Billy Sandow
| Billy Sandow | |
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Sandow as a professional wrestler, "Young Muldoon", at the start of the 20th century
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| Birth name | Wilhelm Baumann |
| Born |
September 4, 1884 Rochester, New York, United States |
| Died | September 15, 1972 (aged 88) Portland, Oregon |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Billy Sandow Young Muldoon |
Wilhelm Baumann (September 4, 1884 – September 15, 1972), better known as Billy Sandow, was an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is best remembered as the manager of professional wrestler Ed "Strangler" Lewis and a subsequent member of the famed Gold Dust Trio promotion that changed the face of the industry during the 1920s (along with Lewis and Joseph "Toots" Mondt). He may have taken his ring name from Eugen Sandow, a professional wrestler and strongman in the late 19th century; in turn, former WWE wrestler Damien Sandow would adopt his own ring name in honor of Sandow almost a century later. Sandow also served as manager for such wrestling champions as , Marin Plestina, Jumping Joe Savoldi and Everett Marshall, and also used the ring name The Zebra Kid in 1951. He was a charter inductee of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996.
Sandow and his brother, Max Baumann, traveled together to promote wrestling events. They also promoted events in Georgia. Sandow met his star attraction Lewis during World War I, when Sandow was teaching recruits hand-to-hand fighting techniques. Sandow was credited with helping to develop Lewis' famed headlock. The two men were linked in the public eye, and in 1926, Sandow and Lewis published an eight-volume collection of preferred training and fighting techniques, which they dubbed "kinetic stress."
As the 1920s dawned, the popularity of professional wrestling was dimming, mostly due to the slow-paced "mat wrestling" style which had become dominant. Promoters like Sandow and Toots Mondt were eager to liven up their exhibitions with a more crowd-pleasing style. Time limits were instituted, and events were held in more major arenas. They took control of all aspects of the pseudo-sport, by booking, training, managing and promoting. Along with Lewis, the threesome swiftly took the lead in promoting wrestling around the country, signing some of the top wrestlers to exclusive contracts. The partnership dissolved in the mid-1930s.
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