Episode 80: The Breaking Kayfabe Takeover In Episode 80 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Breaking Kayfabe Takeover, Greg: Welcomes Barry Rose to the show for the first time! Barry gives an update about Breaking Kayfabe with Bowdren & Barry. Greg and Barry break kayfabe on food, movies, wrestling, relationships and life itself. They discuss the Match of the Week: Feb. 25, 1983 from the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas as Chavo Guerrero challenges A...
Episode 79: The Hesburgh Visit In Episode 79 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Hesburgh Visit, Greg: Announces his next wrestling book. Talks about his visit to Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library to look at the Jack Pfefer Collection. Explains the process of doing research at the world class sports research library. Details what he was looking for and what he found and did not find. Pulls out a few of the artifacts from the visit. Check out Greg's col...
Episode 78: Escape from Piedras Negras In Episode 78 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Escape from Piedras Negras, Greg: Talks Hesburgh prep. Sets the stage for Sterling "Dizzy" Davis as a worker and as a carny and places him in the Texas Wrestling War(s) lineup. Reads an article from the Texas Historical Society about the 1976 jailbreak from Piedras Negras prison, across the river from Eagle Pass, that is orchestrated by Davis. Updates some Mid South booking and JYD ...
Episode 77: The Complicated Life & Legacy of Hulk Hogan In Episode 77 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Complicated Life & Legacy of Hulk Hogan, Greg: Announces a special trip. Talks about the recent wave of deaths, obviously including WWF champion Hulk Hogan. Thinks about Hogan's place in American wrestling in the 1980s, 1990s and as an all-time great. Explains his family connection to Hogan's rise, and his feelings on the ups and downs of Hogan's two dec...
Episode 76: The Television Title Tournament In Episode 76 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Television Title Tournament, Greg: Reviews television from the Mid South Wrestling Association from Feb. 1984. Wonders why wrestling promoters could never get tournament brackets formatted correctly. Talks about how weird it was for a Mid South fan to read about Hacksaw Duggan being a Kevin Sullivan-aligned heel in Florida. Praises Mr. Ito, the debut of the Rock-n-Ro...
Episode 75: Time Tunnel Crossover In Episode 75 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Time Tunnel Crossover, Greg: Welcomes Tony Richards back to the show. Greg and Tony ... Discuss the Amarillo territory, touching on the originals and top stars of the west Texas territory. Look at Doc Sarpolis and his influences in wrestling, Talk about Tony's Dory Funk Sr. project. Draw a line from Funk to Ken Lucas to Ricky Morton and the Rock-n-Roll Express. Revisit the 1973...
Episode 74: The Rich Full Life of a Bad Guy In Episode 74 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Rich Full Life of a Bad Guy, Greg: Unearths a 1966 Saturday Evening Post article about Cowboy Bill Watts and his heel turn in the WWWF. Discusses his complicated feelings for Watts, the person, and love for Watts, the wrestling promoter. Talks about the May 14, 1982 Houston Wrestling reboot. Plays the what Corny got right, what Corny got wrong game with the May 14 show. Giv...
Episode 73: Classic Characters In Episode 73 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Classic Characters, Greg: Welcomes historian and author Steven Johnson to the show to discuss his new book, "The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Classic Characters." Steve and Greg also ... Talk about Paul Boesch, Gorilla Monsoon, Bob Orton Sr., Fritz Von Erich and many other stars. Celebrate the place in the business of "enhancement" wrestlers. Discuss the role of the historian in wrestling. E...
Episode 72: The 3rd Anniversary Show In Episode 72 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The 3rd Anniversary Show, Greg: Celebrates another year of doing the podcast. Notes the milestone of TV reviews as well. Looks unsuccessfully for episode 226. Welcomes Terry Taylor and his perfect debut to MSWA. Enjoys the heating up of Mid South after a fall of decline. Ends with a story about the time he wrestled Bugsy McGraw. Check out Greg's column about Morris S...
Episode 71: Gino's Edition In Episode 71 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Gino's Edition, Greg: Welcomes Lizzy Flanagan to the show for the first time. Greg and Lizzy: Discuss her upcoming book, "I Am Your Champion, The Life and Death of Wrestler Gino Hernandez. Explore how a 20-something who did not grow up allowed to watch wrestling could become a fan of old school rasslin. Joke about how Lizzy went looking for the Von Erichs and found Gino fandom instead.&n...
