Episode 67: 1976 Territory Review: Dallas Territory

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Time for the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel podcast. [00:00:05] Speaker B: We've got lots and lots of things to talk about and to do today. [00:00:08] Speaker A: Covering the territories from the 1940s to the 1990s. It's the best thing going today. Interviewing wrestlers, referees, authors and other media [00:00:22] Speaker B: personalities that have made the sport of professional wrestling great. [00:00:27] Speaker A: The cream, yeah, the cream of the crop. [00:00:30] Speaker B: And now, here's your host, Tony Richards. Hello again, everybody. Welcome to another pro wrestling Time Tunnel History show. Coming to you live from Western Kentucky, right here on the Richards Ranch. I'm your host, Tony Richards, traveling back in the Time Tunnel again today to 1976. And we got a great show lined up for you. I got a great guest analyst on today and we'll get to all of that here in a second. Be patient with me because I got a lot of things to talk about. I got a lot of things to tell you, a lot of things to share. A lot of exciting, cool things are happening here at the Time Tunnel. First of all, I want to thank you for all your support and all your listens and all your views to the Michael St. John episode where my good friend Michael St. John was on two weeks ago. And this past week we celebrated the best of seven series from 1986 and the great American Bash with Nikita Koloff, the Russian Nightmare and Magnum TA the Boss right here last week on the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History show, one of our most listened to and most viewed episodes. So thank you so much for that. If you haven't had a chance to watch or listen to that show, I really would appreciate you taking a look at it. I think you'll really like what you see. Okay, now some things that I have to share with you. I got a lot of things to share and a few things to show. If you haven't seen the book yet for the Magnum TA And Nikita Koloff, I've got it here. Let me see if I've. Okay, here it is. This is the book cover for Nikita KOLOFF and MAGNUM TA United States Heavyweight Championship, best of seven series, the 40th anniversary. And this is written by my friend Bill Murdoch, William Murdoch, who also wrote the Jack Briscoe biography. And this is going to be published by Scott Teal and Crowbar Press. That's where you'll find it. I'm sure it'll be available at other places where you buy books, but this, it's at the publisher and the printer right now. Well, Crowbar is the publisher, but it's at the printer getting printed. So they will be announcing the ability for it to go on sale here very, very soon. And so if you enjoyed the show last week with Nikita and Magnum, you're going to want to get this book where they go into much more detail, tell a lot more stories and give you a whole lot more background and behind the scenes stuff for that epic battle between Nikita Koloff and Magnum TA for the US Heavyweight title. So thank you very much for that. I appreciate Nikita and Magnum coming on the show and sharing with me. All right, next we've got the 1976 review series coming back today. I'll tell you about that in just a second. The Tragos says Hall of fame and Waterloo, Iowa, July 9th and 10th. This year it's the hall of Fame weekend and you'll see my ugly mug down there on the bottom row in the middle down there next to Rock Riddle and Ken Resnick. I'm sorry, guys, I'm sorry they put me down there between you two beautiful and good looking men. But look at all these great people that are going to be there. And of course we can't forget the wonderful and awesome Dan Gable who is part of this museum, who always gives a great talk at the hall of Fame, part of the 1972 Olympic team, a fantastic gentleman. And of course Jerry Briscoe and John Bradshaw, Layfield and Medusa and James Beard and all these great people who put so much into this weekend as well as the staff and the helpers there in Waterloo, Iowa. My friend Ron Fuller will be there because the Welch family is going to be receiving an award and going into the hall of Fame. Jeff Jarrett will be there who will be receiving an award. Jimmy Garvin is going to be there to receive the Jack Briscoe Award. He's going to get that red NWA world title belt which is emblematic of the Jack Briscoe Award. He's going to be getting that at the hall of Fame. There's going to be a whole bunch of people there. My friend Jody Simon, Joe Malenko is going to be there. All these wonderful people will be there. Tony Atlas is going to be there this year. That's going to be great. Josh Barnett is going to be there. A whole lot of great folks. You don't want to miss it. The Tragos thes Hall of Fame weekend. I'll be there. I'll be going into the hall of Fame this year winning the James C. Melby award and I am so thrilled to be part of that this year and going into the hall of Fame with all these wonderful people. All right, next, as part of that same weekend, Trago Stairs hall of Fame weekend, I'll be doing a history session. So we have history sessions that are educational there conducted by various people. I'll be doing one on Saturday afternoon, July 11th at 2:30. And I'll be having Greg Klein there, who's also the guest on the show today. He'll be there. And also Roy Lee Welch, Lester Welch's son, will be there. And we'll be talking about the greatest wars in professional wrestling history. And we're going to run down the Texas wrestling wars of the 1950s. And we're also going to run down the Atlanta wrestling war of 1972 and 1974. Greg Klein has got a book coming out. He'll have the brand new book there in Waterloo this year about the Texas wrestling wars of the 50s will be my guest as well as Roy Lee Welch, who was working in the office and was there when Ann Gunkle and all the wrestlers except two walked out of the Atlanta office and started All South Wrestling across the street and left the Atlanta NWA office with Bob Armstrong and Darrell. Darrell Cochran. It's Bob Armstrong and Darrell Cochran were the two. Of course, they were both firefighters in Marietta, Georgia. That was their connection to each other and then also to the wrestling business in Atlanta. But they were the two who stayed. And then of course, the NWA started bringing in talent and eventually won that wrestling war of 72, 74. But Roy Lee was there when the door was continuing. They were continually changing the locks on the door to lock Ann out. And then Ann would change the lock and keep them out. And then they would change the lock and keep Ann out. And so there's a lot of great stuff that happened. It was pretty traumatic and very stressful at the time. But we will talk about that. Atlanta wrestling more of 72 to 74 with Roy Lee Welch. And then of course, the Texas Wrestling wars of the 50s with Greg Klein, the author of that new book. That's Saturday afternoon, July 11th at 2:30 in Waterloo, Iowa, at the Trago Stez hall of Fame weekend. And I hope you can come and join me for that. Okay. Next week we have the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Mail Bag show where you ask me questions. It's an ask Tony anything and I'll give you a great example. We just got a question put in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Facebook group. So let me tell you how to do this so you can submit. We've got a post in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Facebook Group. It's in the featured section. So when you go there on your Facebook app, if you hit the button that says featured you will see the mailbag post in the featured section and you can ask your question in the comments section of that post. Or I also have a post pinned to my profile on my Twitter my X feed. TonyRichards4 and there's a mailbag there with this graphic and you can put your question in the comments there. You can also put it in the substack post that I made. If you're substack person, you can put the question there or you can email me directly onyrichards4 so that's onyrichards and the number4tonyrichards4mail.com so we had a question come in. Here's an example of an ask Tony anything kind of broad question. The guy said, as a business advisor and coach at the executive level, what advice would you give if you were hired by WWE and aew? So it's kind of a current comment which, you know, I mostly stick to pro wrestling history, but I said ask me anything. So this is a great example of someone who asked me anything and they're incorporating my shoot business expertise and knowledge and all that. So that should be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to answering that question. So ask Tony anything. Submit your questions now. We have to have them in by this Saturday. So we have to have them in this week. July 20th, what was that be? July 26th, I guess. No, no, no. June. Tony, what's wrong with you? June 20th, that right? Yes, June 20th. Saturday, June 20th. That's the deadline for the show which is going to be coming up next week here on June 24th. We do the mailbag show in the last week of the