Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru - Drive Thru Special - Guess The Program Omnibus Volume 3

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

A special for Drive Thru listeners today: Here is Jim Cornette's Guess The Program Omnibus, Volume 3!Thanks yo our episode sponsors! SHOPIFY: Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at https://shopify.com/cornette. RIDGE: Upgrade your wallet today! Get 10% Off @Ridge with code JCE at https://Ridge.com/JCE #RidgepodSend in your question for the Drive-Thru to: [e-mail]  Follow Jim and Brian on Twitter: @TheJimCornette @GreatBrianLast  Visit Jim's official site at www.JimCornette.com for merch, live dates, commentaries and more!  You can listen to Brian each week on the 6:05 Superpodcast at 605pod.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello again, friends. Guess who? Oh, no, that's not my intro. That's Woody Woodpeckers, but we are here to peck through wrestling history. The great Brian last here, you there. And of course, we are joined by the leader of the cult of Cornett,

Mr. Jim Cornett. That's right, Brian, and you're my favorite peckerwood, or woodpecker, whichever the case may be. And we are going to pick a peck of pro rations. Why don't start laughing? We're going to pick a peck of pro wrestling programs here. And then in my extremely mentally, fascinatingly cognizant way, I'm going to Yuri Geller,

that's my mentalist. I'm going to divine the dates and the places and all the details and things and such of these programs. The people know, the people love the game. That's why we play it. And here's a bunch of them. That's right. let's get to it now. Guess the program, Volume 3.

The Amn the Bus begins right now. All right, well, Jim, would you like to do some guest to program before we wrap things out? I've been waiting for this. I'm going to kick your ass today. If we haven't prepped the folks, guess the program, the recurring segment, one of our most popular, where you pick a program, give me the lineup, and it is my job to try to determine the year that the time, this happened and the place that this happened. And you're making all kinds of noises over there. I'm flipping through stuff. I'm flipping and you're flipping and you're swallowing and

I'm not swallowing. Uh, hold on. Something sounded like glug, glug, glug. All right. Well, let's go to this gym. We have a whole bunch of here. It's been a long time since we've gone through them. So the pile has grown. This is a gimmie. We'll start with a nice easy one for you. Okay. I know how old you are. Rocky Smith

versus Tony Belajeron Belerian Exactly In a tag team match Eddie Graham and Sam Steamboat versus Gene Dundee

and Tamia Soto Tamayo They left out a letter here in this program Sailor Art Thomas in a handicap match against Tojo Yamamoto and Bob Arnold. An intermission, where lucky numbers in the program will be announced,

and the main event, Lester Welch and Buddy Fuller versus the Von Brauner brothers. Alrighty then. Rocky Smith would later on go to become, go on to become, go on to become, go on to become one of the masked infernos, one of the several that used that gimmick. Tony Belersian was a sibling of the Belerzian brothers that were big, especially in the Northeast and in the 50s, they were all strong men, were they not?

Did feats of strength and daring do? And daring do, yes. Daring do, as opposed to the people who daring don't. Because they don't want to be daring. Umayo Soto and did you say Gene Dundee? That is indeed who I said, yes. Obviously not Bill Dundee. Didn't Gene Dundee become a, goddamn, was he a brother of the Monroe, Sputnik Monroe at one time, or him?

I think he became another brother of someone. Nevertheless, Eddie Graham and Sam Steamboat were the perennial tag team babyface champions and or singles champions in the Florida territory. And at this period of time, which was in the mid-1960s, they were also doing quite a bit of work in Memphis, Tennessee. Art Thomas versus Tojo Yamamoto and Bob Arnold, I believe Bob Arnold was a heel referee gimmick that they were doing at that period of time.

And Tojo was a heel. Art Thomas was a baby face. didn't work the Memphis territory often, but they brought Art Thomas, Bobo, Brazil, and different people in because of the heavy African-American population. And finally, I assume that Lester Welch and Buddy Fuller are fighting the Von Brauners for the World Tag Team title. Would that be the case? There is no title listed.

No title listed. But you know, they did that many times. It's got to be Memphis, Tennessee. The question I have in my mind is whether it's 1965 or 1966 or 1967. So I'm going to split the difference to go with 66. The venue, or the city at least, Memphis, Tennessee, sponsored by the American Legion Post number one, Monday night, September 20th, 1960. Son of a bitch.

All right, well, I was a few months off. All right. We have another one here, Jim. This one may be a little closer to home. Let's see if you can get this one. The opening bout. You sound like you're one of the psychics in the supper club shows

and their stooge sends them verbal cues. This one may be closer to home. The opening bout. Bobby Fulton, filling in for Skip Young, versus El Diablo, out of Mexico. The second event, noted dirtbag and pervert, Buck, Rock and Roll, Zoomhoff.

Good Lord. Hawaii versus the missing link. From three question marks. The third event, a Texas death match, Kerry, special referee. So it says. Just carry.

Not Kerry by Eric. There was a famous match. I used to joke about it with Scott Cornish where Mark Lawrence announced. The winner of the match, Kevin. It doesn't really work. But Texas death match, Kerry, special referee, falls don't count. 30 second rest period after fall. If someone can't answer, a 10 count after rest.

End of match. Terry Gordy from Atlanta. versus Killer Khan from Mongolia. The fourth event, a special challenge bout. Mike von Erick versus Gino Hernandez. The fifth bout, Kerry von Erick, and the Iceman, King Parsons,

versus Jake the Snake Roberts, and Kelly Kinnisky. The sixth event, The Battle of Women, The Battle of Women Battle of Women Sunshine in Corner Stella May French from Florida

versus Andrea the Lady Giant Nicola Roberts Lubbock The 7th event The American Tag Team Titles The Champs the Fantastics Tommy Rogers Bobby Fox says Tommy Roberts

Tommy Roberts and Bobby Fulton from the City of Angels Chilacothy, Ohio versus the PYT's Norville Austin and Cocoa Ware, Memphis. The eighth event

Jesus Christ A special revenge challenge match Chick Donovan Santa Monica versus General San Monica

versus General Akbar, Egypt. Well, he's closer to being from Egypt than Chick is from Santa Monica. Now, that was a special revenge challenge. The main event, an ultimate revenge match, Kevin Von Erick versus Chris Adams. Okay. I narrowed it down with the Fantastics and the PYTs. I'm going to lean toward 1984. because, I mean, this is obviously world class.

From the number of matches, it's almost got to be a Star Wars event of some kind, whether Tarrant County Convention Center or Reunion Arena. At first, I was leaning toward 1983 because some of the names on there, but some of those guys were, you know, there for several years. with the Fantastics being on the card and the PYTs especially, Norville and Coco started that gimmick in Memphis, and then they came down and did some shots in Louisiana

when the rock and roll had gone back to Tennessee, working with us as baby faces in 1984. And the Fantastics got there around about that time. So all things considered, I'm saying this is a major world-class event at a big building in sometime between summer and winter of 1984. Jim, this is the second annual Turkey Day Spectacular at Reunion Arena, November 22nd, 1984. There you go. So just a couple of months before you would arrive. And then they wouldn't need it.

eight or ten matches anymore. They had us. You upset? You didn't get to see the Battle of Women? I've told you this. Stella May was my dry cleaner. Yeah, you said that. Was that during this period? That was like in 85? It was like three months later. Well, I moved there in January of 85 and I get the apartment and I go down the dry cleaners and she said, oh, I know you. I said, oh, and what was her name she used to work for Mula years ago? It was... She always reminded me of that woman in bad news bears who worked at the Little League.

She was always around the Little League game. I don't know exactly what her role was. That's what she always reminded me of. But she had been a woman wrestler in the old days and then moved to Dallas and ran into somebody. And they said, hey, this would be a great fucking deal. But yeah, she was working the counter at the dry cleaners. All right. We have another one here, Jim.

This one, the first event, one fall, 20 minute time limit. Bronco Lubich Oh boy versus Jack Allen 229 out of Milwaukee A special event One fall 30 minute time limit Ilio de Palo

spelled E L-I-O versus Earl McCready Jesus Christ Joe Tiger Tomaso versus Tex McKenzie The Special the semi windup, one fall 45 minute time limit

Tiny Mills versus Sugi Hayamaka and the main event one fall one hour time limit Al Mr. Murder Mills versus Ken Kenneth.

Wow, okay. Bronco Lubits was most famous in his world-class days as the older referee on world-class TV but Bronco had been a manager and before that a wrestler it was a great guy, saved his money

boys you say he was worth more than the federal government Jack Allen who the fuck knows Elio de Paulo was the favorite son of Buffalo, New York and through the northeast there in the Pedro Martinez promotion, Cleveland, Buffalo,

Rochester was a huge baby face. Earl McCready was started wrestling in what the 30s? He was an old old timer. Tiger Tomaso, Tiger Joe Tomaso later on became

one of the assassins in the 60s with Guy Mitchell, right? They were Bruisers' assassins. Tex McKenzie, we've talked about many times. If this was, if they were already billing him as Tex-McKinsey and not Hugh McKenzie or some of the other

names that he used as a rookie, this would have to be 1959, 69, 60, 61, theirabouts, Tiny and Al Mills were the tag team of Murder Incorporated. And they were both very large men. And as far as I know, Suji Hayamaka had to be

some Japanese gimmick they gave somebody else because I've never heard that name before and Ken Kenneth I'm struggling as well so I have reason to believe that this is upstate New York or those environs of the country in 1959

the location Calgary, Alberta, Canada The date October 15th, 1954. 54, holy shit. Okay, Bronco Lubbich, I didn't know he was ever underage. Young Stars Open Program. There will be two newcomers on Friday night's

wrestling program at Victoria Pavilion. In addition to Tex McKenzie, the lanky Texas cow hand, who meets Tiger Tomaso, Montreal will send young Bronco Lubich into the ring against Jack Allen of Milwaukee. Lubich... Montreal, by the way.

Broncos like fucking Czechoslovakian or Lithuanian or something, didn't he? And by the way, it's spelled Lou Bich, L-U-B-I-T-C-H. Oh, my God. Lubich at 220 pounds is rated as a an up-and-coming youngster, the same as Alan, who made his first appearance last week. They meet for one fall in 20 minutes, and although the bout is a curtain-raiser at 8.30 p.m., it is an important one for the two young hopefuls will have their sights set on better spots in the future.

So while Tex-McKenzie and Broncos started out at the same time and we're working the territory together. All right, but I've completely fucked that up. I was the wrong side of the fucking continent and five years off. All right, here's another one. This one may be, uh, oh, I got two from this venue.

I got to pick one. I'll pick this one. All right. Torrid All-Star thrillomania, a thrillorama, excuse me, bouts. The opening bout, one fall, 20 minutes. Pancho Pico. Oh, good Lord.

Versus Gypsy Biviano. One fall 20 minutes. Rick Valenzuela. versus Mr. Yamamoto. One fall, 20 minutes. Akio Yashihara. Oh, for heaven's sake. Versus Carlos Cruz.

Chuck Carbo versus Ray Gordon. Oh. Two out of three falls, 45-minute time limit. Don Arnold versus Ray Valdez. and the main event, two out of three falls, one hour tag team match, the Dupree Brothers and manager Major Sam Bass, versus Don Bulldog Kent and Louis Martinez. Okay, so we are in the Arizona territory.

Why would you say that? What would cause you to say that? I said, well, because I've never, now I've brought, I briefly remember seeing the name Pancho Pico. I don't have any idea who Gypsy Zabodai is or Valenzuela or Mr. Yamamoto. I don't think that was Tojo or Carlos Cruz or whatever. But when you got to Chuck Carbo, Chuck Carbo was one of the longtime baby faces in the old-time Phoenix territory. Was Ray Gordon Gillotine Gordon at one point?

You may be right, but there's no picture obviously here. Actually, Ray Gordon Judge the Hercules of the Wrestling World in a July issue of Red Hot Magazine Wrestling Review, see photos and big time ranking. Well, Don Arnold was also an Arizona name. It's just a little corner with a little photo of his face, and it says, Pancho Kiko is one of the most exciting wrestlers in the U.S.

And if you don't think so, you're punchy. But the Dupree brothers against Don Kent and Luis Martinez, Ron and Ron Dupree and Chris Colt, as they would be more widely known. The manager Sam Bass, is that the Tennessee Sam Bass, Fred White, before his Tennessee run because he did outlaw shit before Lawler ran into him in Alabama and Mississippi. Mississippi in in 1971.

Was he ever called Major Sandbass? Not that I'm aware of. I have to say this is, yeah,

this is the Phoenix territory, and this would be what 1968, 69, somewhere in that

area? The venue Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Arizona, Friday, June

16, 16th, 1966. Boom! Well, there you go. There's a big $25 cash win-win-win contest tonight.

Winning ticket must match color. Official program of the wrestling matches. Then it says, this is bizarre. You buy a program, not a chance. What the fuck is that? No, no, I'll tell you exactly what

that is because depending on state and local laws, raffles or games of chance or whatever are illegal. So you are buying the program. You're not paying money for the chance at winning something. Oh, wow. That's secondary and complementary to the thing. Please notice state laws prohibit the throwing of things into the ring. Your cooperation is solicited. It is also against the law for you to strike a wrestler. Profanity is forbidden. Sounds like a real party over there in Phoenix. Well, I'm telling you, no, they had to fucking specifically mention those things because the small-time territories were tougher on the heels than the big territories.

All right, I have a program here, but the story is really the story on the cover. We'll get to this. The first event, Bobby Christie versus gentleman Ed Sharp. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada One fall 15 minutes Also one fall 15 minutes for the second event Tommy Phelps Dallas, Texas

versus Blackie Mendoza Juarez Mexico The third event Six-man tag team match Nick Roberts Tampa Florida Joe Hamilton St. Louis, Missouri

and Bobby Christie Woodland Hills, Hills, California versus Dr. X. O'Toole, Phoenix, Arizona. Boy, that's the Irish masked fucking assassin, Dr. X. O'Toole. We'll see what more we can find out about him in a moment. Ed Sharp, Hamilton, Ontario, and Tough Tony Morelli, Brooklyn, New York. The first main event for the International Heavyweight Championship, the champion

Sunny Myers St. Louis, Missouri versus the challenger Poncho Lopez out of Mexico City one hour time limit two out of three falls the second main event

North American Championship the champion Iron Mike DiBiase Omaha Nebraska versus Anton Ripper Leone Oh Oyster Bay Long Island New York

I added the Long Island. Oyster Bay, New York. Two out of three falls, one hour time limit. Well, goddamn. Now I think at first when I heard the Sharp brothers, Ed Sharp, Mike Sharp, Ben Sharp, I said, was it

maybe up the Northeast? Then Tommy Phelps became someone, I think, and I can't remember who. Then I hear Nick Roberts, go ahead. No, no, maybe I'm wrong. I was going to say, was he one of the wrestlers

that he became a preacher? Or am I thinking to someone else? No, that's not who I'm thinking of. Okay. Nick Roberts would be most noted as being Nicola Roberts' father and a Texas

mainstay wrestler and promoter, but that doesn't guarantee we're in Texas because there's Joe Hamilton who was all over the place early at his career. I was right, because I have this in my collection. The record, that was what I was trying to say. The wrestling record, I wrestled with God before he was the nature boy Tommy Phelps after

evangelist Tommy Phelps. Okay. All right, I was thinking of the, like the, what, the gorgeous George rip-off guy. Oh, that's another guy to be a preacher. Yeah, he became a preacher, too, right? Yeah. And then when he died, people said, oh, the gorgeous, the original gorgeous George's died. And his whole thing was built on a lie. Not just the evangelism, but also the wrestling. I don't know who the fuck Dr. X-O-2 is.

Sonny Myers was a central state's mainstay, but he at the same time wrestled early in his career all over the place. But then we go to Mike DiBiase, who was well known in Texas again, Ripper Leone, who later on would become an outlaw promoter in California, but at this time he was a wrestler. For Joe Hamilton, to be on the card, it's got to be early 60s,

because he main-evented as an 18-year-old in Madison Square Garden with his brother, Larry, and what, 1959, we're in West Texas at 1962 or three I give up never give up I believe in you we are in Amarillo, Texas

wrestling at its best Thursday September 29th 1960 I don't know who Dr. XOTO is has a picture of a masked wrestler here but it doesn't have information about that I have to see what else I can find

out. There's a few interesting things here. This is from apparently, originally the Jack Pfeffer collection. Oh, my God. There's a big sticker stuck to the front of it. It says, managed by Jack Pfeffer. And it's on the front cover. Coming

next week, October 6th, seeing this arena in person, the most incredible wrestling star of all. Tricky Ricky Star in ballet slippers. The man, women, rave about, don't miss the world's greatest box office attraction, the man that sold out Madison Square Garden more than any other wrestler. The most amazing wrestling talent in the history of modern

day wrestling. An economy-sized giant among Goliaths, 27 years old. It's a good thing Pfeffer wasn't given over to hyperbole. 27 years old, 205 pounds, 5 feet, 10, inches tall. The amazing Ricky star, dance with the Midwestern Opera and Ballet Association, the municipal opera company of St. Louis, two Broadway shows, Annie, get your gun, and paint your wagon, the theater and ballet, ruse de Montecaro, de Monte Carlo. I don't know what the fuck this is. Then there's a comma and it ends.

That's Jack Pfeffer hyping us up. Wait a minute. No, that's like the Patty Duke show. You know, Kathy adores the men you at the ballet ruse and crapes Suzanne. Oh shit, you are. But he's only seen as a girl can see from Brooklyn Heights. What a crazy pair. Well, apparently, Ricky Starr, the sensational Madison Square Garden attraction did all those things.

And on the back cover. He was a big attraction at that time, but I think Jack's laying it on a little thick there. On the back cover is a picture of, it's not the clearest of photos. It appears to be some sort of tractor. or some kind of farm equipment with Happy Humphrey next to it. Coming Thursday, October 13th, the biggest freak in the world.

Wow. The human blimp. Happy Humphrey. 750 pounds. His tremendous weight advantage makes big handicap for all opponents. And this is written by people who liked him. And then there's a list here coming attractions.

Ricky Star, wrestling number one box office attraction. The man, women, rave a bet. I, Fever just wrote this shit over it all. Former ballet star, the most incredible wrestling star of all here Thursday, October 6th. Hans, Blockbuster Schnabel. Hans. Hans, Blockbuster Schnabel. What?

Buster, he's never used Blockbuster Schnable. 265-pound German assassin here, October. October 6th, the human blimp, Humphrey, 750 pounds, top novelty attraction in wrestling coming October 13th. Doesn't that appeal more to the promoter than the fan? He's the top novelty attraction and wrestling? Well, that is, there have always been a lot of promoters that would use terminology that meant something to them but that wasn't ever used in real life.

Vince McMahon. That wasn't ever used in real life, but it meant something to them or whatever. And they'd try, and that's, it's all hyperbole, whether it's the Bob Looses or the Jack Fevers or whatever. You kill, breed, violence, blood, that type of thing, just hype. Well, the world champion is Pat O'Connor, North American champ Iron Mike DiBiase, international champ, Sunny Myers, the World Tag Team champions Nick Roberts and Jody Hamilton. Attention wrestling fans. Our wrestling promoter,

Doc Sarpolis, after serious consideration, has decided to disregard the National Wrestling Alliance Advisory ruling that all future main events be one-fall matches. He is instead, going back to his old policy of long-standing,

therefore, all main events will continue being the best two out of three falls with one hour time limit or to a finish. What's that about baby facing the promoter to the fans? Well, because especially in... Who didn't want to lose their two out of three falls matches, isn't that interesting? Well, in a lot of smaller territories, like even in the Tennessee territory or out in West Texas

or down in the Gulf Coast, cards in the 60s, early 70s, were three matches, and every match would be two out of three falls, so you'd get the full-length show, right? But it's the same you didn't have to pay any more wrestlers. They just wrestled longer. And when the NWA went to one fall matches with the whole thing, especially for the world title with Thess and Rogers

and trying to make sure everybody played ball, a lot of the local promoters didn't like that because they had trained their fans two out of three. so guys could drop falls in a two out of three match and it wasn't the same thing as getting beat. And then once the guys started figuring out that, well, even if we're going two out of three, he's still beating me once, you know,

with a body slam or whatever, then that became a problem and blah, blah, blah. All right, let's get one more. I'm looking through a, I've got a big pile here. I got to make sure. I've got to get a list of what we've already done. I never want to wrap. You're bragging about the size of your pole or pile or whatever you just said.

Pile. I said pile. I didn't say pole. Well, you got that funny Northern Act then. Sicko, weirdo. What is that? Pole. Museum. All right. Here we go.

This program, the card. Opening about. Matador Matta, or Mata, I guess I should say, versus Sandar Akbar. Sandor? S-A-N-D-O-R. Jack Daniels out of Newark versus Timmy Gio Hagan

finishing out the preliminaries Bulldog Pletches versus Ronnie Etchinson the semi-final a tag team encounter Nick Cossack and Ken Hollis versus Carl von Brauner and Al Costello

and the main event the main event two out of three falls 90 minute time time limit, Kinji Shibuya versus Ernie Ladd. Ooh, okay. Sandor Akbar would

probably be Scandor Akbar, but it would be that is not his regular territory, and since he's in a preliminary, that was when he was wrestling and not when he was a manager, and he was a bigger card as a manager than as a wrestler. don't know who Jack Daniels is, but Ronnie Etchison, Bulldog Danny Pletches, and Timothy Gio Hagan indicate that this is early 60s to mid-60s.

Carl von Brauner and Al Costello were the internationals. At a period of time, Carl was not teaming with Kurt and Costello. that's in between Roy Heffernan and Don Kent as kangaroo partners. Kozak is a West Texas and Texas name

from way back. Hollis, I don't know. And Shibuya versus Lad, unless this was a very odd happenstance, Shibuya would have been the heel. Kenji Shibuya was one of the big

Japanese heels of the 60s and especially out in California, Northern California. But Ernie Ladd being the baby face would indicate that this was when he was still playing football and wrestling and early in his career, which started in 63. I'm going to say this is 1967. And God damn it, how are you?

crossing me up and we're in Texas again because elsewise, I'm, it would almost think that it might have to be Northern California, but it doesn't look right for Northern California. So we're back in, in Texas somewhere in 1966 or 67. Possibly Houston? Well, it's a good way to close out with a nice win for you. Okay. The card, Houston, Texas, Friday, January 6th, 9th. 1967.

Boom! The Golf Athletic Club is the promoter, Mrs. Shirley Carringer, the assistant promoter, a tribute to a great promoter, a fine friend. Morris Siegel left a living legacy for sports fans.

This was right after Morris Segal died and right before Paul Bosch took over officially. He died in the early morning hours, Tuesday, December 27th, 19th. And it ended a gallant battle that had been going on since 1952 when he was stricken with his first heart attack. Good Lord. It's 50 years of sports promotion. And then if you look on the inside, I guess timing-wise, this is interesting here.

Wrestling returns to TV. Tomorrow night. Channel 39. Tonight, a giant truck with the emblem of Channel 13. Houston's newest and brightest TV station will be in place putting portions of the action on tape. I'm glad they're telling people what to look for if they want to vandalize the fucking vehicle. Tomorrow night, on Channel 39 at 10 p.m., that tape will be shown to Houston wrestling fans.

And on every Saturday night, at this choice time in the foreseeable future, this program will be a big part of the TV scene, as it has for almost. 17 years. Channel 39 is a UHF station. Don't let that confuse you. If you bought a TV set within the past two and a half years, your set is then equipped to pick up UHF by law. Yes, because that was changed in 1964 because the UHF TV stations were pitching a fit

because most of the TV sets made in the 1950s did not, you had to get a converter, which I had one. We had one here in my mom's old black and white console TV. You had to get a converter to hook it up to get a UHF channel. It's not between Channel 2 and Channel 13, because they were newer on the television front. It may need a slight adjustment in antenna. If so, call a service man,

he can fix it. Get some aluminum foil and wrap it around your fucking uncle's fist and have him hold his arm in the air. You know you want to see this. Hire a serviceman to come over and fix this right now. If you have an older set, then it is possible to buy a converter that attaches to your present set and will enable you to pick up 39 and any future UHF stations. The cost is in the $20 to $30 range. Your wrestling...

And by the way, by the way, we talked about inflation earlier. This is 1967. Your converter now would probably cost you about $150 with the rate of inflation from 1967 to get something so you would be able to have channels 13 through 83 on your television, finally. Your wrestling will be telecast in color. Live wrestling will continue to be on Friday nights, but on television, it will be shown every Saturday. Tell your friends, wrestling is back on TV.

What do you know about that? What do you know about Houston losing TV? Well, this all happens through periods of time in the long-running territories where... That's where they lost TV in New York around this period of time, too.

We've talked about it in New York. Yeah, I was 67 or 68 off top of my head that they... You know, when you've got a... relationship with a station in the market, and you've been on it for a while, and then they get a new program director or station manager, or something changes, and then you have to go searching. That's, you know, used to be what led to the end of a fucking market, a town for somebody's, when they lost television, if you couldn't get another station, or if it was a significant

downgrade. I truthfully haven't heard of Houston losing TV for any significant period of time in their history. Does it say how long there that they had been out? Was it a situation where maybe it was a seasonal thing and they had sports or something? I don't know.

I mean, it doesn't say anything here, but, you know, it's not we are going to be next week on a new network. It's we're back on TV on the new network. So we'll see what we'll find out. That's interesting. I think that probably they just something happened. They might have got a new station manager or a new program director.

Or sometimes it was the promotion. If you could get more from a secondary or a smaller station than you could be in a little fish in the big station's pond in a market, you went there. For years, live Atlanta wrestling was on Channel 11 in Atlanta, which was a VHF station. and everybody could get it. But then they moved to Channel 17, WTCG,

because the goddamn owner, this wacky guy named Ted Turner, really seemed to like that rassling, and we weren't going to get preempted for network shit and blah, blah, blah, blah, so those things can happen too. Well, before we get out of here, on the topic of Houston, I just have this in the pile here.

And Ernie Lad, by the way, was a baby face, in those days in Houston, especially because he played for the Houston Oilers at one point in time in the NFL. I have a special wrestling ticket, pass one, from Houston, the city auditorium, Friday, September 10th, 1954, 8.30 p.m. This pass, and $1 plus federal tax, is good for any ringside. What does that say? Box, excuse me, ringside, box, or dress circle seat in a large.

lotted sections of the city auditorium. Here is the card on this ticket, just a few matches. Tag Team Dynamite, Ricky Starr and Shane, C-H-E, that must be Larry Shane. Oh, Leap and Larry Shane. Versus Aadkisson and Vansky. Okay, that's got to be Jack Adkison, doesn't it?

54. And Tiger Jack Vansky? I think so. a second sensational two out of three fall main event Joe Killer Christie versus gentleman Ed Francis and the main event I'm going to read this verbatim folks

not my words theirs Valentine is out to make the Jap Shushine boy quit wrestling it will be a sizzler Johnny Valentine versus Duke Kiamooka. Oh, good Lord. Poor Duke, a shoe shine

boy. I know he was humble and lovable, but really? So what this was, what year have we established that this would be? Oh, this was 1954. This was September 10th, 1954. Okay. Well, see, you didn't, I thought you were telling me something in conjunction with the 67

Houston program, and I wouldn't pay an attention as to what to no, to fucking think about that. Jack Adkison hadn't become Fritz von Eric yet. I mentioned before I read you the program, his first appearance in the Dallas Sportatorium, when he was still being billed as a Southern Methodist University graduate. But Johnny Valentine had only been into business about six, seven years at that point. He already had been a main eventer forever.

And Ed Francis would later on run your favorite territory. He would run, of course, 50th State, big-time wrestling in Hawaii. My people, I say a lot of all of our friends on the Hawaiian Islands right now. The Great Brian last, Hawaiian Brian loves you. I think you know that. I got all the spirit and the soul running through me. The secret is you talk like Jimmy Snooka. You don't have to make any sense.

Just talk like that. No, but that was guest to program. It sure was. You know, Jim, looking at wrestling history, sometimes it's like, Putting all your memories in your pocket. And, you know, when you think of that, you think of these people walking around with these big, fat wallets. They stick everything in there.

Old memories, new memories, business cards, phone numbers. Money? Condoms? Who knows? But the point is, that's unnecessary. It's uncouth. It's not something you should do. You need to be efficient.

You need to be lean, mean, slicking quick. Lude, rude, crass and brash. And you could do that in the wallet. form from our friends at Ridge, take it, Jim. Well, I'll tell you, it's unhygienic and unsanitary too. Can you bet all the different things you've gotten that old crusty wallet that's in the back of your pocket? It looks like you've got a big carbuncle or some kind of goiter that needs to be lanced

and it would squirt kind of some kind of amniotic fluid all over the people standing next to you so they give you a wide room. You don't want to do that. You don't want to look like you've got a giant carbox. bungle hanging off of your ass or your crotch or any other part of your body plus the germs so the ridge wallet you know what they're made with premium materials like aluminum titanium and carbon fibers so not only is it easy to wipe them off and desanitize them and make sure you get all the germs off but also these wallets are going to live longer than you almost you're going to be dead in the

ground with worms eating your carcass and one of your descendants will still have this wallet. It'll be perfect. There's no reason. The unique slim modern design holds up to 12 credit cards plus cash. Yeah. If you've got 12 credit cards, then you're also going to need another one of the features of this wallet. You can use it as a set of brass knuckles.

