Blackjack Mulligan Quotes from WON (1986-1994)

overage of Blackjack Mulligan 1986-1997 in the Wrestling Observer:

"BLACKJACK MULLIGAN (6-5, 280)
Real name - Robert Windham
Age - 45
Years pro - 18
Hometown - Sweetwater, Texas
Promotional affiliation - Titan Sports
Other ring names - Big Bob Windham

Former college football player at Texas Western University, which is now known as the University of Texas at El Paso. . . Billed from Eagle Pass, Texas, a city on the Southern border but actually is originally from Sweetwater, a Dallas suburb although he went to high school in Odessa in Southwest Texas. . . Broke in as Big Bob Windham, trained by Fritz Von Erich and started with the AWA as a big prelim man in 1969 . . . Had several pro football tryouts from 1962 through 1968 but never made a team although he was a member of the New York Jets taxi squad for one season. . . Changed his name to Blackjack Mulligan in 1971 in the Northeast as the first WWWF protege of the late Grand Wizard, but was defeated in just one minute by Bruno Sammartino in his second Madison Square Garden match. Was the first victim of Pedro Morales at the Garden in 1971 after Morales' win over Ivan Koloff. . . . Copied the style of wrestler Blackjack Lanza with the cowboy hat and mustache, an AWA headliner while Windham was a rookie. . . Left the East Coast in 1972 for Indiana and started teaming with Lanza under the management of Bobby Heenan. . . The two teamed together throughout the country, holding the Indiana version of the World tag title, the Texas tag team title and the WWWF tag team title in 1975 winning from Dom DeNucci and Pat Barrett and losing to Tony Parisi and Louis Cerdan (Gino Brito). . . Suffered a heart attack in a 1979 match with Bobby Duncum but returned several months later. . . Because of his size, has been a headliner since adopting the Mulligan name. . . Father of wrestlers Barry and Kendall Windham. . . In recent years has gained a reputation as an outlaw within the business. . . Frequently walks out on promotions and has been fired often as well. . . Walked out on both the Crocketts (for WWF) and then WWF in the past year, eventually taken son Barry with him both times. . . May have burned too many bridges at this point as it's doubtful any major promoters will book him. Mulligan simply got by on his size and his cowboy gimmick. . . He was never a strong wrestler, and after his medical problems became a poor wrestler. . . Wears lifts in his shoes and is billed anywhere from 6-8 to 6-10 and from 310 to 340 pounds. . . Good on interviews but never a standout there." - WON, The Wrestling Observer's Whos Who in in Pro Wrestling (1986)

"DM: Certainly Adonis, Junkfood or Mulligan could find work with independents if they wanted to. For them to work in Florida or UWF would require approval of Crockett and Dusty. You can never rule out any possibilities, however Mulligan has walked out on so many promotions I could understand why Crockett could be leery of dealing with him, especially when he doesn't have much to offer anymore. " - WON, June 8, 1987

" Florida: Blackjack Mulligan and Bugsy McGraw are in as babyfaces. ... A TV angle saw Dory Funk & Kevin Sullivan out and Sullivan freaked out when he saw Mulligan around. Mulligan then called Terry Funk some sort of name and Dory slapped him. Mulligan then put the claw on Funk until he juiced while Sullivan (whose babyface turn should be finalized this week) just watched. Humperdink then hit Mulligan from behind and Mulligan put the claw on him. Dory then hit Mulligan with a chair to break things up. . . " - WON, June 29, 1987

(Blackjack teams with Sullivan & Humperdink, feuds with Dory, Sheepherders, etc. in Florida)

"Blackjack Mulligan remains out of action with a legit back injury. " - WON, August 24, 1987

"4. Blackjack Mulligan pinned Incubus in 5:00. Mulligan could barely walk because his back is so bad but Incubus did a surprisingly good job of carrying him. Inc juiced as well. *1/2; " - WON, August 31, 1987

