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On a new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I continue my detailed look at the history of pro wrestling from the pages of my book: DragonKingKarl’s 1984-1985 Pro Wrestling Omnibus.
On this show, I examine February 1985 and look at the buildup to the first-ever WWF WrestleMania.
Plus, I talk MTV’s big WWF special, “Dr. D” David Schultz got fired but probably not for the reason you think, Sgt. Slaughter begins his post-WWF career, Mr. T, and more!
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It’s time for the second of our two annual Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame ballot shows with more discussion on the historical era, modern era, Japan, Mexico, and the non-wrestler ballot.
This year’s ballot has a lot to consider. We discuss Junkyard Dog, Bill Goldberg, The Von Erichs, The Steiners, and many more. This is usually our most downloaded show every year. Give me your thoughts on who should — or should not — go into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame!
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Part one can be heard here
Today, wrestling historian Karl Stern returns with another in-depth look at a month in pro wrestling history.
Karl looks back at April 1984 — and a lot was going on. The WWF was accelerating its national expansion by stealing the AWA’s TV spot on the West Coast, Jumbo Tsuruta is still the AWA World Champion, and a new monster named Lord Humongous is challenging Jerry Lawler in Memphis. But the big news of the month happened in Waukesha, Wisconsin when Mr. Saito and Ken Patera fought multiple police officers and were arrested and ultimately sent to prison.
Here’s a fun review of an off-brand pro wrestling magazine from back in October 1986. Neither Apter nor Napolitano magazine, this is issue one of Double Action Wrestling which featured terrible blurry and outdated photos, stories on Hulk Hogan and The Funks, and a slew of highly questionable advertisements.
Join pro wrestling historian Karl “DragonKingKarl” Stern as he looks back at this classic pro wrestling magazine.
On our rotation of classic pro wrestling themes we are back around to “From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter” — a show where we look back at some of Dave Meltzer’s biographies and history pieces in historic Observers.
Today we continue a three-parter on Dave’s massive Dusty Rhodes obituary. It is basically a book on the life and times of one of the most influential and popular pro wrestlers of all time: Dusty Rhodes.
Today, pro wrestling historian Karl Stern begins looking back at the year 1984 in pro wrestling.
January 1984 was a huge and historically important month as Hulk Hogan wins the WWF Heavyweight title from Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The AWA is beginning to get its talent raided by WWF with not only Hogan but Gene Okerlund, David Schultz, and others coming over.
On top of that, Hogan is still an important part of New Japan Pro Wrestling as well. What do the NWA and others do? Let’s talk about it!
This week from When It Was Cool Wrestling, host Karl Stern visits the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter to look at the life and career of AWA owner and multi-time World Champion Verne Gagne.
Gagne was a contemporary of Lou Thesz and a major rival. He was one of the biggest stars on television during TV’s earliest days. However, his reluctance to change with the times resulted in the catastrophic downfall of one of the three largest pro wrestling companies of the era.
The 1000 Hours Podcast is all about the pioneer era of pro wrestling. Pre-1900 pro wrestling. In this episode, sponsor Eric D. wanted to know about the pioneer era of wrestling in the state of Minnesota. While Minnesota would become a hotbed of wrestling from the 1940s through the 1980s with Verne Gagne’s AWA, Minnesota also had a rich history in the pioneer era as well — including major events for two of the biggest stars of the time: “The Solid Man” William Muldoon and the original “Strangler” Evan Lewis. This is hour 13 of 1000 hours.
On this week’s DragonKing Karl Classic Wrestling Show, we return to the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter to take a look back at Dave Meltzer’s very detailed career and life history of the man who trained Triple H (Paul Levesque) and held multiple major titles during his career: Walter “Killer” Kowalski.
A big drawing card all over the United States, Canada, and Japan, Kowalski was one of the best known big men in pro wrestling history and a very interesting character out of the ring in a way different than many other pro wrestlers.
Karl Sten’s longform history of pro wrestling series continues with a news-packed episode. Matt Borne is busted in Ohio for sexual assault of a minor — and that isn’t even the biggest news. Nancy Argentino is killed, allegedly by Jimmy Snuka, in a hotel room the same night that Eddie Gilbert breaks his neck in a car crash.
Plus, all the regular goings on with Ric Flair, Mr. Olympia, Nick Bockwinkel, and more making the news. A packed month as 1983 ramps up.
The Greatest Kayfabe Tournament continues as we take a look at the histories of two of the greatest Japanese pro wrestlers ever: Antonio Inoki and Kazuchika Okada.
Two different generations and two different styles. Inoki, recently departed, was one of the greatest trinity of wrestlers ever in Japan. At 35 years old, Okada is already in the WON Hall of Fame and nobody is questioning why. You the listeners have voted and we have a winner! Now let’s talk about these two Japanese wrestling legends.
This week on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show we talk about the Frankenstein Monster in pro wrestling!
Yes, the creature has popped up a few times in wrestling, most famously in Los Angeles and Memphis. We tell you all about that today — and we talk about the shoot fight Frankenstein had with Andre the Giant. No kidding.
We venture into the night on this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show.
There have been vampires in pro wrestling in the past: Gangrel and The Brood, Kevin Thorn (Mordecai), Vampiro, Vince McMahon (har, har, har), but has the head vampire himself, Dracula, ever appeared as a character in the squared circle?
He has been elusive, I’ll say that. Apart from CM Punk dressing up as the evil vampire lord once at a WWE house show, I had a hard time tracking down Dracula himself. But, let’s give it a try as I kick off a month-long celebration of Halloween by looking for Dracula in pro wrestling.
Wear your garlic.
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I take a look at another classic era pro wrestling magazine: WWF Magazine from May 1993 featuring Hulk Hogan on the cover.
This issue was put together shortly before WrestleMania 9 and came out shortly after, so they spend a lot of time skirting around the show. There are major feature articles on Andre the Giant and Bret Hart, plus some fun house ads for Coliseum Video, ICOPRO, and a WWF catalog insert.
Let’s talk about it on this week’s show.
Gary Albright was a big, burly, legitimate amateur wrestler from Nebraska. He got his start working for Stu Hart out of the Stampede promotion and was married into the famous Anoa’i family of wrestlers.
With those credentials, Albright naturally found success in Japan, especially with the early shoot/semi-shoot leagues and later with All-Japan. Unfortunately, Albright died at the age of 36.
On this “From the Pages of the Observer” episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, Karl Stern looks back at the life of Gary Albright through the obituary that Dave Meltzer wrote following Albright’s death.
