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Category: Dragon King

  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas

    “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas was a fixture in the wrestling magazines of Karl Stern’s youth. He was massive, and had a likability that made him an excellent babyface.

    From Georgia Championship Wrestling to the WWF, Atlas was a big star during the time Karl first became a superfan. His career dropped off quickly in the mid-to-late 1980s due to a variety of factors, but the Atlas of the very early 1980s was amazing.  

    Karl didn’t have any direct way of seeing Atlas at the time. He seldom got to see Georgia Championship Wrestling when Atlas was hot there, but Karl became a fan of his through the Apter magazines. By the time WWF became syndicated and Karl was able to watch him, the problems had already set in.

    Karl got to see Atlas live in Birmingham, Alabama, at a WWF house show during that time and the mystery of this guy who was every bit as big as Hulk Hogan had him hooked.

    On today’s edition of the Classic Wrestling Marathon, Karl Stern takes a look at the career of “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas.

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: Mike Jackson

    Photo of Tony LeDue, Pat Rose, and Mike Jackson by Karl Stern

    If you watched WTBS-17 Georgia Championship wrestling or NWA World Championship Wrestling later, you saw the fiery underdog Mike Jackson week after week.  In fact, many of the enhancement workers you saw on those shows were booked by Jackson.

    Mike played a very important role in the territorial era of wrestling, promoting, and booking undercard talent. A tremendous in-ring worker, many workers of that era, including legends like Ric Flair, praised Mike’s work. 

    Jackson worked many major promotions during the 1980s including Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid-South (later UWF), Southeastern (later Continental), Florida, and Mid-Atlantic. He even worked for WWF when they came south of the Mason-Dixon line. Mike was a great worker who had a role in wrestling and an important one — even if that role didn’t mean fighting for world titles often.

    Karl got to work around Mike a lot in the 1990s when he was king of the indy scene in the Deep South and learned a lot about how to promote the right way by watching him.  Starting out in the 1970s working for Nick Gulas and still working until this day, Jackson has seen many eras of wrestling come and go. 

    On today’s edition of the Karl Stern July Classic Wrestling marathon, learn all about Mike Jackson.

    Time is running out to order a Super Stern Stick 16gb flash drive full of pro wrestling history.  Order soon before time runs out.

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: “Wildfire” Tommy Rich

    Tommy “Wildfire” Rich became a near instant star in the early 1980s but almost as quickly as he shot to stardom, he fell from the top going from one of the youngest NWA World Heavyweight champions to a comedy figure in just a few years time.

    So, what went wrong? Actually, Rich had a better career than most give him credit for. And in this show, Karl Stern will talk about that in detail, including Rich’s involvement in one of the best angles of 1987.

    Fred Ward and Harley Race believed in Rich to such a degree that he had a short run as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion while being one of the hottest ever babyfaces in Georgia. Often moving back and forth between Georgia and Memphis wrestling, it seemed like Rich was building toward becoming one of the biggest stars of the 1980s and possibly beyond.

    But it burnt out as quickly as it started. Though Rich worked a variety of places including Continental, AWA, and WCW, he never came close to recapturing that magic he had early on in Georgia.

    But for a short time in 1987, he did. Along with Paul Heyman (Paul E. Dangerously at the time) and Austin Idol, he was part of one of the last great angles of the territorial era where the heels finally outsmarted Jerry “The King” Lawler. In the weeks leading to a big hair vs. hair match, Rich laid down a great series of promos and matches which helped build to the big surprise – when he came out from under the ring in a steel cage match and cost Lawler his hair for the first and only time in his career.

    On the latest episode of our classic wrestling July marathon, join us in taking a look at “Wildfire” Tommy Rich.

    Time is running out to get the Super Stern Stick 16gb flash drive full of pro wrestling history! Get free shipping worldwide!

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: “Hustler” Rip Rogers

    He is brash and you do not ever need to wonder what he is thinking; he will tell you in no uncertain terms. He has a grasp of wrestling psychology that few have and he still teaches it today.  If you follow him on Twitter, you know that still to this day, he thinks about wrestling and what can make it better.  