"Blackjack Mulligan walked out on 8/29 because he was unhappy about his paycheck; " - WON, September 14, 1987

"Blackjack Mulligan is plagued by severe back problems so he may not show up with another promotion and may only do spot independent work. " - WON, September 28, 1987


"Probably the best "match" on recent independent cards took place in the dressing room at Miami Marine Stadium on 12/29. Blackjack Mulligan saw Bob Roop in the dressing room and pummeled on Roop so badly that Roop needed medical help. Apparently there were some problems going back to when Roop booked Florida. . . " -WON, January 18, 1988

"Blackjack Mulligan won a legal case in which he was sued for punching a business partner during a 1986 argument. The jury believed Mulligan's side of the story that he was acting in self defense. In fact, Mulligan's lawyer was so good in the case that his accueter, Alton McCullough was quoted as saying he felt sorry for Mulligan as well. Evidence was introduced that Mulligan was driven from wrestling by a recent heart attack and bad business deals have put the real-life Robert Windham in such a financial bind that he may lose his house. " - WON, March 28, 1988

"FCW on 8/16 in Tampa saw Danny Spivey over Dick Slater in a taped fist match, Mark Starr & Brett Sawyer beat Star Riders via DQ, Lou Perez beat Cuban Assassin (returning David Sierra), Frankie Lancaster & Tyree Pride beat Scotty the Body & Jimmy Backlund and Rex King drew with Denny Brown. The Terminator (Marc Laurenidias) is now in the area. Tyree Pride billed as World jr. champ having beaten Denny Brown. Blackjack Mulligan appeared on TV and Spivey beat him up with juice and all in a great skit. More on this group next week.
" - WON, August 29, 1988

"World Class Cotton Bowl show 10/15/88: 5. Blackjack Mulligan & Bill Irwin beat Jimmy Jack Funk & Black Bart; " - WON, October 24, 1988

"Virginia Wrestling Association drew 400 on 10/21 in Richmond which included George South, Blackjack Mulligan (who I saw on a World Class show and he looks so bad it was sad, he's aged years since the last time most of you saw him and must weigh in the Kimala range), and Jimmy Valiant and the same trio worked 10/22 in Falmouth, VA. " - WON, November 14, 1988

"Dory & Terry Funk wrestled Jerry Gray & Blackjack Mulligan on 11/11 in West Palm Beach and Wendi Richter worked the show as well for Gray's Southern Wrestling Federation. . " - WON, November 21, 1988

"Jerry Grey's card on 11/11 in West Palm Beach drew 4,000 as part of a fair show as Wendi Richter beat Malia Hosaka, Blackjack Mulligan beat Dory Funk via DQ, Grey beat Terry Funk via DQ and Mulligan & Grey won Battle Royal throwing out Funks. " WON, November 28, 1988


"NWA: In fact, the rumors are slowing down quite a bit about any potential Windham jump, as George Scott has hired Blackjack Mulligan (Windham's father) as a road manager/assistant booker, so I'd expect now that Windham will stay put. " - WON, February 6, 1989

"NWA: The booking team is composed of General Patton (George C. Scott), Blackjack Mulligan, Gene Anderson and Paul Jones. So Jones will no longer be managing. Basically Jones, Anderson and Mulligan are going to be road agents ala Blackjack Lanza, Grizzly Smith, Tony Garea, etc. for WWF. . " - WON, February 13, 1989

"Blackjack Mulligan already quit as assistant booker on 2/3 so he set a new record. " - WON, February 20, 1989

"World Class: Blackjack Mulligan is in as a heel" - WON, April 3, 1989

"World Class: Blackjack Mulligan is history after a lengthy nine-day stay. " - WON, April 24, 1989

"World Class: Blackjack Mulligan has officially been fired, although he stopped showing up several weeks back. " - WON, May 1, 1989

"Despite rumors to the contrary, Florida Championship Wrestling is still alive and how has four managers, believe it or not, for a minor circuit. Blackjack Mulligan has shown up seconding his son, who now goes by the ringname Kendall Wayne Windham, as a heel. " - WON, September 18, 1989

