Tag: classic wrestling

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Iron Mike Sharpe

Posted on by Karl Stern

Host Karl Stern again takes a look at another iconic enhancement wrestler from the 1980s in second-generation wrestling star Iron Mike Sharpe.

If you were a fan of WWF Superstars or WWF Wrestling Challenge in the 1980s, you likely saw many matches with the big screaming Canadian and Canada’s Greatest Athlete, Iron Mike Sharpe. But Sharpe got a push in various territories as well, including for Bill Watts in Mid-South Wrestling.

On today’s episode, Karl takes a look back at the arm brace-wearing Iron Mike Sharpe.

This is the next to last day to order the Super Stern Stick Flashdrive from Karl’s website.  The 16gb wrestling history flashdrive with over 500 podcast, audio series, and audio documentaries dealing with pro wrestling history plus over 500 text and pdf files dealing with pro wrestling history for just $20 with free shipping world wide.  To order the flashdrive today and tomorrow only please visit Karl’s website.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Bobby Heenan

Posted on by Karl Stern

On today’s July Classic Wrestling Marathon show, host Karl Stern takes a look at the greatest pro wrestling manager of all time, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

Heenan had a quick wit and was a tremendous bump taker. He knew his role better than anyone, and played the part of a sports agent who was intent on destroying Hulk Hogan. Heenan managed many of the greatest of all time, from Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens to monsters like King Kong Bundy and Andre the Giant.

Heenan would go on to become one of the most highly regarded color commentators in history, and his announce team with Gorilla Monsoon remains one of the most unique and hilarious to this day.

On today’s episode, Karl takes a look at the man who is certainly not a weasel, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

The deadline to order a Super Stern Stick Flashdrive is almost here. Orders must be made by July 31. You can order the 16gb pro wrestling history flashdrive from Karl’s website.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Lance Russell

Posted on by Karl Stern

On the latest edition of the July Classic Wrestling Marathon, Karl Stern takes a look at one of the greatest announcers of all time: legendary Memphis wrestling announcer Lance Russell.

Russell was more than just a play-by-play announcer, and was every bit as important a character to Memphis TV as Jerry Lawler or Bill Dundee was. It was Russell’s smooth and reasoned style that drove one of the most popular wrestling shows in the country.

Many will argue there were better announcers than Russell, saying that Gordon Solie or Jim Ross were better in many ways. On this show, Karl makes a strong case that for his particular territory and for his particular fan base, no one could have pulled off leading a show the way Russell did.

He not only was involved in pro wrestling for many decades, but also pulled off something very few people in the wrestling business have: remaining universally liked and respected.

Today, the DragonKingKarl Show takes a look at Lance Russell, one of the greatest announcers in wrestling history. 

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Time is rapidly running out to order the Super Stern Stick 16gb pro wrestling history flash drive featuring over 500 audio shows and podcasts dealing with pro wrestling history including many series and audio documentaries — only $20 with free shipping worldwide! Additionally, there are over 500 text and pdf files with match results, clippings, booklets, newsletters, and much more. You must order by July 31 from DragonKingKarl’s website.

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Norvell Austin

Posted on by Karl Stern

This show was a lot of fun for Karl Stern to research and put together. It all started from a research project Karl is doing on Sputnik Monroe. Knowing Norvell Austin only from his time as part of the Midnight Express and the PYT’s, Karl discovered just how important a cultural figure Austin was.

Oh yeah, the first Junkyard Dog wasn’t Sylvester Ritter either. Learn all about that today.

Austin started his career as a partner to Monroe, a race barrier-breaking Memphis wrestling star. Throughout his career, Austin was part of at least three important tag teams. He teamed with Monroe, with Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose in the original Midnight Express, and with Koko Ware as the Pretty Young Things (PYT Express).  

Join Karl as he looks at the career of Norvell Austin, a wrestler many might not be familiar with, on today’s episode of the July Classic Wrestling Marathon.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Sgt. Slaughter

Posted on by Karl Stern

Yo Joe! You had to know that host Karl Stern was going to include Sgt. Slaughter in his list of favorite wrestlers for this year’s July Classic Wrestling Marathon.

Karl is a massive G.I. Joe collector and pro wrestling fan, and Sgt. Slaughter was a major character in both! Slaughter was a top star in the NWA, WWF, and AWA during his career, and had a run as WWF champion in the early 1990s, headlining a WrestleMania against Hulk Hogan.

Slaughter started his career out for Verne Gagne working several different gimmicks. Once he hit on Sgt. Slaughter, however, his career forever changed for the better.

Slaughter had a great run in Jim Crockett Promotions doing the brutal drill instructor gimmick with subordinates like Jim Nelson (later the known as the Russian Boris Zhukov) and Don Kernodle. Slaughter and Kernodle’s matches with Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in the Carolinas remain some of the most fondly remembered battles from that area.

Slaughter had a big run in the WWF against people like Pat Patterson and Iron Sheik. But he had a falling out with the WWF over an action figure and left the promotion, signing a huge mainstream deal with Hasbro for his voice and likeness to be used in the G.I. Joe franchise across television, movies, and action figures. It was during this time that he had a less than memorable run in the AWA.

