Category: Dragon King
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DragonKing Dark: The Bill Cosby scandal
Bill Cosby was “America’s Dad.” He was a mega-popular comedian and actor with his NBC TV sitcom The Cosby Show holding the spot as the biggest television show of the late 1980s. Then, it all came crashing down a few years ago when allegations of rampant sexual misconduct and assault began to surface which ultimately…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: WWA Indianapolis retro review from May 1984
This week’s DragonKing Karl show focuses on some low-rent wrestling as WWA Indianapolis is about the dirt worst “major” pro wrestling show from the territory era I think I have ever seen. Dick The Bruiser literally gave zero sh*ts about his wrestling show. We have generic knockoffs of Abdullah The Butcher, Michael Hayes, and a…
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DragonKing Dark: Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan
Our Dark 100 series looking of the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history continues with a look back at the 1994 sports scandal involving U.S. Olympic skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. Harding was accused of being involved in a physical assault of Kerrigan in order to increase her Olympic medal chances. The attack…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The longform history of pro wrestling in January 1983
My longform pro wrestling history series lands in January 1983 and we now have issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter to help us along as well. A lot will happen very quickly in 1983: Jimmy Snuka is hugely popular and seems to be ascending to the WWF title picture, but Nancy Argentina will change all…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of WCW
Continuing our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history, I return to the world of sports entertainment (pro wrestling) to find out how one company became the most profitable and successful wrestling company in the world and then sank over half of genre with it. The death of WCW is an amazing account of how…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: History of pro wrestling at MSG, 1878-1879
On this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, we return to the early days of Madison Square Garden in New York City and look at two early years’ worth of MSG matches featuring James Singley, William Heavyside, Prof. William Miller, Charles Murphy, Wilhelm Heygster, John McMahon, Edwin Bibby, and Andre Christol. Plus, Gilmore’s Gardens…
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DragonKing Dark: Milli Vanilli hoax
We continue our look at 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history by looking at the late 1980s pop music act Milli Vanilli, who were busted as lip synching imposters after a hugely successful album and even a Grammy win. But, were Milli Vanilli the bad guys or victims? Don’t most live acts…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Tammy ‘Sunny’ Sytch involved in accident involving fatality
Tammy “Sunny” Sytch has reportedly been involved in a car accident in Florida that has claimed the life of a 75-year-old man. Sytch has been in the news repeatedly over the last few years for multiple DUI’s and other offenses, and media reports say this fatal accident may have also included alcohol. I am going to answer…
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DragonKing Karl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Terry Funk vs. Triple H
Round two of the DKK Greatest Kayfabe Tournament continues to ask the question: if wrestling were real (not a shoot but if the characters as presented on TV were real), who would win? Two legends collide this episode with multi-time world champions Terry Funk vs. Triple H. Both are legendary brawlers having been involved in…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of NHL player Bill Masterton
The NHL is a fast, high-impact, and sometimes violent sport. But you may be surprised to learn that only one hockey player has ever died as a direct result of the game. In 1968, Bill Masterton became the only NHL player to date to die as the result of injuries suffered during a game. His…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Rick Rude’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter biography
In April 1999, 40-year-old Rick Rude was found dead in his home. Generally speaking, super fit 40-year-olds don’t just die of natural causes. So what happened to the former WWF Intercontinental champion? In this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I look at that week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter and how Dave Meltzer discussed the life, death,…
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DragonKing Dark: The murder of SNL star Phil Hartman
Another tragedy from the cast of Saturday Night Live is our stop this week on the DragonKing Dark 100 darkest moments in pop culture history series. This week, we take a look at the domestic violence murder of comedian Phil Hartman. Hartman was a popular SNL cast member, voice actor, and comedian who was killed…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Saga: The origin of the Midnight Express, part 2
I return with another DragonKingKarl mega-show in our Saga series, continuing to look back at a tag team many consider the greatest of all time: the Midnight Express. As I wrote last week, if you think the Midnight Express is only Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton or Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane or if you…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of John Belushi
Continuing our series of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history, we take a look back at the death of young comedic star and a Saturday Night Live original, John Belushi. Belushi was a star still on the rise with multiple hit movies and an iconic stint on SNL. However, drugs gained a…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Saga: The origin of the Midnight Express, pt. 1
Another DragonKingKarl mega-show in our “Saga” series takes a look back at a tag team many consider the greatest of all time: the Midnight Express. But if you think the Midnight Express is only Dennis Condrey, Bobby Eaton or Stan Lane, or if you think Jim Cornette has always been part of the formula, think…
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DragonKing Dark: The Mitchell Report
100 darkest moments in pop culture history continues with another black eye for Major League Baseball – the Mitchell Report. This 2007 report was officially titled The Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball. It’s…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The longform history of pro wrestling in December 1982
On the new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I talk everything that happened in December 1982 in pro wrestling. That list includes the infamous Jack Veneno vs. Ric Flair NWA title match; why a Jacques Rougeau by any other name is still Jacques Rougeau; Bob Backlund vs. “Superstar” Billy Graham redux, World Class Star Wars, Jerry…
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DragonKing Dark: What happened to Glenn Miller?
If you know any big band swing music, then it is probably by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Some of the most recognizable instrumental hits were arranged and recorded by the biggest pop star of the early 1940s, Glenn Miller. He was every bit as big of a star as Elvis or The Beatles in…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: 1983 found footage SECW
Today’s review is awesome! The Armstrong Alley YouTube channel has newly discovered footage from Alabama’s Southeastern Championship Wrestling in the spring of 1983. Armstrong Alley found someone with a previously undiscovered tape out of Montgomery that features, among other things: More legendary heel Bob Armstrong, a Buck Robley coming out of a box angle, The Midnight Express,…
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DragonKing Dark: Las Vegas concert massacre
On this episode of DragonKing Dark, we continue our series on 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history. This week we look back at the 2017 Las Vegas concert massacre that took place on the strip in Las Vegas targeting a large country music festival. 61 people died during the attack. It remains…