    He gives solid advice to young wrestlers, but why? Because “Hustler” Rip Rogers worked all over the country including spending his early career working with “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Rip was in demand by everyone because he was in shape and was a super entertaining hand. Starting out in bodybuilding, working a solid career and ultimately ending up as a trainer affiliated with WWE for many years, Rogers was a great gimmick too.

    Karl first saw Rogers in Southeastern Wrestling working a junior heavyweight program with Johnny Rich and later working against people like Dutch Mantell in Memphis. He had a big and entertaining feud with Adrian Street in Continental and then spent quite a bit of time in WCW working both in the ring and behind the scenes. Later, he worked in one of the farm territories for WWE in the era prior to the developmental center. 

    Today, the DragonKingKarl classic wrestling July marathon takes a look at “Hustler” Rip Rogers.

    Also, time is running out to get the history-packed Super Stern Stick 16gb Flashdrive. It ends this month, so hurry! Over 500 wrestling history related podcasts and series and over 500 wrestling history related text and pdf files can be had for only $20 with free shipping worldwide. Get more info now!

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: “Bullet” Bob Armstrong

    “Bullet” Bob Armstrong was the perfect babyface character for his era.

    Back in a time when people still believed in babyfaces and hated heels, “Bullet” Bob was a firefighter and former Marine from Marietta, Georgia.  He spoke like others spoke, and he acted like you would expect him to act. He had a code of honor. In today’s cynical world, it’s hard to releate to a character like Armstrong, but in the 1960s through the early 1990s, it wasn’t that way.

    As great of a babyface as Armstrong was, he was an even better heel. Though his heel run was short and, by his own admission, he did not like being a heel, he was honestly one of the best heels I ever saw.

    On the latest entry into the Classic July Wrestling marathon, we will talk about a man who fathered another generation of wrestlers after him: Scott Armstrong (still a WWE referee to this day), Brad Armstrong (one of the best in ring wrestlers of his day), Steve Armstrong, and Brian “Road Dogg” James (a WWE agent today). Enjoy Karl Stern’s look at the career of “Bullet” Bob Armstrong!

    Super Stern Stick flash drives are still available through this month only. Order now!

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: Austin Idol

    The women’s pet and the men’s regret is the topic of today’s show, Jackson! Even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recognized the incredible promo skills of Austin Idol and raved about him on the mic.  When you are recognized as a great promo by probably the greatest promo in the history of the business… well…that’s saying something.  

    The master of the Las Vegas Leglock was a cross between Superstar Billy Graham and Ric Flair but in many ways almost cooler. “The Universal Heartthrob” was a big star in several regions of the country including the Southeast, Memphis, and Georgia. He even survived a plane crash! As a babyface, he was the coolest guy in the room, leading Idol’s Army against the heels. Idolmania was running wild before Hulkamania was. As a heel, he was incredible. He was often a bigger heel behind the scenes than he was in the ring. He once legit cashed a kayfabe battle royal check.

    Today, host Karl Stern talks about some of the greatest Austin Idol moments including the legendary Idol and Tommy Rich battle with Paul Heyman against Jerry Lawler. The July Classic Wrestling Marathon rolls on!

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling July Marathon: Mr. Olympia Jerry Stubbs

    The DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show July 2016 marathon begins today with 32 shows in one month with a theme of “people who made me a fan of pro wrestling”. 

    If you have listened to Karl’s show over the years, you probably already know that this series could only kick off with one man- Mr. Olympia, aka Jerry Stubbs. He might not have been a big national star but if you lived south of Tennessee from the Atlantic Ocean to Texas, then you likely know that Stubbs is one of the more underrated people in pro wrestling.

    Working as either a heel or babyface, Stubbs was great on the promos and excellent in the ring. He had great feuds and teamed with many big names in wrestling including Junkyard Dog, Ted DiBiase, Arn Anderson, Stan Lane, Brad Armstrong, Dirty White Boy, Bob Armstrong, Mr. Wrestling 2, and many others. He also was one of the first people to use the Scorpion/Sharpshooter in the U.S.

    There is probably a lot you might not know about this underated star of the 1980s, and on this show, Karl will give you all the details and more.