"Jerry Gray's Southern Wrestling Federation has been running fairly regularly of late, particularly doing fair shows and have used the Rock & Roll Express, Kendall Windham, Bugsy McGraw and Blackjack Mulligan on recent shows. " - WON, October 2, 1989

"12/3 in Orlando drew 144 as Jimmy Backlund beat Mike Awesome (who worked under a hood as The Pro on a few NWA tapes that aired over the weekend) 1/2*, Lou Perez & Tommy Rogers (of Fantastics fame) beat Bounty Hunters via DQ Awesome beat Grizzly Bear Ray _***** , Steve Keirn beat Ron Slinker to keep the Florida title * and Mike Graham & Bugsy McGraw beat Blackjack Mulligan & Jumbo Berretta in a bunkhouse match *3/4. " - WON, December 18, 1989

"Pro wrestlers Kendall Windham and his father Robert Windham (Blackjack Mulligan) were arrested on Dec. 26 on charges of trying to pass counterfeit $20 bills. The two were held on $25,000 bail, and Barry Windham posted the bail for both of them. The two were charged with attempting to pass the counterfeit bills on Dec. 22 and the Secret Service had an arrest complaint and affidavit out for them. The preliminary hearing for the two will be Jan. 8. The complaint states that the Windhams got the bills from a third suspect in the case, Randall Caldwell. " - WON, January 8, 1990

"An update on the counterfeit case which has included the arrest of pro wrestlers Blackjack Mulligan (Bob Windham) and son Kendall Windham. After the arrest of the Windhams just before Christmas, the nine-member counterfeit ring started crumbling. The ring had been under investigation since April, when two of the men, one of whom has admitted this, are charged with having printed $1.2 million in fake 20's. The police made a $1 million buy of the fake money, and the man who brought the suitcase to the undercover officers was Mulligan. The police, who had been following the situation closely, believe that Kendall Windham had purchased the counterfeit money earlier in December and that the money was to be used to buy into some big-time drug action. While the police believe that about $500,000 in counterfeit money had been passed in the Tampa area, they also believe they have recovered all of it. Mulligan and Windham are both being charged with one count of possession of counterfeit money and the hearing was to have taken place on 1/8. The bills were printed in April, but two of the members of the ring, who believed police were on their trail, buried the bills in a suitcase behind their house and didn't dig them up until early December. " January 15, 1990

"Blackjack Mulligan and Kendall Windham update. Blackjack (Bobby Joe Windham) plead guilty to possession and trying to sell $1 million in counterfeit 20's. He won't be charged with any other crimes except those two in exchange for helping the secret service in solving the case. He'll be sentenced on May 15, with the maximum penalty being 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Whatever deal or plea Kendall will gu with will take place later this week. Mulligan and Kendall have worked a few independent dates of late as well. . . " - WON, April 2, 1990

"Kendall Windham and Blackjack Mulligan were sentenced on Tuesday on their counterfeiting conviction. Windham, 23, was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by two years probation while his father, 48, was sentenced to two years in prison followed by two years probation. They apparently haven't started serving time yet since Windham was still wrestling for PWF has of last night. The two were convicted of on Dec. 12, Mulligan sold $1,020 (51 fake $20 bills) to undercover agents and agreed to sell more at a second meeting. At the second meeting he came with more than $1 million in fake currency and agreed to sell it for $250,000 when he was arrested. The money was originally printed for payment in a drug deal that never occured. " - WON, May 28, 1990

"Universal Wrestling Federation: Abrams said he doesn't know who is booker will be immediately but said it would be Blackjack Mulligan (now in jail in Florida) if they could move him to Los Angeles and they have lawyers working on it and then claimed that once Mulligan is booker that Barry & Kendall Windham and Mike Rotunda (who is Mulligan's son-in-law) would be coming in. They were also tossing names like Sid Vicious, Mean Mark and Akeem around during the weekend. " - WON, September 3, 1990

