When It Was Cool Wrestling and Retro Pop Culture by DragonKingKarl

Karl Stern's Long Form History of Pro Wrestling podcast series picks back up with a detailed look at every major event and news story from July 1983 including a shadow break-off NWA group threatening to form with Southwestern Wrestling, ICW, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Bill Watts, and more. The feud between new NWA World champion Harley Race and former champion Ric Flair heats up, plus Hulk Hogan wins the IWGP title tournament in Japan in that crazy "shoot but not really" with Antonio Inoki. A packed month!

One of the 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All-Time. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was one of the most popular pro wrestlers ever and a fan favorite from almost day-one of stepping into the ring as a student of Chris Adams in Texas, then to WCW where he was TV champion, US champion, and part of a critically acclaimed tag team with Brian Pillman. Steve Austin broke out of the pack with his cutting edge promos in ECW which lead to one of the biggest runs in history in WWF / WWE. From the Patreon archives of WhenItWasCool.com

Our retro movie review today takes a look back at Rocky III from 1982, one of the most important pop culture movies of the decade. This movie introduces the world to Mr. T as Clubber Lang against Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) with an appearance by a pre-WWE champion Hulk Hogan. This movie gave us Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Mr. T, the elements of the Rock and Wrestling movement that would launch the pro wrestling boom of the 1980s, and much more. A great movie with a lot of impact. I predict... pain.

From the Patreon archive of WhenItWasCool.com this is a free release of our biography podcast special on the career of Ric Flair, one of the 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time. Nature Boy Ric Flair was a mega-star from the 1970s into the 1990s and many consider him the greatest professional wrestler of all time. Listen, as wrestling historian Karl Sterns tells about his career in this podcast from our Patreon archives.

One of the 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time as ranked by WhenItWasCool.com - Frank A. Gotch was the second widely recognized World heavyweight champion of professional wrestling and was never defeated for the title. He defeated the first world champion George Hackenschmidt twice and went on to dominate pro wrestling until early death in 1917. You've long hear of the legend or Frank Gotch, now learn the whole story from pro wrestling historian Karl Stern. Support WhenItWasCool.com on Patreon.

The Rock (Dewayne Johnson) is one of the most famous pro wrestlers of all time. The Rock is also on our list of the 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time and on this podcast, wrestling historian Karl Stern takes a look at the career of the second generation pro wrestling legend and now the most popular action movie star in the world. Support WhenItWasCool.com on Patreon.

One of our 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time List biography specials takes a look at the incredible life and career of former WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino. Bruno Sammartino was considered by many as the greatest pre-Hulk Hogan WWF champions and was a gigantic draw at Madison Square Garden, Toronto, and elsewhere. Truly, one of the giants of pro wrestling history. This is the story of Bruno Sammartino.

This episode's From the Pages of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is less an obituary for Jim Wilson, who was a rather minor footnote in wrestling history, and more of an extensive history of Jim Barnett era pro wrestling. Jim Wilson, a college football standout in Georgia, became a pro wrestler and claimed to have been considered as a future NWA World champion. However, he claims his career was derailed by Jim Barnett with whom he would feud with and battle in court for the rest of his life. This story touches on tons of history from Australia to Georgia to WCW. This is an incredible history piece from Dave Meltzer of which, I also had some personal involvement.

Part of our biography podcast series on the 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time List as published at WhenItWasCool.com takes a look at the life and career of Andre the Giant. Andre the Giant was a massive pro wrestler who also crossed over into popular culture. Though he only lived to be 46 years old, he packed multiple lifetimes into those years. We will discuss some of his biggest matches, myths, and movie and TV appearances. Let's look at one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time- Andre the Giant.

This Karl Stern biography podcast special takes a look back at the life and career of one of the 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All Time- Lou Thesz. From the 1940s through the 1970s, Lou Thesz was often times the top man in the National Wrestling Alliance. Early on, Lou Thesz unified many of the off-shoot world wrestling championships left over from the previous era and helped the NWA become the number one name in pro wrestling for decades.