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Roderick James " Jess" McMahon Sr. (October 29, 1882 – November 21, 1954) was an American professional wrestling and professional boxing promoter, and patriarch of the McMahon family, founders of Capitol Wrestling Corporation, precursor to the present-day WWE.
In the 1930s, the McMahons operated the Commonwealth Casino, on East 135th Street in Harlem. Boxing was the primary attraction. The McMahons booked black fighters to cater to Harlem's growing black population; fights between blacks and whites drew the largest, racially mixed crowds. In 1922, they established a black professional basketball team, the Commonwealth Big 5, to try to attract patrons to the casino. For two years, the team defeated black and white opponents, including Harlem's other black professional team, the Rens. Sportswriters considered the Big 5 the best black team in the nation, although they could not defeat the dominant white team of the time, the Original Celtics. Despite their success, the Big 5 did not attract large crowds, and the McMahons shut the team down after the 1923/1924 season, leaving the Rens to become the dominant black team of the 1920s and 1930s.Stephen Robertson, "Basketball in 1920s Harlem", Digital Harlem Blog, June 3, 2011, accessed August 23, 2011
After 1915, Jess anchored in Long Island, where he became the first McMahon to promote professional wrestling, at the Freeport Municipal Stadium. The wrestling wars led McMahon to ally himself with another independent faction, captained by Carlos Louis Henriquez. Together they booked the Coney Island and Brooklyn Sport Stadiums, with Carlos being the main fan favorite. The formation of "the Trust" calmed the New York territory enough to allow McMahon access to a larger pool of wrestlers. Among those wrestlers were Jim Browning, Hans Kampfer, Mike Romano and Everett Marshall. By 1937, wrestling's popularity was waning. However, while most bookers left the city for fresher ground, Jess dug in for the long haul. His contacts allowed him to freely trade wrestlers with promoters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut. A perpetual force in Northeastern sports, McMahon may be more remembered for his spell as matchmaker at the Garden than for his 20 years as a wrestling promoter.
On January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) banner was produced. (2025). 9781465453136 ISBN 9781465453136 It is not certain who the founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Jess' son Vincent J. McMahon while other sources (including the website of the CWC's successor, WWE) credit Jess himself as the founder of the CWC. (2025). 9781439188132, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781439188132
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