DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Iron Mike Sharpe, origins of kayfabe, and more!

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show – Questions and Answers!  The return of the popular questions and answers format.  Topics and questions today deal with a variety of things but I have to start off with the death of “Iron” Mike Sharpe.  If you grew up watching WWF in the 1980’s like I did then you undoubtably saw many “Iron” Mike Sharpe matches.  He came from a wrestling family and I think he could have been a pushed star in certain areas had he not been typecast in the WWF prelims.  I also revist the topic of who has had the most matches in wrestling history.  A listener to the show writes in questioning the 9,000 matchs or more number that we talked about a few shows ago.  We talk about the reality of that number.  

Then the main topic this show comes from an email I got just yesterday.  What are the origins of kayfabe and the sport becoming a work?  It is a question we have talked about many times on the DragonKingKarl show.  Still, it is a great question to revist from time to time and discover just how pro wrestling came to be.  How did the carnivals and the circus get tangled up with wrestling?  How did wrestling evolve out of the civil war?  Was Frank Gotch, Ed “Strangler” Lewis, or Lou Thesz actually “shoot” wrestlers?  Just when did it change from being a legit contest to theater in a ring?  If you are interested in getting a copy of the Pioneers of Wrestling Special that I reference on this show, it is available as part of the massive amount of data on the Super Stern Stick available at my personal website http://www.dragonkingkarl.com

Today’s show is a free one!  I have not given away a show in years but I am giving away today’s show so we can have a good discussion about the origins of pro wrestling.  I hope you enjoy!

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