That's not one of the features of this wallet. Let me stop you there. That's not one of the features of this wallet. When somebody's going to try to steal those 12 cards that's, that's, this thing is not even as big as a cassette tape. It's durable. It doesn't have sharp corners. And you can use it as a fighting star, like

odd job, and his bowler hat. And it goop and cuts the jugular vein, comes right back to you. And... It does not cut the jugular. It's not, first of all, it's not a boomerang. How did you

add that feature to it that all of a sudden it comes back to you? There's a special booklet you can get where you flip it like a flat rock and it'll circle around and come back to you. And blood does not get on the money. You can't promise that. You can't promise that, but you also can't say. The money is inside and the cards are fine. So just wash that outside off and then they can test it all they want. They won't bust you. I have one. I love it. This is something you can keep in your pocket, whether it's your coat pocket or your pants pocket. Maybe you want to hide it

in your sock, whatever it may be. Let's live in a world where- Maybe you want to pick a pocket. Again, don't do that. Because you got to pick a pocket or two. You don't have to pick a pocket or two, Jim. Well, that's what they said in the song in Oliver, but I'll tell you another thing, you ain't going to be able to pick this thing out of your pocket because it's, you'll be able to tell.

And then you can stop the guy and use the judo throw when you grab him by his wrist because he's got his hand up your ass in your pocket and you just turn sideways and you throw him down and then you take the Ridge wallet, put the one corner next to his Adam's apple. And he does. No, you don't do that. You also don't recommend the listeners do that.

What you do is you tell the listeners that take those wallets, those wallet, those credit cards out of your wallet, take that money out of your wallet and put it in a brand new, awesome. And buy a wallet. And take the money out of your wallet and buy a new wallet with it, folks. From Ridge. And right now. From Ridge. From Ridge. Because the Ridge Wallets are the.

are the best wallets to spend your money and your wallet on. Just go right now to Ridge, R-I-D-G-E.com and use the code J-C-E. You're going to get 10% off this thing. It's got a 99-day risk-free trial, a lifetime warranty, free shipping. They're not just about wallets. They've got everyday essentials, key cases,

suitcases, all kinds of lawsuits as well as suitcases. And rings, they make rings. You can put them through, anything you got that's pierced or just just stick it through various parts of your body ladies and gentlemen again back to the core functionality of the ridge wallet com yes the code is jCE

10% off when you use that code and then let them know that we told you about all the things you can do with a ridge wallet and again as I mentioned I think last week on the program if you're going to jail you don't even have to stick the stuff no no no you just put it in between your ass cheeks and it's flat. You see, what Jim was doing was

reciting lyrics for a song he's working on. I was trying to work on the music, ladies and gentlemen, but what Jim is really trying to say is, funny stories aside, funny to the perverse, but funny stories aside, what we're talking about here is a wallet that you could use for everyday life, for everyday people.

Ridge, one more final time without any additional features discussed this week, Jim. What's that promo code? Once again, then that's Ridge. promo code jCE 10% off and tell them we sent you i've got i've got an email i know this is your show but this centers around you or part of you potentially can i can i tell you some of this yeah which part my foot well no no it's what it's what's in between no not your left knee not

your right knee not even your we knee it's what's in between your ears there pal your voluminous wrestling knowledge. Okay. Thank you. As Constan, that big giant bucket head of you. But recently, well, anyway, I got this email. That's not nice. And this is not only one of the most, it looks like a resume like you would submit to a, you know, a fine firm to be hired and it's typed in all the right ways.

And it's from John AAU. Have you, do you know, he's, from Flushing, Michigan. John A-A-U. Do you know him? I'm not sure if I know him at all, because I'm not exactly sure what the hell you're saying. How do you pronounce? How do you spell the last name? Well, it's John, as in John, a, period, as in a-a-u-e. John-A-U-E. John-A-A-U-E. You know, now that you're saying, now that you spell it out, you were saying it right. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, he, no,

to James E. Cornett, CEO of Cornett's collectibles to the post office box. It dated 8 August 2024, and he's from Michigan. Not one of those weirdos over there across the pond. It backs the fucking dates up backwards the wrong way. And he thanked us for keeping the history of wrestling alive,

enjoying the look back at Mid-South, 1984. We're going to do another one of those very shortly. The discussions of wrestling territory history that come out of guess the program are fascinating, my favorite part of the programs, which we do it often on this fine drive-through. And John said that he, since it's his favorite segment, guest program, he decided to pitch in. He says, I have a rather small collection, but the hours of enjoyment you and Brian have provided parting with this program is the least I could do.

And he said, I do not think this program will stump Brian. But we shall find out because now, ladies and gentlemen... Because Jim was given the answers. That's right, Brian, you're on the spot. We're going to play one round of guess the program

with the program. I'm going to ask you the questions and you're going to answer them from John A.A.U. Emerging wrestling historian, John, John A. Yu. Do you think that when John met his wife or his significant other or his beautiful blushing bride, do you think she was saying, John A. A. You, when I'm calling you. Hopefully not in that key. Well, that's the key thing. I was a keynote speaker one time.

And I hit the note then. Anyway, don't delay or defray the obvious here. Have you ever watched strawberries and vinegar? Didn't we just say something about that? It derailed the last conversation so well. I was trying to do it again now. Yeah, well, you're going to have to face the music here, pal. I'm going to give you for the new listeners out there.

Usually it's Brian Quiz and me. But I'm going to give you the program, uh, fucking, uh, uh, sent in, submitted by John A. And you're going to, Brian, try to tell me what the city was and what the year was. Have I succinctly got that across to the viewing public? I think all the readers have heard you, loud and clear. Okay, and I'll give you one, I'll give you one clue as to where this might be.

because the person that owned this originally had had marked the, you know, like the fans used to a lot, they'd check mark the winner or X, the loser, or circle or whatever, make little notes, right, or who won and who lost of what happened. And when it says all bouts under the supervision of the state athletic commission, it names the chairman and the guy is written underneath it, blind man. I guess he was Sipner and introduced to the people

and he was just waving in the air because he was a blind man and they decided to make note of this but I've never seen that before obviously Leroy McGirk was not the chairman of the state athletic commission but anyway are you ready for the opening match Brian

you got your notepad out you're ready to go that's a great thing that no one's ever done on wrestling TV the head of the referees is here and he's blind yes and he's blind who's that blind that blind man out, it's the house detective at the Grand Hotel.

All right, let's go. Let's do this. All right. The opening match, El Bracero, from Mexico City versus the wild man, from parts unknown. The second event, Billy Red Lions from Canada versus Jay York from Alaska. the third event George the Animal Steel from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania versus Thunderbolt Patterson from Los Angeles, California.

Okay, this could still technically be where I thought it may be. George steals a little bit of a surprise there for where I was thinking at first, but keep going. And we're following with a tag team match player which pits Don Fargo from Chicago, Illinois, at least that's what they claimed at the time, and René Goulet, who was billed from Mexico. That's a twist?

I've never heard that before. I think that's obviously a... Noted Luchador, René Guilet. Noted Luchador, Frenchman René Goulet, versus the team of Pepper Gomez from Monterey, Mexico, and the mighty Igor from Poland. See, there we go again. Okay. Then the next match.

And wait till you hear this one. That's why I think somebody's fucking drunk or forgot to change some things. Killer Carl Cox from Omaha, Nebraska versus Pistol Pez-Watley from Mexico. What? Yeah. By way of Chattanooga,

Newka, Tennessee. Anyway, but yes, Killer Carl Cox versus Pez Whatley. Then we have another tag team match. The team of Baron von Krupp from

Monheim, Germany, and his partner Ox Baker from Kansas City, taking on Big Tex-McKenzie from you'll never guess, Texas, and his partner, from the jungles of South America

Pampido Fapo! And... Oh, okay. I was better. And finally, the main event for a championship that will be named later,

Abdullah the Butcher, the madman from the Sudan, versus Reno Nevada's own Dick the Bruiser. Okay. This is tougher, because I'm fucking with my, in my head, it's

there's a lot going on in my head, is what I'm trying to say. Apparently, it won't come out of your mouth. There are two places that seem like the obvious, one place seems obvious, but one place seems like it could be a possibility until the very end. It sounds like it could be an early 70s

Texas show, Houston, Fort Worth. However, there's a ton of matches there for the time, which reeks of the cobo. Or at least reeks of Detroit. Dick DeBruiser makes sense in Detroit. Was Dick the Brewser making any trips to Texas and 70?

Well, Pez Watley's on the show. Anytime after 73? René Goulets from Mexico. I don't know too much about his time in Guadalajara. I think somebody at the printer got stuck on Mexico. But there's a lot of names there that, you know, worked in Texas, Pepper Gomez. There's also, I mean, again, a lot of Detroit names, Mighty Igor. Pampero Furpo being in the main event, there is a,

but he worked Texas too around that period of time. It's not crazy. This man was, John AAU was from Michigan, I believe, correct? Oh, yes, he was, wasn't he? So I'm going to go with Detroit, Michigan. I'm going to say, it's Pez-Watley that's fucking throwing me off, actually. I did not expect that.

Who was it, Abdullah the butcher against who? Dick the Bruiser in the main event for the United States Heavyweight Championship. No chic on the show, which is interesting. And you gave away the title there, so it sounds like I got Detroit, Michigan, right? Yeah, I'm not going to jack you around. I think it's a little later than I would think. In 1975. God damn you, Sunday, February 23rd, 1975.

If I had not said that John A.U. was from flushing Michigan. That would have flushed your chances. I would have gone with Texas, but Dick the Bruiser was what pulled me back to, it has to be Detroit. The thing is, with Texas, almost a good portion of this card

at one time or another was a name in the Dallas-Fort Worth territory for Fritz especially, but they were not ever all there together. And you started with Elbracerro. That was like the thing, it right away put me in the mind of Texas. Well, but I'll hold on here one second,

and I'm on fill you in on something you might not know. The thing that was the throw-off right, the curveball right at the end was Dick the Bruiser. And I bet you the reason why a bruiser was main-eventing the Kobo in 1975 was because the Sheik couldn't be on the card. And that's when they had settled the issues,

so they were working together. And that's the El Bracerro. was Jose Martinez, and he was working for Bruiser. And he lived in Indianapolis at the time. The Sheik always used guys like Billy Red Lines, George Steele when he was available, Thunderbolt Patterson at that point. Renee Goulet and Don Fargo, think about this. 1975, they were the Legionaires working for Bruiser.

So they came from Indianapolis also, but the way they're not called the legionaires here because they weren't working the territory, people knew the individual names. Gomez was working for Bruiser, but he was about to go to Tennessee and work for Goulas for several months that summer. So a lot of Pez-Watley

had just broken in for Nick Goulas and they were sending him around to just do a job for Killer Carl Cox, but just to get him some experience. and Ox and Carl von Krupe were working for Bruiser that summer also in Indianapolis as the heel tag team. Tex and Furpo and Abdullah were already working for Sheik in Detroit to begin with. So when they had settled the promotional war, Sheik was making more use of Bruiser's talent than Bruehers.

Bruiser was making of Sheiks, probably because Sheik felt more like the aggrieved party since Bruiser actually ran Detroit, so fuck it, send me some fucking talent. So there's, you know, all kinds of fucking major names on this show for the time. And when did Bobby Heenan lead Bruiser? 74. So right before this, too, that's interesting. Well, it was right. The reason why he left was the payoff when Bruser and Sheik settled things.

and Heenan managed the Sheik at Market Square Arena in front of a sellout and Bruiser gave him $700 or whatever it was and that's when he's, well, fuck. And he called Vern because he was so insulted by that. Anyway, that's just the program that Brian last won. Yeah. Very easily, you know, Dick the Bruiser,

but also now that I think about it, Don Fargo. Although, again, he wasn't working there He was working for Bruiser at the time, not for the Sheik, but still, you know, you could picture, I picture him in Michigan more than I do, Texas at that point. But, but he had been in, in, um, he'd been in Dallas on and off for years as one of the Dalton gang. What was that tag team match with Tex McKenzie? Oh, God damn it.

Hold on. I just put it down here. I'm picking it back up here. It was, uh, uh, Ox and von Krupe against, uh, Pampero Furpo and Tex McKin. Now, you got to, you know... Poor Furbo. No, I'll tell you what. No, Carl Krupp, in 19...

I saw him in 81. He could still fucking bump when it called for it. He wasn't bad. In 75? I watched this... I watched them on TV. When they were working for Bruiser. It was fucking cool.

I love the killer. Let's focus on the parts of the match that were Tex-Mcenzie versus Ox Baker. Okay, let's know. do that. I can imagine what that must have been like. Oh, almighty. Was Ox Baker ever good once he became a deal?

Because at least with the baby, like the goofy baby face, there was some charm to like not being able to work. But no, the thing is his look and his pro, and his voice and his promo and his size were all in the, if you do a one to ten. range on talent or whatever, they were all 10. So his in-ring work was a one and a half, and he still came out with a goddamn 41 and a half or whatever. Yeah, think about it.

They brought him to Allentown and Hamburg in like 1980 to do it around the tapings, and he was so bad they never used them. And they used everyone. They used everyone. They didn't use him against Bob Backlin because it was that. scary what the match could be because... Oh, boy.

Yeah, him and back on the space. But also at that point, it was... It was like when Joe LaDuke, people tweeted clips of Joe LaDuke when he was the headbanger in WWF and what was that in 1984? No, 88. Or 8? Oh, shit, even worse, 88. Okay.

Ten years before that, Joe LaDucke would have been able to convince people in about six weeks that he could fucking eat alive every member of the WWF. But not then. And with Ox, after 76 or 7ish, it got to the point where it was not a pretty sight that unless it was a territory where he was already over and people had seen him before and knew the name, then it wasn't going to happen. Because they age caught up with what they could do to begin with. I shouldn't even say that with Ladoek, he was incredible, but he was also, in 1988, he was almost 50, and I think I found out severely diabetic, I believe, or something like that.

Also, I needed the right opponent. You could see how he really wouldn't fit in well with the late 80s WWF style. Yeah, no, no, because it was just, he had, he had an incredible aura about him, but I mean like again in 1975-78 he could do a drop kick at 280 pounds six feet tall with that frame and as good as anybody right but I saw these clips in 88 and it was just he had slowed down so much his shit wasn't crisp and he was just trying to maw people because that's you know what he was noted for but he wasn't he was neither as big

physically size-wise as some of the giants they had then, and he wasn't as impressive body-wise because he was just so thick, and he looked like a fucking lumberjack. Could he probably, in his day, have outlifted much of the roster just because he was just freaky strong, probably, but it wasn't his day anymore. So it just didn't happen.

It threw me off as a kid seeing his name in the magazines I'm like, who's Joss LaDuke? Yes. Because that's, that was the, he first became known to the magazines and the sort of a North American audience, obviously in Montreal and all over Quebec and Canada. And that's JOS is the, the French spelling, right? And then when he moved down here, he worked years. He lived in Knoxville for quite some time.

he worked Memphis and the southeastern territory in Knoxville and Georgia and Florida for a long time and think how to run in Texas and he would go back to those places because he always got over. I have like, you know, 20 years afterwards in Memphis, if you still ask people, who are Lawler's greatest, you know, rivals or whatever, it would be Jimmy Valiant, Joe LaDuke, Austin Idol, is some of the first. you know names that get mentioned. And I mean, obviously Dundee, but I mean, he'll rivals. So, you know, but any, where were we going with that?

That was guest to program. Oh, it certainly was. That's a lot of. This is a good show today. I'm glad this is your show. Guess whose program this is? God damn it. It's mine.

All righty. Well, before we go, ladies and gentlemen, we've got a couple of minutes left before our expiration of time, and we are going to do a, segment here that we often do on Brian's program, the drive-thru, called Guess the Program. And the premise is that Brian will take a program from his collection and read me the lineup, and I am supposed to determine where it took place and what year it took place. And that is the premise of the piece and then hilarity and wrestling history follow, right, Brian?

Something like that, yes, I believe so. Well, there you have you got the programs? I've got a bunch of programs. I'm trying to figure out an order here. If you got the programs, I got the information. Well, we shall see about that. Let me start with one that's a little more current. Let me open this.

It actually has the ticket stubs in here with it, and there's no way to open it. What the fuck? Hold on. Who sealed this? There we go. There we go. Not everyone should seal everything. It usually works much more smoothly this bit.

It usually does on my show, but again, this is not my show. It's a more professional production with all the same people. Than your show. Here we go. Here is the lineup. I will start with the first event. Kelly Kinnisky versus Buck Rock and Roll Zumhoff. Okay.

The second event, Cripler Rip Oliver from New York versus Iceman King Parsons. Uh-huh. The third event for an unnamed title. The Champions, The Fantastics, Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton, City of Angels versus Challengers, Midnight Express. Bobby Eaton and Dennis Conjury of New York. Yeah, they were New York crazy down there in that program office. The fourth event, a lumberjack style match.

Kevin Von Erick versus Chris Adams. an intermission The fifth event All six men in the ring elimination match Losers leave town The Freebirds of Terry Gordy Buddy Roberts and Chick Donovan

Versus General Scandar Akbar The Missing Link And Mr. X Somehow I don't remember that match at all Yeah. The main event. Oh, I'm sorry. For a championship I will not name.

The champion Rick Flair of Minnesota versus the challenger, Kerry von Erick, Denton County. Then it's an intermission. Good Lord. The seventh event, Jose Lafario versus El Diablo. And finally, the eighth event,

Sunshine in the corner. Mike Von Erick and Billy Jack from the Northwest, versus with Nicola in the corner, Gino Hernandez and Jake the Snake Roberts. Uh, I am thinking that that was the card on New Year's Eve, 1984, in Fort Worth, Texas, uh, where Flair and Kerry had that horrible match where they had to find carry out in his car in the cattle shoot.

But now wait, they did an hour Broadway and that's a lot of matches to do an hour and you know what? I don't remember the Fantastics and the Midnight being working against each other on the underneath

of that card. Could that have been the same week potentially in San Antonio with the Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum, but it was the instead of New Year's Eve, it was the

first week of January 1985. That is the time period the last week of December or the month of January 1985 and I don't think it's the Sportatorium in Dallas

because I don't remember Flair being there at that point. So I've got to go with either San Antonio or Fort Worth on New Year's Eve. The building reunion arena. Son of a bitch. Christmas Star Wars. Christmas. Christmas Wrestling Star Wars.

God damn it. You went right past Christmas, the New Year's. Well, because I didn't remember that be it, Flair and Carrie being, and that was the main event, it's not like they put the tag match on last or whatever, but I didn't know, remember Flair and Carrie doing Christmas night and then rematching in Fort Worth that quickly on New Year's Eve. That's what threw me off. All right, so we're starting well here. So I was a week away and I was only 35 miles away, but I was in the wrong building. And by the way, also, I'd like to register that I had 102 degree fever that.

night. I really did. That's what they said about Carrie within the match in Fort Worth. But I'd gotten sick and been sick for a week here at home and had to fly down to Dallas and do that show at Reunion Arena with a fever and a horrible fucking cold or whatever and throwing the temper tantrum. After we lost our first major show in the territory, which was a sign of things to come, I almost had a fucking, I almost passed out. I goddamn nearly had a stroke, and then I came home and laid in bed for the next week

until the day before New Year's, I had to drive to Dallas, and I stopped on the side of the road and threw up twice. So I don't remember what the fuck was going on. That must have been tough for Flair, because he had so many matches with Carrie and so many classics with Carrie. Have you watched some of the Mid-South House show footage for me?

Oh, yeah. Just great stuff. but he never knew what he was going to get. There was no consistency. It wasn't like, I have nothing to worry about tonight. Every night, Flair had the worry if Kerry was going to be in a condition to do anything. At least at that point, in 84, 85, yeah. Yeah, and sometimes it was a crapshoot.

But anyway, all right, I've warmed up now. All right, we got our next card here, Jim. The opening event, Billy Rayburn. versus Monty Ladeau. Oh, okay. The second event, one fall to a finish. Danny Savage versus Texas Tornado, Jack Curtis. The third event, the third and fourth event, are both best two out of three falls.

The official referee for both main events. The greatest of them all, Ed Strangler Lewis, assisted by Jack Gott, I won't say what town that is, the two main events, Jesse James versus Angelo Savaldi, and Al Alexander versus Al Galento. Ooh, Al Spider Galento, who had a hand in, was a big heel in the Memphis territory before it became the, even before it was owned by Gullenton, and Welch and had a hand in training Tommy Gilbert. So Monty Ladoo was a guy that spent a lot of time in the Amarillo, West Texas area in the late 40s, early 50s.

I think when Dean Denton was still the promoter out there, right, before Dory Funk Sr. Jack Curtis, obviously, that would have been. God, very early on in his career, he would probably been in his rookie years. Jack Curtis, the son of George Culkin, who was the Mississippi promoter for so long. Strangler Lewis, everybody knows. Jesse James was a journeyman from the 50s through the 70s. Which Savoldy was this? Angelo?

This was Angela Savoldy. and let me just also say double main events are finish matches tonight. Yes, and that means there's no time limit. It's one fall to a finish. Well, no, there were two out of three falls, but it also says they are finished. Okay, then no time limit then. It doesn't matter how long it takes they go to the finish. I've got to think this is West Texas.

And I've got to think this is the very early 50s probably. Amarillo 1952. I'm not going to narrow it down any more than that. The Stockyard City Coliseum, Oklahoma City. Ah! Wednesday, November 2nd,

1949. All right, so I was three years off and about 500 miles. The greatest of them all, Ed, and there's a picture of Ed Strangler, it was it just says Ed here, Ed will be with us tonight to referee the main event.

Mr. Lewis is devoting his time and money to benefit boys' work, clubs, etc. Tonight, as his guests at the ringside, as his guests at the ringside, that is at the ringside, will be the kids from the Taylor Boys Home, Police Department Boys Club, and the YMCA crippled children. So there you go, Ed Schrengle-Lew was 1949. It's not like he's following Fez around here. Well, he hadn't got that spot yet. That's why I was thinking it was probably the early 50s at least because that's when they started using him to go with, with, uh, Thiz. All right, let me give you an easy one.

Let me give you an easy one. Oh, now, now you're condescending now. Well, easy for you. Easy for you, not easy for the late. Well, that's easy for you to say. I'm opening this one. I have not re-boarded this one yet, which I need to do. So this will be the only time I do this.

Here is the card. A challengers match. Sam Plotania versus Charlie Carr Oh my God Adrian Belargeron Belerian Every time I get it wrong

Versus Tex Riley A special event A ladies match One Fall, One Hour Time Limit Nell Stewart versus Millie Stafford For the world junior heavyweight champion

championship, Angelo Savaldi versus Lee Fields, two out of three falls, 60-minute time limit. There'll be an intermission, at which point lucky numbers will be announced, and the main event, or one of the double main event, because you had a World Junior Heavyweight championship match. A grudge match, two out of three falls, no time limit, Billy Wicks versus Sputnik Monroe. Okay, well, we're in Memphis, and Sam Plotania would later on go on to be a long-time referee for Goulos Welch, but he, at the time, this would be either mid to late 1959 or early 1960. He was, I think he actually wrestled amateur and they had, you know, picked him up along the way. Charlie Carr was a longtime Tennessee baby face and was thought well of.

Belerzian was one of the Belerzian brothers. Were there five? But they were bodybuilders and did strongman feats and they were French Canadian. And a cousin Lance. Yes, and cousin Lance, Lance, Lance Belersian. Tex Riley was one of the all-time biggest baby faces in Tennessee wrestling whether it be Nashville, Knoxville, or Memphis.

The girls were obviously well thought of at the time. Those were names. Savoldy was the junior heavyweight title. Lee Fields is a member of the Fields family, the fields and the Hatfields that were the cousins of the Fullers and Welch's that ran the Gulf Coast down in Mobile, Alabama, and that territory.

And obviously, Billy Wicks and Sputnik Monroe was the biggest drawing program in the history of Memphis wrestling for that period of time. And that's why I say this has to be one of the Memphis cards where they wrestled probably before the

Gilmore Field match. So unless this was a reprimal. afterwards the next year. I don't have the Memphis record book in front of me. I'm going to say fall 1959. Memphis, Tennessee, April 6th, 1959. All right. Well, you know, fall comes early down south. Billy Wicks versus Sputnik Monroe, the match of the year. Demanded by you, fans who have watched and listened to these two men battle each other with words on the Saturday TV program over Channel 5. Promoter Buddy Fuller worked out contracts with both men this week

for the match that has all the indications of being the best ever seen here. Both have called each other yellow over television and actually have been anxious for the match. Wix is a 210 pounder from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Monroe, a 220-pounder from Wichita, Kansas, the best two out of three falls with a 90-minute time woman. So this is the start of everything with these two. Yeah, that's the start of the program.

And notice they said Channel 5, a lot of people are going to say, well, wait a minute, they went to Channel 5 when Jarrett split off from Goulis in 1977. but the first couple of years that Memphis wrestling had gone back on television in 1957, that's when Buddy Fuller, Roy Welch, and they took it over out of the Nashville office, they sent Buddy Fuller down there, they got TV, and they soon after picked up Lance Russell and Sputnik Monroe, and that was the magic combination, but they were on Channel 5 for the first couple of years, and then went to 13.

where that they prospered after that. It says here, wrestling news on radio and TV. Fans who would like to keep up with the wrestling news may listen to the Matt News on radio and television during the week. WMCT, Jack Eaton announces the card to the Jack's World of Sports on Wednesday or Thursday night, 10.15 p.m., Saturday, from 5 to 6 p.m.,

One hour of live wrestling with interviews from the participating wrestlers. K-W-A-M. Dave Hill, ring announcer at the auditorium matches, interviews wrestlers from 12 noon to 3 p.m. during the week whenever the wrestlers are in town. Monday, stay tuned to K-W-A-M, or K-W-M, I guess, for lots of wrestling news, And finally, WHM announces card on sports program and on Wednesday night on party line. We will call in to let you fans know who will be on the card next week. And also it has here live wrestling on TV every Saturday.

Every Saturday afternoon. Interesting. Every Saturday afternoon from 5 to 6 p.m., tune in to Channel 5 to see the world's greatest professional wrestlers in action. If you'd like to attend, in person, send the self-address stamped envelope to promoter Buddy Fuller, Room 132, Chiska Hotel. Tickets are limited and are issued on a first-come, first-served basis. If you do not receive your tickets the week you write in, be patient as they are being worked on as fast as possible. And also, the wrestling office was always in a hotel in every Nick Gooless in Nashville. had the Sam Davis Hotel and different hotels through the years.

And, you know, even the Holland Hotel for Tutsmont and, you know, that gang in New York back in those days. And also, oh, what you'd mention? Oh, Jack Eaton was the original wrestling host on Channel 5 because he was the sports guy, big Jack Eaton. He was the guy that hosted the sports on the news. and he was the first one there before they settled in with Lance. Well, it's interesting, too, to think about the idea that if you were a wrestling fan, there was, you know, not a lot of wrestling TV shows, but there was a lot of wrestling content. You had to listen to the radio.

You got local promos in between, I guess, the songs, right? Yeah, well, and also... That's crazy. In between the songs, you got local promos from 12 to 3 once a week? Yeah, well, they'd have one of the guys come in and sit down for a while and one of the other guys, and after, you know, a couple of records, they'd come to them, hey so Monday night blah blah blah and I've mentioned this even in the 80s I would rush back to Memphis on Friday night from wherever the spot show was or Tupelo or whatever so I could get the early edition of the morning paper right there on summer avenue it came out to the paper box at the shopping center about one o'clock in the morning you'd have an early edition of the morning paper and that would have the card for Monday night so before I I got to TV on Saturday morning, Friday night late,

I could find out what the fuck I was doing on Monday night. Because that's, it was a weekly town. It's not like they were giving you cards weeks out. And then it might be a false booked card because if they were going to do an angle on TV on Saturday morning and change the match, they would put in a false booked main event, so-and-so versus so-and-so. and they would announce that card at the top of the program

that's the one that would have been in the newspaper ad then the angle happens and they changed the goddamn match so people believed it because they know well it was in the ad they were going to have a whole other match anyway all right Jim a couple more here before we wrap things up this week it is your show

this one where's the card here we go opening event Anton Leone versus Ivan Jones one fall 20 minute time limit The preliminary One fall 20 minute time limit

Pat McGill Versus Good Lord And the main event Is it one main event or two main events Oh no I hope you're gonna give me more to go on Special Handicap Attraction The Blimp agrees to throw both men

A Fall of Peace within 20 minutes the blimp weight 640 pounds versus Roberto Pico and Oki Shikima which is the way it's spelled it Well the way it's spelled here Shikima

And the main event Two out of three falls One hour time limit For the world's heavyweight championship The champion Dave Levin Versus the Golden Angel Oh boy Okay, this is probably a Pfeffer promotion.

Anton Ripper Leone would later on in the 70s, he ran Towns and was a promoter for Roy Shire in the San Francisco Bay Area, and then later on did his own thing when he was on the Outs with Shire. Ivan Jones may have been the illegitimate love child of Paul Jones and Ivan Kohloff. not, and I'm not sure about Pat McGill, Chris Zaharius. God damn now, I keep, he's the brother. Well, I keep mixing up because Babe Zaharius was Babe Diedrickson who married George Zaharius, but Chris Zaharius was a brother, but there was also a Babe Zaharius that was a guy.

There really wasn't a member of the Seharius family per se, but used the name. Martin the blimp levy was one of the guys along with the or levy or levy or levy or which L-E-V-Y why. Everyone I know with that name and I grew up around a bunch of kids they were at least pronounced levy Okay

well they and they wore Levi's so you can see the confusion but Martin the blimp was a feffer creation that was big, especially in the mid-late 40s, because he would wrestle the, you know, Maurice Talley, the French Angel, and the freak match. And a lot of the guys were in the service.