Episode 70: Tulsa Wrestlefest In Episode 70 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Tulsa Wrestlefest, Greg: Welcomes Shawn Sparks aka Sparks3rdCoast to the show for the first time. Greg and Shawn: Look at the July 28, 1985, Mid South Wrestling Association show at Tulsa's Fair Meadows Raceway. Enjoy the Fantastics vs Jerry Grey and Eddie Gilbert match but not as much as the women in the Tulsa crowd. Discuss the two year journey of the Fantastics and Jake Roberts to b...
Episode 69: Better Dead Than Red In Episode 69 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Better Dead Than Red Show, Greg: Looks at the December 1983 television for the Mid South Wrestling Association. Plays some audio from the anti-Russian tirades of Bill Watts. Discusses, again, how the current mindset about Nicolai Volkoff's pre-WWF run is wrong. Notes where MSWA is still slow and where things are beginning to pick up. Discusses the wardrobe choices for Watts a...
Episode 68: The 43rd Anniversary Show In Episode 68 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The 43rd Anniversary Show, Greg: Talks about the lead up to Morris Sigel and Houston Wrestling's 43 Anniversary show June 5, 1959. Looks at three programs from May 1959 that lead up to the big show. Praises the decade long feud between Bull Curry and Danny McShane. Corrects the timeline on when and how George Wagner becomes Gorgeous George, and what Dizzy Davis had to do with ...
Episode 67: The Golden Era Begins In Episode 67 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, The Golden Era Begins, Greg: Welcomes Winter Place podcast host and IWC friend Mark Coale to the show for the first time. Greg and Mark: Take a broad view of what Greg calls the Golden Era of the Mid South Wrestling Association, from the day Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express arrive until the day Bob Sweeten returns, or Nov. 83 to summer 1985. Discuss the exit of the Junkyard Dog, the various an...
Episode 66: Jenny's Episode In Episode 66 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Jenny's Episode, Greg: Pays tribute to his late mother, Jennifer Evans. Notes how she changed his life for the better by helping him pay for wrestling school, thus sending him to Adrian Street rather than a notorious Gulf Coast outlaw. Updates the biggest star in Houston Wrestling discussion. Finds out where the MSWA and UWF music came from. Hat tip to IWC friend, Sparks Third Coast. Looks a...
Episode 65: Darkest Before the Dawn In Episode 65 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Darkest Before the Dawn, Greg: Looks at television for November 1983 in the Mid South Wrestling Association. Talks again about the problems with rasslin in the South in the fall and how fall of 1983 is perhaps the rock bottom point in the promotion. Coming up next is the tag team of George Weingroff & Tony Torres. Picks out two good angles that clearly came from the Watts/Ross ro...
Episode 64: Two Ring Battle Royal In Episode 64 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Two Ring Battle Royal, Greg: Updates the Sylvester Ritter Year One discussion. Corrects a fact about Houston's use of the two ring battle royal. Names to top 30 stars of Houston Wrestling, split into the Morris Sigel and Paul Boesch eras. Talks about the two biggest stars in Houston Wrestling, based on who Sigel and Boesch said were their biggest stars. Check out Greg's column about Morris ...
Episode 63: Vision Quest In Episode 63 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Vision Quest, Greg: Looks at the podcast's 2024 in review, including this year's Top 5 cities. Laughs about a match he attended in 1987 that ties into Episode 21, The Wrath of Khan. Discovers what Sylvester Ritter was doing Christmas night 1976. Ponders all the new information Beau James gave us in Episode 61 about the start of Ritter's career. Welcomes wrestling historian Tony Richards to the show to d...
Episode 62: And Then Things Got Weird In Episode 62 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, And Then Things Got Weird, Greg: Looks at television for the Mid South Wrestling Association for October 1983. Speculates about the booking situation and reviews what we know about fall in the South. Tries to make sense of the North American title turmoil. Laughs about the solid wrestling ability of Max the Missing Link. Watches probably the best little person mixed match ever wrestled...
In Episode 61 of Greg Klein's Old School Rasslin Talk, Hey, Junior, Where's My Cowboy Movie At?, Greg: Welcomes Tennessee wrestler and historian Beau James to the show. Beau talks about how he met Sylvester Ritter, the time Ritter lived with him and what the Junkyard Dog was like as a real person. Greg and Beau lament the idea of "workrate" being the most important barometer of wrestling success. Beau talks about Jimmy Valiant's popularity in Tennessee and the Crockett territory. Beau...