quarter. So in March, in June, September and December, we do mailbag shows and we take your questions and I answer them the best way I can. Steve Giannarelli will be here to sort. He's gathering the questions and sorting through them and he will be asking me the questions as we go. So don't forget to submit your question and be here for the mailbag show next week on the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History Show. Now my new series and people ask me all the time who are big fans of Briscoe and Bradshaw and they are also fans of my appearances there. I have done three appearances so far. This will be my fourth appearance doing a pro wrestling history series with Jerry Briscoe and John Bradshaw Layfield and this will be the history of Texas wrestling and we'll be talking about the stars, the territories, the stories that made history, all on the Briscoe and Bradshaw show. Coming soon. That first episode is going to go all the way back to the carnival and at show days. So I will be talking a lot about the carnivals and at shows that traveled through Texas back in the 1800s up through the early 1900s. You don't want to miss this. This goes back to the very beginning of wrestling in Texas and is going to take you through the teens and the twenties, the thirties, forties, fifties, seventies, eighties and nineties and two thousands. The history of Texas wrestling on the Briscoe and Bradshaw show. Can't wait to get that new series started. How many episodes is going to be? I have no idea. We're going to, you know, the way we always say is we'll go to, we're done. And so it could be, I don't know if it'll be the same as the Welch series that lasted 11 episodes or it will be more or if it'll be less. I don't know. You'll have to follow along with us. And we are looking forward to presenting the history of Texas wrestling for the Briscoe and Bradshaw show. All right, great. Thank you. Well, I think that's everything that I had to share with you. Told you I had a lot to tell you and I told you I had a lot going on. All right, today we are going back to 1976. I know this is based on our ratings, except for the Nikita and Magnum show based on our ratings. You really love this 1976 series because that's when we always have more listeners and more viewers. But I like to vary it up here. I got a lot of guests that I like to talk to and a lot of friends and they have stories that deserve to be told and I want to make sure that I'm helping tell them here on the history show. And I've got some great guests coming up. I got some hall of Famers that are going into the Trago Stairs hall of Fame class this year in the same class that I'm in. And they're going to be coming up here on the show between now and the Trago says weekend. We're going to have some of those showcases and interviews here on the show. So I know you're going to look forward to that. Okay, here's the guy who's got a brand new book out. The Texas Wrestling wars of the 1950s. I was so happy and pleased to be part of this original idea with him. I was so glad that I encouraged him. I gave him some focus tips about how to focus in on the things that are really important to you to get finished. And this book was one of them. He mentions me and shows some of my wrestling collection in the new book. And I am so glad and happy. And the most, most of all, I treasure the relationship and the friendship that I have with this guy. I mean, we, we've been close friends since I started this whole historian journey a couple years back. And he's been one of my biggest supporters and great friends in the, in the, this section of my life. And I wouldn't, as my, my grandma used to say, I wouldn't take a nickel for him. My good friend Greg Klein is here. We're going back to the Dallas territory. Now, you have to keep in mind, in the 1970s, the Dallas booking office, which was owned by Fritz Von Erich, had a territory loop that included Fort Worth on Monday. Dallas was on Tuesday, San Antonio was on Wednesday, Corpus Christi was on Thursday, Houston was on Friday. And you got to remember that Houston was part of this territory from the mid-60s up through the 70s until the late 70s when Paul Bosch broke away and started doing his own thing in Houston. But up until that point, he was part of this booking office that was supplying talent. Paul was still booking some of the main events and still had a hand in some of the stars that were featured on top. But mainly the booking and the wrestlers were all coming out of the Dallas, Texas office. And it was part of the Dallas territory. So we're going to be talking about it today. And you know how much Greg loves the Houston operation. So that will be featured in today's talk. 1976, Dallas, Texas, the Super bowl of wrestling. The NWA world heavyweight champion, Terry Funk defending the world's wrestling biggest prize in wrestling, the NWA World title, against the biggest prize in the Dallas, Texas territory, the NWA American Heavyweight title and its champion, Fritz Von Erich, who's had this ongoing feud with the Funks since 1961. He had that historic big match at Texas Stadium with Dorie Funk Jr. Over the title. And now he's back at the stadium trying to win the title again, taking it from younger brother Terry Funk. It's so exciting. It drew a record crowd there in Dallas for that year of 1976, tying the big crowd that Terry Funk drew for Bill Watts and Leroy McGurk at the Superdome in New Orleans. One of the two biggest shows all through 76. Can't wait to tell you about it. We're going to do it on Today's show. Are you ready? Here comes Greg Klein at the Richards Ranch to talk about Dallas, Texas, 1976. Taking a trip back in the time Tunnel today, of course, to our usual destination all year long, the year of 1976, our bicentennial year. And there were big things happening in the state of Texas, of course, and particularly in the Dallas hub and the Dallas booking office. And we're going to go back there and talk about that. But first, let me welcome my Texas analyst and very close and personal friend, Greg Klein today. Greg, good to see you again, man. [00:16:45] Speaker A: Hi, Tony. Thanks for having me again. [00:16:47] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. I always love having you over to the ranch and I love our discussions, the ones we have here that people hear and the very entertaining ones that people don't hear. [00:16:57] Speaker A: So, like deja vu all over again. [00:16:59] Speaker B: All over again. So glad to have you. Before we get too started on anything, congratulations on publishing your next book, which fits in with the subject we're talking about today, the Texas wrestling wars of the 1950s. And so that book is now on sale, right? [00:17:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it went up June 1st. It's doing really well. It's number one in extreme books for the ebook format. And all the feedback I've been getting so far has been wonderful kudos to Greg Oliver, my editor, for the job that he did, formatting, typesetting, editing, fact checking, smoothing things over. And, you know, to just the wide variety of wrestling historians who helped me along the way, especially the people that prepared me for the trip to Notre Dame and the wonderful, wonderful research opportunities at the Father Theodore Hesburgh Research Library at the University of Notre Dame. And, of course, to you, Tony. I was thinking about it. You know, you and a writer named Elizabeth Gilbert, who is famous for Eat, Pray, Love. You were really the two people that inspired me to do this. And this time last year, I was just getting an inkling of doing it. So for a year later, for me to have the book out and for sale and doing well and getting publicity and, you know, getting attraction from people in the industry and outside the industry, longtime fans like us, it's really been great. It's been quite a blessing. [00:18:30] Speaker B: Well, for, for anyone who's listening, if you want to do something, the best and or worst thing you can do is tell me, because I will do nothing but continue to bring it up and ask you how it's going until you do it. And I'm so glad that I was part of that. And thank you for putting my, my name in there. You know, Greg Oliver is he's the ultimate, smoother, you know, as far as smoothing things out and making sure that everything's good to go. He's a, he's quite proficient at that. One of the best. [00:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah, he really did a wonderful job and it's an honor to work with him. He's. He and his often partner in crime wrestling historian Steven Johnson have just been the champions of my work in a way that makes me smile and, and they send me stuff all the time now about Texas wrestling and they really enhanced this, you know, book in so many ways. So, yeah, it was just so much fun to work with them. [00:19:35] Speaker B: That's wonderful. And you're going to be coming to the Trago Stays weekend? Yeah, middle of July in Waterloo. And you're going to have a booth there, you'll have the book there and you're going to be on a history session discussion