When It Was Cool Wrestling and Retro Pop Culture by DragonKingKarl

Our deep dive into pro wrestling history continues as we look back in depth at October 1983. Wayne Farris joins the Midnight Express, lots of notes on David Von Erich, the Midnight Express and Rock and Roll Express meet for the first time, Hulk Hogan takes on the NWA World champion, Ernie Roth dies, notes on Don Bass and Roger Smith, and the Last Battle of Atlanta. Be sure to pick up my new book: DragonKingKarl Stern's 1983 Pro Wrestling Omnibus at Amazon!

Today, host Karl Stern takes a look at the life and career of one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time, All-Japan Pro Wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa blazed an unforgettable path in pro wrestling, accumulating some of the greatest matches ever seen. From his days as the second Tiger Mask to his time as the Ace of All-Japan Pro Wrestling and later NOAH to his untimely death in the ring, Mitsuharu Misawa was one of the greatest in-ring wrestlers of any generation.

I continue my series on the history of pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden as we dive into the World War I era. Most of the top heavyweights are away at war and the championship picture becomes shaky. Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Joe Stecher, and Wladek Zybszko are still in the title picture. Following the war we get one of the biggest showdowns to date: Joe Stecher vs Earl Caddock which still exists on film.

A special this and that episode of WIWC Wrestling with Karl Stern today and I love these type shows were we can talk random wrestling stuff. A short 'From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter' this week on the death of late era territorial star Steve Doll, most well known as half of the Southern Rockers tag team and later Well Dunn in the WWF. Then we have some fun doing a deep dive into the life and career of Big Jon Harris AKA: Silo Sam. I'll try to tell you more about him than you ever knew! I had to do a lot of digging around for this one!

The WWF magazine, you've got to love it. It was honestly nothing more than an extortion scheme to get you to pay $2.50 (TWO FIFFY!) for their merchandise catalog which was awash with painters caps, teddy bears, and terrible t-shirts. This issue had articles on the previous year's Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, and a whole lot of full on bloated Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. Also, my favorite tag team of all time the Legion of Doom! It's more testosterone than you can shake a very crooked stick at!

We dive now into September 1983 and the time is getting near for Hulk Hogan to jump to the WWF. First, however, NWA Starrcade looms where the NWA World title will go back from Harley Race to Ric Flair so Flair is doing the job tour to set up challengers. Flair will lose the Missouri title to David Von Erich, lose clean to Bob Armstrong, and lose to Pedro Morales in Puerto Rico. Sgt. Slaughter continues to rise in WWF as does the Masked Superstar. The era of change draws near.

A very famous era for pro wrestling at Madison Square Garden is the focus of today's show. The 19-teens would see the death of the unbeaten World heavyweight champion Frank Gotch and the split of the world championship into various factions. Among them is Joe Stecher who has his match with the famous Masked Marvel. Ed "Strangler" Lewis becomes more prominent in our story. Plus, John Olin, the Zbyszko's, and more discussed on today's show. Support us on Patreon!

This week I am taking a break from our regular rotation of classic wrestling podcasts to take a look back at one of the worst pro wrestling movies ever: Grunt (1985). This abomination of a film is not only bad by movie standards but is terrible by pro wrestling standards. The film features several pro wrestlers in roles as, well, wrestlers including Adrian Street, Dick Murdoch, Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer (unmasked no less), Chavo Guerrero (as a Georgia babyface), Danny Spivey, Steve DiSalvo, and others. Support us on Patreon at http://www.whenitwascool.com 

This week on our rotation of classic pro wrestling shows host Karl Stern takes a look back at the December 1993 issue of the WWF magazine featuring Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), plus features on Ludvig Borga (Tony Halme), the Lex Express and much more! Also included is the WWF merchandise catalog with foam fingers and teddy bears in your favorite WWF wrestlers gear for some reason. Promotional consideration paid for by the following...

On this week’s rotation of classic pro wrestling themes we return to the Long Form History of Pro Wrestling Series and we are up to August 1983 where we discuss Ken Patera in Memphis, Harley Race continues his record breaking reign as NWA World champion, the annual NWA convention, the Midnight Express, and more!