So that main evented for Wilde Drew Money because of the sideshow aspect of it. Roberto Pico was a guy that wrestled in these days, and this is the original Okie Shakina. there was a Oki Shakina in the 70s that wrestled a lot in the south but that wouldn't be him because this would be

in the late 1940s and the world title Dave Levin was the world champion that Feffer propped up for a while because he had wins over some of the other guys that at one point or another had been recognized champion and I've got

a couple of the publicity posters that they had put out with Levin's case that he was making. And they were dated sometime in the late 40s. The Golden Angel is probably because the French angel or the Swedish angel was booked. The Golden Angel, I will tell you this,

the golden angel from the photo here is one of the future Bummy Rogers. Okay, so he wasn't even really... Maybe the original Bummy Rogers, actually. There wasn't anything wrong with him. He was just a regular-looking fella. wasn't an angel with a glandular problem. Looks like a man

wearing a cape or whatever it is. So, I mean, positioning-wise, location-wise, boy, howdy, maybe, I'm just going to say somewhere in the Northeast in 1947. Ooh, so close.

Uh-huh. Monday, September 16th, 1946. Ah. Mammoth Gardens, Denver, Colorado. Denver, Colorado. Good Lord, okay, maybe. Well, Zaharius was on the card.

They used to call George Zaharius when he was a heel The Crying Greek from Cripple Creek. Here's a picture of Dave Levin, World's Heavyweight champ and Junior Heavyweight champ, Dave Levin, the Wonderboy of Wrestling, willing to defend his title against any other claimant to the World's title.

And that was the move, right? Just all of a sudden saying you have a champion. Yeah. My guy's willing to take on Joe Stecker. It's just he's not here. You know, I understand that the champion of garbage championship wrestling in Poughkeepsie, New Jersey is willing to face Cody Rhodes anytime, any place, anywhere. For the record, Poughkeepsie has nothing to do with New Jersey.

Don't try that, buddy. The promotion is Rocky Mountain Sports Enterprises. The matchmaker... I got to get this right. Bill Jelofy. The commissioners, and it lists the commissioners here, the chief inspector, Harry Walls, the referees, Dan Darnell and Jack Bloom,

timekeepers, announcer Sam Siegel, two physicians, the chief of ushers, Matt Meach, the organist, Marion Schultz, and finally, the doorman,

the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Yeah, and you know what? A lot of these people, they're friends of the promoter or they hang around and they get to do these jobs. And it was a big deal to mention, you know, their names into programs. So they like that kind of thing. Coming next week, world's most colorful wrestler, magnificent Buddy Rogers, the Atomic Blonde. Wow. Rogers has posted $500 that he could beat the blimp in 30 minutes or forfeit the 500.

It's a tough job But Roger says he can do it How about that? And that that That 1946, that would be his first run as a heel as the nature boy And not him sorry Not even as the atomic blonde

Because 1945 The Atomic Bomb was all over the news And that's when he became The Atomic Blonde before he was even known as Nature Boy Buddy Rogers, correct?

I believe so. So that would be like the first few months he was doing it. Coming soon, and I may get this wrong, Pierre Lasartis French Underground Hero. I have no idea who that is. Well, he was a hero of the French Underground. And then here's a couple of pictures of the Blimp.

Blimp weighing in at New York Madison Square Garden. The eighth wonder of the world, the blimp. 640 pounds, the only one alive. You must see the human monster. Well, you didn't see a lot of 600-something-pound guys in those days because they didn't have my 600-pound life on the fucking learning channel or whatever. All right, let me go to another one here. This will be...

One more, this is my last one, baby. I'm going to come in. I'm going to finish strong. I'm going to give you one that's kind of in your wheelhouse in a sense, in a generational sense. The opening bout, John Conjury versus Hero Matsuda. And it looks like they may have made it a tag bout. Bubba Douglas and John Conjory versus Hero Matsuda and Professor Sonata. Cocoa, filling in for Jerry Briscoe, against Gordon Nelson.

the outlaw Deaton Brothers versus Charlie Cook and Sweet Brown Sugar. Wait a minute, hold on now. Charlie Cook and Sweet Brown Sugar, who was Skip Young? And who's the brother of Joel Deaton there? Was it, what was his gimmick brother's name? Carlos?

Oh, come on. Vernon Deaton was one of the job guys from South Carolina that worked with the Kroger. But the Deaton Brothers. others. I can't remember. $5,000 challenge bout. El Gran Apollo versus Buzz Sawyer.

Okay. $1,000 bounty match Tommy Gilbert versus the Sheik. Okay. Jack Briscoe versus Assassin number one. And the final

bout lights out Texas death match. Mike Graham versus Dory Funk Jr. Well, we are in Florida, obviously, and the year I'm going to be pretty certain of is 1981. John Condry, I don't know who that is. Do you even remember? I don't know who that is, no. No.

You know, you would think it might be related to Dennis, except he's not. um Bubba Douglas was the honorary mayor of Lakeland Florida the big happy go lucky black guy that they used

for years down there as a local mid card baby face people loved him hero Matsuda obviously is a legend and worked in the Florida office by this point and Sonada didn't he have some kind of gimmick

later on sonata didn't he did he become That's not Kendo Nagasaki, no. No, okay, well, anyway. I don't think so. I'm not sure, though. He worked there a bit. Coco Samoa is the guy

who wrestled in Memphis in 1983, or 82, I'm sorry, as Sabu the Wild Man before the Saboo that everybody knows today, the Sheik's nephew, was around. He was a baby face in Florida, but he was a wild heel because he was a Samoan guy, very short, but like a snooka-like body.

Gordon Nelson was, again, a longtime Florida talent and worked in the office at various points and was a shooter that could stretch you from asshole to appetite. We mentioned the Diedons, Charlie Cook was a former, I don't know if he played in the NFL, but he had some type of football background gimmick and sweet brown sugar was Skip Young under the mask. Sonato was the Magic Dragon.

That's right, the Magic Dragon. The boys called him Puff. But Sugar, Skip Young, he used that and then they used it for Cocoa wear in Memphis because it turned out good and they did, who was first? Sweet Brown Sugar in Florida taking the mask or Rocky Johnson being sweet ebony diamond in the Carolinas.

I think Sweet Brown Sugar would have been first. I think Rocky Johnson was 82, wasn't he? Probably because I was seeing him do that right before I got in the business and I was still going to some of the matches in Cincinnati. 81, 82? Yeah. I mean, it's around the same time, yeah. How come every gimmick that was successful for a black wrestler

ended up on Coco within a couple of years? Staggerly, too. Staggerly, yeah. Because Lawler loved Coco and he was always trying to book him and make something different because, you know, same guy, same place for so long. Same thing with Playa Boy Frasier. El Gran Apollo was a real good looking kid that I think was from Cuba. Or, you know, I'm trying to remember, but they got him over as one of the top baby faces in this time period. And this was early heel buzz Sawyer.

Tommy Gilbert was down there at that point because I think he had probably just left Tennessee and that's where he went Eddie at that point. I believe is that when Eddie started his run in the WWWF or they were WWF by that point when he got in that, ended up when he got in that car wreck. But he was up there to be the protege of Bob Backlin. So Tommy was a single down here. I believe that's the way it happened. The Sheik was coming in and out of Florida at that point

because he had very few options and was not getting booked by a lot of people. And I remember it'd be an odd because of his age at that point. He was closing in on 60. And Florida was a different kind of territory that normally, how did Thess put it, Brooke the Sheik's foolishness. Hey, since you mentioned it, I'll tell you, I found it here.

Gentlemen, Jim Kent is managing Joel and David Deaton. That's okay. David Deaton was a Deaton there in name only. He didn't continue, I don't think. And Jimmy Kent was a longtime Tennessee manager. He was from, I believe he originally, the Chattanooga area, and he managed the bounty hunters for so long. But anyway, the Sheik, I don't know who's.

the bounty was on. I don't know whether the bounty was on Tommy Gilbert or the Sheik was going for, I don't know what's happening. But Jack Briscoe and the Assassin number one, that would have been Jody Hamilton. And Mike Graham and Dory Funk, Jr.

I think we know who they are. And I've got to believe it's 1981 and we're in Florida. And I'm wondering because of the number of matches. One, two, three, four, five. It's got to be a bigger town. Is the card big enough for the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg?

I don't actually think so. I could be wrong, but at the same point, would this be in the, in a bigger town in the north end of the state like Jacksonville or down south in Miami Beach? Let's go with Miami Beach, by God, 1981. How's that? Tuesday, July 21st, 1981, 8.30 p.m. You didn't guess the time, so I'm not going to give your credit. Fort Hesterly Armory, Tampa, Florida.

God damn it. God damn it. You know, some of the... It wasn't a St. Petersburg Bayfront Big Show, but it was big enough for Tampa. There's a few interesting ads in here, one of them, for the best deal in real estate called Ronald C. Reed. And then in quotes, Buddy Colt. Realtor Associate. He is with Tambay Realty.

And then, obviously, Brisco Brothers Body Shop. But the one that really stands next, I've never seen this before. Custom T-shirts by Marty 2. And it appears to be a picture of a pre-Funk Marty Funk. Oh. And some other girl wearing a Mike Graham shirt, Marty wearing the Brisco Brothers Body Shop.

Brisco Brothers Body Shop, Sweet Brown Sugar, Steve Kern, $6 plus $1 postage, color picture shirts of Steve, Mike Graham, and other favorites, $10 plus postage, Marty 2, and has an address in Oklahoma, or Ocala, I guess I should say, Ocala, Florida. We have found Marty's previous occupation. And Dory Funk's on the card, this may have been with. when she met Dory. Well, I'm pretty sure she probably already knew Dory at this point in time. She may have known Steve Kern, too.

Are you talking in the biblical sense? What are you trying to say here? She has his t-shirts. She has his t-shirts, obviously. She didn't physically remove them from his body that we know of. If she's selling Steve Kern color shirts, not even just shirts, but color, she must know the guy. That's all I'm saying.

Well, I could be selling my, my, my only, used panties. Are you doing that again? Because I heard people that got shut out last time. No, I'm still wearing them. Well, that was guest the program featuring the human monster and so much more. Yes. Before we get out of here, why don't we end in a good mood a little bit, just a little bit of a guest program? Well, you're just taking over my show, aren't you? Okay, it's your show. I'm supposed to be the one to pitch the things around here. I'll have you know, Baba Louie. And you have been you have been whining and crying to me squealing like an old washwoman but i got to clean off my desk i got to give i got to get these programs filed and we got to do a guess the program

segment one of these days and as well how about since we just talked about all the new wrestling to give a little levity to the program we'll do the levitation virtue of guess the program and you just topped right in in front of me. What a great idea. Guess the program. Jim, I never ever would have thought of that. Hold on. They weren't even on my desk.

They're just all over the place. Well, but see there now, that's the way that it goes. I bring it up and then you agree with it. Well, you're a very bright man. Yes, yes, and humble and lovable. You clearly know what you're doing. Not this program. Let me find a good one here from this pile.

Of course, guest the program is where I go through programs in my collection. Yes. And quiz Jim about the time, the date, the locale, and whatever else he could figure out. Well, not the time. I'm not going to figure out if the bell time was 7.30, but I'm going to try to get the location and the year out of this. How many places do you think you can get based on bell time? Were there any places that you could think of of the top of your head that had a unique bell time that no one else, no one else had like 637? Well, I mean, no, if it was somewhere that I worked and it was, and it was. a regular, you know, weekly or biweekly territory, you know, pretty much everything in the Memphis territory was 8 o'clock except for Memphis was 7.30 because it was always usually a little bit

bigger card and they still want to get people out at the same time. For whatever reason, Crockett did this for years and a number of places did 815. And I don't know why that came about in the the Al-Zink territory up there in the Atlantic Canada area I remember I think they did like 845 because it was daylight later in the summer or some malarkey up there so it would depend all right Jim we're our first program here the opening bout

cowboy Tony versus Superman Tony Atlas. The second bout, Matt Bourne versus the dirty white boy Lynn Denton, manager Percy Pringle

the third. The next bout? Steve Simpson versus the world's strongest man, Ted R. Cedie, managed by Percy Pringle the third. The next match,

Manuel Villalobos, Mani. Versus the dirty white boy Tim Brooks manager Percy Pringle the third tag team excitement

flamboyant Eric Embry and Frankie the thumper versus the rock and roll RPMs of Mike Davis and Tommy Lane a special lumberjack bout Al Madrill versus Brian Adias

that sounds like the worst match I've ever heard of in my life. And finally, the main event, sorry guys. The main event. If either one of you were listening, that was Brian last comment. Seriously, Brian Adiaz on his own and then Al Madrille at that point on his own. Neither one of those guys makes anyone want to watch. Well, and there was nobody in the crowd to begin with watching.

So. The main event, the Texas heavyweight champion, Al Perez, managed by Gary Hart, versus sweet brown sugar. Okay, well, we are obviously in or around Dallas, Texas. I will confirm we are in or around. It's the Will Rogers Coliseum Fort Worth. Okay, well, that's the DFW Metroplex. And good Lord, this was that period where they were about to get a lifeline from Jerry Jarrett, weren't they?

I would think this was before the the Jarrett invasion of Dallas and Frankie the Thumper by the way was Frank Lancaster or Frank Lang from Florida and he didn't look anything like Terry Funk in the movie you've got all of the Texas regular Steve Simpson, Matt Bourne, Tim Brooks

Eric Embry, the RPMs, Mike Davis and Tommy Lane. That was a rock and roll express homage. Brian Adias was childhood friends with the Von Ericks, Al Madrille, Percy and everywhere, Al Perez, Gary Hart. Was this squeat brats? It was this. The famous sweet brown sugar is only appearance. Was this squeat brown sugar, Skip Young, actually? I believe so.

Okay. was probably, was that the last hurrah anywhere. The only, and that dirty white boy, was that Tony Anthony or was that, were they just taking the gimmick? No, this, was it, Lynn Denton? It was Lynn Denton. It was Lynn Denton in one of the

bouts, but his partner here was Tim Brooks. Tim Brooks. Well, the other one was Lynn, is what I'm, and Ted R. C.D., of course, that's the only reason that I think it's got to be 80, oh, geez, would this be 88 or 89 in Fort Worth, Texas.

So, so close. Will Rogers Colise in Fort Worth, Texas, Monday, July 20th, 1987. What? That early. Because again, you know what the big giveaway was? Carrie wasn't on the show. Ah, that's right. Carrie was still out. This is, by the way, the Super Summer Bash.

Oh, God. It says the Super Summer Bash resumes. I guess maybe there was a part one. Oh, well, and I left something out, excuse me, a special tug-of-war challenge, Ted R. CD versus the original spoiler. Oh, boy. Good Lord. How old would Don Jardine have been at that point?

This must have been towards the end, because didn't he work with The Undertaker when he started out? The spoiler? Yes. Well, no, you've said that backwards. The Undertaker worked with spoiler when Undertaker started out. That's what I meant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.

But, God, damn, what a wrong. cotton fucking card. No wonder they were about to go out of business. Your referees, Bronco Lubits, Rick Hazard, and Ralph Pooley. Rick Hazard was a hell of a guy. Yeah, whatever happened to Rick Hazard, if anybody knows out there. There's something here. The headline Hospital Discharges has. 1986 WCWA referee of the year, Rick Hazard. In any sport you care to name, he has to be there.

He can't participate, he can only watch. And he receives in return for doing his job insults from both of the participating parties as well as the endless scorn of the fans. He's called many things, umpire, official, referee, and he's the man who has to see it, or see to it, in English, that the rules governing his sport are followed to the letter. and it's not at all a soft job, and none of these men have it easy. The wrestling referee, however, almost certainly is treated worse than any other ruleskeeper in any other sport. Not only does he have to prevent the two men he's refereeing from killing each other, he also has to look out for his own hide. Rick Hazard is known throughout the wrestling world as one of the finest striped shirts in the business.

In fact, it was voted referee of the year in 1986 by the WCWA fans. Has, has the honor of being one of the few referees to be invited to officiate in Japan. The man from Meriwether County, Georgia, had the respect of the top grapplers in the ring today, but along came a cowboy, a thumper, and a flamboyant one. And a flamboyant one. The date was June 29th. The Will Rogers Coliseum and Fort Worth, Texas was the place. The has was scheduled to judge the first match of the evening.

Little did he know it was going to be his last bout. I bet you Ralph Pooley was right in this shit. For a very long time. Rick became furious at the way cowboy Tony was treating Steve Casey. The self-proclaimed cowboy could have pinned Casey on several occasions, but he pulled him up by the hair every time. Has counted one. Two.

Tony then took it upon himself to shove the referee. Hazard stripped off his official shirt and nailed the former drag queen in the face. It didn't... There's something you've rarely seen in a wrestling program. I've never seen Hazard do that in a wrestling ring. It didn't take very long for Embry and the thump. to appear, the terrible threesome savagely attacked Hazard, they hit him with an atomic knee drop,

followed by a figure four by cowboy Tony. A laugh at Eric Embry even jumped on the already injured knee from the top ropes. Hazard was transferred to All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, where Dr. Angelo Otero spent seven hours reconstructing his left knee. Will the horrible rampage of Embry, Thumper, and Tony ever end? We wish Rick a speedy recovery. Well, there it is. And actually, that shows a little ingenuity from the territory days

because I bet you hazard tore his ACL. And they said, well, let's do an angle if you're going to have surgery. And boom, there you go. And all things considered, because I've seen a lot of shitty wrestling programs from hot territories where they didn't really have much. That was pretty well written and explained everything. So there you go. You know, I come to thinking, it may have been Percy doing the programs at that point,

now that I think about it. Well, let's see if Percy did this program, Jim, the opening bout. Ace Freeman, 195, the Bronx, versus Paul Orth, 215 out of Toledo, one fall 15-minute time limit. The top preliminary, Joe Pazendat, 245 Minneapolis versus Johnny Valentine 225 Seattle 1 fall 15 minutes

225, okay the semi-final one fall to a finish Hans Schnabel good Lord and Fritz Schnabel versus Black Guzman and Rita Romero

for a title I will not name Wild Red Berry the champion 220 out of Pittsburgh versus Chief I may get this wrong Chihuacchi Chihuacchi but it's spelled C-H-E-W-C-H-K-I if that's how you spell it Chief Chihuacchi

234 Ardmore, Oklahoma 2 out of 3 Falls 90-minute time limit and the main event for the World's Heavyweight Championship the champion Lewis Thess 240 St. Louis Missouri versus

young Billy Varga Challenger 205, Los Angeles, California. Boy, howdy. So much to talk about here. Ace Freeman would later on become the promoter in Pittsburgh, correct? Ace was up in Pittsburgh.

Yep. But he was a wrestler at that point against whoever the fuck he's wrestling. I've never heard of. Joe Pazandak and Johnny Valentine. If Johnny Valentine I already knew if he's being built at 225 pounds, this was probably late 40s, early 50s when he was really a rookie first starting out.

Then we go to Hans and Fritz Schnabel against Blackie Guzman and Rita Romero. I was thinking we were possibly headed to Texas. But then we go with Redberry and Chief Chihuackey.

Chief Chihuacchi was, this would have been for, you said a title that you would not name, was it some type of junior heavyweight championship, even if not. It was a state championship. A state champion. Ah, okay. And then the world title, Thess,

and he's young Billy Varga because he hadn't gone to Los Angeles and become Count Billy Varga yet. And with Redberry wrestling, a state title God damn it now I'm thinking with Thess

and Varga and being certainly between 1948 and 1952 let's say during Thes' run there it's either Texas or it's Kansas

I bet you it's Texas I bet you it's Houston I bet you it is 1950. Very impressive, very close. The date Friday, November 4th, 1949. God damn it. So the end of 49, Houston, Texas.

All righty then. You got that. Program number 207, the city auditorium. And then it has inside here. Vern Ganya made a big hit. Vern Ganya showed up in the ring last week, proudly wearing the blue sweater with the initials USA in red and white across the front.

It was the same sweater he had worn in London when he competed on the U.S. Olympic team, and when he took it off, he showed that he was going to be a tough competitor. It was only Vern's 20th pro match, but behind him, more than 1,000 matches in the amateur ranks, and worlds of tough experience

with all the athletic ability that had carried him to the top of the amateur ranks and also made him one of the best football players his college, the U of Min, had ever developed You know the U of Men, they were big into football. Ganya moved into his match

with the assurance of a veteran be sure to key they left out to pee be sure to keep your eyes on that boy, Ganya, and pronounce it, in caps, G-O-N-Y-A. Ganya! You know, to be quite honest, when I first discovered the wrestling magazines,

and nobody had the opportunity to talk about Vern Gagne on, you know, Memphis TV here in Louisville, I thought, well, who's that guy, Vern Gagney? That's what everyone, I don't know anyone who didn't think that, and there was like, Ganya, what the fuck? But here it is, they say it phonetically here. Louis Fez, World's Heavyweight Champion will be at the program desk at 8 o'clock to autograph your program. Well, boom, right there. Is that what autographed? This one is not autographed, and it also still has the lucky number attached. That's sometimes a rarity with these really old ones.

Two old favorites return again next Friday night. Big Bull Hefner! The Sherman Texas boy, who made good in grappling, and now makes his home in Houston, comes back here next Friday night. and another old favorite, who has earned the nickname Bull, will be back to Alberto Toro Campos. Hefner has been burning up competition on the Pacific Coast, while Campos has been bowling them over around El Paso, where he now makes his home. Campos now weighs 215 pounds,

having gained about 20 pounds since his last appearance here, but the long-haired, definitely not-handsome Mexican, is still as rough as ever. Definitely not handsome. Can you imagine if the fans walked into a WW or AEW or any wrestling show these days and actually could read stuff like that and they were like this guy is an athlete

and we're going to run down his measurements in his record and tell you how he's going to fight the other. It would be so refreshing. Girl grapplers appear here two weeks from tonight and mark that date in your book right now. November 18th, the grapplerettes will return to action in the Houston ring. That promises to be a great date for fans who like action and plenty of it, beauty, and plenty of it. They will get all that and plenty more.

And plenty of it. They will get all that and plenty more, all at the same time when the girls appear. So far, the final lineup is not assured, but promoter Morris, Siegel has received an acceptance from Violet Vaughn, or excuse me, Violent Vion. I'm not too familiar with her, I have to be honest. May Weston, June Byers, and May Young. There are still several more to be heard from, and no matter who else accepts the four named above promise to give fans all the action they want.

That's interesting, the way they put that. Like, these four have accepted so far, waiting to hear. back for more. I bet you they just ended up with a tag team match. What do you bet? Do you know anything about this one? Miss Violet Vianne. Violet Viann is, excuse me.

Well, I think that's the way that, but I always said Gagney, so you never know. But she was one of the early Billy Wolf troop of that era, probably from, I would say, maybe late 40s through mid-50s. I've seen the name many times, and it stands out because of the alliteration. with the V's, but I don't know that she was ever one of the top top ladies on the circuit, as they say. Well, let's go to our next program, Jim. The opening bout. George Scott

versus Lorenzo Parenti. Oh, good Lord. Okay. The second bout, Sandy Scott, versus Ray Gordon. Professor Hero versus the lawman. Ivan Kamelkoff versus Leaping Larry Shane That's Kalmakoff by the way We have some tag team matches Rita Cortez and Lucille Dupree

Versus Bambi Ball And Mary Jane Mull Lord Also Sunny Boy Cassidy and Phantom Lopez Versus Billy the Kid and Farmer Pete Wait a minute, you're going too fast If I can't write them all down. Who did Billy the Kid and Farmer Pete wrestle?

Sonny Boy Cassidy and Phantom Lopez. That's a great name. A special attraction, Edward Carpontier versus Chuck Bruce. Good Lord. And the main event, Fritz von Eric versus Johnny Valentine. Oh, my, okay.

Fritz, we all know. And this was a period of time where he was not in Texas, so this was going to be late 50s, early 60s at best. Valentine, we've just talked about a minute ago. How do you know he's not in Texas here? Because all of the rest of the people that were going to talk about, except hold on here. Let me work through it.

Carpontier. the French legend but at this period of time if this is what I'm thinking this was shortly after he would have was considered for and they went through the whole NWA title fiasco that happened in

57 uh Chuck Bruce I got no fucking clue Billy the kid farmer Pete Cassidy and the Phantom were midgets of the time and them makes me start thinking it's later

than I would have thought it was. Mary Jane Mull was working for Bruiser in the mid-70s, but you see her name on cards in the early 50s. Rita Cortez and Lucille Dupree Ivan Kolmikoff was a Russian but later became the manager of the Mighty

Igor as a baby face. and leaping Larry Shane was the biggest in the Midwest in the Detroit area, but he was killed in a car wreck in the late 1960s. Hero? What was it? Mr. Hero? That is correct. Just Mr. Hero. Versus the lawman. Oh, no, excuse me. Professor Hero.

Professor Hero. Versus the lawman. Don the lawman Slatton, but I don't think it's the same one, but that would have been Texas with Fritz. But could it have been the same one? Because George and Sandy Scott, Lorenzo Parenti was a heck of a worker. He was both a baby face and healed for years in the Tennessee territory. Ray Gordon would become guillotine Gordon. Were the Scott brothers in Texas?

And would Carpontier have been there? and if this is Fritz and Valentine and they are in Texas, it would be early to mid-60s rather than late 50s in the Buffalo territory, which is what I might have thought, except when you first said the Scots and Professor Hero, I was thinking Calgary. So, God damn it, I'm going to say just because this is 19...

Well, but now I'm talking myself into Calgary. 1961 in Calgary, Canada. Oof. I'm all over the place, ain't I? As soon as I say it, I think you're going to realize it. Okay. Saturday, April 11th, 1964,

Detroit, Michigan. Son of a bitch! This is an Olympia wrestling card. Son of a bitch. Before Barnett left, or maybe right as he was leaving the country, it doesn't look like a ton of care was put in this thing. All right, well...

And this is before it had the body press on the front, so it would just have like a headline as the cover of the program. I shit to bed all over that one. Who needs referees? That's what it says where normally the name of the actual publication would be. Let me grab at least one more, let's do one or two more. Let me give you a relatively easy one. Oh, now don't condescend me.

Let me give you a gimmie there, Grandpa. Well, no, I think even the listeners, even the listeners who don't have extreme knowledge of 1950s territory wrestling would probably have a chance here. The opening bout, which was not in the program, but it's written in Manuel Soto versus Pete Sanchez. Okay. Also written in Johnny Rivera versus Jose Cadiz. Johnny Rods versus S.D. Jones Doug Gilbert

versus Big Bobo Brazil. Bruiser Brody versus Kevin Sullivan. A four-man tag team match Baron Sikluna and Rocky Tamayo versus Billy Whitewolf and Chief Jay Strongbow.

another four-man tag bout two out of three falls the executioners one and two versus Jose Gonzalez and filling in for Haystacks Calhoun Dominic Danucci

one fall to a finish Scandar Akbar good Lord versus Ivan Putzky and the main event You know that's a little curiosity there most people would not remember Akbar as a

W-WWF talent, but I'm spilling the beans already, go ahead. And you almost wouldn't think so because of his size, but yeah, there he was. Well, the thing is, he was almost as wide as he was tall and what a fucking power lifter. For those days, he was, he was very stout. The main event, a steel cage match, one fall to a finish. Stan Hansen versus Bruno Sam Martino. Okay, well, this is obviously the WWWF running down some of the names, you know, Manuel Soto, Pete Sanchez, Johnny Rivera, Johnny Rods, Esty Jones.

These are guys that, you know, we're on the cards up there and underneath positions for all kinds of time. Doug Gilbert, not the Doug Gilbert, the brother of Eddie Gilbert, but the original or at least the predecessor, Doug Gilbert, Doug the pro Gilbert from, he was on top in Atlanta in the 60s as a mad, the mass professional, the pro. And then later on, they called him

Gas House Gilbert up there for whatever fucking reason I don't know. Bobo Brazil, need we say more, Kevin Sullivan against Brewser Brody. And with Stan Hanson in the main event, Brody and Hanson had started together in the Leroy McGurk, the Tri-States Territory, Oklahoma, Missouri, and it worked some in the, you know, the future Mid-South territory also. And then they both about the same time because their size got the break to go up to work for Vince Senior.

Baron Sucluna from the Isle of Malta, Jay Strongbo was teaming with Billy White Wolf, who was Adnan Kaysi because they needed another Indian. And the executioners were Killer Kowalski and Chuck the Monster O'Connor, who would later on change his name and fade into obscurity as Big John Stud. And it's very interesting that Jose Gonzalez was working up there in the territory at the same time as Bruiser Brody and... As the legend goes, that's when Brody was getting a push, and Gonzalez was not really, Brody beat his shit out of him on a TV taping,

and we've all heard that story. And Dominic Danucci filling in for Haystacks Calhoun, because Danucci was from Pittsburgh, and at that point of his career was on the way winding down, but was still a name that could fill in for Hastacks, who was on his, he was winding down at that point as well. And Ivan Putzky against Akbar, Bruno is on top with Hanson. So this has to be 1976.

And by the size of the card, it's either got to be the Madison Square Garden or the Philadelphia Spectrum. One would think, possibly the Boston Garden. but I'm going to go, I'm going to go with Madison Square Garden just because fuck it. 1976. The date Saturday, August 7th, 1976, Madison Square Garden. There you go. And I think we're going to end with this program because you got everything right, so I don't want to ruin that feeling for you.

Now, don't fuck with my mojo now. Let me leave on top. Let me do a Costanza. And that was, of course, that was the rematch from, the Ali Anoki stadium match with Hanson and Bruno was what was that?

