On this installment of my long form history series, I cover one of the busiest months in pro wrestling history.
Taken from the pages of my latest book DragonKingKarl’s 1986-1987 Pro Wrestling Omnibus, April 1986 featured multiple giant supercards including WWF WrestleMania 2 (the debut of the big blue steel cage and NFL players in a battle royal), the first ever NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament, and AWA WrestleRock ’86.
This is literally one of the most packed months in the history of pro wrestling. Join me as I discuss it all.
This week on the DragonKingKarl podcast, Karl Stern takes a look back at the April 4, 1986, issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter which discusses the lead up to WWF WrestleMania 2.
This issue of the observer looks at the training that Mr. T and Roddy Piper were going through leading up to their boxing match. plus an update on the various NFL stars who were expected to be in the celebrity battle royal.
More details were discussed on the then-upcoming NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament.
On today’s DragonKingKarl Show, Karl Stern goes through the pages of the February 24, 1986, Wrestling Observer Newsletter which gave an update on the death of Gino Hernandez and the first revelation that it involved drugs.
There are a lot of notes about the then-upcoming WWF WrestleMania 2 including a story about William “The Refrigerator” Perry looking at backing out. (Dave Meltzer did not seem to like Mr. T one single bit.)
That and tons more as we build toward the March 2026 release of my new book, DragonKingKarl’s 1986-1987 Pro Wrestling Omnibus, a 600-plus page monster book with the most important thing that happened in pro wrestling every day of those two years.
Christopher Pallies, best known as King Kong Bundy, has passed away at the age of 61.
No further details are currently known. David Herro was the first to report the news, with PWInsider later confirming he had passed away.
Bundy started his career in 1981, wrestling for WWE under the name Chris Canyon. He later relocated to Texas, where he soon adopted the moniker King Kong Bundy, facing Fritz Von Erich in his retirement match at Texas Stadium in 1982. He later went to Mid South Wrestling, adopting a gimmick where he would demand a five count instead of the normal three when pinning an opponent.
He joined the WWE in 1985 and was given a monster push upon arrival, His most memorable match during this run was a steel cage match against Hulk Hogan for the WWE title in the main event of WrestleMania 2 in 1986. Once that program ended, Bundy teamed with Big John Studd and had another program with Hogan before leaving the company in 1988.
He made one last run in the WWF in 1994, joining Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation. He left the following year and largely worked independents until 2007.
Bundy is also known for his acting roles, most notably playing the brother of Peggy Bundy on the television sitcom Married With Children. He also had a role in the 1988 Richard Pryor film Moving as an ex-con.
