When It Was Cool Wrestling and Retro Pop Culture by DragonKingKarl

In this 14th installment of the History of Pro Wrestling at Madison Square Garden series we look at one of the toughest and scariest shooters ever in wrestling history who you seldom hear about but should: John Pesek.  Plus, how a pioneer era wrestler shockingly and bafflingly help change the rules of pro wrestling in a way that had a serious negative impact on pro wrestling in the era. Plus, there's a new promoter in town as the war between Tex Rickard and Jack Curley ends in a whimper. Lots of history in this episode that will effect wrestling for years to come. 

Matsada Sorakichi was the first Japanese star in America. He faced all the top names of his era including Evan "Strangler" Lewis, Duncan C. Ross, Edwin Bibby, Tom Cannon, and others. Though on the small side, he gave the top wrestlers of the day all they could handle and was highly respected by the best champions of the pioneer era. Yet, he died destitute in the streets of New York at age 32. What went wrong? What was the real story of the first Japanese pro wrestling star Matsada Sorakichi? This is hour 11 and is brought to you by new Patreon Pete.

Among the pioneer era of pro wrestling few names stand out bigger than Martin "Farmer" Burns and Evan "Strangler" Lewis (the original Strangler Lewis). On this episode of 1000 Hours Podcast we look back at one of the most famous matches of the pioneer era when Farmer Burns defeated Strangler Lewis for the American title in a match the press (and crowd) was certain was fake. Plus, we'll look at the life of Farmer Burns and also discuss the first pro wrestling collectable- Allan and Ginter's Cigarette cards. This is hour ten of 1000 Hours.

Jack Carkeek was a well known top level wrestler during the pioneer era who later got into the promoting end of things. As we have discussed often in our series so far, gambling was a big component of pro wrestling becoming worked and Jack Carkeek was very much a shyster. So much so, that he ended up being indicted with a major crime syndicate in one of the first federal cases of using the U.S. Mail for criminal purposes- fixing wrestling matches, and ends up serving time in prison for it. This is the story of Jack Carkeek, pro wrestling criminal, and this is hour nine of 1000 Hours.

To get a new hour of 1000 Hours we need a new Patreon supporter at any level or a cash donation via the front page of WhenItWasCool.com to either Patreon or CashApp in the next 72 hours. As soon as it is received I will produce a new show. Currently we are funded through hour 15.

A fantastic new book by John Ellul looking at the life and career of pro wrestling star Adrian Adonis. This book is tremendously well written and researched and is probably my favorite pro wrestling biography written in years. The life of Adrian Adonis (Keith Franke) was rough, confounding, and interesting. His gimmick in WWF / WWE was infuriating and embarrassing but the performer behind the gimmick was one of the best of his era. His tragic death in 1988 was overshadowed by a bigger and more scandalous murder a few days later but, finally, Adrian Adonis gets the proper attention paid to his life by John Ellul's great book.

Pro wrestling promoter Court Bauer claims his MLW Opera House Cup dates back to the "pioneer era" and was last held by Stu Hart in the 1940s. While that is a little outside our range of exploration for this show, one of our Patreons requested we investigate the pioneer era claims. What we found had less to do with MLW but a lot to do with the evolution of how entertainment got mixed with sport. An interesting investigation that lead to some very informative conclusions! This is hour eight.

Let's take a look back at a retro Apter mag- the April 1988 issue of Inside Wrestling Magazine. This issue features a look at the storyline run up to the Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant feud where Ted DiBiase tries to buy the WWF title from Andre. Also in this issue are features on Lex Luger verses Ric Flair, Sgt. Slaughter, Jimmy Jack Funk, some great VHS ads, Michael Hayes, King Kong Bundy, and the Von Erichs! A fun issue plus Roll Call of Champions!

What a great show I have for you today. On the 1000 hours podcast where we talk about the pioneers of pro wrestling I want to look at one of the biggest gimmicks ever to hit pro wrestling: Yusuf İsmail, the Terrible Turk. We will look his background before he came to America and his much lauded American tour which he died returning back to Europe from. Why did he inspire such a rabid response from the press and fans? Why did he inspire so many knock off gimmick for the next 100 years? Who was this Yusuf Ismail and why was he such a sensation? This is hour 5.

We already have a sponsor for hour 6-7 but in order to get an hour 8 of 1000 hours we need a new Patreon supporter at any level or a cash donation via the front page of WhenItWasCool.com to either Patreon or CashApp in the next 72 hours. As soon as it is received I will produce hour 8.