that I'm leading on Saturday afternoon at 2:30, the famous wrestling wars of all time. And we're going to talk about the Texas Wrestling War and then also Roy Lee Welch is going to be there as well and we're going to talk about the Atlanta Wrestling War. So it's going to be quite a session and I hope if you're coming to the Trago Stairs weekend in Waterloo, you'll, you'll come by. That'll be quite a day. I have a softball game with Medusa's team against Layfield's team and I've already told Layfield, man, if he, if he goes after Medusa, I'm doing a run in. So we'll, we'll see how that all works out. I may, I don't want to take a clothesline, but I may have to if he goes after Medusa. But should be a great softball game. We got other things there if you're looking for interaction. It's one of the most accessible weekends to talk to people, your heroes and your friends and get autographs, buy merchandise and it's wonderful. It's a great setup. The hotel is just across the street from the convention center. It's easy access to go back and forth. It's really morphed into quite the weekend event. And I hope everybody can come to Waterloo and join us because it's a premier event if you're a wrestling fan and especially if you're a wrestling fan that enjoys history of our business. [00:21:20] Speaker A: Yeah, Tony, I'm really looking forward to it. My first trip to Iowa and I'm looking forward to being on the panel. What a incredible panel to, you know, the Atlanta War is so famous. I don't think the Texas wrestling wars, you know, any of them in my book or in general are very, you know, comparably famous. So it's just going to be fun to talk with Roy Lee Welsh and hear what he has to say, Being a, you know, firsthand witness to everything that went down. Yeah, and I really look forward to telling everybody, you know, about the things that went on in Texas in the 1950s, because, you know, just to give you a little segue, I mean, everything that we talk about in the 1970s was set up by the wars in the 1950s. And the fact that Dallas has the booking office in the 1970s is because they fought for decades to get it and then, you know, finally got it when Morris Siegel was dying basically in 1966. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is 10 years after that event. And Fritz has the booking office. He's got Fort Worth on Monday night. He's got Dallas at the Sportatorium on Tuesday night. Yes, folks, Dallas used to be a Tuesday night town. San Antonio on Wednesday night and also Corpus Christi on Thursday night. And Houston in the Sam Houston Coliseum on Friday night. Once a month they would run Austin and other spot shows around the little footprint around Dallas. So a lot going on here in 76. Fritz von Erich's got a big time feud going with the latest monster heel in the territory. Mongolian stomper Terry Funk is the NWA world champion. There'll be a lot to talk about there. Great talent, especially heels. Stan Hansen, Moondog Maine Lord, Alfred Hayes, Killer. Tim Brooks, lots of great stuff. And baby faces. Rocky Johnson, the perennial favorite, especially in southern Texas, Jose Lothario. And an in ring debut of one of the Von Erichs. We're going to talk about it all, including the super bowl of wrestling. So let's get into it. Greg, What? How do we kick off the year in 76? [00:23:30] Speaker A: Well, Tony, as you know, Houston always shuts down. Most of the territory actually shut down for the Christmas to New Year's week. And so what they would do is they would build up a big first of the year show. And in Houston, they did it with the big battle royal. In the mid-70s. I think they add the two ring battle royal to everything. And then here's the other thing about Houston. You know, you said it a little bit in terms of Dallas, but they do it all over the state. The idea, one of their favorite booking games is to create a monster heel and then throw everything that you've got against the monster heel for a number of months. So in this Case it is the mongolian stomper with J.J. dillon. And they are going to do everything from, you know, you mentioned Fritz in Dallas, but every place else it's Andre the Giant, it's Rocky Johnson, it's Jose Lothario, they even bring back superstar Graham who was the villain of choice a year, a year and a half earlier. And they're going to put superstar Graham up against the Mongolian Stomper. And again that's one of their favorite things to do. You take one of the previous big bullies and throw him up against the new big bully and who is the toughest guy in Texas and you know, throw in the brass knuckles championship. And that's kind of what they do. So you know, the interesting thing in Houston when they start the year is they have the traditional battle royal. It's a 22 man battle royal. It's January 2, 1976. It's got Andre, it's got Hansen, it's got Ernie Ladd, it's got Billy Graham, it's got Peter Maivia, it's got Jose Lothario and guess who wins? Not Andre the Giant, the Mongolian Stomper. Yeah, because he is going around the horn as the guy to be feared and the guy to be beat. And he's got J.J. dillon speaking for him. Young J.J. dillon can still wrestle, can still be part of the main event package where if you beat Stomper, you get some time with Dylan or you have to wrestle both Stomper and Dylan. And as we'll talk about, you know, not, not to jump to the end, but there's like six months of Mongolian Stomper in Texas as the lead killer heel, you know, big brute, bad guy and it goes a long way. [00:25:44] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, today when people are talking about today's product, it's become popular in the last few years to talk about the, the part timers, you know, the Brock Lesnar and the Roman Reigns and the part time champions, all that that's been going on since the beginning of time. Fritz Von Erich only makes appearances when absolutely necessary. He's, he's had the American Heavyweight championship for quite some time. And he doesn't just wrestle every week. He comes in to only face the Monster heel and only in specific markets and only when it really counts. Otherwise you don't see Fritz. [00:26:26] Speaker A: Well, the other thing, Tony, not to jump to Dallas because I think we'll go to Dallas kind of last to talk about the big show, but they are building a big show at Texas Stadium. So for six months, you know, not only Are they building the big heel in Mongolian Stomper? But they're building Fritz Von Erich for one specific market, for one specific match. And part of that build is that he will ultimately beat the monster heel. Right, because he's got bigger fish to fry in the NWA Champion. And, you know, to jump back in time, you know, the biggest show in Texas at that time in the 1970s was the 1972 Texas Stadium match with Fritz against Dorie Funk Jr. So, you know, that was for the NWA title. Now it's the little brother that was for the NWA title, you know, because Terry Funk was the policeman for Dory all those years. We've seen Fritz beat Terry Funk many times in Dallas and I dare say Fort Worth, probably in other places. So, yeah, Fritz is doing very specific things. You know, as you alluded to, Kevin Von Erich's going to make his debut in 1976 in Dallas and in Texas and start to work. Right? [00:27:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:38] Speaker A: So Fritz. Fritz is segueing out, but not before he gets this big payoff, this big show. And typically, the only other place where you would see Fritz is maybe in Corpus Christi, because he's a Corpus Christi guy, right. In real life, he was from Corpus Christi, but, you know, went to college in the Dallas area and then kind of settled in Dallas, if I have that correct. Right, so that's right. Yeah. So in San Antonio in particular, but also in Houston, you would have Jose Lothario in that same role in almost in the identical spot, often getting the NWA title match the same week that Fritz gets one in Dallas. And then sometimes you have Rocky Johnson. You know, you could argue with Rocky better in Houston, Jose better in San Antonio or something like that, but that's kind of the way it went. And it was. You know, we talk about. We often talk about how the territory was different town by town from a Houston perspective. Oh, Paul Bosch did this. Oh, Paul Bosch did that. But it was also different in Dallas, Fort Worth, from a Fritz Von Erich perspective. And a. This is a really different market than Southern Texas, eastern Texas, which is much more Hispanic, you know, much more black in Houston, you know, had different preferences in terms of baby faces sometimes. [00:29:01] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, and it was very, very effective. They're drawing really, really well here in 1976. We should also mention Peter Maivia, who is the NWA Texas champion at this time. And the Texas champion was the workhorse champion, where Fritz didn't appear as much as the American champion, the Texas champion, whoever it might have been, Red Bastine or Peter Maivia or Whoever they were really the primary one that people saw on a regular