June 25th or 26th was the date on that. You say Ali Anoki, although the people who went there to see it went to see Bruno and Hansen have the big match after Bruno broke his neck. Did you ever hear the audio that Bill Aptor has of him and Bruno?

I think like sitting in the Mets dugout at a Shade Stadium. Yes, watching Ali and Anoki. Yes, I've heard some of it. Bill released some of it. Sometime back. It's great. The whole time,

Bruno was just disgusted with what is he? Look at this. What is this crap? What is he? What is he doing? He should take him down. And, you know, I mean, beyond it being shit,

especially for 1976 eyes, you got to remember Bruno was incredibly loyal to giant Baba. He wouldn't do anything with Anoki. Even to the point where Vince Sr. had his deal with Anoki, it was around Bruno. Bruno wouldn't work there. Yeah.

because Bruno had become friends with Baba when Baba toured the United States from what 61 to 63 and they had worked in the garden they'd worked in Toronto and Bruno whenever he went to Japan he went for Baba only they were very close friends

but he was also mortified that Anoki wasn't doing a better job of representing a wrestling business than to and of course I'm sure that they had to share at that point with Bruno all the problems with to finish, but I can see Bruno's Asia, take him down, double leg him. Well, that was guest to program here for this edition, and we'll certainly do more soon because

the pile is growing, and it's always a good time. Well, you know, Jim, we'll take one more break in the action here because all this talk, all this wrestling talk, it really makes me think about my business and maybe starting more businesses and just business in general. Just business. I wish someone could save the business, but Jim, When it comes to business, when it comes to business support, when it comes to taking your business as serious as you do, you need the right partner. We trust Shopify, and so can the listeners.

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But if you're not doing business with Shopify, well, you've just fucked up already. Folks, it's 2026. Shopify is going to take your dream and turn it into reality. Going to take your product and spread it all over the world. Going to take your money and send it right to you because they're going to sell whatever the fuck you're trying to pawn off on people all across the globe. No, no, not what you're trying to honestly sell. We're talking to honest businessmen.

No, you want the money anyway. way you can get it. If you can sell somebody a box of shit, you'll do it because you want the money, the bread, the De Niro, the filthy to lucre. I know everybody's capitalistic and greedy, and that's why

you're going to soak the suckers out there, folks, for all that you can get off of them. Because all you got to do is go to Shopify.com, and they're going to set you up and give you the tools to build your dream store online. They're going to help you

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That's what I was looking for. Jim on that topic real quick before we get out of here, because we've got very limited time. Quick round to guest the program. Oh, here we go. You ready? Guest the program. Programs from my collection. I asked Jim for the day, the territory.

Not the day. And of course the time. And of course the time and the day. that we have to get for this. It was 3 o'clock on Tuesday. Jim, the opening bout. Red Lions versus Johnny Rico. Red Bastine versus Dory Dixon.

And the final prelim, Jose Lafario versus Roy Dupree. A special event. Tommy Siegler versus Chris Colt. Semi-final tag team bout. Ernie Ladd and Bearcat Wright. versus Mike the Alaskan York, huh.

And Frank the Alaskan Monty. Frank Monty. And finally, the main event, there must be a winner. If the match ends in a draw for any reason, the referee can add additional falls. Crusher Stasiak versus Wahoo-Mig Daniel. Okay, well, through the first three or four matches, I was like all over the fucking place with this.

Billy Red Lions, is it Toronto, Red Bastille? is at the AWA. Dory Dixon, it could be Jamaica. Jose Latherio brought me back to Texas, which Red Bastine has a history in, and Billy Red Lines had bopped in there a time or two. Tommy Siegler and Chris Coulth, I was like, wait a minute, Siegler was big in Florida, but he had a run in the Dallas territory also

in the mid-1970s. and so, coincidentally, I believe, did Mike and Jay York were the original Alaskans, but when one of them would be indisposed or whatever, Frank Monty, who also teamed with Nick DeCarlo, would become an Alaskan.

Ernie Ladd and Bearcat Wright, that may be the last full-time run that Bearcat Wright had as a wrestling, because he showed up in the summer of 1975 in Memphis as the Mongolian Stomper's manager. And then Stan Crusher Stajak and Wahoo McDaniel tips me off that it's the Dallas

Fritz von Erick World Class territory, big time wrestling then before it was world class. And the question is, I think it's 1975, is it Dallas or is it Fort Worth? I'm going to say Fort Worth at the Will Rogers Coliseum. What time?

815. Jim, the date Friday, September 15th, 1972. Houston, Texas. Houston. Son of a bitch. What surprised me and what made me go to this one before I filed away was Chris Colts.

Chris Colt being on the card in a special event. New faces see action in the prelims tonight as the fall season brings a crop of aspiring heavyweights to battle for top honors here in Houston. Headlining the list is colorful Chris Colt, a man who motorcycles his way around the country gunning his bike and roaring his way from city to city

where he roars his way... Sounds like some Peter Burkolt's copy. Where he roars his way through his matches. Colt, a Canadian, could be the most dangerous of those who make their debut here tonight. But Roy Dupree, who, hey, it's supposed to be Montreal, who hails from Montreal, will be closely watched. Johnny Rico, the Puerto Rican, has a lot going. So was that Ron Dupree?

I don't know. There's no picture. It had to be. Chris Colt and Ron Dupree, it had to be. There's a picture of Chris Colt here. But there's that program, I guess. All right. Houston, not Dallas.

I was three years off, but that's a... Ernie Ladd being together with Bearcat Wright threw me off somewhat, and I was thinking that Stajak, which he may have, had a run for Fritz in 75. But anyway... The next one I'm taking out is interesting, more for the actual historical importance, the information that's here that I thought you'd get a kick out of.

The card, best two out of three falls, 60-minute time limit. Limits the word. 60-minute time limit, Sputnik Monroe versus Eddie Sullivan, Billy Wicks, two out of three falls against Luigi Massura, a 10-minute intermission where there will be lucky numbers announced. And finally, the main event, two out of three falls, 60-minute time limit. The Corsican brothers, Joe and Gene, versus Red McKim and Lester Welch. Okay.

Now, are you trying to swerve me? Because I would say Memphis in a heartbeat, except I'm afraid of a swerve here. No, you know what? Mobile Alabama. Follow your heartbeat today. Well, I'm following my heart. Yeah, I see.

Yeah, because you got a phone call coming up. It is Memphis because obviously Sputnik Monroe, Eddie Sullivan was a huge heel in the Mobile, Alabama, and Gulf Coast territory. in later times, but he was very young in his career at that point. Billy Wicks indicates a narrow window along with Sputnik in Memphis. This was at the Ellis Auditorium.

And the Corsica brothers, Jan and, Corsica Joe and Cron, Jan and Dean, Corsica, Joe and Corsica Gene were a top tag team for Nick Goulison all over the place in the South for many years. and Korska Joe ended up marrying Sarah Lee and was the guard on the dressing room door in Nashville for years. And Lester Welch, of course, one of the Welch Fuller family, Red McKim was a big name at this period of time around the southern states.

And it's got to be, well, it's either 1959 or 1960, and is this got to be 1959? It's early and sputs his run, or is it when he was on his way out? let me just add this too it says here baby blimp is booked tonight George Harris George Harris and it's signed on the back

Baby Blimp it may be his signature I bet you it is but he's not listed obviously on the card here George Harris was a longtime friend of Roy Welch's he was like a sidekick to Roy Welch Roy Welch loved him

and they always found a spot for him all right Jim the time or anything you want to I guess? Well, I said, I said Memphis 1959 at the Ellis Auditorium unless it's 1960. Beautiful job here. Memphis, Tennessee, Monday night, November 2nd, 1959. Let me open this up, listen to this.

TV wrestling on Channel 13, Saturday afternoon, 1230 to 130. Promoter Buddy Fuller has moved our regular Saturday afternoon television wrestling card to Channel 13. It will be aired every week from 1230 until 130 p.m. The reason for the change was that Channel 5 could not guarantee that wrestling would be on every Saturday as they had a series of football and basketball games scheduled. On Channel 13, from 1230 to 130, no interference was foreseen,

and wrestling will be a regular feature on the station. WMCT realizes the terrific amount of viewers that are interested in wrestling but chose to let Mr. Fuller move to another channel instead of working the wrestling card in their time schedule. And that grudge would last for 18 years. Occasionally they plan to run films of wrestling that were actually made from four to eight years ago in Texas. They call it the best wrestling in the U.S.

maybe that was right four or five years ago but here right now the best wrestling in the USA is here in Memphis at the Ellis Auditorium and on Saturday afternoon on Channel 13. So there's the official the week it happened. That's incredible. Because that's the thing, Channel 5 and when there was no TV in Memphis for some time and I'll make this quick, but early in the 1950s like 50, 51, WMC would go down on Monday nights the Ellis Auditorium and they would show a 30-minute or one-hour

program of the matches going on live at that time and bless them no footage of that still exists but then there was no TV wrestling in Memphis for a while then when Nick Goulis and Roy Welch Roy Welch mainly took over the city of Memphis from the previous promoter Les Wolf they got the TV but it was Channel 5 and it was iffy, as you just heard, was it going to be on or was it not?

And then the golden moment happened where in late 1959, not only had they got Sputnik in there, but also, and he was doing huge business, but then Lance Russell was the program director at Channel 13 and was more accessible, and Lance started the run and the whole nine yards, and it all came together pretty much at the same time. Well, so, you know, I didn't even think about that, but he's not named there, obviously, but Lance Russell is kind of the person not named in this thing here in the program at Channel 13. Yeah, well, they didn't know how important he was going to be yet.

So that's a, that Lance had done wrestling commentary in Dayton at a local studio show in the early 50s before he moved to Memphis. See, he knew how strong wrestling could be for their local TV. stations. He knew before most people did. But the wrestling company and the people writing that program had no idea that they had just found the guy that would be their announcer for the next 40 fucking

years. Well, how about that? You know, I never realized exactly how it happened, when it happened, it happened right after the, you know, two months after, three months after the Billy Wicks, Sputnik Monroe match that broke the attendance record, that still stands, I believe. Yeah. Let's see, that's

the thing, is three things happened in a short period of time. Goulos and Welch annexed Memphis in 1957. Originally, it had been its own, it had been separate from Nashville, and they'd been using talent from St. Louis and Kansas City, whatever. Roy Welch took Memphis over and then put his, you know, Buddy Fuller in charge of it for a while,

and it took it away from Buddy and took it over himself. And then they got the stable TV. They found Sputnik Monroe, and they got Lance Russell. And that all happened in like an 18-month period. Let's now go, Jim, to the final portion of the show. Obviously, that means it's time for guests to program. Oh, it was obvious to me. It smacked me right in the face. Well, this is the game where I smack you in the face with wrestling history,

and you smack us back with your knowledge of wrestling history. We go through programs in my collection, and we give you the card, we being me. It is me, hello. Yes. Have I explained any of this? No. you're going to read me a lineup from one of your

programs and I in my borderline mystical way I'm going to give you the year and the location of that event that is correct let's go to this first one here the first bout

30 minutes Jack Umberto versus Pat O'Hara the second bout 30 minutes Ernie Dusick versus Harry Fields. Oh, good Lord. The third bout, 30 minutes.

Charlie Strach versus Mimit Youssef. Can you give me a spelling on Strack? St-R-A-C-K. Mimit Y-O-U-S-O-U-F. Y-O-U-F. The fourth bout, 30 minutes. George Zaharius versus Vic Christie

Good Lord The fifth bout 30 minutes Joe Malkowitz versus Joe Sevaldi and the windup one fall to a finish Jim Landis

versus Everett Marshall Oh good Lord All right Um Your Londis fascinating fascination has led you to get a pioneer program. Pat O'Hara was a fairly well-known journeyman wrestler back in the 30s and 40s, as I believe. Ernie Dusick, obviously a member of the Dirty Dusk's, the Riot Squad, Ernie Emel.

Oh my God. Ernie, Emil, Rudy, and who was the other one? Captain Frank No Frank But Frank was an offspring of Wally Dusick Of fantasy land

Well if Wally Dusick was not necessarily a Dusick but neither was Danny Dusick But nevertheless Who was the other Dusick? Ernie Eamil Rudy and Liza Oh never mind I don't remember

George Zaharius was married to Babe Diedrickson Vic Christie Vic and Ted Christie were a brother team and combination and noted rippers Joe Malkowitz, he was still wrestling he would later on become the promoter in San Francisco

that Roy Shire would go in and unseat, am I correct? Joe Savoldy was Angelo Savoldi's brother. What? Was he not? You mean Angela Savaldi from WWWF? Sevaldi?

For the originals, the original Angelo Sevaldi. They were not related? No relation. The Sevaldi's were not Sevaldi's. The original jumping Joe Sevaldi is no relation to the Joe Sevaldi that was in Mid-South in 84. I thought that Joe Sevaldi that was in Mid-South in 1984 was the son of the original jump in Joe Sevaldi. That's what I thought, but I thought that Joe Sevoldy was related to Angelo-Savoldy. Joseph Aldi in Mid-South was the son of Angelos Savaldi, I believe.

The brother of Mario Savoy was the son of Joe Savoldi. No, because I don't think Savaldi's their real name. Well, God damn it, somebody's lying. And anyway. Everett Marshall was a former world champion. Did Thess beat him for his first world title? Did he not? And of course, everybody knows who Jim Lando says.

when and where was this, I'm feeling the West Coast because of Christy and Zaharias and Malkowitz and it would be a major market to have a Londos Marshall World Title match and area of time God damn, we're looking at, are we looking at late 30s or early 40s? 1938 in San Francisco

All right there were a couple numbers there that are right Friday February 9th 1934 Ah son of a bitch Convention Hall Philadelphia Philadelphia Promotion Ray Fabiani

Inc. Son of a bitch There is an image on the back of this program that's fascinating. I wouldn't have thought Vic Christie was working in 1934, but go ahead. After all is said and done, and then it's a drawing, I'm going to make a copy of the sentence to you. It's the scale of justice, I guess, and the person holding it up, it says, honesty, Fabiani.

And then on the side that's going up, it says, Jack Pfeffer, weener, as another person, hot air, and on the other side is the press, the Pena Commission, the wrestler, the referee, the sportsman, the sports writers, public opinion, and wrestling is in the background. So obviously this is in the middle of Jack Feffer's war with every promoter that wasn't Jack Feffer. Yes, it was. All right, well, that's the first program. And I bombed on that one.

All right, let's get another one here. Those are so hard to pin down blind. That's true. The first match, Larry Lane versus Tom Pritchard. Okay. The second encounter, Buck Robly versus sweet brown sugar. The next bout? Bruiser Brody versus Moon Mulligan.

There's a name you don't hear too often anymore. Moon Mulligan. The main event, a tag team match. Tully Blanchard and Gino Hernandez versus Terry and Dory Funk Jr. All righty. Well, as soon as you said Larry Lane, I said, what part of Texas is this going to be?

And Tom Pritchard spent time in San Antonio, Buck Robly, noted Mid-South Booker, and Colonel Buckley-Christopher Yellowbelly Buck Robly was at various points in the Mid-South and Texas territories, a top heel or a top baby face. He could work and he could talk. He looked like complete dog shit,

but he was friends with Brody and could get Brody to do things other people couldn't. And sweet brown sugar would have been Skip Young. Brody, obviously, speaks for himself. Who was Moon Mulligan? Is there a picture? There's not a picture. I remember him. I'm not going to say anything.

else because it may be a giveaway, but I remember who it is from videotapes. Anyway, and Tully and Gino, of course, were the they were the flare and Valentine of Southwest Wrestling, and Terry and Dory probably came

in to put them over because of their relationship with Joe Blanchard, Tully's father, who was the San Antonio promoter. And the Funks would do business with a lot of the other territories in Texas. Remember when we

were talking about that American tag team title belt that was being auctioned at Heritage, we said that Terry and Dory were the ones that came into Dallas to put Kevin and David Von Eric over in the initial championship match. So it would be a team of world class

stature that put the new champions over. Point being, this is the San Antonio territory. But four matches for a Cardin, San Antonio. seems a little light unless this was one of the down periods. And from what I remember about Tom's earlier career and is this, what else,

what other town would be running in San Antonio? Well, fuck it, San Antonio, 1981. The date, November 21st, 1981, 8 p.m. start time, Lubbock, Texas. Lubbock. All right then. So that's what they were they were running opposite. Was that a funk card or were they running opposite to the funks? Was it the other way around?

Did Tully and Gino come in from San Antonio to put Dorian Terry over? Well, again, by this point, it says Nick Roberts promoter, which it had for a long time on these programs. Okay, so that was that, then that was the Dallas office and the Lubbock promotion, so it was not Southwest. best if it's southwest though because i mean nick roberts was getting talent from them then yeah i mean that's what it is because you asked me about moon molligan i remember him when i first the first footage i ever saw of southwest championship wrestling was moon mulligan it was all these guys dick slater

tom richard well then by the time that we got there in late 1984 early nineteen eighty five nick roberts had split off lubbock and amarillo from the southwest office and then and was getting talent from Fritz and Dallas. Well, there you go. Well, you got the year. I got the year. I got the state. Got the state.

This next one here, I've got to be a little delicate with it. The opening bout one fall, 30 minute time limit. Jack Welch versus Chris Averot. Wait a minute. A-V-E-R-O-T-T. I think that shit, isn't it, Averoff? Oh, I don't know. I think they misspelled it.

It should be Averoff, but go ahead. Well, let's blame the office, whatever they sent in. Charlie Keane versus Ramon Torres. In a no-time limit, masks at stake, masks being pluralized here. The Bat versus Al Torres. Well, I assume he's wearing a mask, because it says masks are at stake. finally the main event a return grudge match

winner take all no disqualification masks at stake Jack Welch one of two referees best two out of three falls the medics versus Pat O'Connor

and Jackie Fargo and the masks at stake I think was probably a misprice because both main events had mass at stake. So in the single match with the bat, is what I'm trying to say to you. Go ahead.

No, no, no. I'll wait until after you guess, because I just saw something on the cover that is, okay, go ahead. Well, Jack Welch was the youngest. Well, I don't know if he was the youngest, but Roy Welch, Herb Welch, Lester Welch, and Jack Welch were the four Welch brothers,

and Jack was the one who wrestled really the least and was the least well-known and remembered. Charlie Keene was an old-time southern heel into Tennessee territory in, you know, probably anywhere from the 40s to 50s through the early 60s. Al and Raymond Torres were, at least if it's the ones I'm thinking about, were Hispanic baby faces of the 60s. I can't remember who the bat was in the Nick Goulis Territory,

Goulis Welsh Territory, and the Medics versus Pat O'Connor and Jackie Fargo, I'm going to go with Memphis, Tennessee in 1964. The date? Tuesday, September 11th, 1962, Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville, not Memphis. Okay. The bat weighing 260 pounds will make his first appearance

in the capital city this Tuesday night. With the mask at stake? Matched against the popular Al Torres who made his debut here two weeks ago, teamed with his brother Raymond in a tag team bout. Nashville promoters Nick Goulis and Roy Welch, have announced, the bat will put his mask at stake Tuesday night in a no-time limit event. And what happened to Alberto Torres?

Alberto Torres was Ox Baker. Yep. Well, he wasn't Ox Baker. He became Ox Baker, ladies and gentlemen. No, Alberto Torres was the wrestler who died a couple of days after his last match with Ox Baker, and that was one, and along with Ray Gunkel, Baker took credit for it with the heart punch, but it was a ruptured appendix or something like that.

See your favorite wrestlers in action. WS.S.I.X. TV, Channel 8 Saturday 10. Yes. Yeah, in Nashville, the call letters for Channel 8 were WSIX because they, early on in television, back in the early 50s, they had moved to get a stronger signal, but they still had the same call letters. And Pat O'Connor was teaming up with Jackie Farage, because for no other reason than Nick being the NWA, you know, aficionado that he was, always wanted to, you know, juice up the relationship with the St. Louis office,

and that's where O'Connor was working at the time. Here's Ruth's Comic Corner for a comedy definition, send me your work. Alimony. I don't know what this is. Alimony. A man's cash surrender value, two, a system by which one pays for the mistake of two. Bald-headed man. One who has less hair to comb, but more face to wash.

Bearback! Nudest on horses always ride bearback. Baving beauties. A girl. worth waiting for. Worth waiting for. Oh, you know what? That's right.

Waiting for. And finally, payments, the easiest way for a driver to lose control of a car is forget to make the payment. That was Ruth's Comedy Corner. Thank you, Ruth. Let's get one more program here, at least one more. Yeah.

Oh, and then I dropped the other ones. I got to hit a home run here. Let's get this. This is an interesting one. Let me be delicate with it. Let me turn it over. All right. The opening bout,

by the way, the first bout in the ring at 8.30 p.m. says here. Opening bout, Kit Fox, New Mexico, versus Jock Bernard, Canada.

What did you just, George Hackenshmit. A special bout? Midget Australian tag team bout. Tiny row. and Fuzzy Cupid versus Sunny Boy Cassidy and Pee Wee James

The semi-final Steve Crusher Casey Ireland versus Manuel Cortez East Boston An elimination test I don't know what that means Yukon Eric

Alaska versus Golden Terror two question marks and the main bout the world's heavyweight championship Don Eagle Mohawk Indian champion versus Mr. Rex

Mystery Challenger Hoke dokey Um Kit Fox was a top Indian star in the 50s Tiny Row Fuzzy Cupid Sunny Boy Castie and Peewee James were the

pretty much the first round of midget wrestlers in the business, right? Fuzzy Cupid was the guy. He was the attraction at that time. Yeah, and as I read this, it made me think, maybe you would know. When did Sky Lolo like enter the picture? Because he became the face of midget wrestling for a lot of people for a number of years. Yes, he was, what, late 50s, early, I mean, he started before that, but when he would have taken over as the recognized top midget would have been about that time.

Cupid was around a little while beforehand. Steve Casey was used as Paul Bowser's world champion in Boston when Boston was a you know, its own promotion and they drew huge crowds up there and ran Boston weekly in the 40s and 50s, even before television. Three weeks they'd go to the Boston Arena and the fourth they'd go to the Boston Garden.

Yukon Eric obviously fucking big baby face from the the Great White North that lost his ear to Killer Kowalski, the Golden Terror, don't know in this instance. Don Eagle was another great Indian star of the 50s and is the one who got double-crossed by gorgeous George, right, in that world title match in Chicago.

He is one of those people in the argument for the biggest stars for a period of time that are like almost completely forgotten. You never hear them brought up. But I hear he's the build as the world heavyweight champion. Yeah, and at that time he was on the cover of the early

50s magazines, the nationwide national newsstand magazines. Don Eagle. So this... And he was all over early TV. Out of Chicago. And that's why I was... Boy, I want to say, because of Steve Casey

and Yukon, Eric, and Don Eagle, I want to say this is Boston. And also, I believe Fuzzy Cupid because Sky Lolo was French-Canadian. They were based out of Montreal. I think Fuzzy Cupid may have been the same. But at the same time, is this a swerve? Is this one of those, you know, early Chicago fucking...

I'm going to say Boston in 19... And I ought to know this because I have an incredible Paul Bowser program collection that our buddy Sheldon Goldberg hooked me up with that half or more of the programs from 1946 through 1952. But is this Boston 1951? Well, this is a good one to end on. Jim, the All-Star Wrestling Event, Boston Arena. Okay.

Thursday, June 21st, 1951. Holy shit. So you actually, we're ending today on this because you got a home run. but there's a few interesting things in here. Great job, by the way. Let's really commend you. Well, thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. This I find interesting. So this is 1951. There's a little ad here because it's almost newspaper style. Don Eagle Novelties and Photos. And it has the prices. Boy T-shirts. Sizes $4 to $14.1.

Leather belts. size 22 to 32 $1. Don Eagle Ever Sharp pencil $1. Indian dolls Prince or Princess

250. Indian Warbonnet 250. Scarfs, a dollar. Vests, 50 cents. Hankies? 35 cents. Photos black and white?

25 cents. Photos colored. 35 cents. send to Golden Eagle Company 302 South Market Street Chicago 6 Illinois exclusive distributors of Don Eagle photos and novelties

send check cash or money order no COD please add 10 cents for mailing Do the kids even know what COD is they don't do that anymore do they When was the last time you heard that on TV or anything I don't think so

collect on delivery. You could order it and they would send it by the post office telling the post office you need to collect $6.45 or whatever and they would actually pay the postperson and then they'd give them the thing and they'd put the money back in the deal. It was insane. But in terms of early merch, I mean, Don Eagle, he is one of those guys from that era. There's very few. You know, Gene Stanley obviously was all over that stuff.

Yeah. But merchandising themselves and... I mean, he had pencils, he had shirts, he had belts and vests and stuff. Well, and think about this. In 1951, it's the same year that the, maybe the year after, the Lone Ranger came on television. There's Tonto, and Westerns are starting to be a big deal on TV, and the Indian get-up and outfit had, you know, the feathers and the color, and the war drums, and it was fucking pageantry.

It was unique and exotic for the average. person in Boston or Chicago or wherever to see this full Native American regalia going on. Let's get a few other things here. Here's a quote about Don Eagle versus Mr. Rex. Here's a quote from Don Eagle. Who's this Mr. Rex? Well, my father has an inkling because his father was his manager, remember? Yeah.

And he's building me up accordingly. He has watched him and he thinks he has a trick or two up his sleeve that can turn the balance wheel in my favor. That's why I need to know. If dad has the solution, or thinks he has, all I have to do to carry out his

orders. But I'm not taking this guy lightly. To me, he's every bit as dangerous as Argentina Raqa or any other. So we don't know who Mr. Rex is. There's not a picture here, but the headline...

And that had, that was some kind of local angle that they were running with probably some you know identifiable veteran under a mask or whatever fans may discover identity of Mr. Rex there's a terrific guessing game going on now to try and guess the correct name of the wrestler masquerading as Mr. Rex some fans are willing to bet their eye teeth

their eye teeth the fuck does that mean Do you know what that means? Well, I mean, you know what eye teeth are. What are eye teeth? That's an old expression. The ones in the back of your mouth, Mama Cornette, you say, oh, my tongue lopped over my eye teeth and I couldn't see what I was saying.

I never heard them called that before, no. But is that mean that someone is a dentist or someone who bit someone or that's a clue of some kind, but we don't know what's going on. Some fans are willing to bet their eye teeth that Mr. Rex is none other than Stan Dusick, one of the famed rioting Dusk's who were familiar figures in these parts. Well, he's not the one with, no, there was no goddamn original Dusick named Stan Dusick. Still other fans are just as sure he is Fritz Schnabel of Hartford, Connecticut in real life.

And still others have guessed that he is Paul Lorty, the French-Canadian wrestler who appeared here several times. and those are names that have been heard of at that point in time into business. Oddly enough, both Dusick and Schnabel are members of wrestling families. Oddly enough. And so, the guessing game goes on. Who is Mr. Rex? There is a good possibility that we may know the answer come Thursday night.

And will Mr. Rex pride ever be shattered when he is finally forced to pull the hood off his face? Fans are reminded, however, that Mr. Rex has stipulated that he will not remove the hood if he loses on a disqualification. He must be beaten in the ring. Yeah. Take it from Mr. Rex, here's a quote. It's no easy job traveling around this country and trying to keep your identity a secret. Whenever he comes to a city to wrestle, he is forced to spend practically all of his time cooped up in his hotel room. He dare not go outside his room

For fear someone will spot him and recognize him Accordingly He usually has his meal sent to his room Where he eats them by his lonesome It's no easy matter Keeping his identity a secret And Mr. Rex May be just as relieved as anyone

When he is finally beaten And able to walk And able to walk around the avenues again Without hiding from everyone Well, there it is. There's another headline, Nambi, Pambi guys out in wrestling from Don Eagle, a column by Don Eagle. There it is, guest to program. How about a little guest to program?

Boy, howdy, I was thinking you'd never say that. All right, I got some programs here. I got some interesting ones. I got some answers right over here. Let's start with this one. Make sure it has a date. Here we go. Yeah, we should mention just for the new first.

folks, you take a program from your voluminous collection. My connection. Or your connection. And you read me the card. And I, in my borderline mystical way, am supposed to get the place, the city or state, whatever, and the date of same, the year of saint. That is correct. That is correct. And this first program here, there's a few things marking it up.

Should I give you the card as it's listed, or should I give you the changes that were made? Give me the card that was listed. The opening bout, Jay Youngblood versus Dr. X. The second bout, Dale Lewis versus Dutch Savage. The third bout, Buck Vumov. Vumov? Vumov. Versus Gorilla Steve Lawler.

all of those preliminaries One fall 15 minute time limit A special bout Maddie Suzuki versus Playboy Buddy Rose And the main event For a title I will not name The Champions

Lonnie Maine And Les Thornton Who Versus John Anson And Sam Oliver Bass And And we are definitely in the Don Owens Northwest Portland Territory. And just to go down the car, Jay Youngblood and X, I was thinking,

are we going to the Mid-Atlantic here, the Carolinas, but then Dale Lewis and Dutch Savage brought me back. And we stayed there because I remember Buck Zumhoff did have a run, even though he broke in for Vern Gagne in Minnesota, he did have a run in Portland, and Gorilla Steve Lawler, didn't work that many places. I didn't remember him in Portland,

but Maddie Suzuki and Buddy Rose again confirms it. And then Moondog Main and Les Thornton, John Anson and Sam Oliver Bass, note the initials there. That was Ron Bass, outlaw Ron Bass. And John Anson, who, why am I not remembering who he became or why, what?