Slaughter returned to the WWF where an ill-advised gimmick change netted him the WWF title, but also won him scorn and controversy.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: “Dr. Death” Steve Williams

Posted on by Karl Stern

Photo Credit: Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman

On today’s July Classic Wrestling Marathon Show, host Karl Stern takes a look at another of his personal favorite wrestlers in “Dr. Death” Steve Williams.

As far as tough guys go, Williams certainly had the reputation for being just that. A standout football player and wrestler at the University of Oklahoma, Williams started wrestling during college breaks as a personal favorite of Bill Watts in the Mid-South area. Though Williams had runs in WCW and WWF, he was far and away most successful in All-Japan Pro Wrestling during an era when AJPW had the best wrestling in the world.

Williams was part of multiple top tag teams with partners like Ted DiBiase and Terry Gordy. Williams and Gordy dominated the Japanese tag team division during the early 1990s, and had a memorable run against the Steiner Brothers in WCW. His health took a turn for the worse while Doc was in his mid-40s as he fought cancer on multiple occassions.

In this latest edition of the July Classic Wrestling Marathon, Karl Stern takes a look at one of Jim Ross’ favorite pro wrestlers: Steve Williams. Click below to play or right click to save to your computer.

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Reminder: This is the last week to order the Super Stern Stick 16gb flash drive full of pro wrestling history featuring over 500 podcasts and over 500 documents on one USB drive dealing with the history of professional wrestling from the pioneer days until today.  You can order it here for just $20 with free shipping worldwide.

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Shane Douglas

Posted on by Karl Stern

For many years he was the face of ECW, having long reigns as ECW world champion and ECW TV champion. But in the many times ECW has since been attempted to be resurrected, Shane Douglas has seldom been front and center of it.

Douglas is a controversial, outspoken personality. He started out training in the Northeast with Mick Foley and wetting his feet in Bill Watts’ UWF promotion.

Douglas had a controversial interview style that made him both popular and, to a certain degree, alienated. 

Douglas’ career is quite interesting when you consider he started off pushed as a young white meat babyface, evolved into a blue chipper teaming with veteran Ricky Steamboat as WCW world tag team champions, had two brief stints in the WWF, and then was the face of one of the hottest promotions in the world.

Somewhere in there he rode a skateboard to the ring and, yes, Karl will look at that also.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Masked Superstar/Demolition Ax

Posted on by Karl Stern

Today, host Karl Stern takes a look at the career of Bill Eadie, best known under two gimmicks, the territory traveling Masked Superstar and later as the face-paint wearing Demolition Ax.  

Eadie was a world traveler who competed for the NWA, WWF, and top New Japan championships over the course of a long career. Starting out under the Mongol gimmick, he soon found huge success all over the world under a mask. 

Fans of Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS 17 certainly remember the Masked Superstar as one of the top stars in the area. He held a variety of titles and worked programs with all the big names that came through the area over the years he was there.

Fans of late 1970s and early 1980s WWF remember the Masked Superstar as a top challenger to Bob Backlund’s WWF title, and later as part of The Machines tag teams with Andre the Giant, Blackjack Mulligan, and others.  

In both Mid-South and Florida, the Masked Superstar was one of the most feared heels to come into the area.  Later in his career, without fanfare, Eadie abandoned his mask and put on face paint to become one of the most successful tag teams in WWF history — Demolition.  

Demolition has seemingly been largely written out of history and Karl will get into why that is.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Scott Steiner

Posted on by Karl Stern

Big Poppa Pump. The Big Bad Booty Daddy. One half of the Steiner Brothers. Scott Steiner started off as a super-athlete working smaller promotions, then came to WCW in the early 1990s where he was paired with his brother Rick in one of the most dominant tag teams of the era.

After a run in both WCW and WWF, Steiner evolved into one of the most insane, out of control forces ever seen in wrestling. His promos were crazy and his matches were frightening. 

Today, host Karl Stern looks at the force of nature that is Scott Steiner.

Karl followed Steiner from his earliest days in the WWA promotion, wrestling the likes of the Great Wojo. Steiner then came to Memphis and it was clear he was going to be a superstar, and it was only a matter of time before he was paired up with his brother Rick.

When that happened in WCW, the Steiner Brothers became a world wide wrecking crew winning titles not only in the United States but in Japan as well. The Steiners in many ways mirrored the Road Warriors from a decade earlier, becoming top stars in all the major promotions of the time.

When the two finally split up, Scott Steiner cut his hair short, bleached it, and became an entirely different force. By the time WCW ended, Steiner was one of the most controversial stars in wrestling.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Power and Paint

Posted on by Karl Stern

Apparently, post-nuclear war, mankind will take off their shirts, dawn old football shoulder pads, and paint their faces. They may or may not have weird haircuts. Hockey masks may or may not be included. We will run around the planet chasing gasoline, but above all, else we will look really, really bad ass. 

