It’s time for match 22 in round 1 of the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament, a fun way to do some pro wrestling biographies. On this edition, we have a very close match-up: Antonio Inoki vs. Harley Race. Inoki was the ace (and founder) for
The fourth part of my historical look at the NWA World heavyweight title covers the legendary Ric Flair era with the belt. Who was really promised what? Why Ronnie Garvin? This episode looks at the most famous era of the National Wrestling Alliance World heavyweight championship including
Image: Scott Bowden Straight out of 1986-87, this week’s DragonKing Karl Classic Wrestling Show takes a deep dive into the Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol hair vs hair match that took place in a steel cage. I had such fun putting this show
On the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I continued with the third part of the history of the NWA World heavyweight title. I take a look at the title from the time of Harley Race to the era of Ric Flair, how Race ended up
The spring of 1981 saw Harley Race continue his run as NWA World champion, Ron Fuller losing his smile and going home, Junkyard Dog cranking it up in Louisiana, Hulk Hogan battling Jerry Lawler in Memphis, a big name wrestler appearing on a game show,
In part two of my look at the history of the NWA World heavyweight title, I start with the decision in 1948 to form the National Wrestling Alliance, why Orville Brown was the first NWA World champion, why he was set to face
One of Dave Meltzer’s first mega obituaries is the subject of this episode of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show. When Andre The Giant died while attending his father’s funeral in France, Dave wrote a near book length synopsis of his life in the
The history of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Championship is rich and reaches back into the 1940s. During many of the last 100 years, the NWA World title was viewed as the most important championship in wrestling. Join historian Karl Stern on
On this brand new Old Tyme Wrestling Hour on the Dragon King Karl Classic Wrestling Show, I talk about something I have been working on for a couple of months: the secret history of pro wrestling. The history of pro wrestling isn’t what a
Match 21 in the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament sees two of the greatest wrestlers from different eras face off. From the 1920s-1930s, Joe Stecher takes on the man many say is the greatest pro wrestler of the modern era — NJPW’s Kazuchika Okada. Of course,
On the new, revamped, and improved Old Tyme Wrestling Hour, host Karl Stern discusses the Twitter feud between Dave Meltzer and Jim Cornette, along with the the faulty misconception many old timers have and the insane tribal mentality that accompanies it. Karl is then joined
Have I got a special treat for you today: an episode of Joe Savoldi’s International Championship Wrestling from a winter 1986 TV taping. Watch along on YouTube. I call this episode “Daddy Issues” because it is full of sons and fathers and various issues.
We combine both the wrestling ring and a sitcom with a special retro TV review today. This is a review of the 1988 sitcom Learning the Ropes starring NFL star Lyle Alzado and the crew of Jim Crockett Promotions, including Steve Williams, Jimmy
We enter 1981 by looking at the Omni in Atlanta, Andre the Giant, Barry Windham, All Japan Pro Wrestling, the Sgt. Slaughter and Bob Backlund feud, AWA, Jerry Lawler back on top in Memphis, Harley Race battles Ric Flair in the Mid-Atlantic area,
It’s time again for a look back at some obituaries and biographies from the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter by Dave Meltzer. On this episode, host and wrestling historian Karl Stern takes a look back at the deaths of top junior heavyweight
The Greatest Kayfabe Tournament round one, match 20 pits two people from the same era against each other. In fact, these men wrestled many times and one of those occasional unrecognized NWA World Heavyweight title changes happened once when Bobo Brazil beat Buddy
On last week’s Dragon King Karl show, I reviewed an episode of WWF TV from the first week of July 1986, so I thought we would see what World Class Championship Wrestling from Texas was doing the same week. Well, Kerry Von Erich
On this week’s DragonKingKarl show, I do a retro TV review from July 7, 1986, for an edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling. On this broadcast, we got “Big” John Studd and King Kong Bundy, The Machines, a very boring Pedro Morales, the
The last two months of 1980 are discussed as Karl Stern’s longform history of pro wrestling series continues. Memphis is struggling with near all-time low attendance. Where is Jerry Lawler? Ron Fuller buys north Alabama and starts the classic era of Southeastern Championship
This month’s installment of “From the Pages of the Observer” takes a look back at Dave Meltzer’s obituaries of three wrestling names from the past. Karl Stern looks at the strange and controversial death of Buzz Sawyer, along with the deaths of promoter
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