Category: Dragon King
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: True crime – Matt Borne
Matt Borne was well known in the pro wrestling business to have legal issues. He was arrested multiple times for a variety of crimes. WWE even once sued him to stop him from promoting himself as Doink on indie shows due to his string of arrests. Borne had serious heat with Jim Duggan over an…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: June 1982 in pro wrestling
Image: WWE June of 1982 is a massively important month in the history of pro wrestling. The WWF as we know it is born as Vince McMahon buys Capitol Sports from his father. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka leaps from the top of the steel cage. And Rocky 3 is released in theaters, which is pivotal in the…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Frank Gotch vs. Undertaker
Image: WWE The final match of round one of the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament brings us to our strangest matchup yet. From one end of the spectrum to the other. From the early 1900s we have the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the world: Frank A. Gotch. With his toe-hold he is a feared and seldom defeated…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Observer’s Fritz Von Erich obituary
The latest DragonKingKarl Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling podcast looks at the Wrestling Observer’s obituary for Fritz Von Erich, the patriarch of the Von Erich family. This biography not only covers Fritz Von Erich and his career and death, but it covers the entire saga of the Von Erich family and is one of the most famous…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: SECW June 9, 1984 review
Today on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling show, we hop in our time machine and travel back to the June 9, 1984 edition of Southeastern Championship Wrestling out of the Dothan, Alabama TV studio. We see the original RAT Patrol (Scott Armstrong & Johnny Rich & Tonga Kid), plus Arn Anderson & Jerry Stubbs as a…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: May 1982
We take a deep dive into May 1982 when 21,000 people turned out to the Superdome in New Orleans to see the Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia battle The Samoans. Plus, the Buzz Sawyer vs. Tommy Rich rivalry was raging on in Georgia, Jimmy Garvin won the Florida title, Hulk Hogan was chasing AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel,…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The Saga of Manny Fernandez
Today’s show is a new DragonKingKarl Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling special — The Saga of Manny Fernandez. Manny is an old-school wrestler who has told a lot of tales. He has the reputation of being — how can I put this, a perpetual liar. I am going to examine three of the most often repeated tales…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Jim Londos vs. Rikidozan
As the first round of the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament nears completion, we have a battle of the greatest live attendance draw of all time (Jim Londos) vs. the greatest TV draw of all time (Rikidozan). Both are legends from different eras. You voted and we have a winner! Join DragonKingKarl (Karl Stern) as he discusses the…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Florida wrestling in August 1985
On this edition of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I put a spotlight on southern wrestling as we visit the Florida wrestling territory as it begins its fall after the death of Eddie Graham. It was still a viable territory at this point with NWA World Champion Ric Flair coming to town to face Wahoo McDaniel…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The deaths of Plum Mariko & Stan Stasiak
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling show, I look at two very different biographies from a classic edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter as Dave Meltzer looks at the in-ring death of Japanese female wrestler Plum Mariko (possibly the first in-ring death ever in Japan) and the death of former WWWF champion Stan Stasiak.
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: WCW WorldWide retro review
It’s time to have some fun again — this time I hop in the time machine and travel back to February 22, 1992 for WCW WorldWide Wrestling. HOLY CRAP THEY’VE MADE P.N. NEWS & EL GIGANTE A TAG TEAM. If you think it can’t get any better than that well, yo baby yo baby you are…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The true crime story of Jose Gonzalez
Image: NotiCel We all know the story of the killing of Bruiser Brody. In this latest true crime deep dive, I focus in on his killer (Jose Gonzalez) instead of rehashing the whole story once again. The popular version of that story is that Gonzalez murdered Brody in a shower by stabbing him and then was…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: April 1982 in pro wrestling
We are up to April 1982 on this week’s DragonKingKarl longform history of pro wrestling with tons of interesting stuff happening at that point of time. Jerry Lawler has his famous first match against Andy Kaufman in Memphis; Andre The Giant won what is now called the G1 Climax in New Japan; it was the…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Dusty Rhodes vs. Mankind
The next match in the GKT (Greatest Kayfabe Tournament) takes place today with two legends — three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dusty Rhodes vs. three-time WWF World Champion Mankind (Mick Foley). The King of the Bunkhouse Stampede vs. the Hardcore Legend. Who will win? You the listeners voted and we have a winner, so let’s talk…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Deep South Wrestling retro review
I got this show off YouTube and it doesn’t have an exact date (it literally says 1988 maybe 1987). Anyway, this is The Assassin Jody Hamilton’s promotion out of Atlanta featuring a guy who LITERALLY can’t count to three as an announcer and a lineup of Southern regional castoffs, also-rans, and Great Value-brand wrestlers. We have…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Deaths of Bill Miller and Jerry Graham
From the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer published obituaries of two wrestling “doctors” — Dr. Bill Miller and Dr. Jerry Graham. Miller and Graham were two very different personalities. Miller was quiet, reserved, and intelligent, while Graham was outrageous, riotous, and somewhat insane. An interesting look at two very different wrestling stars of…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The Freebirds at war
On this week’s edition of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I review an episode of Southeastern Championship Wrestling from April 1982 featuring The Freebirds at war in Alabama — the feud between Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes and a must-hear promo between the two. Plus, Larry Hamilton and all the cool stuff happening here in 1982!
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The true crime story of Buck Zumhofe
Buck “Rock and Roll” Zumhofe was a staple of the 1970s-80s pro wrestling scene. While largely a mainstay in the AWA and winning their World Junior title several times, he also worked in both World Class and WWF regularly. However, he was also a convicted sex offender and everybody knew it as he spent a stint…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: March 1982
I continue with my longform history of pro wrestling podcast series with a look at March 1982. Bob Backlund was WWWF champion and feuding with both Jesse Ventura and Adrian Adonis, Ric Flair was facing many different opponents including a memorable series with Butch Reed, and Nick Bockwinkel reigned as champion over the AWA. Plus, I discuss Jerry…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Steamboat vs. Angle
Image: WWE This edition of the GKT (Greatest Kayfabe Tournament) features two of the best workers in modern history: Ricky Steamboat and Kurt Angle. Between the two, they have a library of some of the best matches of the last 40 years so what happens when they collide? The listeners voted and we have a…