"Blackjack Mulligan (as a manager) and Kendall Windham (as a wrestler) will be appearing on Eddie Mansfield's next IWF tapings." - WON, January 6, 1992

"Blackjack Mulligan and Kendall Windham have been working for Mansfield of late." - WON, January 10, 1992

"Eddie Mansfield's IWF taped five shows on 2/1 at Universal Studios in Orlando. The Long Riders (Kip Winchester & Brett Cole) beat The Heartbreakers (Tim Parker & Big Till) to win the IWF tag team titles. Blackjack Mulligan was jumped in an interview by Mondo Kleen and juiced like crazy. Tony Mella suffered a bruised sternum in a tag team match against Thunder & Lightning. At first, since his heart was beating irregularly it was feared he had suffered a heart attack. I believe Mulligan is moving to Alabama and getting a regular job. Kendall Windham is still serving out his sentence on the counterfeit money conviction but is able to wrestle if he's back in prison by 9 p.m." - WON, February 17, 1992

"Blackjack Mulligan beat Mondo Kleen to become the champion for Eddie Mansfield's IWF on 2/28 in Orlando before 200 fans at the Fairgrounds. Kleen is now gone from the promotion. GWF is interested in Kleen." - WON, March 9, 1992

"Eddy Mansfield's IWF drew 100 on 6/6 (don't know the city but obviously in Florida) as Blackjack Mulligan pinned The Possessor (Ned Brady) to keep the IWF title, Long Riders beat Nuclear Assassins to keep IWF tag title and Fire Cat (Brady Boone) pinned Denny Brown. Mansfield says the IWF will continue to run about nine shows per month and that nobody has quit the promotion. Mansfield has eliminated putting wrestlers under contracts, most of which just recently expired." - WON, June 15, 1992

"Blackjack Mulligan came out and did the color for the rest of the show and he was every bit as bad as his last color stint in the WWF in 1984 which lasted all of a few weeks before they had to mercifully put his role to sleep ." - WON, May 10, 1993

"STABBING
The near tragic stabbing of tennis player Monica Seles brought to mind an incident from years ago that maybe you can help me remember. I seem to recall Blackjack Mulligan being attacked and stabbed in the ring by a fan at the Boston Garden and Gorilla Monsoon rescuing him while the police and security people at the Garden just stood around thinking it was all an angle. Do you recall that incident?
George Reed
Springfield, Illinois
DM: I recall Mulligan being stabbed in the hand in 1971 at the Boston Garden but don't know any other details about the incident, but I believe it led to Mulligan wearing the black glove for the rest of his career." - WON, May 24, 1993

"3. In a legends match, Wahoo McDaniel (age 54) & Blackjack Mulligan (52) & Jim Brunzell (43) went to a double disqualification with Jimmy Snuka (49) & Don Muraco (44) & Dick Murdoch (47) in 9:25. This was set up by a lame angle on television the day before when Brunzell was in a hallway and Muraco confronted him with Ivan Koloff and Baron Von Raschke wanting to gain revenge for something that happened in the mid-70s in Minneapolis, forgetting of course that Muraco was a babyface in Minneapolis and left the AWA for San Francisco before Brunzell started wrestling. Schiavone boned up on the trivia although it was largely Mid Atlantic trivia since he never mentioned Muraco and Snuka's most famous moments in their career which was 1983 WWF and he and Zbyszko acted as if all six were retired wrestlers who have kept in shape when in fact all still work regularly and newer fans were probably perplexed at seeing Brunzell, who has been an anonymous WWF jobber for the past several years, called a wrestling legend. This match was fun to watch for the first 3:00. People popped when 300-pound Murdoch did a flying headscissors. Snuka seemed to think this was his try-out for getting a new job as he was ripped (as in physique, not the other definition of ripped) and took one great bump out of the ring, and I haven't seen Mulligan this active since the Civil War. Muraco and Snuka had two screw-ups, the second having Snuka accidentally hit Muraco who was then schoolboyed by McDaniel for what looked like a three count. No bell rang but McDaniel hesitated for a moment as if he thought it was the finish, then they kept going for about 10 seconds and the bell rang and it was called a double DQ. First of many lame finishes. *3/4" - WON, May 31, 1993