    Today’s show is free for all but the rest of the month requires a membership to F4W – Wrestling Observer website.

    This is also the last month to get the Stern Stick 16gb Flashdrive full of wrestling history: 500+ podcasts and over 500 pdf/text files dealing with pro wrestling history. Order now and get free shipping worldwide! Visit Karl’s website for more information.

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  • DragonKingKarl Show: 1983 wrestling world, pinfalls, Jesse Ventura, Free show!

    DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show: 1983 was an incredible year in wrestling if you think about it. The wrestling world was about to change forever. The release of the new TEW 2016 got me to thinking back about the year in wrestling in 1983 and I talk about it on this episode. Also I answer some listener questions including pinfalls in wrestling historically and much more! This show is free today so feel free to send it around!39936511/home/tonyleder/f4wradio.com/feed/karlstern.rssDragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show: 1983 was an incredible year in wrestling if you think about it. The wrestling world was about to change forever. The release of the new TEW 2016 got me to thinking back about the year in wrestling in 1983 and I talk about it on this episode. Also I answer some listener questions including pinfalls in wrestling historically and much more! This show is free today so feel free to send it around! Contents of today’s show include:

    • How pinfalls in pro wrestling worked historically from the Frank Gotch era until today.  Why “hooking the leg” is even a thing.
    • Jesse ‘The Body” Ventura as an announcer working with Gorilla Monsoon, Jim Ross, Tony Schivonie, and more.
    • 1983 the year in pro wrestling.  Who was working where and what was happening in one of the most important years in wrestling history.
    • The new Total Extreme Wrestling 2016 game. Everything you want to know about the text editor game and the mods to go with it.

    To order the Super Stern Stick directly for just $20 and free shipping world-wide simply use this link- http://www.paypal.me/dragonkingkarl/20

    Link to today’s free show- 

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  • DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Ospreay vs Ricochet historically speaking

    Photo of Eddie Guerrero and Jerry “Mr. JL” Lynn by Karl Stern

    Classic wrestling host and wrestling historian Karl Stern takes a look at the recent Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match from NJPW to see what all the fuss is about.  How does it fit historically?  Is this a bunch of flippy-doos doing something other than pro wrestling or is it a good match?  Are the criticisms of Jim Cornette and Vader valid?

    This leads to a deep discussion of the evolution of the Japanese junior heavyweight styles, and then a talk about the psychology of gimmick matches in the 1970s and 1980s which leads into a heavier than expected examination of society — an amazingly complex question.

    Other topics:

    • Examining historical Japanese Junior matches like Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid and the Best of the Super Juniors from the 1990’s with people like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Jushin Liger and seeing what Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet looks like historically.
    • A great listener question about the history of humiliation gimmick matches like strap matches and chain matches that opens a whole can of worms I had never considered before.

    Just a reminder that time is running out to order the giant wrestling history collection on the Super Stern Stick 16gb flash drive. The drive is going to be discontinued soon so if you’ve ever thought about ordering… well… time is running out.

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  • DragonKingKarl Show: Mailbag featuring World Class, Abdullah the Butcher, Gino Hernandez

    DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Audio Show: Today’s show takes questions and suggestions from the mailbag with topics including people who made it to the WWF WWE that I worked with years ago, an incredibly great question about hepatitis in wrestling, drug use and drug deaths in World Class wrestling and a special look at Gino Hernandez and his death and conspiracies surrounding it.  Wrestling historian Karl Stern addresses the following questions and topics:

    This show answers listener suggested topics and questions including:

    • What wrestlers or personalities did I encounter on the early 1990’s independent scene who eventually made it to the WWF, WWE, or WCW?
    • Thoughts on the lawsuit brought against Abdullah the Butcher by another wrestler for alledgedly infecting him with hepatitis and the spread of hepatitis in wrestling.
    • Thoughts on the death and following conspiracies of Gino Hernandez and everything that went on in World Class Championship Wrestling.

    If you have any questions or topic suggestions for Karl Stern please send them to karl@dragonkingkarl.com

    (Photo of Bull Buchanan by Karl Stern)

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