I'm not sure. Let me look that up. Says Hollywood, California, 263 pounds. I swear we should know him as someone else. But nevertheless, it's probably Portland. I'm going to say it was Portland at the sports arena. and the only thing I'm going back and forth on is whether the year was 1977 or 1978, and I'm going to go with 1977. Well, a good way to start today.

We are in Portland. Don Owen presents at the Portland Sports Arena, July 2nd, 1977. Boom! Because Jay Youngblood was young. Dale Lewis and Dutch Savage were aging. Moondog Maine was still alive. Ron Bass had been Ron Bass the previous year and would be Ron Bass again. But yeah.

John, Johnson was also Carl Von Schatz. There you go. I knew he was somebody. And according to this, the turnbuckle cruel weapon. The turnbuckle, 12 of them on every ring provided the callous. wrestler with a formidable weapon. By running an opponent's head or back into the turnbuckle,

he can cause considerable pain and often injury. Unfortunately, there is no way to remove the turnbuckle. They are a vital part of the ring, providing the necessary resiliency and support. No one has yet devised a better way of supporting the ropes. But in the hands of the unerring wrestler, excuse me, uncaring, it's blurt out. But in the hands of the uncaring wrestler,

or the unhearing wrestler, they became a weapon almost as dangerous as a club. Really putting over their turnbuckles over there in Portland. Let's move to the next one here. This one is one of those ones that you'll probably get, maybe you'll get the year, it's more of the story of what's on here. The opening bout, the Hooded Terror versus Billy Graham.

Jesse James versus Big Rick Miller. The giveaway match, Pepe Perez versus Hobo Brazil. And finally, the main event, Wild Bull Curry versus Pat Sullivan. Oh, good Lord. Well, this has to be obviously a Jackfeffer production. And one would think with Bull Curry, it's it's Massachusetts, the Indies. Billy Graham, certainly that is not the superstar,

one would think. Is there any picture to back that up? Certainly not the superstar. Certainly not. Okay. And Jesse James, that was a real recognized wrestler for years and years. But yeah, with Hobo Brazil on the card,

I've got a full. Curry is on top and an independent in Boston or the area and the year. Would it be 64, 65? Is that your guess? Yes. The Boston Arena Annex, Thursday, August 18th, 1966. There you go. Tony Santos, with Jack Feffer's brains behind him.

On the front cover, Frankie Scarpa, the United States Heavyweight Champion, and it says, still no answer. And is a picture of Bruno San Martino here. We are waiting, Mr. WWWA. That's interesting, not F, but A. Why won't Bruno meet Scarpa? Bruno San Martino, who did he ever really beat? Where did his belt come from?

What value is it? These are questions that fans have a right to know the answers to. Why doesn't he meet Scarpa? Is the WWWA afraid? Why does he wrestle the same wrestlers over and over? Come up with your answers, Mr. WWWA. Are you all afraid that the kettle might blow the lid off? This is an open letter to the New England wrestling fans,

the pot WWA calling the kettle black and under kettle it says Santos and by the way they'd only been calling it the WWWF for two years so Fever's probably

that World Fight Wrestling Alliance they got going out the WWD it's oh my God I guess the same questions could be said about who was it what was their champion at that point the champion here

is Frankie Scarpa. Frankie Scarpa. Where did his belt come from? And what meaning does it really have? We would like to know. There's some interesting photos here. That's why they took Paul Bowser's goddamn greatest city and they were running the Boston Arena

Annex by 66. No wonder they were about to be absorbed by Vince Senior. All right. Let's go to this one. The first bout, Billy Parks versus Bobby Nelson, 60-minute time limit two out of three falls. Jesus Christ, okay, we're going back a few years. The second event, Australian tag team bout. Billy Goals and Walter Palmer versus Rudy Kay and Benito Gardini. 60 minute, two out of three falls.

Please refrain from smoking. The main event. Vern Gagne. Refrain from smoking the main event. Vern Gagne, 222 pounds, versus Hans Schmidt, 235 pounds. Oh, good Lord.

We are obviously in the Chicago area. And in the early 50s, Billy Gales and Walter Palmer, Rudy Kay and Benito Garvey. Dini were straight off of the, you know, the Chicago television and Marigold Arena and et cetera. And as Vern Gagne and Hans Schmidt were two of the biggest stars for Fred Kohler at that point in time. And Billy Parks and his friend Ozzie Nelson or whatever the fuck opening the card, that's not big enough for a Chicago lineup.

Would I be wrong? I know you can't answer, but would I be wrong? and thinking out loud that it's one of the the smaller towns around the is it Angola Indiana is it one of the like the the other smaller clubs as they used to say around the Chicago area not just Marigold Gardens but Rainbow Arena I will give you that it's a club

or at least a spot show around Chicago I will give you that okay very good the way you're putting this together is very good. Well, and then, you know, I can't really just be a shot in the dark to go which one. Because they were running in the early 50s, the Chicago metropolitan area would have four live wrestling shows every week at the smogold and at rainbow and wherever. And then the, you know, the big shows were at the international amphitheaters. So narrowing it down would be fruitless. Now the question is, what year would it be?

and oh god i think just because it's schmidt on top with ganya schmidt wasn't on top until 52 or three or was it or maybe 53 54 but it's before the uh let's go with 1950 fucking three in suburban chicago once again great job today we are in Salem, Illinois at the Salem Elks Lodge number 1678 Ah, that old place.

March 31st, 1953. Boom! Very good. Got a run going today, kind of. You do, let's go to our next one here. The opening bout Art Valentino, Detroit, versus Jack Atkinson,

Dallas. One fall 15 minute time limit. The second bout, Gene Albert versus Benito Mata. The third event, Ted McKay versus Mara Duba.

Oh, excuse me, this is a tag bout. Ted McKay and Mara Duba versus Chief Lone Eagle and Alvin Jones. The semi-final from Ler From Louisville, Kentucky, Jack Bernard versus Pierre René, Montreal. And we have a double main event.

From Death Valley, the demon, Jack O'Brien, versus out of Boston, Nature Boy. Best two out of three falls, 60-minute time limit. And finally, the other main event, Johnny Dobb, Omaha, Nebraska, versus Irish Jack Kennedy, Dallas, two out of three falls, no time limit. Kennedy and Dallas, huh? Jack Kennedy. Well, we are in Dallas or that environment, Dallas or Fort Worth or thereabouts in Texas.

And this is an example of the names that you wrote. wrote a Benito Mada and Ted McKay and Mara Duba. And alone it was Alvin Jones brother of Marvin Jones, who was later on become a referee that was famous for having a big belly in those white t-shirts and all the old 50s wrestling magazines. You've heard of Jack O'Brien. He was a level of name at the time. And Nature Boy was not Buddy Rogers, I assume,

because his full name would have been used. He wasn't from Boston. And Jack Kennedy from Dallas was a guy that was used on top in Dallas. In 1953 and 54, when the only lasting name on this car, Jack Atkinson, who was in the opening match, was a Southern Methodist University graduate who was just starting to appear on local wrestling shows at the Sportatorium in Dallas or at the Fair Park Coliseum, I think they called it,

when the outlaws in Texas, there was a promotional war, had set fire to the Sportatorium and tried to burn it to the ground and burned half of it. And they were out at the fair park with the wrestling matches every week, while that was being rebuilt. And the sportatorium that you saw in the 80s on world-class wrestling

was the rebuilt sportatorium. It used to seat, I think, 6,500 instead of 4,500 or whatever. But that would put this at 1953 or maybe early 1954 because Jack Atkinson was still in the opening match. And you can see that wrestling in Texas at that time in Dallas, wasn't a big money proposition because there weren't any of the big national names really doing anything at that point in time, possibly because of the promotional conflict that was going on. So Dallas, 1954, let's say. Oh. No, no. Is it still 53? I gave it away, but you had it. I was

disappointed. The Dallas Wrestling Club, Ed McElmore promoter, the Sportatorium, Tuesday March 3rd, 1953. Oh, God damn it. All right. A few interesting things in here. See and hear Candy Candido. Radio, movie, stage, and TV star on the Big D. Jamboree.

Saturday, March 7th, 815 at the Sportatorium. Be here, or tune in, KRLD. And then there's a section here. Heavyweight champion Dunn reveals new claim to title. Roy Dunn, right? Affidavits confirm his claim, and there are a couple affidavits attached here. Who is the real champion, Dunn willing to meet any other title holder?

Who is the real world heavyweight champion? Is it the man who now actively defends the same belt worn by Jim Lundas, Ed Lewis, and Everett Marshall? Who is the man, ready and willing to meet any challenger? That man is Roy Dunn. If you do not believe that he is as good as... the new alliance champion Lou Thess, they wouldn't you think

that the alliance champion would meet Dunn and settle the matter? That's all Dunn wants. In fact, he will wrestle Thes for nothing and donate a sizable sum of his own to a charity just to meet Thes and clear

the issue. What more could he do? Can you blame promoter Ed McElmore for backing Dunn? Would you do otherwise if you were wrestling promoter? True enough, the done situation wasn't brought to light until lately as far as Texas is concerned. But once it was, McLemore was quick to put it before the public.

You can see what happened. MacLamore was cut off from his regular supply of alliance wrestlers. Whether the wrestlers liked it or not. If they violate the trust, they are automatically blackballed almost any. anywhere but in Dallas. McElmore believes that he now has a fine supply of wrestlers, new ones, and probably some of your former favorites, will return when they realize it would be best for wrestling,

for themselves, and for the fans. Reconsider these facts. One, Roy Dunn has a real championship belt. Two, it's the real alliance belt, awarded by an earlier 1930 alliance. Three, Dunn won the belt from Everett Marshall, a fully recognized champion who followed Louis Lundas and others. Four, this is the most important.

Dunn still has the belt. And five, I gotta go to page 14, read the above affidavits, and they will clear up the reason why Fez will not meet Dunn. One of Dunn's managers, Billy Sandow, who celebrated 50 years of wrestling on his 70th birthday in Dallas last January,

can give you a much fuller story about the championship picture. There are no facts known to us that we are trying to conceal. In fact, our case could be made 10 times stronger, although it would harm past favorite wrestlers and wrestling as a whole, which of course

shouldn't be the desire of any promoter. In other words, we could spill our guts about all these motherfuckers, but we don't want to totally shit our bed, because we got to live here. No matter how he presents his side of an issue. The affidavit should give

you a different light of the matter, and there are two affidavits, one from Jimmy Frank Raymond, a notary Jackson County, Missouri. Oh, no, excuse me, sound by Howard Segal, that's the notary, and the other one sound by Max Erigain with a separate notary. And it's all about how Roy Dunn is the champion.

And Luthes isn't what can you tell the audience about Roy Dunn? Well, Roy Dunn was an old-time shooter. He didn't have the, you know, reputation of the Frank Gotches or the Strangler Lewis's of the world. But he was on top a lot for Muchnik in the 40s in St. Louis. you would see the name Roy Dunn popping up before the television era. But this ties into the promotional conflict they were having that I mentioned a minute ago when they burned the Sportatorium down or half of it down. And I can't remember all the details, and it's worth, again, looking up in various research books

we don't have time to go into now, but Ed McLemore had been the Dallas promoter for some time, and his name was still in the early end. 80s, I think, associated with the Dallas office, but he had gotten on the outs with the alliance, and you saw the talent that he had on that card was not exactly household names even for that era. And there was opposition running, and they'd had the arson thing, and they were trying to run each other out of business, and this is a grandstand challenge of the old days of wrestling. My champion is real and can beat your champion.

your champion scared to fight my guy. The guy that was scared is always the big name with everything to lose and they didn't want to put the underdog over. But years later, McLemore would get back in with the alliance and Southwest sports as it existed in the 1980s when it was world-class wrestling. Jack Adkisson started on these shows in 1953 and 54. and then as we everybody knows, moved on, went to Buffalo,

became Fritz von Erich, became a national star, went back to Texas, got over as the top guy and ended up buying into the promotion and owning pretty much all of it with a few minor partners by the time it was all over with. So that was another thing that Dallas was not a big money wrestling, center in the in the 40s and 50s it was another thing like Florida when Eddie Graham went to Florida

got over as the top guy bought into the office built the fucking thing Fritz kind of did the same thing with not not as much success in terms of what Eddie Graham did with Florida and the number of markets that were all firing for so long but he Fritz made wrestling in Dallas Fort Worth a big deal and was drawing ballpark crowds, 25,000 for his world title matches in the 60s. That had never happened to Dallas, Texas before in wrestling.

So it's kind of an interesting history is even though Dallas is noted in modern times for being a big wrestling market, it wasn't that way. It was certainly no Chicago for the first 50 years of the last century. Am I droning now? Not at all. And according to this program every Tuesday, watch wrestling, KRLD TV, 1230 p.m. And 7 p.m.

Listen to wrestling. K-L-I-F 515 p.m. So they really packed it in on Tuesday. You know, and this is 1953. I bet you maybe the nighttime show may have been the Dumont Network or Hollywood Wrestling or whatever, but 1230 in the day,

I wonder did they have a local program at that point to that early in Dallas. We'll see what we can find out. And let's end with this program. One last program here. The opening bout, one fall, 50-minute time limit.

Cyclone Anaya versus Leo Wallach. I've heard of him. The second bout? And Leo Wallach. Okay, hold on here. I'm catching up to you now. The second bout, Jack Claiborne versus Buddy Jackson. Oh.

The third bout, the final one-fall 15-minute time limit bout. Ray Gunkel versus Aldo Bogni. The next bout, the semi-final, it's a handicap match. Kiamuka agrees to toss both men in 60 minutes or forfeit his purse. Duke Keaumuka versus Rita Romero and Black Guzman. Or Guzman, I guess he would be used. Blackie Guzman. Guzman.

Manuel Blackie. Guzman. And the main event, two out of three falls, 90-minute time limit. Chris Tolus versus Bull Curry. Oh, good Lord. Okay. Okay. I believe we have ended up in Texas again, but there's a strong case that could be made for a little Florida. But no, now that I'm looking at it. Okay, Cyclone Anaya was a journeyman name that I would think would probably have been around in the middle of his career at this point in time. Leo Wallach, was he Chet Wallach's brother? Chet and Leo Wallach, he later became a referee, I think. Jack Claiborne and Buddy Jackson were both black

wrestlers, and if you didn't read it on this lineup, I bet you they were billed as either top Negro stars battle or potentially even sometimes. of American or United States Negro Championship involved? Let me answer that while you ask it. Gentlemen, Jack Layborn, the Negro wrestler with springs of steel in his legs, will make his bow in Dallas tonight

when he faces big and tough Buddy Jackson. And you just read me the goddamn man. Oh, shit. Oh, God, damn. Hold on. We've still got a year. I knew it was Texas. You did.

I knew it was Texas, to begin with. Ray Gunkel is a fish out of water here because he would be more noted for being a Georgia wrestler or in the southeastern United States, but he was also an NCAA champion before he was a pro, and he did travel a little bit in the various territories,

and I'm going to say that this is probably before that he became a big star in Atlanta. Aldobogne was tag team partners with Bronco Lubich, who became the referee in Dallas, noted for not being able to go down and count because he was so old. Duke Keimoko would go on to greater fame in Florida,

but again, this is before he became an integral part of the Florida office. Rito Romero was a huge baby face in Texas and especially West Texas, and Manuel Blach, Miguel, I should say. Blackie Guzman was one of the top names in the history of Lucha in the, I think even late 40s and 50s. And he ended up at the end of his career in the middle, late 70s, for some reason, living in Indianapolis and doing jobs for Brewzer. Chris Tolos and Bull Curry in the main event, Curry was a huge draw in Texas in this time period.

and Chris told us was John's brother, but was often a single. And because of the people involved in where they are, this has to be the early 60s. You tipped it to Dallas. I was going to go with Texas anyway. And would this be 1961, 1962?

Huh, interesting. No, it wouldn't be. No? This is two. Tuesday, January 9th, 1953. Shit, I was 10 years off. Let me read just something here on the cover. This is, by the way, Pappy Showland,

where you see wrestlers a proven ability. Facts. In case you have read or heard any grandiose claims about last week's comparative progress in the wrestling war, here are the facts. Pappy Showland drew the biggest crowd it had to date. a capacity throng of excited fans

better than $2,200. The other place failed the gross 600. And in case you have read false and misleading statements about Doc Sarpolis, being with the former Dallas promoter as a team, mark it down as more propaganda designed to confuse you. And by the way, that's Doc Sarpolus was the promoter that the Funk's always mentioned out in Amarillo

in West Texas and he was a early member of the NWA and blah blah blah major name in behind the scenes in wrestling and he had flipped over to the other fucking group at one point and then went back as I recall

but that's why the West Texas was invading East Texas and there was all this drama going on bet your money that Sarpolis is not with them never has been with them and never will be with them and that's the card here

so we have a one from each side of the opposition Ray Rhe Gunkle threw me the fuck off because I was thinking well I didn't remember he started so so early and I was thinking is this maybe before he would have gone to Georgia somehow but yeah I fucked up majorly on that all right well we will end with that one

you began with such success yeah so let's end on the fuck up all righty then well good day to you too this is your show i'm just trying to stall yes it is well all right we've gone a long time and now we have to do midsouth so let's get on the road hold on hold on instead of because i've got an out here we have been here a while so why don't we do this why don't we reschedule because i want to talk about the super dome we're going to reschedule the mid south segment for next week when we have even less to talk about because certainly nobody's going to be impaled next

week. And let's give the people a little nice, fun, light, frivolous, classic wrestling type of guest the program segment to close out our festivities here so we don't leave the people with the impaling. And then we'll dive deep into Mid-South on the next experience. What a great idea. So this is your show. So are we going through your programs? You're going to be asking me? No, I'm asking you. You're, I'm so that's not the way it works. We tried that one time and you were, you were too good. All right. You were not entertaining is what it was.

So now you're going to ask me and I'm going to fucking divulge this information. Well, I have some of the stuff here I was saving for the drive-thru. I meant to get to it on the last drive-thru and we ran out of time. That's because we keep running out of time. I got here, you know, one of these days I got to talk to you about these two. I got a whole collection of like mid-50s fan club bulletins. But these aren't like the 70s ones. These are professionally printed.

amazing quality of paper. It's incredible these things. What's the title? Well, this one here I got, I got three editions of the Don Arnold fan club. We're still on the mat for Don. This is Bulletin 16, Bulletin 15, and Bulletin 13, September 55. And this is all...

I do not have any of the Don Arnold fan club bulletins, but they went to more trouble back in those days. And then I have the anniversary issue, Rogers International, The World for Rogers. Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers, April 1st, 1955 to April 1st, 1956. The first anniversary edition features some photos, some mimeograph paper, some articles, birthday wishes, and much more. And much more. Let's get to some programs.

Mimeograph. That's a word you don't hear enough anymore. Mimeograph. ass. All right, Jim, let's start with this card. The opening bout, actually it appears that the participants in a tag team bout

had two singles bouts beforehand, too. Pamparo Furpo versus Pete Sanchez and the Great Antonio versus Thomas Marin. Okay. Then the two teams wrestled in a two-out a three-falls tag team bout.

Pampero Furpo and the Great Antonio versus Thomas Marin and Pete Sanchez. Iron Mike DiBiase versus Arnold Skolland. Don Curtis versus Jack Vansky. Tiger Jack Vansky. Bear Tatt Wright versus Chet Wallach.

And the final preliminary or undercard match, time limit one fall. Bruno San Martino versus Larry Suss. Simon. Oh, Larry Simon later to become the great Boris Molinco. The main event, one fall to a finish. Antonino Rocca versus Haystack Calhoun.

Ooh, all righty. Well, this on the surface of it would appear to be in the northeast. We're talking to the New York, New Jersey, Boston area. It is the early 60s. Mike DiBiase being on the card kind of through that and Bruno against Bruno against Larry Simon when you when you mentioned Bearcat right

and then Bruno I'm thinking maybe am I leaning toward Toronto but then Rocca and Calhoun to me brings it back to the Northeast Pampiro Furpo and the Great Antonio actually had they have one or they have maybe two tag team matches in Madison Square Garden, did they not, in 61 or 62? But they were a team.

Thomas Marin and Pete Sanchez, longtime Northeast underneath talent Arnold Arnold Scolans, saying more. Don Curtis would have been in the Northeast around that time. Curtis and Lewin were a team. Jeez. And of course, Raqa and Haystacks Calhoun. this would have been, with Raca on top of Bruno, this would have been before 1963. The question, it doesn't seem like that would be Madison Square Garden,

but would it be a secondary town in that, and I don't even think it looks like a Boston card or a Philly card might have been and in between town. But let's go with something in the state of New York in 1962. Impressive and also very close. The sunny side garden, Long Island.

Okay. So you get the area. May 31st, 1960. 1960. Bratt. Okay. Bruno was a complete rookie. And that's why Raca and Calhoun was okay. Yeah, I agree with you now.

So who was the baby face and who was the heel in that main event? Calhoun would have probably got booed more than Raca just because of where it was in the time period. But I think they just went on a main event on a spot show based on names that would draw. How often was Haystack Calhoun a heel? Almost never. I mean, he would have just been the heelish. It's like Seth Rollins and Punk now. More people are cheering for punk,

but Seth is still kind of a baby face. The people in the building would have just picked Raqa probably more than Calhoun. But they were the biggest names at the time on the card. Bruno was nobody yet. And Bearcat Wright was nobody in that territory. He had, and he wasn't yet to main event in Chicago. So really they were the two biggest names by far on the card.

So that's the main event. And by the way, the times... So I was two years off. And the times of the matches, the main event, 11 minutes, 15 seconds. San Martino versus Simon, six minutes, 45 seconds. Baricat Wright versus Chet Wallach,

four minutes 15 seconds. Don Curtis versus Jack Vansky, seven minutes 45 seconds. Iron Mike DiBiasey versus Arnold Scholland. Again, I don't know if these times are for this match or the one under that are two out of three falls. 6.45, 735, 6 on the button. And the two singles matches, Ferpo versus Sanchez, three minutes, 10 seconds. Antonio versus Thomas Marin, five minutes, 20 seconds.

Oh, I bet that was a long five minutes, too. So for a house show, too, I mean, you never hear people complain. Oh, the matches were always so short. But compared to now, it stands out, really. everything near one match went over 10 minutes. Well, that was a spot show in the Northeast, because this is 1960. In 1960, most of the territories in, let's say, out of Texas way or in the south, would have only had three, maybe four, maybe five matches anyway,

and a lot of them would have been two out of three falls, and there wouldn't have been as many guys on the card. But since they had a lot of mouths to, feed and this was a spot show, not Madison Square Garden or Philadelphia or whatever. Is it a spot show if it's a regular club though? They're here every Tuesday. Well, okay. Well, I shouldn't say spot show. That's mischaracterizing it, but it's one of the smaller towns, Sunnyside Gardens. They're going to have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight matches with a lot of underneath names and a main event and nobody's going to, and the tag

guys had to work twice so nobody's going to put a lot of time in but when you dick around with announcements in between the matches and an intermission you got your two-hour show. It's for the same reason at the same year in Nashville they would have had a tag match and two singles matches on the card and it would have still lasted two hours. All right. Well, that was the first program. Let's go to this next one. I got two here to choose from. I think I'll go with this. The opening bout, the first preliminary. Carol Krauser, 220 out of New York, versus Ellis Bashara, 239, Norman, Oklahoma. The person who wrote in the program wrote, hate him.

The second preliminary also won fall 15-minute time limit. Al Lovelock versus Jack Leroux, 220 at Washington, Iowa. Okay, I'm wondering if this is a woman's program because Al Lovelock, it says don't know. Jack Leroux, it says do know. It's like they've never seen that person before or whatever. And then next to a few of them, it says swell. Jim Casey, third preliminary one fall, 15 minute time limit, Jim Casey, 220 out of Ireland, versus Paul Bosch, 228, Long Beach, New York.

The semi-final, one fall to a finish. Corporal Louis Fez versus Bob Wagner 240 out of Portland, Oregon and the main event for a championship I won't name at catch weights Buddy Rogers, the champion

it says here Dream Guy versus Leroy McGirk Swell like him. Leroy McGirk 195 out of Tulsa, Buddy Rogers 215 out of Camden, New Jersey. Okay.

Carol Krauser, and this was not the same one, but at one point, Carl Gotch used that name, did he not, in later years? Am I thinking of something else? He used Carl Krauser, maybe. Carl Krausk. By the way, this is autographed by Carol Krauser, and it says on the program that

Carol Krauser will be at the program desk at 8 o'clock, and Corporal Lewis Thess will autograph during intermission. Well, there's somewhat of a giveaway here that it happened during the World War II years because of Corporal Luthes. Al Lovelock later on would go on to become the Great Bolo, right?

Ellis Bashara was an old-timer in the 40s and 50s, worked a lot of the southern territories. Bob Wagner, unlike his more successful older brother Honus never got too big of a reputation. Paul Bosch, we all know who that was, but this was in his wrestling days. And Jim Casey is, because Steve Casey and,

goddamn, what was the other Casey's brother's name in Boston? It wasn't Jim was it? Is he trying to, is this trying to be like a fake Ducek, a fake Casey brother? You're not going to give me any help, are you? C-A-S-E-Y, Jim Casey, I don't know. Yes. I'm looking around the program to see if it indicates anything, but I don't see anything.

What I've said, because in Boston, Steve Casey was one of the world champions for Paul Bowser. And Buddy Rogers and Leroy McGirk, for a title you will not name, Rogers, it wasn't the world title because Rogers never had it that early. But was it McGurk and the junior heavyweight title? People think Texas for Paul Bosch, people think Oklahoma for Leroy McGirk, Thes being on this card, he was booked at that time or in those days in the 40s out of the St. Louis office. Is this, God damn it, is this is 1945 and it's either somewhere in Texas or Oklahoma. The year or the date, Wednesday, April 10th, 1946.

Houston, Texas. Okay. I was going to say Houston, but I thought, you know, it's, and it's ironic. Paul Bosch working there on the card with what he would go on to do later on, but I didn't think they would still be calling Thess a corporal when the war was over. So I do apologize. Yeah, no Thess. Whoa, this is a...

But I should have known Houston because Rogers was, at one point, didn't he win the Texas title as one of, what was that? Was it the Texas title? It was the World Junior Heavyweight title. The Texas Heavyweight Championship. Rogers was an early Texas heavyweight champion. That's one of the first major belts that he won.

So there you go. And this is when Corporal Lewis says still had his unibrow. Let's, uh, go out of seven one. All right, I'm trying to find a good one for you trying to find a good one Let's go to this one The program itself is interesting It may be a giveaway but we'll find out

Buck Zumhoff versus Bob Kincaid Mickey Doyle versus Tony Rocco Johnny Eagle versus Kurt von Steiger The Final preliminary, Dutch Savage versus Apache Bull Ramos.

A super special bout. Jimmy Snooka versus the Avenger. And the main event for a championship I will not name, Ed Wiskowski versus Lord Jonathan Boyd. Okay, well, we're definitely in the Portland territory. What was the giveaway for that? I'm not going to lie and pretend that we aren't. Well, the whole card, but when you got to

Johnny Eagles and Von Steiger, and then Savage and Ramos, that kind of... Yeah, I thought that was the giveaway, if anything. Yeah, well, I was... At first, when you said Zoomhoff, obviously, besides prison, I was thinking about the AWA, but then Tony Rocco and Mickey Doyle, I don't think Mickey Doyle ever worked for Vern. Johnny Eagles was an English or a British wrestler

that had a big eagle tattooed on his chest, but they brought him into the Tennessee territory in 1973 as Johnny Eagles, and as soon as people saw him, facially, he looked exactly like Eddie Marlin with a little bit longer hair. So they changed his name to Johnny Eagles Marlin and then Johnny Marlin as Eddie Marlin's cousin from England, like a sitcom, because they were almost identical.

But he was the man of a thousand holes type of deal. Kurt Von Steiger, Dutch Savage, and Bull Ramos are two guys that are really identified with the Portland territory. This Snooka was there before he went on to greater things. I can't remember who the Avenger was, but probably one of their longtime heels doing a hooded thing. And with Wiskoski, Ed Wiskoski would later become

Colonel De Beers in the AWA. And Jonathan Boyd would be one of the sheep herders with Luke Williams for a while, but in this case, he was a royal kangaroo I believe at that time period. Jonathan Boyd, Luke Williams,

and Bush Miller would rotate around in that that team at various points. So, yes, we're in the Portland territory, probably Portland, and the year, ah, with Snooka there, and Boyd, is it 19, and Zoomhoff is it 1977? We are in the Pacific Northwest, the Portland Sports Arena. Don Owen presents Northwest Wrestling.

Tuesday, August 22nd, 1978. Some interesting things in this program. Of course, Sandy Barr's Flea Market. As an ad for that, as well as, if I look over here, we have what happens when bad guys turn good. Also, please mention Northwest Wrestling when patronizing our sponsors. But the interesting thing about this program is

it's a tribute to Lonnie Maine, who had just died, Moondog Main. Okay. It has an interesting article here. I don't know what this is from. It's entitled 24 hectic hours. On April 14th, 1978, the wrestling world wept, wrestlers and fans alike.

The news was shocking when it went out through the hearts of young and old, and rich and poor. Lonnie died in the hospital at Anaheim, California, after being in a coma for 24 hours. The following is an account of what happened, according to our exhaustive searching, of which we have not yet got answers to all of our questions. Who's writing this?

It doesn't have any name attributed to it. On Sunday, August 13, 1978, Lonnie Main, alias One Man Gang, Blond Bomber, Moon Dog, had his last wrestling match, It was at San Bernardino, California. Upon leaving the dressing room and walking to his car, he dropped his wrestling bag and almost collapsed to the ground.

