Category: Dragon King
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: All eyes on the Tokyo Dome
This week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show looks back to the 1930s and all the drama surrounding Madison Square Garden. Then, we travel back in time to one of my favorite Tokyo Dome shows — the night Stan Hansen knocked one of Big Van Vader’s eyeballs out. Finally, during the second half of the show, we…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The historical importance of 1886
My pioneer era focus on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show returns this week with a look back at 1886 — a year of change in professional wrestling. Clarence Whistler had been one of the top stars of the last few years, but died while on tour of Australia in late-1885. Col. James H. McLaughlin had…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: October 1984
Image: Rasslin’ History I take the wrestling time machine back to October 1984 on today’s DragonKingKarl Show. Here’s a look at just a few things that happened: WWF continued to grow and invade territories Hulk Hogan was running a program against “Big” John Studd after Jesse Ventura’s career ended due to illness The AWA remained…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: My new Pioneer era book has arrived
This week marks the official launch of my new 700-page monster research project on the pioneer era of United States wrestling: the DragonKingKarl Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of the Pioneer Era of Pro Wrestling. The book is available now in either print form or Kindle on Amazon. On this week’s DKK Show,…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: More ‘From Milo to Londos’
Image: WWE On this episode of my 1000 Hours subseries on the Pioneer Era, I wanted to look at one of the oldest books to talk about that time called From Milo to Londos which gave us a lot of information and also some misinformation. If you’re here, buy my new DragonKingKarl Pioneer Era Pro…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Omega vs. Funk, MSG, July 1984 Observer issues
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, we have a ton of classic pro wrestling discussion on a variety of topics. The latest match in my Greatest Kayfabe Tournament (GKT) is here and the voters are split on a match between Kenny Omega and Terry Funk…but we have a winner! I also have more from…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Was Davy Crockett actually a pro wrestler?
Hour 49 of the 1000 Hours podcast subseries on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show is a packed one. The subseries is my detailed, heavily researched look at the pioneer era of pro wrestling, or pro wrestling before the time of Frank Gotch. On today’s episode, I answer a question about Davy Crockett whose obituary following…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Misawa vs. Lesnar GKT & the classic wrestling fan problem
On this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I take a look at the results of the latest match in the final eight of my GKT (the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament) pitting Brock Lesnar against Mitsuharu Misawa. These two would have had an incredible match in their primes and I discuss that along with your…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Jim Londos headlines Yankee Stadium in 1931
On this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I continue with my history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden with a detour to Yankee Stadium in 1931 where Jim Londos teamed up with the William Randolph Hearst empire to — hopefully — draw one of the largest crowds in history up to that…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Pioneer era legend The Terrible Turk
I first covered pioneer era wrestling special attraction Yusuf Ismael, aka The Terrible Turk, on an early episode of my 1000 Hours pioneer era-focused subseries here on the DragonKing Classic Wrestling Show, but the Terrible Turk deserves a follow up as requested by one of our listeners. Now I tell you the latest information I…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Why May 1984 was a huge month in wrestling
On a new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I have a detailed look at the month of May 1984 in pro wrestling history. It was one of the most significant months ever: Kerry Von Erich wins the NWA World title from Ric Flair in the largest show in Texas history followed by Flair regaining the title…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The true story behind the 1870 Detroit International tournament
I have recently spent many hours digging through hundreds of pages of 1870 newspapers from Detroit, Chicago, Ontario, and beyond chronicling the real story of the biggest tournament in history of American pro wrestling in the pioneer era: the Detroit International tournament. On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I reveal what I found. The…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: A return to 1980s Southeastern & Continental
I return to my roots on this edition of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show by discussing 1980s Southeastern and Continental Wrestling. What made it so great? What are some of the myths about it? What did Ron Fuller get wrong recently on his podcast? Plus, the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament continues with discussion of Kurt Angle…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The pioneer era in Australia
The latest entry into my 1000 Hours series on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show looks at the pioneer era of wrestling in Australia of all places. Believe it or not, there was pro wrestling there in the 1800s, and one of America’s top stars actually died there. The incredible story of the death of Clarence…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Bray Wyatt documentary
Karl is back with a look at the new WWE Network Bray Wyatt documentary which dives into his career, characters, and family which include classic era wrestlers Mike Rotundo, Blackjack Mulligan, and Barry and Kendal Windham. This was a very good documentary that fills in a lot of gaps about the death of Wyatt. Also,…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Legitimate wrestling Presidents
Pro wrestling historian and author Karl Stern (DragonKingKarl) returns with the 1000 Hours podcast series which looks at pre-1900 pro wrestling. On this episode, a listener has requested a look at the facts versus mythology about United States Presidents who have legitimately wrestled. We have already previously covered Abraham Lincoln in episode one but here…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: MSG history, Bruno Sammartino
On this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, host Karl Stern continues his look at wrestling history at Madison Square Garden in New York in the year 1931. He also continues his look back at Dave Meltzer’s epic biography on the life and times of Bruno Sammartino from the pages of the Wrestling Observer…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: ‘Strangler’ & Sammartino
On this edition of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I take a look at a great retro article from a 1972 wrestling magazine asking whether Ed “Strangler” Lewis was the greatest wrestler of all time. I then continue taking a look at Dave Meltzer’s biography of Bruno Sammartino from the pages of the Wrestling Observer…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The pioneer era in the Great Lakes region
The pioneer era (pre-1900) of pro wrestling flourished in the Great Lakes area of the United States. While initially the Northeast, and especially New York and Vermont were early hotspots, cities like Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and the entire Great Lakes region became very important in pro wrestling by 1870. The 1870 Detroit International tournament was…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: April 1984 in pro wrestling
WWE 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…