When It Was Cool Wrestling and Retro Pop Culture by DragonKingKarl

The pro wrestling career and life of Lex Luger is very complicated. He was a major star right out of the starting gate, pushed to the top of Championship Wrestling from Florida from his very first match. He was quickly seen as the next Hulk Hogan. He was a member of the 4 Horsemen, all within months of his debut. But he kept being booked to fail in the NWA and WCW before moving to the WBF and ultimately the WWF / WWE. Then he walked out on Nitro... whew... and there are still world title reigns and his trouble period with the law and the death of Miss Elizabeth to discuss. It's a whopper of a show.

The master of the Eastern arts! A disfigured ninja! The green mist spitting martial arts master! The Great Kabuki was an interesting and successful gimmick wrestler developed from the mind of Gary Hart who became a cool special attraction heel in World Class Championship Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, and elsewhere in the 1980s. Join pro wrestling historian DragonKingKarl with a look back at this interesting character.

Join Karl Stern as he talks about some of the best and worst of the enhancement pro wrestlers that made our favorites look like superstars. Some were better than others. Legends like Mike Jackson, Barry Horowitz, Randy Barber, Jake Millman, and others made our favorites look greats, others... well... they were there as cannon fodder. Let's take a look at the wrestlers who were there to lose!

Austin Idol was one of the most charismatic stars of the territorial era of pro wrestling. Austin Idol was a big star in Georgia, Memphis, Alabama, Florida, and even a brief stint early in his career in the WWF. Cut out of the same gimmick mold as Superstar Billy Graham, Jesse Ventura, and Hulk Hogan, Austin Idol is one of the most memorable interviews in wrestling history.

By Patreon request today we are talking about pro wrestling manager and the booker of the red hot era of World Class Championship Wrestling- Gary Hart. You've heard about Gary Hart's infamous book but we actually have a copy and we explore excerpts from it.  It's everything you want to know from his early days as a wrestler, booking one of the hottest angles in wrestling history, managing The Spoiler, Kabuki, and others. What happened with the WWF and who did he have heat with.  The plane crash he was in and much more!  A packed biography special!

This is a great bit of wrestling audio.  This was originally put out there by wrestling historian Beau James a few years ago.  In 1974 veteran wrestler Mario Galento went on a Memphis sports radio show and absolutely blew up Kayfabe.  The audio even includes a random housewife who figured out pro wrestling was "fake" herself when she called the Memphis Police department to stop "a killing" at the wrestling TV studios and they laughed at her.  An amazing bit of audio.

Continuing our A-Z of pro wrestling history series we talk about the career of pro wrestler and promoter Ron Fuller. Not only was Ron Fuller a third generation wrestler, but also a promoter of multiple territories including running two at the same time. I grew up on Ron Fuller's southern Southeastern Championship Wrestling and later Continental wrestling which innovated television presentation in many ways and launched the careers of many famous pro wrestlers.

Karl Stern brings you all the latest news and fall out from the Vince McMahon resignation from WWE including Paul Levesque being promoted to the "Vince McMahon position" in creative, all the latest from the Wall Street Journal and Wrestling Observer about what lead to this and where we go from here. Curated especially for the lapsed fan of pro wrestling. One of the most significant pro wrestling news stories ever.

As part of a new series I'm doing on my free wrestling feed coming up I needed a few new biographies and specials so in the coming weeks I'm going to have a few new wrestling biographies. We are starting with Earthquake- John Tenta. He wrestled at LSU, then went to join Sumo where he was a standout westerner but soon became disgruntled and switched to pro wrestling, first in Japan, then in the U.S. and became a star in WWF / WWE as an opponent for Hulk Hogan, as well as, a World tag team champion. He had multiple stints in Japan and in WCW as well. This is the story of Earthquake.

DragonKingKarl A-Z of pro wrestling history series continues by looking at The Franchise of ECW- Shane Douglas. Shane Douglas started out in the 1980s in the later days of the territories. Trained by Killer Kowalski alongside Mick Foley, Douglas broke out in Bill Watts’ UWF territory and later Continental before landing in WCW and part of the ill fated Dynamic Dudes tag team with Johnny Ace and a tag team title reign with Ricky Steamboat. But it wasn’t until throwing down the NWA World title and the counter-culture ECW rose to prominence that Shane Douglas found his true calling. This episode we discuss the career of Shane Douglas.