As the first round of the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament nears completion, we have a battle of the greatest live attendance draw of all time (Jim Londos) vs. the greatest TV draw of all time (Rikidozan). Both are legends from different eras. You voted and
Image: NotiCel We all know the story of the killing of Bruiser Brody. In this latest true crime deep dive, I focus in on his killer (Jose Gonzalez) instead of rehashing the whole story once again. The popular version of that story is that
Buck “Rock and Roll” Zumhofe was a staple of the 1970s-80s pro wrestling scene. While largely a mainstay in the AWA and winning their World Junior title several times, he also worked in both World Class and WWF regularly. However, he was also
Image: WWE This edition of the GKT (Greatest Kayfabe Tournament) features two of the best workers in modern history: Ricky Steamboat and Kurt Angle. Between the two, they have a library of some of the best matches of the last 40 years so
Today’s edition of the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show features a review of a territory I haven’t watched a lot of: Portland Wrestling. This November 1980 episode featured a young Buzz Sawyer under a different name, a young Eric Embry under a different name, Lord Jonathan Boyd
Ob episode 64 of the DragonKingKarl Longform History of Pro Wrestling series, we are covering February 1982. Jimmy Golden wins a van, the AWA World Champion tours Japan, something historic happens at the Kiel in St. Louis, WWF Champion Bob Backlund is feuding with Jesse
Match number 27 in the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament takes place this week and pits two contemporaries against each other: NWA World champion Dory Funk Jr. vs. AWA World champion Mad Dog Vachon. The two actually met several times in real life and — surprisingly
From the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, we go over Dave Meltzer’s obituary of Eddie Gilbert on today’s episode. Gilbert was a good southern style brawler wrestler and studied the wrestling business. By his late 20s he had already booked in Memphis,
This week on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show we take a look back at Mid-Atlantic Jim Crockett pro wrestling from May 1986. The episode features Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant, Hector Guerrero & Manny Fernandez as a tag team, Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express
We continue our down home country month with Karl Stern taking a look at famous pro wrestling hillbilly gimmicks, including the incredible story of Elvira Snodgrass, a pioneer in women’s wrestling who partnered with her hillbilly husband Elmer. Elvira was married several times,
Today we return to the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for another biography/obituary from Dave Meltzer. This time we look at the Mountain From Stone Mountain — Jerry “Crusher” Blackwell. Blackwell was a big star in the AWA and remained loyal to
Today on the DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show, host Karl Stern dives back into the pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for Dave Meltzer’s biographies on Boris Malenko (the father of wrestler and future agent Dean Malenko) and Art Barr. The death of
Round one of the GKT: Greatest Kayfabe Tournament continues as we ask the question: if pro wrestling were real (not a shoot but the characters as presented real) who would win? On this episode. The Rock vs. Dick the Bruiser! You have voted and I
It’s time for match 23 of round one of the Greatest Kayfabe Tournament — and this matchup would be an all-time headliner in Mexico: El Santo vs. Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero’s father’s career was intertwined with that of El Santo, so there is familiarity there.
On the new DragonKingKarl Old Tyme Wrestling Hour Podcast, host Karl Stern talks about the current downturn in pro wrestling ratings and popularity and explores what the future might hold. Then we bring in our special guest for this episode — Stevie J
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,
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
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