Wayne “Big” Munn

Former Nebraska lineman Wayne “Big” Munn became world champion in pro wrestling by beating Ed “Strangler” Lewis in Kansas City on Jan. 8, 2025.

Murmers that the match was fixed didn’t take long to surface, and Munn is now regarded as the first “performer” to win a pro wrestling championship belt. Online World of Wrestling says he was “the bridge from wrestling as sport to wrestling as entertainment.”

The bout was banner material in some newspapers and was featured in Time magazine.

At Nebraska, Munn lettered at guard in 1917 and was the first of four Munn brothers to play for the Cornhuskers. The others were Monte (“The Fighting Legislator”), Wade and Glenn.