In the early 1980s the Mad Max movie sequel “The Road Warrior” spawned a huge number of dystopian renegade characters in wrestling.

First were Hawk and Animal as the Road Warriors, then Jimmy Hart introduced the lead heel in the movie, the Lord Humongous, then from there almost every territory introduced their clone or knock off version. As the Road Warriors gained more popularity the numbers grew. 

The Road Warriors, Demolition, Lord Humongous, Sting, the Ultimate Warrior, the Powers of Pain, Madd Maxx & Super Maxx, the Terminator, the Black Assassin, and many more. Today, host Karl Stern takes a look at the weird gimmick of Power and Paint!

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Ken Timbs

Posted on by Karl Stern

Who is “Gentleman” Ken Timbs? Today you will find out.

Timbs worked many areas during the 1980s, from Georgia Championship Wrestling to Central States to Southwest to Mexico’s EMLL. He was a tag team partner to Eric Embry and had a great program with Lizmark in Mexico. He was also very important in host Karl Stern’s pro wrestling journey as well.

Timbs became Karl’s mentor in the 1990s and helped him in a variety of situations. Today’s show is the story of a man who might not have been a big national star, but did something many wrestlers from his era failed at, he had a great family and had his act together.  

On today’s July Classic Wrestling Marathon show, Karl Stern takes a look back at a great all-around wrestler and better all-around person — Ken TImbs.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Muhammad Ali

Posted on by Karl Stern

The Greatest.

Simply the most appropriate nickname for one of the biggest mega-stars ever. Few people in modern history have reached the level of fame that Muhammad Ali did.

Ali was a force beyond stardom in the 1970’s. If you were old enough to be aware of sports then Ali was as big as they came. He fought George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Antonio Inoki, and even Superman.

Ali had a lot in common with pro wrestlers, in fact, it was the entertainment aspect of pro wrestling, when combined with the incredible boxing skills of Ali, that made him a world-wide superstar.

Ali, of course, crossed over into the wrestling world multiple times. He created catchphrases and stood tall above his peers in a way that probably only Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has in modern times. 

Say my name — Muhammad Ali.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Lex Luger, pt. II

Posted on by Karl Stern

This is the second half of the Lex Luger biography, so be sure to listen to episode one first. 

This second part focuses on the later part of Luger’s WWF tenure, and his entrance into WCW on the first WCW Monday Nitro. His second WCW run is covered and then the chaotic years after the end of WCW. 

Luger’s rise to stardom was quick and not without controversy, but the later half of his career was equally wild and crazy.  After bodyslamming Yokozuna and taking the Lex Express to nowhere, Luger found himself floundering in the WWF teaming with the British Bulldog.  When Sting contacted him about jumping to the soon to be launched WCW Monday Nitro, a secret plan was launched that made Nitro must-watch television from the first episode.

His second run in WCW was just as wild as his first and by the time WCW was sinking, Lex Luger’s personal life and attitude were also in chaos. Following a series of arrests and the death of Miss Elizabeth at the house she shared with Luger, he seemed to be getting back on a straighter path when he suffered a catastrophic health crisis.

The July classic wrestling marathon continues with part two of Karl Stern’s look at the only and only Lex Luger.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Lex Luger pt. 1

Posted on by Karl Stern

Today, host Karl Stern is back with a doubleheader, a two-part Lex Luger biography.

Show number one covers his early career coming out of the USFL as a pro football player into Florida wrestling and his training with Hiro Matsuda during his early days there. 

Luger was pushed to the moon from the start and was a champion in the first month of his career. Working with some of the best of the era from the beginning like Wahoo McDaniel, Barry Windham, and Ric Flair, and covered extensively by the Apter Magazines, many dubbed Luger as the next Hulk Hogan. 

As Luger was leaving the area to go to Jim Crockett Promotions, he was involved in a surreal match against Bruiser Brody inside a steel cage that much mystery still surrounds to this day.

Luger was quickly added to the Four Horsemen when he arrived to work for Crockett.

In the first five years of his career, Luger had gotten one of the biggest pushes in wrestling history. Yet Luger remains, to this day, much maligned and perhaps misunderstood.  

This is a doubleheader so look for part two covering his WWF career and later WCW run, plus his tumultuous life after wrestling.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Marathon: Bam Bam Bigelow

Posted on by Karl Stern

Today, Karl Stern looks at the Beast from the East.

Bam Bam Bigelow started out his wrestling career as a highly acclaimed student of the Monster Factory. He soon showed up in Memphis with his manager and trainer Larry Sharpe, where he battled Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, and all the top stars in Memphis for a short period of time.  

From there he spent time in World Class as the ill-named Crusher Yurkov and had a short stint in WCW before he had a couple big runs in WWF, including a WrestleMania main event. He also became a star in Japan and ECW.

Bigelow’s career was often marred by injury and jumping from promotion to promotion, but he became one of the best big men in wrestling.

Today’s show is about a man who seemed to have tremendous potential and seemed destined to become one of the biggest stars in the world. He had a tremendous look and agility for a big man, but questions remain if he really lived up to his potential.

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