Blackjack Mulligan

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This article is about the American wrestler. For the British wrestler, see Black Jack Mulligan (United Kingdom).

Blackjack Mulligan
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Blackjack Mulligan Big Machine
Billed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Billed weight	340 lb (150 kg/24 st)
Born	November 26, 1942 (1942-11-26) (age 65)
Billed from	Eagle Pass, Texas
Trained by	Verne Gagne

Blackjack Mulligan (Born Robert Deroy Windham on November 26, 1942 in Sweetwater, Texas) is a former professional wrestler and a former American football player..

1 Career
2 Trivia
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 External links

[edit] Career

Mulligan was a former Texas Western University football player who played for the New York Jets,(1966 preseason) received tryouts with the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos in the 1960s. After football, He trained with Verne Gagne and became a professional wrestler in the old American Wrestling Association. He then moved to the World Wide Wrestling Federation and became the heel Blackjack Mulligan. At first Mulligan, donning black trunks, black hat, black glove, and using the iron claw submission, seemed to be an imitation of AWA wrestling star Blackjack Lanza, managed by The Grand Wizard, Mulligan went on to great success in the Northeast. He received a big push and went on to wrestle Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino.

Mulligan returned to the Midwest and tagged with Lanza to form The Blackjacks. The Blackjacks went on to capture numerous tag team championships in various NWA affiliated promotions as well as the WWWF World Tag Team Championship in August of 1975.

Blackjack returned to singles wrestling in the Jim Crockett Promotions where he would go onto hold the NWA United States Heavyweight championship and the Mid-Atlantic's version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with a young Ric Flair.

Mulligan often fought with André the Giant. The two wrestlers feuded in many different regions in the early 80's. When they brought their feud to the WWF in 1982, Mulligan would go onto wrestle in Florida as a face. He often teamed with West Texas stars Dusty Rhodes, Dick Murdoch, and his son Barry Windham.

In 1986, Mulligan wrestled under a mask as "Big Machine" part of a team with "The Giant Machine" (André the Giant) and "Super Machine" (Bill Eadie). (The Machines

Mulligan and his Blackjacks partner, Jack Lanza were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006 by their manager, Bobby Heenan.

Though Mulligan is more often remembered as a successful tag team wrestler, he achieved equal success as a singles wrestler.

He and son Kendall spent two years in prison in the mid-1990s for counterfeiting.