Tag: DragonKingKarl

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Podcast: January 1984

Posted on by Karl Stern

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!

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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Kenny Omega vs. Great Muta

Posted on by Karl Stern

In our rotation of classic pro wrestling shows we are back around to the GKT: The Greatest Kayfabe Tournament.

We ask the question: If pro wrestling were real (not a shoot but the characters as presented on TV were real) who would win? This episode we have two wrestlers from two different generations who are actually very similar: Kenny Omega vs. The Great Muta (Keiji Mutoh).

The listener votes are in, let’s talk about them!

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Podcast: Verne Gagne

Posted on by Karl Stern

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.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Podcast: Pioneer Era Minnesota wrestling

Posted on by Karl Stern

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.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Podcast: December 1983 in pro wrestling

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this edition of the Long-Form History of Pro Wrestling series, host Karl Stern wraps up 1983 by looking at December.

Ric Flair has newly regained the NWA World Heavyweight title — but the big news is the end of the long reign of Bob Backlund as WWF Champion as the Iron Sheik famously defeats him at Madison Square Garden to set up January 1984’s transition to Hulk Hogan.

Plus, the New Japan and All Japan annual tag team tournaments wrap up and Hulk Hogan is part of that story too. SECW trends weaker, AWA trends stronger, and World Class is still on fire but a tragedy is looming not far ahead.

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DragonKing Dark: Who is the Harvard alien hunter?

Posted on by Karl Stern

For several years now, you may have been periodically reading headlines like “Harvard Professor Believes Object Traveling Through Solar System is Alien Spacecraft” or recently, “Harvard Professor Discovers Remains of Alien Technology on Earth.”

So who is this Harvard professor? He is Avi Loeb and he is, in fact, a Harvard professor. But what’s his deal? If a Harvard professor has supposedly discovered all of this, why has the world turned upside down at his “discoveries?” 

Let’s dig deeper into who this alien-discovering Harvard professor is, why his name keep coming up in the news and whether has he discovered evidence for aliens.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: John Pesek & the history of wrestling at MSG

Posted on by Karl Stern

In this 14th installment of my history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden series, I look at one of the toughest and scariest shooters ever in wrestling history who you seldom hear about but should: John Pesek.

I discuss how a pioneer era wrestler shockingly and bafflingly helped change the rules of wrestling in a way that had a serious negative impact on the industry in that era.

Plus, there’s a new promoter in town as the war between Tex Rickard and Jack Curley ends in a whimper.

There’s lots of history in this episode that will affect wrestling for years to come.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The first Japanese pro wrestler

Posted on by Karl Stern

Matsuda Sorakichi was the first Japanese star in America. He faced all the top names of his era including Evan “Strangler” Lewis, Duncan C. Ross, Edwin Bibby, Tom Cannon, and others. 

Though on the small side, he gave the top wrestlers of the day all they could handle and was highly respected by the best champions of the pioneer era. Yet, he died destitute in the streets of New York at age 32. What went wrong? 

On this week’s DragonKing Dark, learn the real story of the first Japanese pro wrestling star Matsuda Sorakichi.

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DragonKing Dark: Corruption of the peer review process

Posted on by Karl Stern

We need to be able to trust the gatekeepers of science. 

Science and scientific ideals are at the center of modern political warfare and science should be held to the course of political winds. We need science to be firm and accountable. But what happens when the very process that oversees acceptable science becomes corrupted? 

There is an outcry among the scientific community that this may well be happening due to a corruption of the peer review process. What is peer review and how could it be manipulated? 

That is the topic on this edition of the DragonKing Dark Podcast.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Jack Carkeek goes to prison

Posted on by Karl Stern

It’s time for another entry into the 1000 Hours series which looks at the pioneer era which describes wrestling prior to the Frank Gotch era around the year 1900. This series looks to uncover the lost origins and evolution of modern entertainment style of pro wrestling.

Jack Carkeek was a well-known top level wrestler during the pioneer era who later got into the promoting end of things. As we have discussed often in our series so far, gambling was a big component of wrestling becoming worked and Carkeek was very much a shyster.

So much so, Carkeek ended up being indicted with a major crime syndicate in one of the first federal cases of using the U.S. Mail for criminal purposes by fixing wrestling matches and serving time in prison as a result.

This is the story of Jack Carkeek, pro wrestling criminal.

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DragonKing Dark: The Devil in the details

Posted on by Karl Stern

DragonKing Dark continues to explore the greatest mysteries of the universe (and, perhaps, beyond).

This week, I take a look at Satan or, the Devil. It’s almost irrelevant if you believe in the Devil or not because billions of others do and those people make up large portions of the government you are under, the places you work, and the people that surround you. So, your life is influenced by the Devil whether you believe in it or not. 

But you might be surprised that a lot of what you think you know about the ultimate evil is not actually written in religious canon. This week, we look at misconceptions about the Devil and what the texts really say.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Pioneer era wrestler John McMahon

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this week’s DragonKing Karl Classic Wrestling Show, I introduce my 1000 Hours series which looks at the pioneer era which describes wrestling prior to the Frank Gotch era around the year 1900. This series looks to uncover the lost origins and evolution of modern entertainment style of pro wrestling.

Famous names among the pioneer era include Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Famers William Muldoon, Evan “Strangler” Lewis, and Col. James H. McLaughlin, as well as pioneers of the sport like John McMahon, Jack Carkeek, H.M. Dufur, and more.

On this week’s show, we focus on the life and career of the aforementioned John McMahon. Was he related to the later McMahons? How did he compare to contemporaries like Muldoon and McLaughlin?

Also, as an added segment, I talk about the recent death of Adrian Street.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Inside Wrestling from April 1988

Posted on by Karl Stern

On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, let’s take a look back at a retro Apter mag: the April 1988 issue of Inside Wrestling.

This issue features a look at the storyline run-up to the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant feud where Ted DiBiase tried to buy the WWF World title from Andre.

Also in this issue are features on Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Jimmy Jack Funk, some great VHS ads, Michael Hayes, King Kong Bundy, and the Von Erichs. This fun issue also includes the Roll Call of Champions.

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DragonKing Dark: The mysteries of the origin of life

Posted on by Karl Stern

How did life begin? The prevailing scientific consensus presents us with a primordial soup a few billion years ago which coalesced into life.

But wait: the science is not as settled as you might believe.

There are problems with that model and some leading scientists are challenging it. What even is “life?” Even that definition is not as clear in 2023 as one might think.

On this week’s DragonKing Dark, I will look at some of the latest questions being presented to origin of life researchers. No, we aren’t talking creationism either, but the straightforward science.

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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The original Trust Busters at MSG

Posted on by Karl Stern

A very interesting era greets us on this edition of my history of wrestling at MSG series on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show.

We are moving away from Earl Caddock into the Ed “Strangler” Lewis era and there are those out there who are not pleased with the wrestling trust. Marin Plestina is giving the trust trouble, but ran up against John Pesek. Joe Stecher began to show signs of future problems that would plague him for the rest of his life. Tex Rickard and Al Haft bumped heads…and more.

Enjoy this packed edition of the history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden series and be sure to check out the archives for past shows.

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