basis. [00:29:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So, you know, you were talking about the loop and the history of Texas and Texas in the 1970s. The crazy thing to me, and all the research that I did, and you're looking at some of this stuff now, too, for your history of Texas. This is the exact same loop they created in 1929, 1930, pretty much. And Dallas and Fort Worth came a couple of years later, but Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi were weekly towns by 1930. And then the second part of that is just this idea again of Fritz Von Erich as the big star. He's been the big star for 10 years now. More than 10 years. More than 10 years, yeah. [00:30:18] Speaker B: He's been the big. He's been the big baby face star for 10 years. [00:30:22] Speaker A: Right. So he, he, you know, when he becomes Fritz Von Erich Texan rather than Fritz Von Erich German Heel, that puts him in a position to get part of the Dallas office. And as you said, he's the one that takes over the booking office. But really it's Ed McLemore. But the irony is Ed McLemore dies almost immediately after he gets control of the booking office. So now we have this new generation of Fritz Von Erich. Paul Bosch later on, Joe Blanchard in San Antonio, as everybody knows, because the old guard has passed away, Dory Funk Senior and Amarillo rather than Doc. So, you know, this is something that's now been in Dallas hands for 10 years, but it's different city by city by city. And, you know, it has to do with the differences in the cities and has to do with the other parts of the territory. And the other thing to point out, Tony, is that every one of these big markets has a satellite. So you could just be a Dallas, Fort Worth area guy or just a Southern Texas guy or just an eastern Texas guy, maybe dip into Louisiana. You know, you didn't necessarily have to make the five big cities in a spot show for six days a week. You could stay in your or area, you know, wrestle along the river or along the Gulf or wrestle up in the Metroplex. So it was a very fascinating territory. Not, you know, maybe more like some of the Welsh territories where you had individual markets and, and different things going on and different promoters, maybe somewhat like, you know, Pensacola, Mobile, where you had like an Alabama part and a Mississippi part, a Florida part, whatever. But this is a really different territory than some of the other things you talk about, when you talk about it [00:32:08] Speaker B: does resemble Tennessee in a lot of ways in that the local town Promoters are the driving forces. And if they're out pushing shows and selling tickets, I mean, you got to have enough people on your roster to do all those shows. And of course, then as you said, there are different people on the roster that are more popular in some parts of the territory than others. Same way in Tennessee there were certain guys who really got over in the eastern part, and there's some certain guys that really got over in the western part. Tommy Rich was a huge star from the get go in the western part of the Tennessee territory, but he didn't really, necessarily, didn't mean all that much in the eastern part in Chattanooga and Birmingham. I was also going to mention we, we've talked about this before, but for our newer listeners, I mean, Fritz Von Erich goes all the way back to 1961 with the funk family. He, he came into Amarillo and he knows all about monster heel programs because that used to be him. So when he came in, in 61 through all through the middle 60s, 61 to 66, he was the monster heel that would come in and challenge Dorie Funk senior. And then later on he would challenge Dory Funk Jr. And he was the big monster heel. Then in 1966, which is a very pivotal year for people who don't know, besides getting the ownership in the Dallas office, along with Ed McLemore, he got turned baby face on live television. Gary Hart, who was in his first stint as a heel manager, came out on television and outed him basically and said he's not really a Nazi, he's really Jack Adkisson from right over here next door in Denton, Texas. And he played football at SMU thinking that was going to basically kill Fritz, but it did the opposite. It actually made him stronger. And he then went on this huge 10 year babyface run that we're talking about now. [00:34:14] Speaker A: Well, yeah. And then the other part of the history that's so cool is you love the arenas. When Houston was switching from the City Odd because the City Odd was going to be torn down to running the Sam Houston Coliseum full time. So they were going from a 4,000 seat arena, could sneak some people in. Sometimes you see it as 5550 to a 10,000 seat arena. And then later on they reconfigure in the 80s to get a little more. So they had to fill up that big arena that was not their normal every week arena. [00:34:42] Speaker B: Right. [00:34:42] Speaker A: So the way they ended up doing it, they struggle a little bit in 63 and then in 64. At the end of 64, they're still struggling a little bit. And Fritz Von Erich puts the claw on the referee. And it's a really controversial angle to really hot angle. Paul Bosch, who's the voice of Houston Wrestling. Not yet. The promoter questions Von Erich and then Fritz Von Erich claws Paul Bosch and that ignited the Sam Houston Coliseum through 1965. You're right, it's Fritz Von Erich who's the killer monster heel that everybody needs to stop. And you know, again, so much so that even guys like Ernie Ladd, Johnny Valentine, Killer Carl Cox, you know, even previous era brutes are now being thrown up against Fritz Von Erich and the Iron Claw. And yeah, so that was a, you know, that's in a nutshell, as you said. That's how come we know Fritz Von Erich is the guy who's controlling Texas wrestling in the 1970s. That's how come we know Fritz Von Erich is the guy who becomes NWA President. You know, that's how come we end up with Carrie Von Erich one day as NWA champion. You know, probably should have been David, but we're not talking about that here right now. [00:35:59] Speaker B: But yeah, Fade intervened. [00:36:01] Speaker A: I mean, it was, you know, God blessed their souls, really. But I do want to read you something, Tony, before we get too far away from Houston. This is andre on national TV. This is from the Friday, January 9, 1976 program. And for those of us that were alive, I just vaguely remember this. But it was a big thing in 1976. Andre the Giant has attracted the attention of television's top stars. And before the month is out, he will prove that he is one of TV's national stars. On Monday morning from 9 to 10:30am he'll be seen on the Mike Douglas show on channel 30. On channel 39, excuse me. On the same program will be Jerry Lewis. Before the month is out, and we suggest you watch your TV listings, he will be featured in a pair of episodes of the $6 million man, which runs on Sunday evenings on Channel 13. Andre will be the legendary Bigfoot of the Sierra Mountains. A play a part which he could play without the use of makeup, but he didn't. So how about that for Andre the Giant at his height of popularity? [00:37:06] Speaker B: That's absolutely awesome. And you know, Andre the Giant had one NWA title match that was just spectacular. As a matter of fact, if, if we would be rating matches back then the way we do now, it would have been rated a five star match. When Terry Funk was the champion, they had a match just outside Miami at a junior college arena there on a regular Wednesday Night show. And Terry worked with the Giant like he would work with just a regular wrestler. And while Eddie Graham was not there that night, because that match probably wouldn't have happened. And if Vince McMahon Sr. Would have seen that, he would have been very, very upset because it sort of. It was great as a working match, but it destroyed the illusion of Andre's aura by just having him work like a regular wrestler, if that makes sense. Some of the things that we think are cool in wrestling are actually things that kind of go against wrestling psychology and really kind of hurt the business, even though we're enjoying them in the moment, if that makes sense. [00:38:16] Speaker A: But does. [00:38:17] Speaker B: It does. [00:38:17] Speaker A: I mean, I know there's been times they were not happy necessarily with the. With the Harley race match with Andre, [00:38:23] Speaker B: and I never thought that was a good idea at all to have. [00:38:27] Speaker A: Yeah, the stuff with Jerry Lawler, the article. Everybody was angry when the article got in the paper about, you know, what was it? The night a little person beat on the midget. [00:38:36] Speaker B: Yeah, the midget. Terry in the NWA meeting, he's like, who was that little bastard? Vince Senior? You ain't knowing it was Lawler, but it. But it. Yeah, it sort of destroys the whole aura of what the Giant is, which is a really short, dominant match. But he doesn't win. Yeah, well, he does in some cases, but not in a match like that, you know. [00:39:02] Speaker A: Well, not for the title. He's not going to win the title. We know that. Right, we know that. So you want to