After football, at the urging of
Wahoo McDaniel, Windham trained with
Joe Blanchard in
Corpus Christi, Texas and later with
Verne Gagne and became a
professional wrestler in the
American Wrestling Association. Billed as being 6 foot 9 inches and over 300 pounds, Windham was a raw-boned cowboy in the vein of
Bobby Duncum or
Stan Hansen. In November and December 1970, Windham (as "Bob Windham") wrestled in Japan for the
International Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of its Big Winter Series. Teaming with
Larry Hennig, he defeated Great Kusatsu and
Thunder Sugiyama in a
two-out-of-three falls match to win the
IWA World Tag Team Championship. Kusatsu and Sugiyama regained the titles from them several weeks later. In 1971, Mulligan joined the
World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) where he was transformed into "Blackjack Mulligan". Mulligan donned black trunks, black hat, a black fingerless glove, moustache and used the
iron claw submission hold. When he arrived in the WWWF, he was managed by
The Grand Wizard. Early stills of the two actually identify him as "Big Bob Windham". Mulligan went on to great success in the Northeast and was an early challenger to newly crowned champion
Pedro Morales. His push was interrupted when he was slashed in the thigh by a fan at the
Boston Garden and required hundreds of stitches to close the wound. The culprit was actually captured by
Gorilla Monsoon, who threw him at the ringside police – who promptly let him go because they thought "it was part of the show". Before he left to recover from his wound, Mulligan participated in a
Madison Square Garden match against
Bruno Sammartino, who was making his first appearance at the arena since the end of his nearly eight-year championship reign. Mulligan attacked Sammartino before the bell. Sammartino quickly recovered, slammed Mulligan twice and pinned him in 64 seconds. In wrestling terms, everybody "got over" – the building was sold out to the delight of promoter
Vincent J. McMahon, Sammartino made a strong return to New York and Mulligan, who was in no condition to work an actual match, received a large pay-off to aid his recovery. Once he healed, Mulligan returned to the Midwest and tagged with
Blackjack Lanza to form
the Blackjacks. Although Mulligan was the much bigger star, the duo went on to capture numerous
tag team championships in various NWA affiliated promotions as well as the
WWWF World Tag Team Championship in August 1975. (right), circa 1978. Blackjack returned to singles wrestling in the
Jim Crockett Promotions where he would go on to hold the
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship and the Mid-Atlantic's version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with
Ric Flair. Mulligan often battled
André the Giant, feuding in many different regions in the early 1980s. When they brought their feud to the WWF (formerly the WWWF) in 1982, Windham was noted as saying Andre had no limit to his strength. Mulligan then wrestled in Florida. He often teamed with
West Texas stars
Dusty Rhodes,
Dick Murdoch, and his son
Barry Windham. Mulligan returned to the WWF as a full-time performer in 1984, hosting an interview segment titled ''Blackjack's Barbecue
on WWF All-Star Wrestling'', the counterpart to
Roddy Piper's ''Piper's Pit''. 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) collectively known as
The Machines. They won several high-profile matches against the Heenan family, later recruiting members such as 'Hulk Machine' and 'Piper Machine'. After that angle ended, Mulligan wrestled for the WWF as himself, until he finally left in 1987. Later on, Jack traveled to Dallas and competed in
World Class Championship Wrestling, wrestling against
Bruiser Brody,
Chris Adams and
Kevin and
Lance Von Erich. Mulligan also returned to Florida in 1987 to fight against the Funk brothers, teaming with Kevin Sullivan. Mulligan returned for his last match on May 23, 1993, at WCW's
Slamboree '93: A Legends' Reunion in a six-man tag teaming with
Wahoo McDaniel and
Jim Brunzell against
Don Muraco,
Dick Murdoch and
Jimmy Snuka in a no contest. Mulligan worked as a match booker and promoter all around the South, eventually co-owning the Amarillo, Texas-based
Western States Sports promotion with
Dick Murdoch after purchasing it from Dory and Terry Funk. Mulligan and his Blackjacks partner, Jack Lanza were inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame on April 1, 2006, by their manager,
Bobby Heenan. == Personal life ==