Another wrestler behind him asked Lonnie if something was wrong. Lonnie picked up his bag and turned to the wrestler and said, You know, I feel like I'm going to die. The other wrestler responded, I'll drive your home, Lonnie, to Long Beach, at which Lani retorted, Nah, I'll make it. At that he went on to his car.

A few minutes later, he was in Anaheim in an ambulance, unconscious, on his way to the hospital. Witnesses at the scene related to the police that the red transam, which he purchased in Portland last summer, was traveling a little faster than the other traffic when it went to the right, a little,

hitting about six groups of fog bumps. Then all of a sudden, it turned about 40 degrees to the left, never turning again. The Trans Am came to a stop after crossing to the other side of the freeway and colliding head on with another car. Lonnie had some lacerations where his head hit the windshield. A lady, driving the other car, was killed instantly. At the hospital, doctors repaired his head lasse. and discovered that he had been bleeding internally. He had been for quite some time.

Lonnie did not have any identification whatsoever, and no one knew of his whereabouts until 24 hours after his death. Those who knew Lonnie knew that he had a big fat wallet, which he always took out of his back pocket and placed on the dash of his car. So his ID was either lost in the accident or stolen by spectators at the accident. I feel as many others do, that from the loss of blood Lonnie Main passed out

and slumped against the steering wheel holding the car in a straight course, which took him to the other side of the freeway. The state of California recorded his death as a traffic fatality. This is a sorry epitaph for an athlete who put his life on the line every time he climbed in the ring.

Boy, in more ways than one, it was a sorry piece of writing also. But that's, you know, basically what happened is that car wreck, he apparently passed out or whatever. And boom, but he was, it was like the Randy Savage thing where he'd had a heart attack. And by the time he hit the tree, he was probably gone anyway. He's another one of those guys, almost like Dennis Conjury, where you hear his age and you're like, no way. Like Lonnie Maine, what was he? He was in his like 30s, right? when he died. Oh yeah, he may have just been 30 or 31, 32, something like that,

but because of the moon dog gimmick and the long hair and the craziness and the scars, you know, he looked older. He didn't really look old, but he didn't look young. He just looked like he shouldn't be that young. All right. This is your show, so I'll stop you with, or I'll end here with one final one. Very good. I'm going to get this one. I have both the card and the flyer here. The opening bout, Brad Ringens versus Dave Barbie.

The second bout, Jerry Allen versus Salvatore Balomo. The third encounter, Tom McGee versus Red Demon. The fourth bout, Coco Beware,

versus Frenchie Martin A tag team bout Brian Blair B Brian Blair and Jim Brunzel the Killer Bs versus Brutus Beefcake and Greg the Hammer Valentine and the main event

one fall one hour time limit The Natural Butch Reed versus Jake the Snake Roberts Well obviously it is a WWF event from the 80s and the question is the exact year and or where it would have been. And going from the top down, Butch Reed versus Jake Roberts,

that's a B-show main event that they were running or that they would have run at this particular point in time. And Blair and Brunzel, the killer bees against beefcake and Valentine, I wish I was as good with my WWF history as you are, because that would tell you right there I'd narrow it down when they were a team. Coco being on the card,

Tom McGee. This is during the period of time where they were trying that experiment and they were putting him on B and C shows non-televised against, you know guys, just to see if something could come through. The red demon, who the fuck knows?

It may have been Lombardi under a hood. Sal Bolomo was a bit. big deal in the WWF or a bigger deal a few years before, but he was just riding it out now. And Ringgans, against whoever the fuck Dave Barbie was, makes me, I want to think that maybe they were in Minnesota, because I don't remember Brad Rangans having a full-time run of any kind with the WWF. But this doesn't look like a show that they would have booked into Minneapolis. at the Target Center or the St. Paul Civic Center, it wouldn't be that big.

So maybe Wisconsin. Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1986. I didn't think you'd get the town because it is a spot show. You said B-town and maybe a C-show. Remember, at the time they ran four shows a night. That's how crazy it was. Tuesday, February 24th, 1987,

the Susan B. Wagner High School, Staten Island, New York. Oh, Jesus Christ. This is promoter Tommy D.'s 11th anniversary show celebrating 1976 to 1987. The best misprint on here is natural hacksaw-Butch Reed

managed by sleek. Sleak. Staten Island, New York. What, Brad Riggins? Was he there? I didn't even remember that. Tickets, by the way, on sale at the corner market on Forest Avenue, Ray's Island Sports,

Carvel ice cream store at the Staten Island Mall, also the Susan Wagner High School Football Office. And that's how you do local promotion in New York. There you go. Susan Wagner, that was Bob Wagon. Wagner's daughter. You know, I don't know about that. It's interesting, I have a bunch of them here.

We won't do anymore. I said that was the last one, but how often WW ran small shows in the New York area, even as things were blowing up? Here's Walt Whitman High School, Huntington, New York, that's on Long Island, February 3, 87, May 24th, 87, Canarsie High School, Brooklyn, New York.

And then this one here, this is a different one. This is in Salisbury, Maryland. That was guest-approval. And I can tell you real briefly why they did that because when they were running three or four towns a night, they couldn't all be, you know, big metropolis is. But at the same time, if they didn't run those three or four towns, these guys, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, there,

there are 14 guys wouldn't get paid. So they ran a lot more in the Northeast because they still had the connections. They'd been running those fundraisers at high schools through the 70s in Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Arnold Scholan, a lot of those guys had contacts that they could run, and they could still make money on them. But they didn't need to make a fortune on Staten Island, New York. If they paid the boys for that night and the office got a booking fee and the local promoter got a payoff, then that was fine because the main crew was at the spanker.

or at the Boston Garden or whatever, and they were going to make the office a $50,000 profit one night. So this was just repetition and volume and keeping the guys paid, and the more money the guys made from Staten Island, New York that night, instead of being off, that contributed to them being happier and wanting to stay. And this was Tommy D. Tommy D. had been a local promoter for them up here for years. You may have seen his pictures of the programs every now and then.

and somewhere in the next couple years after this, they stopped working with him, and he just ran indie shows. And a lot of the guys that, when they would leave WWE, they would come up here and they would work for him in Brooklyn or Staten Island. But that was- Yeah, they stopped working with a lot of the local promoters

when they got too big and were only running bigger buildings, and that opened up opportunities for guys to go and do independent shows, and those people knew had all the connections with the arenas and the advertising. But there it was. There it was, and this is your show. All right, we have returned. Time travel to return shortly. But Jim, let's play some guests to program.

All righty. If that's okay with you. That's perfectly fine with me there, fella. Of course, this is where I go through programs in my collection, some that I've had for a while, some that I've just obtained. But I'm getting ready to file them away, so I have them here. We go through them. Jim guesses the location, the date, the bell.

the bell time Oh, come on now and everything else but all right let's get going here I got an interesting card I was a little surprise looking at the main event here

the opening contest Big Moose Cholak versus Fred Atkins Ooh for a title I will not name the champion Johnny Case

versus Johnny Gilbert a ladies tag team match Shirley Strimple and Corinne Cordero versus Betty Clark and Babe Bittner I can honestly say I don't know any of those four women Shirley Strimple I have heard of

I've heard of Strimple and not Shirley Temple by the way Shirley Strimple and not George Temple but Dick Steinborn versus the mighty Atlas a tag match, Sweet Daddy Seeky and Seaman Art Thomas

versus the fabulous kangaroos who are listed as World Tag Team Champions. And the main event for the world's heavyweight championship Pat O'Connor versus the Crusher. Oh. Well, boy howdy.

At first I was thinking, when I heard Fred Atkins, immediately I was like, what the fuck is Moose Cholak doing in Toronto? Because Moose Cholak, one thinks of the Midwest, Chicago, Indianapolis, but Fred Atkins was a wrestler and later a manager early on in the northeast and in Toronto,

but Johnny Case and Johnny Gilbert bring it back to Chicago. The girl's tag is immaterial to this. Steinborn and the Mighty Atlas. Mighty Atlas was Morris Shapiro, and he was a big deal in the Midwest and in Chicago. Dick Steinborn, because of the time era that this would be, was, oh, he'd probably been in the business six, seven, eight years at this point, was the son of Milo Steinborn, the famous strong.

wrong man from the 30s and 40s, who was a promoter for Eddie Graham in Florida for years and years. And Dick Steinbord was also a noted photographer. Did you know that, Brian? Wrestling photographer. Well, he liked to take pictures, but he did some wrestling photographer. No, I did know that. I believe Scott Teal has those, and it may be because Dick Steinborn ended up owing him money, like he owed a lot of people. I believe he was also known as a bit of a locker room, what's the word I'm looking for? Lightfingered Louis He didn't mind touching other people's stuff

and just leaving the building with it. He would touch their junk and Sweet Daddy Seeky and Seaman Art Thomas before he became Sailor Art Thomas Seaman didn't have as many connotations

back in that time period were a popular African American tag team about that time in the Chicago area and the kangaroos, they were the tag team champions, they wrestled all over. The world heavyweight title with Pat O'Connor and the Crusher,

this is what, and you said it's odd to you, that would almost take you away from Chicago because O'Connor was not noted. It wasn't until they had a bunch of NWA title matches there until Rogers won the belt in Chicago. Of course, that's where Rogers beat O'Connor in 1961. So we're in Chicago and it's 1960. Are you talking to me on mute?

I'm on mute and it's 2025. The program, the international amphitheater, Hallstead Street, Chicago, May 26, 1961. No! See, the O'Connor being champion thing, if you assume that, again,

you could have assumed it was the Crusher as the champion, somewhere else. Well, but no. But you would only have a short window, and that was the window. So it was right before, this was, they were giving O'Connor a win over Crusher in Chicago to set up the match with Rogers, is what you're saying to me. I presume so. Let me see, I just put it down, but no, the results are not marked in this one.

Not marked. There's a big cut in the cover, though, but all right. Jim, the next program here. The first match, one fall 15-minute time limit. Oscar Salazar, 210 out of Barcelona, Spain, versus Texas Tiger Romo, 204, El Paso, Texas. Okay, immediately, you stop there. I can name this song in two notes.

No, I'm kidding, go ahead. A special event, tag team match, one fall to a finish. Bob Bomber Hamby, 205 out of Charlotte, and Mickey Sharp, 206, the blonde bombshell out of Houston, versus Alejandro Cruz, 200 pounds, the human rocket at a Mexico City, and Ray Crosby, 209 at an Albuquerque.

Ray Crosby? I didn't know Bing's brother got in a... business. The first main event, two out of three falls or 60 minute time limit. Paul de Gaulle 213 out of Paris, France, the fancy Frenchman, claimant of the international junior heavyweight championship versus Gore-Garero, 210, world light heavyweight champion. So finally, somebody I've heard.

The second main event Two out of three falls 60 minute time limit The Mummy 211 from somewhere in South America weirdest wrestler in the world versus Juan Garcia 210 Albuquerque New Mexico

popular wrestler And finally Triple main event Winner take all Loser Leaves Town rematch two out of three falls or 60 minute time limit Andre Drap 200 pounds

Mr. France Paris Unsatisfied on last week's decision issued challenge versus the mad Mongol 227 pounds Claw hold expert seldom lost rematch

That's it huh Boy, howdy. First match, obviously, never heard of. I've heard the name Bob Hamby in that second match. Obviously, Gori Guerrero, the father of Chavo and Hector and Eddie and Mando, grandfather of Chavo Jr. And Paul de Gaul, the mummy in this incarnation, I'm not sure, but the most famous mummy was Benji Ramirez.

And with Andre Drapp, who again, I've heard the name, the Mongol could have been anybody. This has got to be either West Texas or New Mexico, especially with some of the hometowns. Gori Guerrero may very well have had a hand in promoting the fucking thing. but get if this was if this was Ramirez was the mummy it would have been 1970

71 72 that time period if not I still maintain that it's West Texas El Paso or New Mexico and with Andre Drapp in the main event it seems like it would be older back in the 60s I don't know, 1970 Albuquerque, New Mexico. The date?

February 26, 1963. No! The program 15 cents. El Paso Wrestling Program. And this is a special one celebrating our first birthday. Tonight marks the first anniversary of international wrestling enterprises, bringing to the people of El Paso the wonderful sport of wrestling. Thank you, fans, for making it possible.

That may have even been before Gorey had part of the promotion possibly, but if that's 1963, which, like I said, with Andre Drap, I thought it would, is that Benji Ramirez the mummy, or is it just a regular old outlaw mummy, or can you tell from the picture? I can't tell, but I'll double check

against other things afterwards. Four beautiful girls have been signed to appear here in El Paso next week. The promoter... Boy! And maybe we can talk them into wrestling. The promoter, Dr. Gardea, received a good number of letters of girl wrestlers asking for a chance to meet the peppery Miss Olga Martinez. Anyway, Dr. Gardea has signed up the following girl wrestlers. Anne Casey, Olga Martinez, Brenda Scott, Judy Grable. We still don't know if the promoter is going to book them in a singles match or tag team match.

And there it is. All right, let's get our next... I saw Anne Casey wrestle live in 1975. She had her leopard print, one-piece bathing suit on, and the big black hair, and a whole nine yards. All right, this one here. Interesting program. The opening bout, Irish Danny McShane

versus Jackie Nichols. Hmm. As it says here, a color. Girls tag team match Lulu May Provo and Babs Wingo versus Marva Scott and Kathleen Wimbley

an Australian tag team match Dr. Jerry Graham and Professor Roy Shire versus Wilbur Snyder and Chief Bigheart Tarzan Killer Kowalski versus Zaya Nandor at a Budapest Hungary

How do you spell that first one? C-Z-A-Y-A That's right N-A-N-D-O-R Was he any relation to or was it even the same guy Bob Nandor? I don't know, I'll see if he's...

But he's Hungarian here, though, the Sia Nandor, yes. Carl von Hess versus Eduardo Carpontier and finally the dream match of the century Antonino Raucca uncrowned champion versus Ricky Star undefeated sensation

Greenwich Village, New York Okay boy howdy when you said Danny McShade and Jackie Nichols. I was thinking, is this out in the Olympic Auditorium? Danny McShane was all over everywhere. Jackie Nichols, I seem to associate with California wrestling. The girls tag, Marva Scott and Babs Wingo were sisters,

as has been talked about with the new Queen of the Ring movie, along with Ethel Johnson, and Lulu May Provo and Kathleen Wembley were, I think, the first two, black girls that came along afterwards, and, God damn, since the last one of the sisters didn't debut until 1954, we've got Jerry Graham and Roy Shire as partners

against Wilbur Snyder and Chief Bigheart. Snyder, of course, I don't think, debuted until 55. He played pro football for the Edmonton Eskimos. Jerry Graham and Shire would have been a team, or at least able to be a team in the late 15th. Kowalski and Nandor Von Hess and Carpontier Raca and Star

is what, are you trying to fool me with a Madison Square Garden card or is this again a is it a Toronto or a Philadelphia I don't think it's Toronto even though a lot of these guys were over at that in that market

it's either oh god damn it It may not be Madison Square Garden, but it's a major city in the northeast, and it's, I'm just going to pick a year, it's 19, before Jerry got Eddie, maybe, 1958. Very close. The date June 10th, 1957, official program, Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C., Vince McMahon promoter. Yeah, it didn't look like a gardener.

card, but that was the time period and it's just you know, different matchups than what was drawing the big money, except for Raqa and Star. They had a couple of matches in the garden, did they not? I don't know for sure. I'd have to go back and check, but it is interesting. You know, if you go back to the beginning

of the century, there were matches and boxing and wrestling called the match of the century. Here's another one, the dream match for the century. Here was one we had here in Louisville. Austin Idol versus is Jerry Lawler, Grudge Match of the Year. Guess what the date was? What was the date?

January 4th. It's the first show of the fucking year. Yeah. But this is the dream match of the century, Raka versus Star. It's interesting thinking about that being, you know, the big dream match. Well, Raqa and Star are similar in styles,

if anybody could be similar to either one of those guys. Well, and now the people get the idea they were jumping off the top rope constantly. They weren't really high flyers as much as the Raca had the acrobatics, the leapfrogs and the drop kicks and the kicking the guy in the face with his foot and the shoulder ride, whereas Ricky Starr legitimately had the ballet background. And he also was apparently a fairly salty shooter and combined that to do the spinning and the pirouettes and the leaping and the kicks. and he ended up for a couple of years in this country.

He was one of the biggest box office attractions in the business and then went and had a long run in Europe and kind of disappeared from the United States in the 60s. But Raqa and Starr, because both of them were so unique and had that mutual odd style, that was kind of the two guys that were in fans' mind. Oh, we'd like to see this guy against that guy. So they did it.

I got to send you a picture of this. It's a picture of Dr. Jerry Graham. It says inside dope. Dr. Jerry Graham, popular Matt Star, gives Morris Siegel, the nation's top TV sports commentator, some inside information on wrestling over the Capitol Arena TV network. Do you know too much about the other Morris Segal, the one who's not a wrestling promoter?

Well, I thought that's the one you were talking about, until you just said that, and I was like, what is Morris Segal doing up there on the Capitol Wrestling TV? TV network. I got to look for the... I thought it was Lance Russell on first site.

We'll see what we could find out. That's the capital program. Let's get another one here. This one's not a program. This is a postcard with an attached pass

that you can cut off. Ah. The two other big bouts that are not listed here. Let me just say that. Will Weedner versus Gorilla Ramos

Billy Hanson versus jumping Jack Claiborne. Okay. The unmasked golden terror versus Irish Pat Fraley.

And finally, by public demand and edict, the Cougar versus Vincent Lopez resume their feud. Okay. Um,

Will Whedon? Was he in the first match listed? Will Whedner or Weidner, W-E-I-D-N-E-R? Yeah, I got no idea. Gorilla Ramos, there was an Apache Bull Ramos, but this is way before his time

because of a name in the next match. I don't know who Hanson was, but Jack Claiborne was one of the first African-American male stars along with the Black Panther, Jim Mitchell and Seeley Samara, he was of that same generation. So this, to me, and again, the unmasked golden terror, who the fuck knows?

Pat Fraley, again, a name that I've heard from the 40s and the Cougar, no idea, but Vincent Lopez was not only the top baby face, the top draw in Los Angeles and a lot of Southern California in the 1940s, he had one version of the world title out there. And I think he was probably the top guy right before the television era when Gorgeous George came in and that took over Hollywood wrestling. Would I be crazy to say that this is some kind of suburb of the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in the Southern California area sometime around the, mid-1940s,

1946, let's say. You know, I mean, it was such a hard one to figure out. You came so close. That was actually excellent. It's at the Olympic. Okay. The Olympic Auditorium, Wednesday.

It just didn't seem like a big enough card. Wednesday, April 11th, 1945. Oh. And this, uh, again. The day before FDR died. Oh, wow. Yeah.

And this pass here, which is, again, a postcard that has a perforated part that you could just rip off, this card entitles you to a 50% discount on ringside and lower floor reserve seats. Present this card at the box office Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, and exchange for your ringside and reserve seats. No phone orders, please. Save and see a great wrestling show. Void after 8 p.m. on day of. of show. And then it has here,

reserve 50%, $1, federal tax 40 cents, state tax 10 cents, total $1.50. Or reserve 50%, 50 cents, federal tax 20 cents, state tax 5 cents, 75 cents. But there it is, the Olympic Auditorium, April. And that was 1945.

And I have, again, I mentioned Jim Mitchell's I have his date book and I've talked about this before that John Cosper found when they he found the guy that had bought Jim Mitchell's house. And it was about a year or two later. I'm trying to think with it's, I can't reach it 46 or 47,

but Jim Mitchell came in and had a main event at the Olympic with Gorgeous George and it caused a riot. And that was a famous match in Los Angeles. Angeles history at that point in time. And his records indicate that he got paid $140 for that main event against Gorgeous George. Now, with those prices that you just quoted, if the Olympic auditorium drew 5,000 people, that was probably, what, a $5,000 or $6,000 house because tickets were around a dollar apiece, Gorgeous George would have made $500 because he always got $10,000.

10% at least, right? Depending on what the after-tax was. But point being, when you figure for inflation, because I was doing this for another project, $1946, a dollar today, it's almost 20 times. Somewhere around, I think, $17, $18 or whatever. So Jim Mitchell would have got, yeah, he got like a $2,500 payoff,

but Gorgeous George, got almost $10 grand in today's money. in those days for a main event at the Olympic Auditorium. What are your thoughts on the idea of sending out a weekly postcard to your regular customers? Or I guess not your regular. I mean, your regulars probably don't need a discount to come in. They'll be there. Well, see, that's the thing. It was World War II.

It wasn't over yet. A lot of the guys were in service. Look at this fucking card. The unmasked golden terror, the cougar. There's two people on the card that even we have ever heard of. Well, Vincent Lopez was a big star. Yes, Lopez and Claiborne, but that's the thing is that Southern California wrestling and a lot of wrestling, anything that didn't involve while Bill Longson during World War II was down.

For some, that's where he vaulted ahead of everybody and he was old enough. They didn't draft him. And he was drawing mega money in Toronto and St. Louis and Houston and all these different places. But in a lot of other locations, wrestling. was down. It wasn't set in the world on fire in Southern California, and there was no wrestling in Madison Square Garden. So they were sending out passes trying to revitalize what was going on out there. And then by the time TV came in and Gorgeous George, then the Olympic was the place to be, and they didn't need to give discounts. But these things come and go.

All right. This next one, we'll see how in your wheelhouse it is. the big thing is for you to guess the year, I guess. I'm off on the years today for whatever reason. The opening bout, Les Thornton versus Nick Kininsky. Or Kinisky, excuse me. Kinisky. C.V. Offi, or as it says here, Siva Offi, versus Jake Roberts. Billy Jack Haynes versus Hercules Hernandez.

Adorable Adrian Adonis versus Tony Mr. USA Atlas Corporal Kirshner versus Paul Mr. Wonderful Orndorf The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkov versus Mike Rotundo and Dan Spivey A tag title match

One Fall, one hour time limit Dynamite Kid and Davy Boy Smith, the champions, versus J.J. Funk and Hos Funk, the challengers. For another championship, which I won't name. Randy Macho Man Savage, the champion, versus Pedro Morales, the challenge. Oh my God.

And finally, the main event won fall one hour time limit. King Kong Bundy and Big. John Stud versus the super machine and the giant machine. And a giant was Andre was super? Was that mulligan or was that Eady? I think it was Bill Eady.

Boy, how do you wait, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine matches. Or if you want to do it this way, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, fifteen, fifteen, fifteen, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, four stars on the card. Did you notice?

Every time you do an old show, Brian, from the 40s or 50s or maybe 60s, there's like three matches, four matches, five matches. And today there's like nine matches, 10 matches, 11 matches. The formula for paying the boys never changed. You're just cutting, instead of six slices of the pie, you've got 24. That's what happened to money in wrestling as they had to make the cards bigger. they just didn't increase the fucking percentage of the payoff. But nevertheless, this is obviously the WWF.

Nick Kineski was the son of Gene Kineski and brother of Kelly Kineski. He broke in around the time we were in Dallas. We worked with him some in world class. Jake, everybody knows who all these people are. Can't even really give me any trivia except Jimmy Jack and a hospital. were Jesse Barr and Dory Funk Jr. Because Vince didn't like the name Dory, I guess. And when Terry left to care for his sick horse the first time,

they brought Jimmy Jack in as the other brother. Can you imagine that conversation? Listen, I hate Junior. Okay, we don't have to use Junior. No, I hate Dory, too. But Haas is okay. The Savage match was the Intercontinental title because that's when Pedro was champion, right?

No, it's on Savage was champion. Was Savage champion then? All right. But nevertheless, the point is, this is the WWF, it doesn't seem like it's the garden. I don't remember the machines made of inning the garden,

but anything could have happened, but the year would have to be for all these people to be there and in those positions, wouldn't it have to be 1986? Or late 85? The day... Oh, go ahead.

I'm sorry, I'm just... Philadelphia. Man. What? The day, Monday, August 25th, 1986, Madison Square Garden... Madison Square Garden. New York, New York.

You talked yourself out of it. I talked myself out of it. I... All right. Well, nevertheless. A lot of matches, though. I mean, that's the thing. You don't see...

I mean, nowadays, it's TV tapings a long... promos obviously is a different animal altogether. But look at how many matches are on this show. And it was televised. And they were probably all still five minutes long. All right. Final program here today. This is going to be a tough one.

Uh-oh. Event number one, K.O. Ken Yates versus Danny Little Bear. The second event, Evil Eye Valentine versus Chief Crazy Horse. Oh, good Lord.

They will then be an intermission. The third event, Tito Carion versus Pancho Rosario. Gypsy, uh, Pancho Rosario also worked at one point in time as either Gypsy Rosario, and I think he may have even tried to be Gypsy Joe. And that's Bruno Sam Nartino.

Isn't it? That's right. Right. He was Bruno San Martino. Then there's Baby Blimp versus Dick Steinborn. Okay, baby blimp is George Harris, George two-ton Harris, George Bunk Harris. He wrestled as the baby blimp because he was childhood friends with Roy Welch and Buddy Fuller and, well, with Buddy Fuller, and Roy Welch was already an adult. But he was friends with the Fuller and Welch family, and he broke in as a wrestler, and he was a wrestler. And he looked like a littler version of Martin the blimp levy.

He was like 600 pounds. So he worked as the baby blimp. And then became a manager, George two tonne Harris. But all the boys called him bunk because of his stories he used to tell. And he ended up being one of the maintenance guys, along with Clondack Bill for Crockett promotions. And briefly, before he finally retired, I think 1990, worked for TBS. So he went all the way from outlaws with the fucking Fuller family in the 40s to working for Turner Broadcasting.

And who do you wrestle, baby Blimp? Baby Blimp versus Dick Steinborn. Steinborn. He's back again. Okay. Ray Gunkel versus Wildman Weba. Okay. Ray Gunkel obviously was the husband of Ann Gunkel, and Ray Gunkel was an NCAA champion wrestler that became the top baby face in Georgia and own part of the promotion. And when he had the heart attack and died, and they tried to split the company,

and that's what led to the Georgia wrestling war, Jim Weeba, Scandor Akbar. Oh, Jimmy Weeba. Wildman Weba. Wildman Weba. The Butcher versus Greg Peterson. There's not a picture here, so I can't help you with if it's Paul Vashon or someone else.

Another intermission. And then finally, tag team match, main event of the evening, two different sets of titles, I don't know if it's a giveaway or not. What the fuck? European champions versus southern champions.

Both titles are at stake. The Infernos, managed by J.C. Dykes, the European champions versus Enrique and Alberto, the Torres brothers. Torres brothers. The southern champions. Okay.

Well, you said this would be hard. Actually, this one's easier than that other fucking fiasco. You gave me Danny Little Bear. He was just on the card at that point, but Danny Little Bear was big in the central states. This is not there. Kansas City area for a long time. I mean, he did a lot of work in Tennessee in the 70s. He also went to, he lived in Western Kentucky for a while and went to jail for some type of improprieties.

I think carrying things around, he wasn't supposed to have. Tito Carion was an old-timer, as was Pancho Rosario, the baby Blimp and Steinborn, we talked about, Ray Gunkel and Weba we talked about. Greg Peterson was a baby face in a variety of the southern territories. especially over in Mobile, Alabama and Southern Alabama, the butcher, I think, was Paul Vashon rather than Abdullah the butcher, because we are in Georgia, and it is the late 1960s, I believe, possibly early 70s.

I haven't narrowed that down yet. The infernos were Frankie Cain, and I believe his partner at that time would have been Rocky Smith. J.C. Dykes was their longtime manager. he was from down around Chattanooga, Tennessee and managed all over the south for a long time. The Inferno Frankie Cain had the loaded boot and they also threw fire.

And the Torres brothers, which two of the three were these? This was Alberto and Enrique. That is correct. And there were three Torres brothers, but again, they were two of the biggest baby faces in the Georgia territory, in the late 60s and early 70s as Hispanic talent, but they just,

they caught on. And Enrique had been a major star on the West Coast, you know, over 10 years earlier. Well, you expect that because California has a Hispanic population, but in those days in Atlanta, that was like, wow.

So it is Atlanta, and I bet you it's the city auditorium, and the only thing I'm looking for is the year, and I'm going to just pluck something out of the fucking air and say, 1968. Oh man. Again, you give me that.

Atlanta's wrestling program, the ringsider. On the cover, Atlanta's favorite son, Ray Gunkel. 25 cents. Friday, July 8th, 1966. Ah! Well, there you go. God damn, I'm good on the places. I'm fucking up on the dates this time.

Program subject to change. We reserve the right to change the order of events. The promoter is not responsible. of contestant failed to appear in the ring due to conditions beyond our control, such as injuries, illness, accidents, etc. When possible substitute matches... When possible...

There's no comma. When possible, substitute matches will be made. The law forbids throwing objects into the ring. Do you like to have someone throw things at you? We're sure you don't. That's why we ask you not to throw anything into the ring or at the wrestler. throwing objects at a wrestler also is a violation of the city ordinance,

and anyone caught is subject to arrest, fine, and imprisonment. No, that used to be in a ton of programs because people, we talked about this other day on one of the shows, people would bean the heels with anything they could get a hold of or get their hands on. That's why they quit selling glass bottles in arenas, but anything that was in a woman's purse or a guy's pocket or what they could pick up or wad up, It was, you know, there's an issue. On the back cover, we also have an ad.

