Danny McShain

**Woodrow Wilson Shain** (October 30, 1912 – July 14, 1992), best known by his ring name **Danny McShain**, was an American professional wrestler. He competed in the southern United States from the 1930s to the 1960s.

## Professional wrestling career

McShain was born on October 30, 1912, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He made his professional wrestling debut during his 18th birthday in 1930. McShain later joined the United States Navy, where he excelled as a boxer and won several championships. He started out competing in Texas and the Southwest, and then when his family moved to Glendale, California, he competed for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

On October 11, 1937, he defeated Wild Red Berry to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, and held the belt for a few months until dropping it on May 16, 1938 to LeRoy McGuirk, but on October 18, he regained the title. McShain would hold the championship for nearly two years and defended it against numerous opponents until March 13, 1940, when he lost the title to Jesse James. He also held the Pacific Coast Junior Heavyweight Championship in 1941 from January 21 to May 6.

McShain won his third light heavyweight championship that year on August 25 by defeating Paavo Ketonen, but dropped it to Berry after a seven-day reign. Years later, he won the title on January 22, 1945, defeating Dick Trout and dropping it on March 26, back to Trout. He defeated Trout on April 16 to win the title back until Berry defeated him for it on September 10. McShain would win the title five more times, trading it with the likes of Trout, Berry, and Martino Angelo. His last reign in September 1947 lasted just two days. He continued to compete for the NWA after moving to Alvin, Texas, where he would live for the rest of his life.

McShain found success as a stiff "tough guy" and proudly advertised his list of injuries to demonstrate the amount of punishment his body could take. Angering people with a cocky strut, he was also known for blading, as he often cut his own forehead during matches to draw blood. McShain also put legitimate force behind his punches and made contact with his opponents rather than pretending to hit them. He used a piledriver as one of his ring moves, in which he would hold his opponents upside-down and then drop them head-first to the ring floor. McShain attributed the piledriver to the deaths of two opponents.

On March 22, 1948, McShain defeated Reb Russell to win his first NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship. He dropped the title to Mike Sharpe on April 14, but regained it on May 13, until losing it on June 11 to Miguel "Black" Guzmán. He did not win the title again until November 12, where he defeated Argentina Rocca. His reign lasted 18 days until dropping it back to Rocca on the 30th. On April 1, 1949, he won the title again by defeating Guzmán but dropped it three weeks later to Sonny Myers. Danny McShain also held the World Junior Heavyweight Championship in Los Angeles during this year and also ventured into Hollywood, appearing in Danny Kaye’s *The Inspector General* film. In one scene, Kaye goes into a gym and wrestles McShain and Joe Blanchard; the two would become close friends.

McShain won the Texas Heavyweight Championship again on January 13, 1950, but a week later, the title was declared vacant after it was held up in a match against Timmy Geohagen. On March 17, McShain won the title back in a rematch. He lost it to Guzmán on April 10 and had a Texas Tag Team Championship reign with Al Lovelock before regaining it from him on May 5, until losing it on June 6 to Rito Romero. McShain defeated Romero on December 15 but lost it to Danny Savich on January 5, 1951. Also in 1950, McShain met the sister of fellow wrestler Donn Lewin, Sallee, whom he later married; the precursor of this event was when McShain broke Lewin's nose during a match, so Lewin's father invited him to dinner, where he met her.

On November 19, 1951, he had a notable victory over Verne Gagne to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. In 1954, McShain won the NWA American Tag Team Championship with partner Oyama Kato while competing for the Midwest Wrestling Association in Ohio. Over the following years, McShain won the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship 6 times, as well as the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship multiple times with partners like Casey McShain (Larry Hamilton), Bad Boy Hines, Joe "Killer" Christie, Tony Borne and Sputnik Monroe. Other titles he held included the Louisiana Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Championship; the latter was his final documented title.

Following his end to in-ring action, having wrestled his final matches in 1967, Danny McShain worked as a referee in Houston and also had a stint as a promoter. Known as "Silver Fox" during this time period, he often got himself involved in the matches physically, never hesitating to place himself between two wrestlers who were getting too aggressive with the rules. McShain said “Hitting a man is not refereeing, the hallmark of a good referee is getting men to do what they should without laying a hand on them. I try to do that; it’s the right way and the hard way, but no referee can enforce the law physically in every match. It’s impossible.”

## Death

On July 14, 1992, Woodrow "Danny" Shain, who had been taken out of a nursing home and slept throughout the day, asked fellow wrestler Tiger Conway Sr. “Where we working tonight, Tiger?”. He responded “We’re off tonight, Danny,” and Shain said “That’s good because I’m tired.” Afterwards, he lowered his head slowly and died at the age of 79. His cause of death was listed as complications from pneumonia and arthritis that had forced him into a wheelchair for eight years.