Fritz Von Erich vs. Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan

Fritz Von Erich had a running feud with the Blackjacks, Lanza and Mulligan, for about a year and a half in 1973-75. There were several types of matches which included the Texas Death match, lumberjack, cage, and claw vs claw. Fritz's tag team partners were Sonny King, Black Angus, Red Bastien, Ivan Putski, and Al Madril. There were enough twists and turns in this program to keep it fresh for a long time.

The angle that sticks out in my mind the most was when Fritz beat Mulligan in a loser leaves town match. Mulligan came back as the Masked Texan and Lanza denied Mulligan was under the mask for several weeks. Mulligan came back with the Texan as a tag team partner one night and as fate would have it, Lanza was under the mask.

At the time I was going to college in Stephenville, a city about 70 miles south of Fort Worth. I had been at my parents' house in the Fort Worth area and had watched Fort Worth TV that Saturday. The show was taped on Monday night. On that card, Fritz's knee had been seriously injured by Mulligan. Fritz was off TV in Fort Worth for the next several weeks. When I returned to Stephenville that Sunday afternoon, I bought a newspaper from Abilene. Fritz wrestled Dory Funk Jr. to a double countout in Abilene after the Fort Worth taping. I guess it was hard to keep kayfabe in some areas where the territories overlapped.

Lanza and Mulligan were really good performers and went on to be big players in other territories.