talk a little Terry Funk? [00:39:08] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. [00:39:10] Speaker A: So, you know, we talked about last time as we were ending 1975, Terry Funk had not been to Texas yet. He won the title in December in Florida, substituting for his brother. But he doesn't make it to Texas. But he comes with a. You know, with a bullet in January of 1976. And he starts. He does a lot of dates back home. He does almost a full week back home. Might even take a couple days off back home. But he starts the 12th in El Paso against Pat O'. [00:39:37] Speaker B: Connor. [00:39:38] Speaker A: Connor. The 13th in Odessa against Pat O'. Connor. Then the 14th in San Antonio against Jose Lothario. The 15th, he's in Amarillo against Pat O'. [00:39:48] Speaker B: Connor. [00:39:48] Speaker A: The 16th, he's in Lubbock against Red Bastine. Then a couple days off, perhaps. But the 20th, he's in Dallas against Peter Maivia. The 21st, he's in Abilene against the Super Destroyer. He's got quite a feud going with Super Destroyer in some of those western towns. The 22nd he's in Corpus Christi against Jose Lothario. The 23rd, he's in Houston against Peter Maivia. The 24th, he's in Austin against Jose Lothario. And then he doesn't come back again until March and April. You want to talk about January for a minute, Tony, or you want me to go? [00:40:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I would just throw in something about Pat O', Connor, who was the champion from the late 50s through the early 60s. He dropped the title to Buddy Rogers at that big Comiskey Park Chicago show. And Pat O' Connor was always a huge draw, even here in 1976. And for those of you who haven't listened to our St. Louis programs, he was part of the St. Louis office. By 1976, he was booking St. Louis and still going out and doing special shows. And this was a favor for the Funk family for him to come to West Texas and wrestle Terry in the main event. But he, he always drew. He was a draw until the day he retired in West Texas. Yeah. [00:41:03] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's awesome. So that is a great start for Terry coming home to Texas as the world champion. Right. So March, April, he comes back. 315, he's in El Paso against Hank James. 316, he's in Odessa against Red Bastine. 317 at San Antonio, rematch with Jose. 318 and Amarillo, rematch with Super Destroyer. 319, Harley race in Lubbock, Texas, and then comes back a week later. 329 in Fort Worth, we get a matchup with Fritz Von Erich. So we're starting the countdown in the Metroplex. Tony. [00:41:39] Speaker B: Yeah, and he had a match. He had a match with the Stomper in San Antonio. [00:41:42] Speaker A: I was just about to say the next day in Dallas, he has a match with the Stomper. And then back the 31st, he's in San Angelo against Super Destroyer. The 1st of April, April fools back in Corpus against Jose. The 2nd, he's in Houston against Rocky Johnson. And those matches that week, he's going to 60 minute draws with those guys. [00:42:03] Speaker B: And for those of you who aren't familiar with Texas geography or the territory geography, San Angelo was a West Texas funk town and Super Destroyer was Art Nelson under a mask. And Terry had a huge feud with Super Destroyer before he dropped the international title to him, before he won the NWA title. And then Dory Jr picked up that feud. And it was probably Dory Jr's biggest feud in 76 was with the Super Destroyer. And San Angelo was a once a month town for the Funks promoted by the lawman Don Sladden. [00:42:40] Speaker A: Yeah, so about 10 days later, he comes back and has a series of matches with Jack Briscoe and Harley Race in, in Western Texas. So that is pretty cool as well. And then another rematch, this time in Lubbock with the Super Destroyer. So that is April of Terry Funk in Texas. What do you think about that? [00:43:01] Speaker B: More favors. And Jack came in because Jerry Briscoe was in the territory for a run and he had the Western states title. And so Jack came out to see Jerry and do a favor for the Funks. And you can't go wrong with a Funk Briscoe match. [00:43:17] Speaker A: So, yeah, we, you know, we're not talking about West Texas necessarily, but Jerry Briscoe as a heel wrestling against Scott Casey for the, you know, Western Texas title or whatever. That's a cool match. [00:43:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm just throwing in a few things about West Texas to help everybody keep the, the geography straight, you know, in their head. [00:43:38] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's funny you mentioned geography because I was putting maps in the book and again, looking at how far it is from, from, you know, the triangle of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, or the reverse triangle down to Corpus Christi, how far it is from those towns to quote unquote, West Texas up in the Panhandle or to El Paso, I mean, they're not the same territories that, you know, that's the long and the short of it. You can't, you, you might be able to do Dallas, Fort Worth with West Texas, but then you'd have to cut out all of south and southwest or Southeast Texas. You know what I mean? [00:44:13] Speaker B: People aren't as familiar with the West Texas territory as they are the Mid south territory. But it was just as grueling for the guys in the loop that they did and the amount of miles that they covered, especially when you're going out to Albuquerque, then you're coming back to El Paso and then you're coming up to Odessa and you're making that every single week. That's a, that's a haul. [00:44:38] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. All right, you want to do May and June then for Terry Funk? [00:44:42] Speaker B: Yeah, let's do it. [00:44:43] Speaker A: Okay, so May 19th, he's back in San Antonio. This is a big one. Chavo, Guerrero, 60 minute draw. Yeah, so let's, let's pause for a minute and just talk about Chavo's 1976. [00:44:55] Speaker B: Yeah, they had a huge, big program for Chavo in Los Angeles. Terry and Chavo had an amazing tuple of 60 minute draws in the Olympic Auditorium. And in San Diego and a couple of the LA towns, that really put Chavo as the number one baby face for several years in Los Angeles. And the whole Guerrero family, even Gorey Guerrero, came out of retirement to be part of that program. And it set Chavo up for 2H76 in LA with Roddy Piper, which was the first big program of Roddy's career as well. [00:45:30] Speaker A: Yeah, as we all know, Terry Funk loved the Guerrero family and did everything he could to put those boys over. Did it for Eddie as much as he could later on in the 1990s and. Or late 1980s, and, you know, did it for Chavo in the 1970s, setting him up huge. [00:45:49] Speaker B: Baby Face Gory and Ricky Romero were the two big Mexican drawing stars for the West Texas territory. And then Gorey started promoting El Paso, and he promoted El Paso for a good 10, 12 years as part of the Funk territory. They did have a little bit of a falling out there around 74, 75 after Funk senior passed away. But they. They managed to keep their business relationship intact. [00:46:19] Speaker A: Yeah, and I don't think that necessarily affected the boys. You know, I mean, Terry grew up with those kids, in essence, as, you know, running around as, like his little brother. [00:46:27] Speaker B: So. Yeah. [00:46:28] Speaker A: So anyway, so it's a week of draws for Terry. On the 20th, he's in corporate. Chris Christie goes to a draw with Rocky Johnson on the. Actually, the. Then a week later, the 29th, he's in Houston, goes to a draw with Rocky Johnson. The first, he's back in San Angelo, this time against Hank James. The second, he's an Abilene against Jerry Briscoe. The third, he's an Amarillo against Jack Briscoe. And then June 5th, we'll get to. That's Texas Stadium. But the day after Texas Stadium, he's in Austin against Jose Lothario. And then he ends the month coming back against Rocky Johnson. The 24th in Corpus Christi, the 25th in a no DQ match in Houston. And then just starts the month of July back in Amarillo against the Super Destroyer. [00:47:16] Speaker B: And I'm sure that Terry, I mean, we've talked about it many times, but the schedule for the NWA World champion was so grueling. And Terry even said, I was tired of it after 12 months and I was ready to give it to somebody else. But he does look like he's really pushing Jim Barnett, who's the booker, he's in Texas a lot, which is almost like being home for Terry. [00:47:41] Speaker A: So he's in Texas a lot. He's in his territory a lot. And he does get, you know, like, if you're there on a Saturday night and you're back in Texas on a Monday, that's a sneaky way to get you a Sunday off. [00:47:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they did that quite a bit. And that was one of the advantages of, you know, if you were a territory principal or owner, which Terry wasn't at this particular time, but he's connected to the territory owner. It's his brother. They are going to get preferential treatment from Barnett on the scheduled dates on