"WCW: They held try-outs for new positions at the Tampa Sportatorium this past week with Blackjack Mulligan and Jody "Assassin" Hamilton running things. " - WON, June 7, 1993

"MULLIGAN STABBING
I was present at the Boston Garden stabbing incident in 1971 referred to by reader George Reed in the 5/24 issue. The main event was WWWF champ Pedro Morales defending against Blackjack Mulligan. Mulligan was using roughhouse tactics to bring on a disqualification and a rematch. As Pedro was being beaten on, two fans jumped into the ring and one stabbed Mulligan. Mulligan was stabbed in the leg. He had already been using the black glove as a gimmick. Gorilla Monsoon, at that point a babyface and also working behind the scenes, raced out in street clothes and literally threw the two fans out of the ring. Monsoon was accompanied by two non-wrestlers. As a result, there was no Morales-Mulligan rematch in Boston and in fact, no subsequent appearances in Boston by Mulligan. The crowds during Morales' reign were such that these sort of instances were constantly feared. Morales never actually lost matches by count out, DQ or blood. Rematches would be triggered after Pedro won via DQ but was unsatisfied, and even sometimes after he had scored a pin the first time. This caution carried over when it was time for Pedro to lose the title. In 1973 at the Philadelphia Arena, Pedro was defending against Stan Stasiak, who he had defeated before in Philadelphia and elsewhere. They did the double pin finish and the ref counted three. Nobody was announced as the winner. Ring announcer Buddy Wagner merely said, "Let's hear it for Pedro Morales!" Gorilla Monsoon came out and ushered Morales back to the dressing room. Everyone went home assuming Morales had won. The next day, the newspapers reported the title change. On television they said Stasiak heart-punched his way to victory. Ten days later, Stasiak lost the belt to Bruno Sammartino.
Mike Omansky
Wyckoff, New Jersey
Blackjack Mulligan was a hot monster heel at the time, managed by the Grand Wizard (Ernie Roth), who at the time was a new manager. Mulligan was wrestling Pedro Morales for the WWWF title, already wearing the black glove and using the claw as his finisher. The bout took place May 15, 1971 at the Boston Garden. A fan rushed into the ring and sliced Mulligan's thigh. Gorilla Monsoon did a legit run-in. The assaulting party fled and was never captured. Mulligan was taken to the hospital and missed weeks of bookings afterward. Excellent commentary about Slamboree meaning something to long-time fans but nothing to casual fans, new fans, or those outside of the Mid Atlantic/Georgia/Florida and AWA territories. And where was the build-up for Smith vs. Vader?
Brian Smith
New Haven, Connecticut" - WON, June 7, 1993

"Blackjack Mulligan & Gordon Solie are now doing the announcing on the Power Hour." - WON, June 8, 1993

"Gordon Solie & Blackjack Mulligan were replaced as hosts of the Power Hour after just two or three weeks by Eric Bischoff & Larry Zbyszko." - WON, July 19, 1993

"It was quite an eclectic crew of characters as Herb Abrams ran a three-hour show from Las Vegas on 9/23 that aired nationwide on satellite. Abrams along with booker Blackjack Mulligan handled interviews, while John Tolos announced with an unknown individual and ring announcer Steve Rossi was awful as well. " - WON, October 3, 1994

Bobby Walker testified in the WCW Racial Discrimination lawsuit that: "In the mid-nineties Black Jack Mulligan, a WCW trainer, informed Bobby Walker that "the only reason you're here is because they need color on the TV." (Bobby Walker Dep . at 162-163 .)"