Tag: DragonKingKarl
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Joe Stecher at MSG
The history of wrestling at Madison Square Garden series continues. A very famous era for pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden is the focus of this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show. The Nineteens would see the death of the unbeaten World heavyweight champion Frank Gotch and the split of the title into various factions. Among…
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DragonKing Dark: The Mel Gibson rants
Karl Stern continues with the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history. Look, ok: Mel Gibson is a very good, and famous, actor. I like numerous Gibson movies: Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, and on and on it goes. But there have been enough maniacal outbursts for anyone to wonder what exactly…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Kurt Angle vs. Mankind
Karl Stern’s Greatest Kayfabe Tournament continues. Round two of my Greatest Kayfabe Tournament nears its conclusion — a fictional tournament which asks the question that if pro wrestling were real (not a shoot but the characters as presented on TV were real), who would win? In this match-up, we have Kurt Angle vs. Mankind. You…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of Whitney Houston
Karl Stern’s run through the 100 darkest pop culture moments continues. Whitney Houston was one of the most recognized and successful voices in any era of music with chart topping hit after chart topping hit. However, a toxic relationship and a reality show with hip hop artist Bobby Brown brought attention to darker problems lurking…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: ‘Grunt’ movie review
Karl Stern reviews a terrible wrestling movie from 1985. This week, I am taking a break from our regular rotation of classic wrestling podcasts to take a look back at one of the worst pro wrestling movies ever: 1985’s Grunt: The Pro Wrestling Movie. This abomination of a film is not only bad by movie…
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DragonKing Dark: The crimes of Jared Fogle
Karl Stern’s Dark 100 series continues. Note: Listener discretion advised You probably didn’t expect the face of evil to look like a geek eating a footlong did you? Yet, here he is: Jared Fogle. Why this goof became pop culture famous is beyond me, I mean, sure, literally for eating sandwiches and losing weight, but…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The death of Abismo Negro
Karl Stern looks at the strange circumstances around the 2009 death. In 2009, a strange series of events led to the death of luchador Abismo Negro. Negro, who had also wrestled for both WWE and TNA, was battling drug issues at the time and in the middle of the night, he had a mental breakdown…
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DragonKing Dark: The Robert Blake murder trial
The Dark 100 continues. Actor Robert Blake was best known for his role in the 1970s TV crime drama Baretta. His star faded and in 2002, he became pop culture famous yet again but for an undesired reason — he was accused and arrested for shooting his wife to death in the parking lot of…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: WWF Magazine from December 1993
Get the 1993 scoops on Razor Ramon, Ludvig Borga & Lex Luger. “Promotional consideration paid for by the following….” On our rotation of classic pro wrestling shows, this week takes a look back at the December 1993 issue of WWF Magazine. As you can see, the cover story was about Razor Ramon and how long…
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DragonKing Dark: The Lance Armstrong scandal
Karl Stern’s run through dark moments in pop culture history continues. Lance Armstrong is far and away the most famous cyclist that has ever lived, dominating the Tour de France and many other world class cycling events. He was pop culture famous in the United States and beyond. However, that much domination, especially in sports,…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: August 1983
Karl Stern’s longform history of pro wrestling continues. On the latest DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, my longform series on the history of pro wrestling is up next in the rotation. We are up to August 1983 where we discuss Ken Patera in Memphis, Harley Race continuing his record-breaking reign as NWA World Champion, the annual…
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DragonKing Dark: The strange funeral of Graham Parsons
Karl Stern’s deep dive into pop culture infamy continues. My journey through the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history series continues on this week’s DragonKing Dark and this week, our show has a twist. Yes, it was a tragedy that 26-year-old singer/songwriter Graham Parsons died. Like many music deaths, it was likely caused by…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The Zbyszko brothers at MSG
Karl Stern’s history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden continues. I continue my series looking at the history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden in New York City. At this point, we are up to the 1910s where both Stanislaus and Wladek Zbyszko are having a run. Both were world champion wrestlers in…
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DragonKing Dark: The Chris Brown scandals
Karl Stern discusses the controversial music artist. My look through the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history begins winding down and this week, we take a look at the domestic violence scandals of music artists Chris Brown. Brown has been hugely successful, award-winning and one of the most influential and important artists of the…
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DragonKingKarl Greatest Kayfabe Tournament: Dory Funk Jr. vs. Sting
Karl Stern’s fantasy pro wrestling tournament continues. AEW In my rotation of classic pro wrestling shows, this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show comes back around to my Greatest Kayfabe Tournament. On this episode, we have a battle of two past NWA World Champions in Dory Funk Jr. vs. Sting. It’s a battle of two different…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of boxer Tommy Morrison
Karl Stern’s Dark 100 looks at the late Rocky V star & real-life boxer. On this week’s DragonKing Dark, I continue on my path through the 100 darkest moments in pop culture series. Tommy “The Duke” Morrison was a rising boxing star in the late 1980s into the early 1990s who famously held a version…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: The death of Andrew ‘Test’ Martin
Karl Stern dives into the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, we delve into the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter as Dave Meltzer wrote about the passing of WWE star Andrew “Test” Martin at just 33 years old. Starting in 1998 and for nearly a decade afterward,…
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DragonKing Dark: The Johnny Lewis ‘Sons of Anarchy’ tragedy
Karl Stern examines the sad end for the young actor. This week’s dip into the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history focuses on an actor from one of the more popular cable shows in recent memory. Johnny Lewis played the fan-favorite character Half Sack on the popular Sons of Anarchy TV series, portraying the…
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DragonKing Dark: The Michael Richards/Kramer comedy club scandal
Karl Stern’s 100 darkest moments in pop culture history series rolls on. On this week’s DragonKing Dark, my series on the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history continues with a very popular individual in pop culture. Michael Richards played the quirky character Cosmo Kramer on the megahit TV sitcom Seinfeld. Kramer was a fan…
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: July 1983 in pro wrestling
Go back in time with Karl Stern to the summer of ’83 in the world of wrestling. My longform history of pro wrestling series picks back up with a detailed look at every major event and news story from July 1983 including a shadow break-off NWA group threatening to form with Southwestern Wrestling, ICW, Georgia…