the champion. [00:48:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So, Tony, you know, we talk a lot about young guys who are breaking into the business. We've talked about Stan Hansen coming in. We talked last time about Rick Martel and his run in the territory, often matched up with Stan Hansen. And actually, the beginning of the year, Stan Hansen injures Rick Martel. In reality, he goes to Atlanta. Goes back to Atlanta. But they start to hype up as we get to the big show. One of their feature attractions, the return of Rick Martel. So I thought that was interesting. He became a big enough star in his run in Texas that even though they send him off in an injury angle to get Stan Hansen over as a big killer, they bring him back and he, you know, just wrestles Red Bastine in a feature match, goes to a Broadway. But it's a, you know, indication of how over Rick Martel was during his time in Texas. [00:49:12] Speaker B: And we don't know, it's a funny thing to go back and sort of wipe your memory bank clean. And as I like to say, you. You dummy up, you know, like you don't know what's going to happen. But it's an interesting preview. Nine years after this, this is going to be the premier match for the world title in the AWA is Hansen and Martell. And to think that it kind of started here in the Texas, particularly in Houston, is pretty cool. [00:49:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So we start. We also get some Jerry Stubbs in some matches. In fact, he wrestles Martel in a curtain match in Houston in January. [00:49:48] Speaker B: Now, he was. That's Mr. Olympia. Right. I mean, not here. But he becomes Mr. Olympia later. Just a great physical specimen. Stoves. [00:49:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Really, really incredible worker. I used to call him underrated. We all used to call him underrated. And now we all think he, you know, he's so good that I don't know if he's underrated anymore. [00:50:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Maybe just rated just right. [00:50:08] Speaker A: Just how good he was as a worker. But yes. And then, you know, we get some Paul Pershman debuting in Texas this year. And he actually ends up in a really big match on the Big show, kind of by accident. I don't know what happened to Lord Alfred Hayes, but he ends up filling in against Mil Masker, Chris and El Santo in a tag team match with Killer Brooks. [00:50:29] Speaker B: Well, so, so much confidence was put into Pershman and he was so well trained up in the AWA with Ganya. He was actually the referee in the Vern Gagne Nick Bockwinkle title change at the end of 75. That's how much they trusted him. I mean, because that is an amazingly pivotal match. And to have a young guy like Pershman that you put in the referee spot. We know Persheman becomes Buddy Rose later, but they're putting some confidence in him here. And sometimes somebody doesn't show up, you get a big break. [00:51:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of young guys, Tony and big breaks, Gino Hernandez obviously made his debut at the end of 75. We even got him into Holly Blanchard in a match or two, which was kind of cool. He is. He turns 19 in August of 1976. So if you know the Tully, I mean the Gina Hernandez lore, Jose was taking him down into Mexico when he was 16, 17 years old to get him experience before he turned 18. He was. He debuts in Texas at 18, becomes an immediate baby face sensation. And in the first half of the year, you start to see Gino and Jose as a main event tag team. You know, it's not that Geno himself is a main event or yet you often see Gino in the first match or the second match, but he's getting wins. And every once in a while they elevate him with Jose into a big tag team feud. And I want to read you something. This is so funny for those of us who are, you know, middle age, slash over the hill. No longer middle age. This is 18 year old Gino Hernandez. Gino fights weight problem. This is from the Houston wrestling program from January 30, 1976. While most of us have the problem of fighting weight to keep it off, we would never understand or appreciate the problem of young Gina Hernandez. He is fighting to put it on. Which is the toughest problem. Question mark. Any man who has battled to add muscle to his frame and increase his weight will tell you that you have to work a lot harder to put it on than to take it off. And Geno is working hard. He is just the cutest little baby face at 18. Yeah, it's really stunning, you know, like I mean, how over he was and then how angry that makes the fans a year or so later when he turns on Jose. Right. [00:52:55] Speaker B: And if you're interested in more about Gino Hernandez, I would just point you to Lizzie Flanagan's excellent book. Yeah, I am your champion. I had Lizzie on earlier this year. It was the 40th anniversary of Gino's passing. So if you wanted to check out that show, we talk a lot about Gino there and her book is the ultimate resource on Gino Hernandez. But I'm so amazed at what an influence Gary Hart was. I mean, we know Paul Bosch was a father figure to him, but Gary Hart was just so involved in his shaping Geno's wrestling career. [00:53:31] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, Lizzie and I talked about that on my show, Greg Klein's old school wrestling talk. The kind of internal external battle between Gary Hart and Paul Bosch and who was the proper mentor for Gino Hernandez and who loved him more and who was, you know, more responsible for saving him. Not saving him, whatever the case may be Quite, quite a little Shakespearean play going on there in professional wrestling about young Geno Hernandez. So, Tony, I mentioned this, but here's the actual dates. The March 26 in the Sam Houston Coliseum. Jose and Gino beat Stomper and JJ Dillon. The third fall is a DQ. And so they set up a return match. April 2nd, Rocky Johnson and Terry Funk go to a 60 minute draw in the main event. But Underneath, Gino wrestles J.J. dillon in a semi main event match. So you can see how they're positioning Gino. And can you imagine JJ and young Geno in a, you know, in a big heated match coming off a big main event the week before. Bet that was a great match. [00:54:37] Speaker B: You bet, you bet. I. And we have, fortunately, we have some video, I think, going back to almost 78 of some. Because Gino was in Main Events. I mean, not long after this, I mean, he. And that's always fueled all those silly rumors about Paul Bosch being his real father and all that. But. But we have proven many times that that's just a false narrative. But he was just really good and he really, really being the baby face he was. Obviously that's when you turn a guy when he's really, really popular, if he's young and got a long career and boy, did he have the ability to make fans hate him. [00:55:17] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah. No, he was. And sometimes make fans love him. Both. [00:55:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Big influencer. [00:55:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And no, he was just. He was fantastic. And, and you know, from a very young age, he Got the business from being around the business all his life. And his dad and his stepdad. Well, his stepdad and yeah, I mean, just quite a talent. And it's just fun to watch. You know, this era is not the era that anyone really knows about Geno. Even. Even the people that know Geno in Houston wrestling know Geno the heel, Hair versus Hair Geno, you know, hair versus [00:55:55] Speaker B: Hair with Jose dynamic duo Geno. [00:55:58] Speaker A: Well, that's. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Much later, the two dynamic duo. So, you know, yeah, this is a good time for young Geno for sure. And having a lot of fun doing his thing. So, Tony, I was thinking another thing now with Terry Funk as the NWA champion, we alluded to this earlier. We start to get Dory Jr. As the policeman. And so we get some Dory vs. Rocky Johnson, Dory vs. Jose Lothario. And in Dallas, again, setting up the big match, we get Dory versus Fritz Von Erich. So, you know, four years ago, the big Texas Stadium show, 24,000 new record. Obviously Fritz didn't get the world title from Dory. So this is a little revenge. And I'm sure we've seen it before after Dory loses the title. But this is to set Fritz up for a shot against Terry and obviously he does win the match. [00:56:54] Speaker B: Can I say something about that too? Because here's the deal. You talk about these things a lot with fans today and they're like, well, you know, so what? You know, Fritz is going to advance because the whole thing is going to wrestle Terry. So you know, he's going to get past Junior. Back in these days, we weren't so ultra focused on the finishes. I mean, we weren't trying to book it when we were watching it. We weren't watching it to critique it. We were watching it to be entertained and enjoy it. And we were watching to see this amazing match. It wasn't about necessary. Of course the whole dramatic effect is going to be will Fritz be able to advance to get to Terry