There's lots of ads for local motel. There's at the Atlanta sports arena, there's dancing and all. Was the varsity advertising back then with the rest? I don't see that. Refrigeration mechanic by Atlantic fixture and sales company. The varsity is the largest fast food place in the state of Georgia. Maybe it's a giant thing, a huge parking lot, drive-in burgers, dogs, that type of thing.

We have a nice photo here of Fred Blassie. It says, Fred Blassie says, by all means, come and see me at all me. I screwed it up. By all means, come see me at Al means for, you can't say this. Fred Blassie says, by all means, come see me at Al means Ford City. 1665 Scott Boulevard Decatur Georgia Get the Blassie deal

on a new 66 Ford car or truck or good used car No other dealer can beat my deal They wouldn't dare And he was working there He was a salesman there Blassie had had kidney issues And had a kidney removed

And retired From wrestling for what was it a year? and a half maybe that period of time it was living in Georgia and taking advantage of his celebrity because he had been a huge draw there as a baby face and a huge. Speaking of guest the program and all that other stuff, before we go today, we did guess the program the other day and I got the place right on numerous of them, but I missed every single year and I have asked you for a rematch. I want to go two out of three here. here to see if today I can get two out of three years correct on these fucking things.

And I guess now you're to further fuck with me, you're probably going to give me some kind of really exotic, unheard of off brand kind of stuff. But I'm going to try this here today. I don't think today will be easy for you, my friend. I think today's going to be a rough one. Of course, guess the program. I go through programs in my collection and I quiz Jim on them. He guesses to the best of his ability.

the territory, the building, the location, the date, the timekeeper, and the ring announcer. Jim, this- Joe McHugh! Jim, this first one here. The opening bout, Dandy Donovan versus Pretty Paterson. Okay, that would be Dandy Jack Donovan and Pretty Paterson. An interesting opening match between what I assume for... from the time period of this would be two heels mostly, but we will see what happened. Go ahead.

The second preliminary, and by the way, both matches in the preliminaries, one fall, 15-minute time limit, Stan Stasiak versus Patty Barrett. We have a special tag team event, two out of three falls, 45-minute time limit, Bob Boyer and Chief White Wolf. versus Louis Toulay and Gene Telet, or Telet, depending on how you like to pronounce it. Everyone has a different way.

Gene, Jean-Tolette. That's interesting. A special event, one fall to a finish, no TV. Baby Cheryl versus Doll Page. No TV on that one is going to be too wild, folks. right, go ahead. And finally, the main event, two out of three falls, 90-minute time limit for the world's heavyweight championship, Lewis Fez, the world's champion versus Dr. Big Bill Miller.

Boy, howdy. Okay, where do we start here? I warn you, this is going to be a tough one. Dandy Jack Donovan was a southern, bleached blonde southern heel. At one point, his wife, Vern Bottoms. That's right. She had one. Was his manager.

She wrestled too. She wrestled too. Danny Jack Donovan was the one that got in the shoot fight with Tojo in Louisville, and they beat him up in the Jerry, Jarrett, Jackie Fargo, and Tojo beat him up in the TV studio in Nashville the next day before they, well, they didn't have to fire him. He left the territory. but in the opening match against Paterson,

Donovan was, you know, not always used as a major star, but this would be early in Pat's career, and pretty Paterson was one of his very early gimmicks. Stan Stajak at this time would have been an early, early in his career journeyman type of heel. He would later on be the transitional champion for the WWWF in between Pedro and Bruno. He's wrestling Patty Barrett is Irish Pat Barrett,

who had runs in a variety of places, was a tag team champion in the WWWF, but was big for Leroy McGurk as a single in the 70s. Louis Tillett was obviously, behind the scenes, he was known as a great, Booker for some of the southern territories. He was a wrestler. Also, Gene Tollett, is this one of those rocket flash Monroe type of things?

Would that have been Gene Dundee? There's a picture of him here, but I don't know, so I can't comment one way or the other. I don't know who Gene Tillett would have been. Chief White Wolf are, you know, this puts it in the 60s anyway, or for reasons of the main event that we're going to talk about. And Bob Boyer would later on become Bobby Bold Eagle and have a Indian gimmick, but he was Italian as Bob Boyer. The no TV match, baby Cheryl and Doll Page, they're female midgets.

Baby Cheryl and Honey Girl Page was her name in the 70s, but I think Doll Page was her first working name and obviously two out of three falls 90 minutes for the world heavyweight title, Thess versus Dr. Big Bill Miller, that puts this in between 1963 and 1966 because of Thess's last NWA world title reign and Bill Miller was a big, no pun intended, a big name in the Midwest, Ohio, Michigan, sometimes toward the northeast at that point in time and was a world title contender. And he was a doctor because he was a licensed veterinarian.

And he was from Columbus, Ohio. And God damn it. At first I was thinking, well, Paterson early territories, where would he and Donovan have been? The Indians and the Indians and Beans, and Bill Miller makes me think it might be Ohio, and it wouldn't be out of the way for Thess to be defending there, but at the same time, I don't remember Patterson or Donovan.

Or is it Pittsburgh? Or am I way off? Could it be? It wouldn't be Indianapolis. Oh, God damn it. Columbus, Ohio, 1965. The date, Monday evening, October 14th, 1963, the Northside Coliseum, Fort Worth, Texas.

Fort Worth, Texas. Son of a bitch. Paterson in the opening match in the Texas territory in 1963. I'll read you what it says about that match in a moment, but considering what he thought of things, what do you think Luthaz thought about having his match of Dr. Big Bill Miller right after the one-fall... Right after the O-TV women's midget match.

Female midgets, yeah. Probably was not one of his nights he'd like to remember. So Honeygirl, Paige, I saw her 12 years later. She looked like just a young thing. But I'd love to know who Jean Telet was at that point. But yeah, okay. So I fuck the, I'm trying to get the years right, at least before I was getting the locations, I got both of these wrong.

All right. Dandy Jack faces Pretty Patterson. In the second of two preliminary bouts next Monday night at the Northside Coliseum, Dandy Jack Donovan will take a fling at Pretty Paterson, and this one should be a dandy. Pretty Pat is after prestige, and he figures that a good way to get it is to defeat the likes of Donovan. The dainty Boston Grappler with the Mink Jack. the dark glasses and the beret, not to mention the long cigarette holder, is a lot tougher than he appears. To be when adorned with all the trappings of a, and then it says a question mark in parentheses, dandy.

But pretty pet may also find out that dandy jack is tougher than he expects. The odds are he will find Donovan plenty rough. So there we go. Texas. This next one, Jim, should I be easy on you? Oh, now, you don't have to, once again, you don't have to just torture me, but you don't have to give me a give me either. The opening contest

one fall, 15 minute time limit. Vic Christie versus George Hagen. Lord. The second contest, one fall 15 minute time limit, Pete Shoe versus Glenn Wade. And by the way, There's an old time where I've been seeing his name more often. And his last name was at you.

So his middle, his, his nickname was Sneeze. Walter Sneeze at you. The next contest, one fall 30 minute time limit. Sammy Stein versus Teddy Tiny Roebuck. The next contest, best two out of three falls. Gus Sonnenberg versus Hal Rumburg. And finally, the final contest, best two out of three falls, Jim Browning versus Ed Strangler Lewis.

You son of a bitch. All right, well, Vic Christie was brothers with Ted Christie, the Christie brothers, and their heyday was probably late 40s, 50s, but this was earlier than that. I have no idea who the second match was. Sam Stein and Tiny Roebuck, again, old timers. Gus Sonnenberg was the fucking world champion in what? 1937?

No, it was before that. He was involved in one of the double crosses. I have no idea who his opponent was. And Jim Browning and Ed Lewis, again, two of the top stars of the 30s, well, Strangler Lewis, one of the top stars of all time. But when you've said Vic Christie,

my first thought was to go to California because they were, both brothers worked out there quite a bit and were over, but that was in the 40s, and this can't be that late. With Browning, Sonnenberg, and Lewis on the card, again, there's no way to determine of with any certainty a location here.

So I'm going to say somewhere in the and oh god damn it could are you fucking with me could this be one of the later New York shows before they left the garden or is this

1999 in California Any place, it's a big state, any place in, uh, specific? Well, God is not as, it wasn't as big back then. Um, the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. All right, well, the location, the Olympic auditorium. Son of a bitch. Lou Darrow presents wrestling.

John J. Carnation, that's carnation Lou Darrow to you. John J. Doyle, Leasey. And here is, uh, Yeah, this is from the Olympic and what's interesting. I just added this to my collection. It came, it's a card that was folded up, and it was in an envelope.

It's a post-dated Beverly Hills, California, June 8, 1933, 3 p.m. To someone named Harry Heidel, and it's a letter from his friend. He does not attach a name. But at the very end here, went to a wrestling show last night with a bunch. You should see the crowd, over 10,000 people were there.

Show the enclosed program to Irvin. So I got the place again and I was still way off on the year, but 10,000 people in the Olympic Auditorium in the middle of the Great Depression. Well, again, as reported by Harry or Harry's friend to tell to Irving, so I don't know. Well, but God damn it, it wasn't 2000. All right. You're ready for this next one?

I guess. You're doing good. Yeah, you're doing good. The first bout. Wayne Martin versus Billy Rayburn a special added attraction Tuffy Truesdale

Oh, by the way, this is one fall, no time limit. Tuffy Trusdale versus a 388-pound alligator. Ha ha ha. A tag team bout? Wild Bill Longson and Ali Pasha versus Ray Eckert

and Frank Taylor two out of three falls, 90-minute time limit. And finally, the other half of the double main event, two out of three falls, 90-minute time limit. Angelo Savaldi versus Johnny Balbo. All right. Wayne Martin, I remember that name for some reason, and that's about it.

Tuffy Truesdale, wrestling the alligator. That was his, that Tuffy Trewsdale was a wrestler that worked preliminaries in a variety of places. for years, but he trained bears and alligators. And he either at various points had a wrestling alligator or a wrestling bear. Wild Bill Longson and Ray Eckert being in the tag team match puts us definitely, I think, in the 1940s. And did this come from the Ray Eckert estate collection?

I've got some programs that he had and then a mutual friend of ours, I won't mention his name. sent me a couple of scrapbooks that he made of clippings and etc but there's a lot of stuff going around from ray ecorts collection old memphis programs of which i'm wondering if this might be one of them because they didn't have wrestling alligators in st louis um ali pasha i didn't tell me much and angelo savoli and johnny balbo bow bow should tell me something but i'm slipping in my old age. God damn it.

Would this be... Would this be in 1952 somewhere in Oklahoma or Missouri? The date Monday night, April 16th, 1951. Memphis, Tennessee. You had it.

Memphis, son of a bitch. I should have known. I should have known to go with my first thought, but I'm like, no, it doesn't seem like a Memphis card, but this was early in the 50s before the Nashville booking office took over, and talent mostly came out of the St. Louis office besides the Alligators. That's right. All right.

Give me a moment. I didn't get two out of three, but can I get one? Well, I'll give you one more. I'm trying to, uh, I got a stack of programs here. I'm trying to find the right one. Trying to make me either look worse than I already do or not look as bad as I have been. No, I'm trying to make you look good. I want you to look good.

This is your show. This is your show. Don't forget that. Yeah, yeah, I put all the blame on me. Hold on. I think it may be over here. There we go. All right, this is an interesting card.

This is a flyer for the card. This is not the actual program. All right. The opening bout, Mr. Wrestling 2 versus Les Thornton. Ooh. About two, Tiger Conway Jr. versus Playboy Buddy Rose. Ivan Putzky versus Terry Gibbs. In a ladies match, Wendy Richter versus Judy Martin.

For a title I won't name, Greg Valentine versus Tito Santana. And the main event, Andre the John. and Black Jack Mulligan versus Big John Stud and Ken Patera. All righty. So I guess I can't complain because this is not as obscure as the stuff from back in the Stone Age,

but this is obviously a WWF event and it's obviously right after the expansion started. Wrestling 2 was, there briefly, as was Les Thornton, when Vince, after Black Saturday, he absorbed the Georgia office. There are two of the only guys that went. Tiger Conway Jr.,

I didn't remember him being there and Buddy Rose not at that period of time. So I'm wondering if that has something to do with them potentially living in the area. Putzky and Terry Gibbs, Terry Gibbs was God damn. He had a thing going on at one point with he was a military man. What was the deal going on there?

I don't know. Terry Gibbs was one of the privates for slaughter, wasn't he? Terry Daniels? You're not going to give me anything, huh? Terry Daniels, what you're talking about? Terry Daniels, not Terry Gibbs. I'm sorry, okay, different guy. Wendy Richter and Judy Martin, Greg Valentine and Tito would be for the Intercontinental Tiles. title and Andre and Blackjack Stud and Petera so it's a WWF show it has to be either

1984 or 1985 and with Andre and blackjack stud and patera could this with wrestling two and Thornton on the show would it be in the Omni because he was trying to appeal to some of those fans with Tiger Conway I'm wondering is it Dallas or with Buddy Rose is it Portland. Let's go with the Omni in Atlanta, and it's very late in 1984. Ooh, I'm going to give you that one, December 8th. Excuse me, December, I can't even say it. Friday, December 28th, 1984.

Aha! The World Wrestling Federation makes its debut in the Big D, State Fair Coliseum, Dallas, Texas. all right what do you think of this show being the WWF debut in Dallas well it appears to me that they just had to fill a place in betwixt and between and knew that they weren't going to do that well because they didn't do that well in their initial forays into the world-class territory the mid-south territory or Tennessee or the Carolinas. They did do well in Louisville, surprisingly, but not in Memphis. Well, I have here, this is part of the, this is almost like a split from the files. This is part of the Eloise Mascara file.

Is that how you pronounce her last name? Moskoro. Moskoro, excuse me. She was going back to the, well, I don't know how long she went back with Dallas wrestling, but in the 70s, she was the biggest Von Erick fan in the world and was still a lady in her 60s at that point. The WWF made it to Dallas finally last Friday, the 28th of December, holding their matches at the State Fair of Texas Coliseum

where the horse shows are held. In the write-up on Saturday the 29th, the Dallas Morning News, it stated about 2,000 watched the WWS first program. Seven events were listed. The main event, Andre the Giant and Blackjack Mulligan defeated Ken Paterra and Bobby Heenan. In the TV announcements from WWF prior to the date, it was announced that John Studd and Paterra would meet Andre and Mulligan. Also, women's champion Wendy Richter would meet Judy Martin for the title,

but the paper listed fabulous mula pinned Judy Martin. Greg Valentine won versus Tito Santana by DQ because Santana slugged the referee. The write-up also mentioned Johnny Valentine attended to watch his son. Greg. I only know of one family that are regulars at the Sportatorium who attended. They promised to bring me a program if they had them to sell. The WWF show that I watched Saturday said they would be coming back to Dallas on Thursday the 17th of January. Our crowd Friday night was near a full house and the weather was far from good. Excuse me. She writes in a cursive here. not cold, but rainy and muddy.

We do need some sunshine very badly. There is no way I can manage going to watch wrestling cards from a financial standpoint. Wait, there's no, is that what she said? There is no way I can manage going to watch wrestling cards from a financial standpoint. I still miss going to Fort Worth. I don't know what the next word. I still miss going to Fort Worth Monday night for the card, but I must have within my income.

Again, I may be missing. Yeah, and she was an older lady at this point, but I think she always went to the matches in Fort Worth on Monday nights. That was her regular thing. And then she obviously would go to the Sportatorium in the heyday, but I think as she retired and got older, she had to watch out the money she was spending the trip she was making.

But now, here's the thing. This was December, what, 28th, 1984? That's exactly right. Do you know another reason why they only had 2,000 people? That was three days after the Star Wars Christmas Night Reunion Arena show. I have that right here. That was our debut in Dallas. We did $188,000 and 18,000 people.

I have right here the full-page newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, Wednesday, December 26, 1984. On the front here is Star Wars. Flair keeps world title on DQ. When is a winner? Not a winner. Carrie Von Erick knows. Tuesday night at Reunion Arena. In the Star Wars, Von Erick defeated world champion Rick Flair. But Flair, the 33-Erae world champion of the National Wrestling Alliance is still the champion. However, NWA officials in attendance said Flair has abused the disqualification

rule and that Von Erick will get another shot at the title. The match will take place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the next two weeks and the disqualification rule will be waived. Flair has a move to counter any wrestling hold 18 minutes and 20 seconds into the title match, he came up with a bute for the Iron Claw, a hole that has made the Von Erick wrestling clan successful.

Flair, his forehead bloodied, threw Von Erick over the top rope, while Von Erick had the claw on Flair's skull. The result was a disqualification, which ensures the champion will remain the champion. The World Belt cannot exchange hands on a disqualification. Here's a quote from Kerry von Erick.

I felt ready to go, and I was strong out there tonight. When I took that spill over the ropes, it really hurt. It was an uncoordinated type of fall that I couldn't break with my hands. I'm just glad I'm going to get another shot at the title. That's for sure. I've only known the NWA to waive the disqualification rule on two instances in a world match. That's what it says in a world match. the first was when I won the title

and this will be the second the outcome was an especially bitter pill for Von Eric to swallow Von Eric had been Oh God, that's a bad job Oh my God Oh Von Eric had pin flare

for the required three count but referee David Manning hadn't noticed Flair's leg on the top of the rope until after the count The match already 14 minutes long continued. Here's more from Kerry. There's a mental letdown after that occurs.

When you hear that three count on the mat, the first thing you do is check to see if everything is okay. I didn't see his foot on the rope until after the third count. I guess we'll find out on the videotape. One minute later, Von Erick applied the claw for the first time. Flair hurled Von Erick into the turnbuckle. However, three minutes later, Vinerick came back with the claw

before Flair disqualified himself. Linerk dominated the first eight minutes of the match before Flair seized an opportunity on the ropes. The battle went back and forth from there with each wrestler gaining three two counts on pin attempts. This is amazing the way the newspaper is writing about this fucking match. Yeah, well, they gave them the details

and they went with it, because wrestling was so over at that point. But think about this. Also, what I popped when they said the WWF was coming back on January 17th. This is a town. Fritz was running Dallas at the Sportatorium every Friday night, seated 5,000 people, and in that era, we were filling it up more often than not.

And then every Monday night in Fort Worth at the Will Rogers Coliseum, plus the Thanksgiving Star Wars at Reefs. Reunion Arena, the Christmas Star Wars at Reunion Arena, and the end of January 1985 was going to be the special show at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, which was another 10,000,000 seat building. And the WWS trying to come in and run the Fair Park Coliseum and getting two, no wonder they couldn't draw. World class was still hot, and they were all over the fucking market.

Let me finish up. So, yeah, go ahead. This article here from the paper, by the way, this is by Stan Hoveter Jr., photos by William Snyder. In another main event, Kevin Von Erick came off the mat twice, once after a pile driver, defeating gentleman Chris Adams in a lumberjack match, in which other wrestlers on the car gathered around the ring, making sure neither wrestler left the ring. Von Erick, who had split with Adams in two previous matches, was pinned twice for a two-count, before bucking his way out of Adams' pin.

Following the pile driver, which had Adams turning Von Erick upside down and dropping him on his head, Adams paraded around the ring before going to the turnbuckle. Adams' attempt to jump off the turnbuckle was thwarted when Von Erich dashed off the mat grabbed Adams and threw him onto the rope, into the rope, excuse me. Both men fell to the floor, and Vonera covered Adams for the pinfall at the five-minute mark. Here's a quote from Kevin. Hey, don't sell old Kev short. I shouldn't do the voice.

Don't sell old Kev short. It didn't hurt me that bad. He held me in the air too long, and I shifted my weight to make the impact a glancing blow. That's a hell of a way to describe not getting killed by a pile driver. But man, that kind of coverage. And by the way, I guess I'll read the results real quick because you're on it. Jose Lothario defeated El Diablo, Rip Oliver, defeated Iceman King Parsons. Kelly Kineski defeated Buck Zumhoff.

Mike Von Erick and Billy Jack. Defeated Gino Hernandez and Jake the Snake. For the American Tag Team Championship, the Fantastics. Defeated the Midnight Express. 13 minutes, 10 seconds. Lumberjack match. Kevin defeated Chris Adams, five minutes, five-minute lumberjack match. And finally for the NWA world title, Kerry Von Erick defeated at Rick Flair via disqualification.

And there you have it. And have you had enough yet? Oh, I mean, you're doing so well. I have more programs here if you want to keep it. That's all right. I think I've been drubbed enough for one day. I got one here with a Lincoln in it, I think. Well, just make sure it was at Ford's Theater.

I know how that one came out. I know the finish. All right, we're going to move on now. Yes. Did the fun and jolly. Damn, give me some warning. It did a fun jolly part of the show. Uh, Jim, I'm going to give you a choice here.

We could do a review, whatever it is that you watched, and get that out of the way, or we could start with guest the program instead of ending with guest the program. Oh, let's start with guest the program. Hold on. Just because I know the people wanted, the people want to change a pace. before we go to the to the trauma that was

Kansas City, the trauma, okay. The trauma that was Kansas City because remember I've always made jokes about yeah, you know, Kansas City was like the monogram

pictures of the territories. You don't want to go to Kansas City, ah, Kansas City, that type of thing. But they had 11,000 people in Kansas City. Or Monday Night Raw, I'm just going to make that comment. and Kansas City has grown up.

It's a big money town now, but all those years they had actual wrestling matches. They wouldn't show up. But now that they will come out and speak to you, for half, I have set through fucking school teachers giving goddamn speeches about lessons. I don't know what I'm trying to say there. I haven't been in school this long.

I've heard teachers drone, on professors giving lectures. Lectures was the word that I was trying to use that didn't take as long as these fucking wrestling promos. Did I make that clear? Well, as we were saying, guess the program is a game. Yeah. We go through programs.

People play. We go through programs in my collection. And Jim guesses all the important details of the program. Well, hold on now. Now you're overstating the case. I'm going to try to get the year and the town, but... And more. I haven't been doing too good lately.

And more. Let me put this down. Here's our first one, Jim. The opening bout, one fall, 30 minutes. Oh, excuse me, one fall or 30 minutes. Tony Milano versus Frank Valois. Ooh. The next contest, one fall or 30 minutes.

Wally Dusick. versus George Lenehan. The next contest, one fall 30 minutes. Rudy Ducek versus Joe Millich. Good Lord. The next contest, one fall 30 minute time limit. Emil Ducic versus Bibber McCoy. And finally, the main event, the wind-up,

two out of three falls 90-minute time limit, Ernie Ducek versus Gino Garibaldi. Good Lord. Okay. Where do I begin? I do not have any recollection of Frank Valois's opponent in the opening match, but Frank, obviously, was one of the, I guess he would have been the first kind of handler that Andre the giant had when he came to North America, right?

That's right. It was him and then Arnold Scholland when Frank Valois and Andre had a falling out. And people, maybe the, because people have heard Tim White's stories on the Andre biography in some of those programs, but Vince, senior, well, going back to the Montreal days, that's what Valois's job was in that when they first started sending

Andre out to the United States from Montreal, he needed a veteran wrestler with him to help him because he was a giant and to know the ropes and not be bothered and at the same time it was his road guy. And Vince Sr. continued that tradition with Skolin and then later on Vince Jr. with Timmy White, whatever. Wally Ducek was not

he was not one of the original four members Ernie Emo Rudy and Joe, right? Wasn't it? Was it Ernie Emo, whatever the fuck? But Wally Ducic, I've actually met like several people on his card, I think, or at least two, because Wally Dusick was an old-timer

and he was the father of Frank Ducek. And Frank Ducic was a wrestler who also worked in the, remember the Dallas office in some of the world-class days, Captain Frank Ducke. Yeah. And Wally was his father and Wally used to live in Charlotte and come to the matches at the Charlotte Coliseum when he had to be 80 years old.

This was in 1986. And he used to tell stories about going to goddamn Alaska and working in the in the Alaskan tundra or whatever they call it up there pro wrestling in the 1920s and it was just insane but anyway and lenahan i've heard the name don't know too much about but Rudy and Emil and Ernie in single matches on this car Joe Millich i met in St. Louis when we went there for Crockett the first time because God damn, who was it now? One of the guys that had been to St. Louis

numerous times said, see that old timer over there? See, yeah, he said, he won like some ridiculous amount of millions of dollars in the goddamn lottery when it first came in somewhere. Joe Millich, and he would still come to the matches and visit with the boys, but he was like fucking 80 years old then, but was a multi-millionaire. Bibber McCoy, why do I think he was in the service? Did he have a serviceman gimmick? Was he in the service during World War II? And Gino Garibaldi helped me with the relationship. Brian, is this Leo's brother or father?

Father. Father. I thought that because he would be too old. because this is the 1940s. And because of all the Ducs, I would want to say California, and I don't know where Joe Millich may. He settled in St. Louis,

but he could have moved there with his millions. And Garibaldi, it's in California. It's the Olympic auditorium, just because you're going to throw another one of those in on me. And I'm probably way off because it's going to end up being in New Jersey. but 1946. Oh.

Wow. Monday, March 4th, 1946, 8.40 p.m. And this is at the Camden Convention Hall, Camden, New Jersey. You son of a bitch. You said it. You said what was going to happen and then you made it happen. I made it. Do you, well, do you know?

do you know that I have a program as a matter of fact it may be a good this could have come from big Andy Varga your program because I have one of them in New Jersey I don't know is Atlantic City or Camden it's on the wall and the vault and I can't look around there now with two do six autograph plus Sam menaker oh wow and is and that was but Son of a big. This one, it just says really big. Four Ducyx. And I'll read you just a little bit of the cover here. Hail, hail, the gang's all here, the gang of grappling Dusix, four of them. Ernie, Emil, Rudy, and Wally, their Rasselans riot squad, you know. And customers cramming into Camden Convention Hall come Monday night

may expect to make out with no end of wows watching the, wallopers of pull and tug parade. Excuse me, on pull and tug for, I don't know how I would call it that anymore. The pull and tug parade. All right. Box office flaggers around and about. What?

Wait a minute, what kind of box office? What? Oh, excuse me, figures. F-I-G-G-E-R-S. I thought it was. Figure, that's an old-fashioned sports writer's, abbreviation for figures. Box office figures around and about

the grappling globe prove indurability. All right, well this is Camden, New Jersey. We're going to get to the cornbread hymn spot later on, folks. You came so close to that. That was incredibly impressive. Let's go to this next one here. The opening contest,

one fall 20 minute time limit. Pat Frealey versus Chris A special event, one fall 30 minute time limit. Patty Neff, 135 Rome, Ohio, versus Lana Lamar, 145, Silver Hill, Kentucky. Where's that? I have no, I've never heard of that town in my life. The semi-wind-up, best of three falls, 45-minute time limit, Lou, Soberg, I'm assuming, S-J-O-B-E-R-G.

Okay. Versus Adrian Belargeron. Belerian. I get it wrong every time. Another special event, one fall 30-minute time limit. It better be. Ruth Boat-Calley. Oh, good Lord.

140 out of Brian, Texas, versus Ethel Brown, 135, Columbus, Ohio. and the main event, best of three falls, one hour time limit. Doug Hepburn versus Fritz von Erich, 250 Milwaukee. Milwaukee? That's what it says here. Fritz von Erich, 250 pounds Milwaukee. I've heard Fritz being billed from Dallas, and I've heard he being built from Germany, but I never heard Milwaukee.

Okay. Pat Frey Lee, Journey. of the 50s of which this is. Chris Tolos, the brother of John Tolos, the Tolos brothers were a great tag team before John had to run as a single, and that's some clue

as to the location of this, because Tolos, the brothers were based in Ontario at that point. Patty Neff and Lana Turner, I've known. Lano, that had to be, That had to be two local girls because they've got girls on the show later that you've heard of. But these, so these couldn't have been, you know, from, well, depending on whether it be the Mildred Burke, Billy Wolf, early Mullah contingent, depending on the exact year of this thing.

I don't know who Lou Schloberg is, but Adrian Belerzian. was a member of the Montreal Belersian brothers. They were strong men, wrestlers, weightlifters, et cetera. And that's another reason why this is going to be somewhere in Ontario and or upstate New York.

Ruth Boat-Calley was a name from the early 50s, Mildred Burke crew. And so was Ethel Brown. Doug Hepburn was that was that or was that not Brian you can tell me without cheating was that Doug Gilbert as in not Doug Gilbert

the Gilbert family from Tennessee but gas house Gilbert was that his real name or am I thinking of something else you might be right there's a picture of him here seemingly red head very powerful upper body chest and Fritz von Eric is Fritz von Erick is Fritz von Eric very early. The question is, could this even be,

what year did he actually get the Fritz von Erick because this is late 50s? And if it's, it's either going to be Ontario or the Buffalo, New York metropolitan area, 1958. The card, Saturday, July 2nd,

1995 No, that early! Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Calgary! Son of a bitch, he... Foothills Athletic Club's Stu Hart President. I should have remembered. He went to Calgary first.

And he asked about the women here. Ladies bouts, big surprise. Fast-moving lady wrestlers, two of them considered to be the best-looking girls in the acrobatic sport. had been matched in two special events at Victoria Pavilion Saturday night. The matches were made unexpectedly by the Foothills Athletic Club, which had already contracted Doug Hepburn for a main event match

when I found out the girls would be available on the same date. Rather than lose the chance entirely to bring the four glamour athletes to the city, President Stuhart wired immediate confirmation of the date even though he was already out on a financial limb with Hepburn's guarantee. Of the four, Lana Lamar has been rated by professional talent scouts as a natural in any major beauty contest. What does that mean? Oh, good Lord. She's been rated by talent scouts.

