Tag: Dragon King
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DragonKing Dark: Warner Bros. destroys DC Comics
I continue my series of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history and this week, I look at the destruction wrought by Warner Bros. against the iconic characters of DC Comics. Characters who have been around since the 1930s have been rendered generationally irrelevant by a terrible connected universe of movies, bad castings,…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Ultimo Dragon biography
This week’s biography lands on one of my favorite wrestlers: Ultimo Dragon. I was already a big fan of his before he showed up on WCW television as a new international junior heavyweight. The photo of him as the J-Crown champion survives in pop culture as a meme of achievement. Dragon has had standout matches…
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DragonKing Dark: Badfinger
We continue our series of the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history with a band that started off with a string of hit songs, signed to The Beatles’ record label, with songs written by The Beatles with many people believing they might BE the new Beatles. But a rash of “whatever could go wrong…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: History of pro wrestling at Maple Leaf Gardens
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I take a look back at the history of pro wrestling at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. Before the Tunneys, the Queensbury Athletic Club set the stage for one of the most famous pro wrestling venues in the world. This is their story.
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DragonKing Dark: Honey Boo Boo
We continue our series of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history and this week, I am your father who is very disappointed in you. No, this week nobody died. No tragedy has befallen a cast member (aside from a few arrests) but I discuss the general state of a show which was…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: One Man Gang/Akeem biography
The following is a free show. Just click below to listen. On a new biography episode of the DragonKing Classic Wrestling Show, I look back at the territorial era monster One Man Gang who later had his gimmick changed to the regrettable Akeem in WWF. Starting out with the outlaw promotions and then Angelo Poffo’s…
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DragonKing Dark: The OJ Simpson case & trial
Where were you when JFK was assassinated or when Elvis died or when a man landed on the moon? How about when the OJ Simpson verdict came down? The NFL football star and actor was accused of murdering two people, including his ex-wife. This case has been discussed a million times (or more), but here…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Earthquake/John Tenta biography
This is a free show. Just click below to listen. John Tenta (aka WWF’s Earthquake, WCW’s Avalanche and Shark) wrestled at LSU and then became a sumo competitor where he was a standout Westerner. But, he soon became disgruntled and switched to pro wrestling, first in Japan and then in the U.S., becoming a star…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: February 1983 in pro wrestling
The longform history of wrestling podcast series from DragonKingKarl continues as we take a detailed look back at February 1983 in pro wrestling. Ric Flair travels around the world (literally) defending the NWA World title. The Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes) wins, then has to give back the NWA World title in Florida. Several AWA results…
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DragonKing Dark: The coverage of the JonBenet Ramsey murder
Continuing our look at 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history, I continue to examine the rise in popularity of true crime documentary/TV channels/podcasts. On this DragonKing Dark, I look back at the murder of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. We aren’t going to dive into the details of the crime beyond the basics because…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: History of pro wrestling at MSG from 1880-1883
As part of my series looking at the history of pro wrestling at “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” I conclude with all the wrestling events held at the first Madison Square Garden (Gilmour’s Garden) which featured the biggest act of the time in William Muldoon. It’s so amazing looking back on the New York wrestling…
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DragonKing Dark: Adam Walsh & the birth of true crime content, pt. 1
Continuing our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history, we begin a three-episode run of tragic events that gave rise to the true-crime genre of documentaries, podcasts, and TV channels. The murder of Adam Walsh was a tragedy beyond comprehension. Yet, born out of that horrible event many incredibly good things came including the Center…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Bret Hart vs. Giant Baba
The next match in the GKT (Greatest Kayfabe Tournament) takes place and you the listeners have voted. Who will win when multi-time WWF Champion Bret Hart faces All Japan legend Giant Baba? Plus, a detailed look at the career and legacy of Bret Hart in Japan.
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DragonKing Dark: The Harvey Weinstein scandal
My ongoing series examining 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history continues with a look at the movie scandal that spawned the #MeToo movement and the many crimes of producer Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was a powerful movie producer in Hollywood who is accused of numerous heinous sexual assaults against a large number of…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The Owen Hart WON obituary
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, we take a look at Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter obituary for Owen Hart the week he was killed in a tragic fall in Kansas City, MO during the live WWE Over The Edge pay-per-view. Hart’s death still stands as one of the most tragic moments in the history of…
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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…