for the world title. But there was so much more involved with. I want to see this match because I don't know what's going to happen in this physical display between Dorie Funk Jr. And Fritz von Erich. You know, I don't know what's going to happen over the course of that. You know, it's going 30 minutes or more. So what's going to happen in that 30 minutes was way more the focus back in these days than just who won or lost. Does that make sense? [00:58:10] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. [00:58:12] Speaker B: I mean nowadays we're all, you know, bookers and we're all watching and just, you know, looking and seeing what different finish we would have done or what, how we would have booked it. We weren't doing that back then in. We were just excited to see the match. [00:58:29] Speaker A: And the other thing, you know, you mentioned this. I was thinking about this history wise as well. You know, there is a Texas title and an American title and the Texas title is the historic title. The American title comes up later and becomes, you know, kind of the Vern Gagne. I'm the man and this is my title prop for Fritz. But in the meantime we've got these matches, you know, last year it was Al Madrill and John Tolos and people like that transitions to Stan Hansen and you know, as you talked about Peter Maivia and so, you know, we've got the one thing with the big card, but we've got all this other action going on as well. And who can beat the stomper? Andre coming in and out, Terry Funk, you know, not just against Fritz, but as we talked about against a who's who of Texas wrestling. It really is a tough guy territory in this era. [00:59:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a little bit like the Florida territory in that the southern title in Florida takes in more than Florida. And you would just think that's the bigger title. But really the Florida title was the workhorse title. It was the big important title and always the one who got the NWA title shot. [00:59:42] Speaker A: And it kind of flip flops at various times and obviously it depends on who has what title. And again. [00:59:47] Speaker B: Right. [00:59:48] Speaker A: So you know, in the eyes of the Federation they might, especially in Dallas, the American title is going to be portrayed as the big title. Fritz is the champion. Fritz is, you know, it's. Even when he's fighting Stomper there, it's champion versus champion, you know, whereas the rest of the territory you're more apt to see like Peter Maivia win the title from Stan Hansen, you know, that's the focus or hockey and Jose challenging Terry Funk, that's the focus. Again, different things in different cities and [01:00:19] Speaker B: we don't, and we don't have the luxury of having any tape on this. But you know, the Fritz is carrying the American title in the bicentennial year of 76. So you know, in interviews he's probably putting that over a little bit too. Like being America's champion and the red, white and blue and you know, we're so close to the big holiday, you know, and all of that. I got to think you know, he's, he's getting some of that on it too. [01:00:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I would think so, for sure. [01:00:52] Speaker B: Friends was always a really good interview too. Can I say that? I mean, he, I mean, we didn't see his interviews. Well, we got a few of them from the old days, but mostly we have his later ones when he's not active and the kids are the stars. But I mean, when they brought him in to do an interview, it was always, you know, really, really effective. [01:01:14] Speaker A: Yeah, he could talk people into the, into the building, there's no doubt about that. You know, he's, it's funny, I, you know, again, the history, but I mean, he started out as in Dallas, but they immediately tried to get him out of the Dallas office during the war and send him to Jack Pfeffer. And that's where he becomes, you know, the ethnic heel. [01:01:32] Speaker B: Right, right. [01:01:33] Speaker A: And, and so, yeah, he learns old school Tony Santos, you know, how to get your heat on the mic and how to get your heat with the gimmick and it, you know, even when he's a baby face, he's, he's in essence talking them into the stadium in a lot of ways. [01:01:49] Speaker B: Where are we going now? [01:01:51] Speaker A: Well, I, you know, do you want to talk a little bit about Dallas or you want to go to the big show? You want to talk. [01:01:57] Speaker B: You're my, you're my guy, man. Where you want to be? [01:02:00] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you know, so let's talk about Stomper a little bit more because as we said, he goes around the horn as the big monster and he really, he ends up leaving for Canada. So he's here basically for the six month run and he's on top, I would say, I dare say for like five months, five and a half months of the six month run. And then as you do, you put everybody over on your way out of town, right, Tony? So for one, as we, as we talked about, you've got Fritz Von Erich getting an NWA title shot. So you know that Fritz is going to beat Stomper at the end of the day. You know that Andre is going to get revenge and beat Stomper at the end of the day. Jose is going to beat Stomper at the end of the day. Rocky is going to beat Stomper at the end of the day. That's what it is. I mean, you know, literally, like, it's like watching Salvatore Belomo's record when all of a sudden he starts losing. He goes on a losing streak because they've got no more use for him except this is more traditional heel type of stuff, not. Not, you know, WWF stuff. And so, like I said, Stopper just on his way out of town, everybody suddenly gets to beat Stopper. And lo and behold, Tony, who replaces, like, literally almost the same week, who comes into Texas, Moondog, Maine. So now we've got a new killer heel for the second half of the year. [01:03:25] Speaker B: We can. [01:03:26] Speaker A: We'll talk about that next time. But. [01:03:28] Speaker B: And I love. I've seen a lot of it in your personal collection of Houston programs, but I love this version, early version of J.J. dillon as a manager. [01:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. Let's see if we can get it on camera here. [01:03:42] Speaker B: He's a cigar smoker. There we go. And jj, Dylan, and he was authenticated [01:03:48] Speaker A: and signed with The Mongolian stomper. 1976. Yeah. [01:03:53] Speaker B: And he, Mongolian Stomper, had been with Don Carson. He'd been with Bearcat. Right. And when he left Tennessee, I don't know what happened, but they. They split up. And then he called Dylan. According to JJ's book, he called Dylan and wanted Dylan to be his manager and mouthpiece, which Stomper actually could do a good interview. It's just part of his character in the United States. He didn't talk, but Dylan agreed to come in and do the management gig in Texas. And then he actually switches over to Moondog Maine when Stomper leaves. But, I mean, not that I didn't enjoy JJ in later years and the Horsemen and all that, but this. This first version of him in Texas with the cigar and the glasses and, you know, kind of the. The millionaire manager type guy or whatever. I don't know. It's just rough and raw and fits Texas wrestling. I just really like this version of JJ. [01:04:48] Speaker A: Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. So, Tony. June 12th, Jose wins the brass knuckles title from Mongolian Stomper. And the week before, there's a lot of Andre against Jose and jj. Matches. The third in Corpus Christi. Andre and Jose beat JJ in the Stomper. The fourth in Houston. It's a handicap match. Andre beats them both. The fifth at the big show, Andre beats them both in a handicap match. And then there's a week of Stomper versus jj, and that's kind of fun. You figure the fans, you know, they're gonna lose Stomper. They don't know yet, but they might even cheer for him for a week as he battles J.J. dillon. Although I bet, you know, that's the kind of situation where maybe the next big heel gets involved and sends Stomper on his Way, [01:05:40] Speaker B: just a great tech. We mentioned it before, but we'll mention it again. Just textbook slaying the dragon type of program, you know, an angle. Jerry Lawler made a big name for himself doing that year after year in Memphis. [01:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. So, you know, we talked about Houston a lot, but obviously Dallas is gearing for the big show. So we get a lot more Fritz Von Erich in Dallas during this time. And we get Fritz, as we talked about, versus Dory Funk. We get the Fritz Stomper matches and then we get sort of the run up, not only for Fritz, but for Andre versus Stomper and JJ Dillon. We obviously were going to get El Santo and Mil Maskers on the big show. As we talked about, it's supposed to be Lord Alfred Hayes and Killer Tim Brooks. What a weird show to miss. I wonder what happened with Lord Alfred Hayes that day. But we get Paul Pershman in that spot instead. Conversely, what a great spot to be put into as a young green boy, you know? Well, I'm just