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Tag: DragonKingKarl

  • 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 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 Classic Wrestling Audio Show: Q & A

    The first DragonKingKarl Show of 2016 is a question and answer show so the good DragonKingKarl can clear out some email questions to get the year started off right! 

    Several of them deal with off-topic discussions from recent shows including the ever controversial Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not only that but there is even a touch of After Dark related subjects. Then we shift gears into pro wrestling discussion and one of the best questions we have ever debated here: who has legitimately had the most number of matches in wrestling history plus a sub-question, who has had the most in-ring time in pro wrestling history? The question is far more complicated than it sounds, and has been debated on The Board~! and elsewhere. Together, we will try to pin down the answer.

    The second part of the question is also very interesting as it really is a different question. While some of the top “most matches” candidates will have near 10,000 matches, there may be wrestlers with much fewer actual matches that have much more time spent inside the ring.  We will even look back at some of the legendary longest matches featuring people like Ed “Stranger” Lewis and Joe Stecher.  But the answer to who has had the most number of matches is probably someone in the modern era.  We will look at schedule differences between the United States, Japan, and Mexico which could greatly influence the answer. (It should lead to a nice research project for someone.)

    Email Karl with your thoughts, and enjoy today’s show with a variety of topics!

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