She is a natural in any beauty contest. And not far behind her is Patty Neff, 19-year-old glamour girl for her. Rome, Ohio, who will oppose Lamar in one of the two bouts. So there we go. And, you know what, no, Doug Gilbert's real name was Doug Lindsay. That's right. That's right. So Doug Hepburn, I think, is a different guy.

And... Doug Hepburn, the Canadian Strongman Sensation at the 1954 British Empire Games, is already well known to Calgarians. Calgarians? Yes. One of those for the spectacular feats of strength he has performed in the Calgary Ring.

Now he makes his local debut as a wrestler. For many fans, however, it won't be the first time they've seen the massive Hepburn in action on the mat. He has been a regular performer on TV programs brought to Calgary from Toronto where he has been grappling under the personal supervision

of Whipper Billy Watson. So there you go. That's a pretty big endorsement for 195 or Billy Watson's protege. Well, and you know what? Also, we have, both you and I have programs from 1953 and early 54 from Dallas Sportatorium Fair Park Arena with Jack Adkison. Still on the card there. A year later, he's main eventing in Calgary.

So that happened quick. That's what I've said about. that. I'm grabbing another one. By the way, that first program with the Ducek's ticket prices, let me just, before I put this away, $1.90, $1.35, $1.10, and $85, available at the Adam Hat Store in Philadelphia. Okay. Now, look here.

Is that a suburb of where the Camden would be out from how far from Philly? It's more Philly than New Jersey, yeah. You could say it's Philly. The ticket prices, because we've been talking about. this. We just read a letter on the last show we did some Los Angeles research. The tickets in 1946 at the Olympic Auditorium were like 50 cents apiece, and they were struggling. Business was down. And I mentioned, Jesus Christ, they were charging more money in Nashville, Tennessee to get into matches in 1946, and they were in Los Angeles, California. And here Camden, New York, and here Camden, New York,

Jersey, $1.90 is the highest price we've heard yet for Ringside for 1946 between Nashville and Los Angeles. Camden, it must have been a rich city back in those days. Well, Jim, let's go to our next program here. The opening contest, the Demon versus Darrell Cochran. The next bout Akai Yoshihara versus Jerry Oates You do and you'll clean it up The next contest Tarot Kabayoshi

versus Big Jim Wilson Billy Spears versus Sputnik Monroe Good Lord There will be a 10-minute intermission Buddy Colt versus Bob Orton Jr. Colt has been hired by J.C. Dykes

to get back the Inferno's boot taken by Orton Jr. He took the Clubfoot Inferno's boot? Huh, interesting. Non-title match, The Infernos with J.C. Dykes versus Rick Gibson and Tom Jones.

Next, we have a six-man tag team bout. Jesus Christ, an All-Star card. Butcher Vashan and Stan Vashon and Bobby Dunkham versus Ramon Torres, Bob Armstrong, and Mr. 2 wrestling is the way it says it here. There'll be a five-minute intermission. Wait a minute. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I miss somebody. You got you got Mad Dog Voucher, mad dog, butcher. Mad Dog Voucher. Mad Dog Voucher and Stan Vashon and Bobby Duncan. against no mad dog who no man it was butchers oh vishan stan vashan and bobby dungum okay i'm sorry i'm sorry i thought okay but okay very good i guess torre is bullet and wrestling too after the

five minute intermission the main event a two ring over the top rope battle royal five thousand dollar purse and a trophy to the winner oh well jesus mary and joseph if that If that ain't the Omni, but it seems early for the Omni, but maybe not the Open the Omni, so it's almost, well, first of all, let's go down the cast of characters. Darryl Cochran, he was a longtime Georgia, Alabama talent, but didn't he marry, he, marry somebody in Fred Ward's family, his daughter?

Leon Ogle married the other one. He was involved some kind of way, I thought. Jim Wilson obviously is a famous name for all the infamous reasons in the wrestling business. And that's why this, I was at one point going to lean to the Mobile territory, but this can't be anywhere but Georgia because of these names. but Jim Wilson, that puts the window at really 71 to 74 already. Jerry Oates being on the card, again, indicates more Georgia, unless Fred Ward went out of his mind and opened up a baseball stadium for this show, Billy Spears was the mad magician, Bleached blonde guy,

and that was his gimmick. He could produce foreign objects from any place. and, you know, even if the referee searched him and he served as a manager for a while, Sputnik Monroe was way famous, everybody knows. As they know Bob Orton Jr., who was close to being a rookie on this card and was working with Buddy Colt, who was an established heel and one of the top heels in a state of Georgia,

or a state of Florida, rather. The Infernos, this club, foot was Frankie Cain, he had the loaded boot. And it was this, was this him and Curtis Smith, probably? Or, well, nevertheless, yeah, I don't want you to cheat or anything. Ricky Gibson was Robert Gibson's older brother, and this, I think, would have been his first main event run in Georgia.

It almost had to be, because he had really gotten over in Alabama, in 71, 72-ish. Tom Jones, babyface, the Vichans had a run in Georgia for quite some time, even in the 60s. Ramon Torres, Bullet Bob Armstrong, wrestling two dates it also. This has got to be in the Omnia in 1973.

God damn it. The program, Jim, August 24th, 1973. The Atlanta City Auditorium. Oh, son of a bitch. The first annual NWA two ring over the top rope Battle Royal. They put this card in, no wonder! No wonder they were losing money. They put that card in the city auditorium.

That's one, two, three, but that's a lot of guys. well all right i got the town and i got the year i didn't get to building here it has the updated 1973 n wa official wrestling rules sanctioned by the nwa major rule change the count on the floor is no longer 20 but has been changed to a 10 count the rule went into effect august 11th 1973 no hair pulling eye gouging strangle holes or biting that is what it says there. No pulling of trunks, masks, or other equipment. No straight punches or kicks with the point of toe.

Note, contestants who repeatedly violate any of the above rules will be disqualified. The following violations are automatic disqualifications. Throwing opponent over top rope. Karate a referee. Karate thrust to throat. I was going to try to do them off the top of my head. Okay. Karate thrust to the throat, throwing a man over the top rope.

Two. Attacking the referee. Was running the man into a ring post? Were they doing that then there? Hold on. I don't see that one, no. And also the pile driver. The pile driver hold is, once again, automatic disqualification.

Failing to break an illegal hold before the referee's five count. Well, everybody knows that. Any low blow, or any blow administered to opponent with a jump off the top rope. That's in cap. Ah. There you go. Because this was an NWA territory,

and until I think they started, what, in the late 70s, you could come off the top in Georgia, right? But before that, it was like Tennessee, when if you jumped off the top rope and made

contact with your opponent, that was an automatic disqualification, if the referee saw it, which is why when they brought snooka to St. Louis, when he was the hottest baby face in the business. People wanted to see the superflies, so he did it, but they disqualified him for it. He lost the match. Well, the other automatic disqualifications here, the use of any foreign object,

any interference with the duties of a referee, you said that, continuing to abuse a defeated opponent, any interference by managers, seconds, or corner men, and now we go to the tag team save rule, automatic disqualification when one team member saves another on any shore pinning or submission combination. That's interesting. Wow. A lot of territories, they got that deep in Georgia in the rules, but they didn't necessarily always enforce it that deep, whereas like in the Tennessee territory, they didn't even, you know, bother to go that deep to begin with. but a lot of territories would have a one save rule.

I think didn't they do that in the Carolinas for a while, where you were allowed to save once, but if the second save was a disqualification, or then you couldn't save it all. Or one time, Jerry Jarrett, when he thought that I think Lawler may have been booking it, he had the managers up and, you know, interfering and all the time, and the people got disgusted tired of it.

so he instituted a rule that if a manager got out of the chair, it was an automatic disqualification. He had to sit at a chair in ringside, which severely, you know, maybe the old timers liked it, but it hampered, you know, guys like Jimmy Harderby or whatever to be in that position. But gradually,

as they reduced the manager interference and it only happened behind the referees back, then people forgot about the whole thing, and they just kind of let it go, and then they started doing it again. And then nobody can't, because they hadn't seen it for a while. So it was just, you know, different,

different areas would have slightly different tweaks on the rules. Intentional striking of referee will result in automatic disqualification and suspension. The following maneuvers are illegal. Judo chops, forearm blows, bolo punches, in-step and flat of foot kicks. The use of ropes to gain leverage.

Contestants may spring against the ropes as in tackles and other such maneuvers, providing the contact with the ropes is momentary. It is legal to continue wrestling your opponent until he is clearly entangled in the ropes and referee calls for a break. Wrestlers caution to protect themselves on the break. Championships cannot change hands when the victory is gained by disqualification. in any situation not covered by these rules, the NWA will honor the judgment and discretion

of the appointed official. And there are the official NWA rules. Georgia Championship wrestling with Gordon Soling and Les Thatcher in Atlanta, WTCG 17, Saturday 6 to 7, Augusta, WRDW, Channel 12, from 2 to 3 on Saturday, Savannah, WJCL, 22. They're on Saturdays from 230 to 3.30 and also in Savannah on WTDC 11, Saturday 11 to midnight.

That's in the middle of the wrestling war, so that's all their TV stations. And that's interesting that they didn't give, because Fred Ward at that time was technically a satellite territory, wasn't Columbus, Georgia, Macon, Georgia, and some of those spot shows. They worked together with the Atlanta office, but Fred Ward owned those towns. So it seemed like they would have enough of a working relationship. They would have plugged Columbus and Macon and Phoenix City or whatever the fuck Fred

was doing down there then. But hmm. Because he even had his own TV show. They did. A lot of times guys would, they would rush from the TVS studios in Atlanta in a 70s down to Columbus and do a fucking studio show in Columbus and then have the, house show that night. And the rumor has always been

that those master tapes actually do survive, right? I heard for a while they were in, I think Fred's daughter's name was Rose and she married Leon Ogle and they had them in their garage somewhere. I don't know what the fuck at this point. But it would be nice if they surfaced while we were still alive. They wouldn't be worth, you know, the Star Wars franchise, but it would be interesting.

All right, one more program here, Jim. The opening contest, Tito Copa versus Benny Ramirez. Ronnie Paul versus Killer Cox. Danny Little Bear versus Rock Hunter. Roger Nature Boy Kirby versus Steve Bolus in a non-title match. And the main event, for a tag title I won't name, the champions, handsome Harley Race, and Baron von Roshka

versus Rufus R. Jones and the Stomper. Well, and that would be Archie the Stomper, not Guy the Stomper, right? That is correct, although I feel like I'm giving something away by saying that. Well, no, you're not because I knew that. I'm being facetious with you.

Okay, besides Tito Copa being a famous band leader, wasn't he? I thought he was... You're thinking of Tito Puente. Ah, there you go. And the Copa come out. At the Copa, Copa, Cito. The hottest but north of Incinito.

Benji Ramirez was the mummy. Not my mummy in Smoggy Mountain, but the mummy, the other mummy. One of the original mummies. Killer Carl. Cox, everybody knows, was a classic worker and nut character

and Dick Murdoch's idol. Ron Paul, is that Ron Dupree? It's not going to make any difference either way. I don't know. There's no picture, so I'm not sure. Don't know. Danny Little Bear

is one of the more famous native... Let me just say, if we're doing that, based on the picture here, I'm not sure this is Killer of Carl Cox. Seriously. It's Killer Cox Instead of K-O-X C-O-X

Ah Well now And he has a chin-strap He has a chin-strap beard No mustache And hair Dark hair It's not killer

Okay, well let's Let's scratch that one off You Pretenda Uh Danny Little Bear Was a Native American star in the 60s and 70s,

which this is getting close in the middle there. And specifically in the central states, he was a big deal, but he worked Tennessee for quite a while. He lived in Western Kentucky back in, I think it was the late 70s, early 80s or whatever,

and I don't want to malign his character, but he spent some time in the big house over some kind of various violations of things. This was after his wrestling career was over with. Rock Hunter was a wrestler, but was more famous to the modern audience as a manager because he was on Georgia TV, etc.

Roger Nature Boy Kobe, along with Les Thatcher and Dennis Hall, the wrestling cousins group, remember from the early 70s? And obviously with Rufus R.Jones and the Stomper, against Harley Race and Baron von Rashke, this whole card is central states, whether it's, whether it's Kansas City or, you know, one of the environs is it,

where else would it be in the central states area with this number of names on the card? It's got to be Kansas City, and it almost has to be, what, 19, with Von Rashky was headed for, greater things, he would win the title, but he could have worked here at the same time as he was

working for Bruiser in Indianapolis because they didn't really have that full of a schedule in 70, 71. It was 1971 in Kansas City. The date Thursday, October 29th, 1970, Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Kansas City, Kansas. There you go. Apparently, Killer Cox here was also better known as Freddie Sweetan. Ah, Freddy Sweetan. A name you never hear when people talk about that dirtbag Bob Sweetan is

Gimic brother, Freddy Sweetan. But well, because it wasn't his fault, he was only a gimmick brother. He didn't share any of the same poisonous blood. Well, there it is. Guess the program. I'm going to call this a success for you because you came so close to saying New Jersey. And it would have been, that would have been the most impressive one for you to get. Let's, we ran along with just about every single thing we had planned to do and lots of things that just popped right up. Why don't we end with a short edition of guest to program to put you in a good mood, to put me in a good mood and put the audience more importantly in a good mood? To leave the people on an up note. All right. This one right here.

Let me find. Oh, I have the tickets. I predict. I'm going to, I'm going to win two out of three here. I predict. Of course, guess the program. I go through programs in my collection. I quiz Jim.

He guesses every single detail he can about the town, the building, the location, the wrestlers, and everything else. We're trying for the year and the town is what we're trying for. And here I have two ticket stubs. Which building are these in? These are, oh, they are here. Okay. The opening contest, Jim, one fall, 20-minute time limit.

Ramon Torres versus Fred Blassie Lord, the opening match A tag team encounter 20 minutes, one fall Enrique Torres and Enrique Romero versus Curtis Iucaa

and Kit Fox The next contest, 45 minutes 2 out of 3 falls Sandar Zabo versus the Alaskan and the main event two out of three falls two hour time limit

Lou Thes versus Edward Carpontier Shee Manelli Shelley All right At first when you mentioned a Torres and a Blassie I was thinking we were going to be

potentially in Georgia but this then Enrique Torreys Is that Enrique Romero? Is that Ricky Romero? I would have to look. I don't know. Let me see if there's a picture.

King Curtis and Kit Fis. Sandor Zabo is an old timer. But this would have been toward the end of his career. One would think that Thess and Carpontier two out of three falls with a two-hour time limit.

that would be for the NWA title one would think is that after the I know you can't answer me but the disputed decision which led to Carpontier and Thess both being recognized for a short period of time was in 1957 with Torres and Blassie in the opening match this has got to be on in Sandor Zabo this has got to be on the West Coast Well, let me just say opening match as it's listed here. They may have added matches.

I don't know. Well, yeah, but then also you've got King Curtis, who would have to be almost a rookie at this point. And what year did he start? I'm trying to remember. Or could this have been, is everybody taking a vacation to Hawaii? And he was already there. And I don't know who the Alaskan was, but I bet you it wasn't Mike or Jay York. This is either California or Hawaii from 1959.

Impressive. This is San Francisco Wrestling, the Civic Auditorium I have here ticket stubs for Section F3, Rodee, seat 6 and 7, August 16th, 1960. Ah! Missed it by that much! And this is Referee magazine. On the cover, Lucez versus Edward

Carpontier, Civic Auditorium, San Francisco Tuesday night, two hours, two out of three falls, International Champ versus N-A-W-A-Champ. So they obscured that a little bit. A little bit. Let me get another one here. Oh, this one's interesting, I guess. Let's pull this one out. Jim, the opening contest

Randy and Bill Mulkey versus Colt Steele and Jack Hart And by the way, Jack Hart was Barry Horowitz Eddie Roberts versus Mitch Snow Good Lord A Mitch Snow was one of the young guys that was trained by Nelson Royal

up in Mooresville, North Carolina Brady Boone versus Tijo Khan. And Brady Boone What the fuck? They gave him a gimmick in the WWF for a brief period of time. Oh yeah, Battlecat.

Battlecat, that's right. And Tijokan was from Minneapolis also and came down with guys like Warlord and remember Al Blake Vladimir Pietro. The Tahitian Prince versus Dennis Brown. Denny Brown was the former World Junior heavyweight champion when it was a job guy belt

and Dusty liked him and he used him a lot in Florida. The Tahitian prince was that Samu? It was one of that generation of Samoans. I can't remember which one. I'm not sure. Ron Simmons and Scott Hall versus Shaska Watley and Ed the Bull Gantner. Pez-Watley, obviously from Chattanooga, standout amateur, broke in for Goulas and Welch in the mid-70s,

was doing the Shaska-Watley thing at this period of time, which is going to be 1987. Ed the Bull Gannner had got broken in Florida. He had a football background. Didn't last long. Ron Simmons was a rookie at this point. And maybe he started 86. and Scott Hall was still floating around

before he was going to be more famous when he became a Cuban keep going for a tag title I will not name no disqualification the Mod Squad, Basher and Spike versus the Southern boys Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers

did they did the Mod Squad have their manager J.D. Costis with him. He is not listed here, and here's a picture. No, it appears they may be managed by Bill Dundee. Uh-huh. Yes, as a matter of fact, they were now that you think about it, because Dundee, well, now that may have been a picture from Kansas City, though, because Dundee was with him when they were in Kansas City. And keep going, and then I'll explain all of this. for a title I will not name Mike Rotunda

versus Kevin Sullivan and the main event Barry Windham versus Big Bubba No trouble this was in Florida first of all and it was after that Crockett promotions

had bought Florida Championship Wrestling or Championship Wrestling from Florida whatever the legal title was they bought the Territory The Mokies were there because Dusty wanted to reward Randy and Bill for those memorable TV matches and their their dedication and their determination. And he sent him to a territory. And it's that Colt Steele, another guy, the world's biggest calves was trained by Nelson Royal up in Mooresville. Barry Horowitz at that time had worked Florida before for Dusty.

Mitch Snow and Brady Boone, T. Joe Khan, Denny Brown, they were all guys that had worked for Crockett underneath and we're getting a chance to be more featured. The Mod Squad was Mack and Jim Jeffers from Greenville, South Carolina, and they were a brother team that did jobs on Crockett's TV, but J.D. Costello had been the goddamn ring announcer in Greenville. and wanted to be a wrestling manager and was friends with Mac and Jim

and paid to have a video done with them is this gimmick, the Mod Squad, where they were the police brutality thing and he was their manager in the odd suits. And I called Randy Hales and got him booked in Memphis for a little while at one point, and then they came back home and Dusty wanted to use the Mod Squad gimmicks.

So he sent them at one point, Kansas City, and when they bought that and then at one point to Florida. And Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers, the Southern boys, they had been in Florida when they bought the territory. And that was the first time we got to work with them on a couple of the Crockett TVs in 87, three years before they came into the rest of the territory. And Barry Windham, Mike Rotund to Kevin Sullivan, Florida names, and Bubba in the main event with Barry.

because this was during the period of time. Dusty had started Bubba in spring of 86, worked the angle with him and Dusty and Bubba through the bashes in 86 in the summer and the fall. And then as 87 started, they'd bought Kansas City, he wanted to send Bubba to Kansas City for a little while. He sent him to Florida, and then he sent him to the UWF when they bought Watts out and put the UWF belt on him because he was so confident in Bubba,

he wanted to make him more than just my bodyguard. He was going to become a top heel, and that's why he was sending him to these different places and putting belts on him, let him work as a single. Akbar managed him in the UWF, and he was always being pushed in these places, even if he wasn't on the national TV because the thought was to bring him back to Charlotte

and, you know, having main event StarCade one day. But things got in the way of that. He got a shitty payoff for Starcate 87, and Hulk Hogan needed an opponent, and the big boss man was born. But so this was Florida, and I would bet you by the number of matches,

even though there wasn't a lot of high-priced talent, this had to be either St. Petersburg at the Bayfront Center, if they were still running that big a building or Tampa or potentially Miami Beach. And it was definitely in the later stages of, or the mid stages, summertime of 1987. How close, am I? You're pretty close. I'll tell you the town, because you missed completely on that. Fort Myers, the Lee Civic Center.

Fort Myers. All right. Friday, April 17th, 1987. And they were having one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight matches in Fort Myers, which wasn't a major market town, but all these guys were cheap and they all needed experience. Well, let me ask you this, because I have a program, I actually got a bunch of programs from this period of time recently. This is 10 days earlier, April 7th in Tallahassee. Pretty much the same crew. with one big difference. Well, Rick Flares in the main event against Barry Windham. They spell his name wrong here in the program. But it's the Mod Squad and the Southern Boys for the Florida tag titles, I didn't say before. Rotunda, Florida Heavyweight Champion

versus Ed Gantner. Brady Boone versus Shaska Watley. The Malkies versus Eddie Roberts and Mitch Snow. Kevin Sullivan, Tijo Khan, and the Tahitian Prince, and I think it is Samu, versus Scott Hall, Ron Simmons and Stan Lane.

When did Stan get the call to join the Midnight Express? This is April 7th. I don't think he made that show. Oh, okay. Because, shit, can I reach? Hold on. I'm taking my headset off. Jim Cornett has taken his headset off.

He's walking across the room probably to get that Midnight Express scrapbook. Putting my headset on. going to 1987 trying to find 1987 because I'm going to say that it was yes

April 4th at Atlanta TV and that night in Boston at the garden was Stan's debut and then on the 7th we did TV in Spartanburg, South Carolina so stand

but see those cards would be booked three weeks, four weeks in advance for the TV advertising and Dennis didn't disappear until

March 25th. So we pretty much between March 25th and April 4th looked for Dennis, couldn't find Dennis, determined that Dennis wasn't coming back. Dusty said we got to do something. I came up with and pitched Tom Pritchard and Dusty had already said, well, what about Stan Lane?

He got him up to the fucking office in Charlotte in time for us to all say, and he debuted April 4th. So we were not dicking around. And obviously you wouldn't have been managing Bubba on the 17th against Windham. No, no. He was down there by himself. On the 17th, I was in Macon, Georgia with the Midnight Express against Ron and Jimmy Garb.

But now, you know what? Having said that, in Athens, Georgia on the 16th, the midnight, Bubba and myself had an 8. man tag with Wahoo, Windham, and Ron and Jimmy Garvin. So, and then he went from Athens to goddamn... Against Windham. Where was it? Fort Myers. Yeah. Against Barry Windham. But listen to the schedule. So this is 87. So this is really late for Florida wrestling. April 12th, Orlando. It's a Sunday. Monday, West Palm, April 13th.

Tuesday to 14th, Tampa. Wednesday to 15th, Jacksonville. Thursday to 16th, Port Richie at the Southland Roller Palace. Friday, April 17th, Fort Myers. Saturday, April 18th, Lakeland. Back to Orlando, Sunday, April 19th, a week later. Melbourne, April 22nd, Wednesday, Miami. April 24th, Friday, Arcadia, and Sarasota on the 25th on a Saturday. So, you know, even though the promotion was dying to the point where Crockett took it over,

and, you know, that didn't help save it or anything. They still had a full schedule of events. Oh, yeah. Well, in those days, you had those buildings booked months and months in advance. And, you know, when business went down, you were still running the towns. You had to run the towns. You didn't cancel towns in those days because then the regular fans in each... Louisville ran every week for 20-something years at the Louisville Gardens.

I don't remember a show ever being canceled, except for the ice storm that delayed the Jerry Lawler Coyote Calhoun match for a week. The DJ from Louisville, Coyote, the fucking local people sold the building out. I've told this story, but the wrestlers couldn't get here from Nashville because of the ice.

So they brought the same card back the next week. But in all those years, you didn't cancel shows low advance. Don't pay the, fucking boys. But you didn't cancel shows otherwise. So up until the end, they ran the schedule that they had to run.

And then they just said, well, we can't do this anymore. All right, Jim, one more program. This has been fun here today. This one, just written what it says on the cover here. The opener, one fall 15 minute time limit at 8.30 p.m. Jolting Joe Blanchard versus Bronch.

Lubich. Oh, good Lord. Preliminary, one fall 20 minutes. George Scott versus Johnny Walker. The semi-final, a terrific six-man tag team match, star-studded teams. This team, Tim Woods, Mr. Wrestling, Thunderbolt Patterson, Jolton Joe Blanchard, total team weight 746 pounds, versus this team, Bronco Lubbich, Chris Markoff, Torquhart, and hewold, Tor. Turu Tanaka, total weight 746 pounds.

The Europeans manager, George Harris, will be in charge of this trio. Two out of three falls, 45-minute time limit. The first main event, Kowalski answers Wahoo's challenge and accepts Indian strap match, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, versus Waldick, Wildek, whatever you want to call it, Killer Kowalski. W-L-A-D-E-K, it's Polish, and yeah, there's a variety of pronunciations. Both gladiators asked the promoter to make it one fall to the finish

and to allow it under brass knuckles rules so everything goes. And the second main event, Coliseum fans in a frenzy demand this match, Let me go back to the cover and read what it says here. Primitive maniacal action on Tap Tonight. This is definitely a championship match. Rugged Johnny Valentine, Texas champion. I gave that away. Fuck.

Lucky Johnny Valentine versus formidable challenger Pepper Gomez. Psychological intervention of ring announcer, Florentino Sheldon, who will second Pepper. See story inside program. Well, we'll see that story in a minute. I know it's Houston already. Okay, so you didn't really give too much away. With Blanchard and Lubich being, it's a Texas gimmick,

Blanchard, Lubich and a single and then coming back in a six-man, it's a captain's match. They stretched the card without having to pay extra guys back then. They did the same thing in Dallas. One time, Dennis Condry, the minimum was $50 and the spot show was the shits but he worked twice so he got $63. They gave him a $13 extra payoff for wrestling twice. Like they shaved that fucking right down to the nub as much as we can give you.

But Blanchard and Lou Bitch, obviously Texas names, Joe would later promote San Antonio and Sire Tully. Bronco was a great guy, became a referee later on. George Scott, brother of Sandy Scott, my least favorite Booker ever in history, George Scott. Boy, two brothers couldn't be more different. Well, Bruce and Tom. Johnny Walker would later on be Mr. Wrestling number two. Tim Woods would be Mr. Wrestling number one.

Thunderbolt Patterson would be Thunderbolt. Chris Markoff and Professor Tanaka. George Harris, George Two-Ton Harris, George Bunk Harris, the baby blimp, was from Tennessee and was a childhood friend of the Welch families and got into business that way and ended up working a ring crew and maintenance for Crockett promotions in the late 80s. And Killer Kowalski and Wahoo and Johnny Valentine and Pepper Gomez, that's what gave it away.

Wahoo, Valentine, and Gomez were huge in Houston. and by some of these names, I want to, I just think because of the main events, it would be early 70s, but at the same time, the preliminaries, I might even go 68 or 69. I'll split the difference. Houston, Texas, 1970.

Oh, the date Thursday, February 11th, 1971 Corpus Christi Texas Corpus Christi the Sheldon and Emerson's Memorial Coliseum for their weekly

son of a bitch I thought it was Houston 20 cents Corpus Christi never got fucking cards like this in the 80s corpus Christi was not one of the major towns

at that point in time except when we did the clash there and Moscarus drew all the fucking money Corpus Christi Well, son of a bitch Love the holiday inn's room service there By the Holiday Inn and Corpus Christi

In the late 80s, early 90s, mid-90s Wonderful room service right there on the water Prices this week, ringside $4, dress circle, $3, balcony, $2, all children under 10, $1 balcony when accompanied by an adult admission.

And wrestling's on Channel 3, K-I-I-I-I, if that's what this is. Saturday, 10.30 p.m. in color. It is in color. So there we go. What was the story on this fucking weird situation they had going on? Psychological intervention of ring announcer Florentino Sheldon, who will second pepper. Pandemonium to engulf Coliseum as Valentine Risk's belt, opposite fiery Pepper Gomez and Wahoo Tesco Wolski.

Let me see specifically about this Florentino. Here we go. It was because of this match and our good friend ring announcer Florentino Sheldon Jr. became the victim of a pulverizing Johnny Valentine right to the jaw that saw the rotund official catapult to the canvas in agonizing pain. Our good friend, the rotund Sheldon.

Sheldon told this writer that all he said that a champion was that the match was over and that unexpectedly Johnny approached him and before he knew it he felt the impact of what he thought was a cannonball on the side of his face and the lights seemed to dim and the whole coliseum was whirling and momentarily his eyes closed an involuntary slumber. It was an experience, he says. Sheldon, who has been a good friend of Gomez for many years, will be Pepper's second in this match.

He says that he has seen Valentine so many times that he knows his moves to the letter and that he will avenge Johnny's brutal attack by signaling Pepper the champ's next move. It is a psychological impulse more than anything else, Sheldon says, and that he strongly believes it will prove effective. We told him we would have a stretcher ready for him just in case. And he gave us a faint smile, very faint.

And there it is. You think Paul Bosch wrote that? He's using a lot of big words. I don't know. I mean, this is obviously a Houston town. These are Houston wrestlers. I don't know. We'll see what we can find.

I have a whole bunch of these from Corpus Christi, so we'll see, not that I can use them now in this game. So we'll see what we can find out. There it is, Jim, another guest to program Omnibus Volume 3. There will be a volume 4. And probably many more after that, a very popular feature here on the show. Any final thoughts? Yes, I'm going to get even better in 2026.

I'm going to start predicting the bell times. That will be impressive. Mm-hmm, see there. Well, there's a special thing. Tell all your friends. everyone's going to want to tune in for that. But until then, Jim, for Jim Cornyett of the Great Brian last. And Jim Cornett predicts bell time.

We'll hear that next time on the experience and the drive-thru. Telly-ho!