wrestling deaths
According to a 2014 study by Eastern Michigan University examining professional wrestlers who were active between 1985 and 2011, mortality rates for professional wrestlers are up to 2.9 times greater than the rate for men in the wider United States ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omahony, Danno
1912 births
1950 deaths
Irish male professional wrestlers
Road incident deaths in the Republic of Ireland