a couple of years into the business. [01:06:46] Speaker B: I'm sure Alfred was working West Texas. Two things. I don't know. What. What town was it again? [01:06:54] Speaker A: Which one? [01:06:54] Speaker B: The. Where? He's not there. Houston. [01:06:56] Speaker A: Oh, that's. No, that's the big Dallas show. [01:06:58] Speaker B: Oh, the big Dallas show. Okay. Do you want what day that was on? What is that, like a day of the week? [01:07:05] Speaker A: Oh, it's a Saturday. [01:07:07] Speaker B: Oh, okay. No, it couldn't have been a St. Louis conflict. Yeah, I don't know. It would be interesting to research and find out where he was that day. Maybe he wasn't in wrestling that day. It could have been some other June 5th. [01:07:19] Speaker A: Saturday, June 5th. [01:07:20] Speaker B: I hope I had the date wrong. [01:07:21] Speaker A: But the other thing, when I talked about this as well, Dallas, June 29. The opening match is Tully Blanchard and Gina Hernandez in a. In a Broadway. [01:07:32] Speaker B: Love it. [01:07:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Isn't that cool? [01:07:34] Speaker B: What a great way to start a show. I mean, even at that young age and at that stage of development, I got to think those two guys, if they went 60 minutes, somebody saw something in those two dudes to tell them to go out there and go Broadway, you know, and that's a typical NWA thing. Like, that's the way NWA promoters typically not only started their big events, they started almost every house show like that. They'd have two young guys who could go and they'd send them out there to have a wrestling match. You can't go 60 minutes and not wrestle. You know, there's just, you know, you can't go out there and just do high spots or just do what violence or whatever. People can't stand it for an hour and it'd be very difficult to do an hour. So you got to do wrestling holes and moves. And so it would have been. I wish we had that, man, that would be great. [01:08:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So, Tony, speaking of Fritz Von Erich, here's an interesting match, January 19th in Dallas. Fritz Von Erich and Rick Martel against Terry Funk and Stan Hansen. I'm sorry, that was Fort Worth. That was the 19th in Fort Worth. So what I believe happens in that match, tag team match, is that Fritz Von Erich gets the win over Terry Funk. So again, this is January, the show is in June. So we're building, building, building. March 2nd in Dallas. Fritz Von Erich and Dory Funk. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a steady five month build. Terry Funk wins by DQ in May again. Building, building, building. And then we get to June 5, 1976 at Texas Stadium. So I have the program. [01:09:20] Speaker B: Now I'm going to ask you something before you do the lineup program and everything, because I know you're a world class guy as well. I mean, you've very paid close attention to it because of the association with Mid south and everything. But how do you think this booking compares to eight years later when they're doing the big show at Texas Stadium or the Cotton bowl or whatever? How does this booking compare in this very methodical, laid out thing after thing after thing? Slow, steady, intentional build to the way they built up shows later on? [01:09:59] Speaker A: You know, I feel like the 1984 show is a one match show with a great build. [01:10:05] Speaker B: Right, right. You know, the flair and carry match. Right. [01:10:08] Speaker A: A match that needed a stadium. As Jim Cornett. This is the super bowl of wrestling. And they, so they do build up several different things. You know, as we said, there's, there is Andre getting revenge against the mongolian Stomper and J.J. dillon in a handicap match. There is El Santo and Mil Masqueris together. There is the return of Rick Martello from injury. You know, so this is, obviously this show doesn't do as well, you know, but that might be the difference between Fritz in 76 and Carrie Von Erich as a sympathetic win one for David Babyface in 1984. Right. You know, again, I mean, Fritz Von Erich is, I dare say a few years past his prime now. Now he's the biggest star in Texas wrestling history, perhaps, certainly in Dallas area history. So that's not the biggest deal in the world. But again, it doesn't Draw as big a crowd as 1972, you know. [01:11:17] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, there's probably some people. Von Eric against a Funk. I've seen that. Right. But I mean, still, they draw 17,000. And I was on Twitter just a couple of days ago, and I just said out loud, just a ponderance, I wonder if this was Terry Funk's largest card that he drew when he was champion. And I can't remember who chimed in. Might have been Matt Farmer, who. Who chimed in and said, no, it was actually tied with this, the. In New Orleans. The big Watts show in 76. In the Superdome. Yeah, yeah, in the Superdome, that they actually drew almost the same amount of people, which is around 17,000, give or take a few. But, yeah, I mean, this is. This is a big draw. It doesn't draw what 72 did. But, you know, it's a. Like I said, you know, it's a Funk and a Von Erich. And I probably a lot of people thought, okay, well, I've kind of seen this before, but it still draws a lot of people. [01:12:24] Speaker A: I don't know that 76, you know, take out Bruno and Stan Hansen, take out Andre and Enoki, and, you know, but I don't know that 76 draws what 72 did in general. I mean, as we've talked about for Houston wrestling, anyway, 1972 is a really good year. You know, that's the Dory Funk, Jose Lothario fighting over the Varsity Jacket year. Those are some of my favorite programs. Well, like, I. [01:12:54] Speaker B: Like I have in my model of the territory era, this is the second year of the stage of the territories that are disintegrating. So we're two years into this phase from 75 to 85, where from 76 to 80 is not so bad. They really drop off in Dallas a great deal in the years in between. And then in 1979, 80, 81, you lose. Everything west of Kansas City goes out of business. West Texas goes out of business. Louisiana goes out of business. San Francisco goes out of business. So even though it was a little bit like the period from 85 to 95, just watching it on the surface, you think, wow, the territories are really cooking. Well, actually, it was the bonfire before the disintegration. And that's what we're starting to see here in 76 is we're about to see some disintegration of some of the major territories here that are going to fall off the face of the earth, and the offices are going to close. [01:13:58] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. [01:14:00] Speaker B: And if it weren't for The Von Erich boys. It probably would have happened to Dallas. [01:14:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it could have. As Fritz gets older, for sure. And, you know, but the other thing is they revolutionized TV in so many ways. So, you know, with the right baby faces, they had the formula to survive. [01:14:23] Speaker B: Yeah. To handle the pressures that were coming of the territory. Borderlines being erased by the different technology involving satellites and television. They were able to hang on while so many others were not so fortunate. [01:14:40] Speaker A: I mean, Fritz obviously becomes sort of an absentee owner, but a person with more of a McMahon Territorial busting instinct really could have made hay with what they establish in 82, 83, 84, as they get. [01:14:56] Speaker B: Only problem is there wasn't another one of those. There was only one. [01:14:59] Speaker A: I know. [01:15:00] Speaker B: So, you know, I. You're exactly right, though. I mean, I think about that with Jimmy Crockett. I think about that with Bill Watts. I think about that with Fritz Von Erich. [01:15:09] Speaker A: Well, the reason I think of it with Fritz is because they had the best TV and they had the best, you know, baby face potential. [01:15:14] Speaker B: Sure. [01:15:15] Speaker A: Getting over to the world type of guy, you know, comparable to Hogan, even to the point where sometimes people, you know, Von Erich was kind of rumored to be. Well, if it doesn't work out with Hogan, you know, and they. [01:15:27] Speaker B: And they sort of had built the straw man case for being able to draw outside Dallas. So, you know, it wasn't like they were completely fenced in and couldn't. Their. Their talent and booking wouldn't have worked somewhere else besides Texas. It just didn't work out that way. Yeah. [01:15:48] Speaker A: No, I know. And yet, you know, for people that are not as familiar with the Fritz Von Erich era, I do say, you know, over and over and over again, he was a bigger star than his sons. And his sons were big stars because of him. You know, first and foremost, now they get over on their own. And David and Carrie, you know, David was an incredible worker. Kevin was pretty good until he lost his spark. And Kerry was the most charismatic and had the best look, but. But Fritz was the total package. Fritz was like all of that rolled up into one. [01:16:19] Speaker B: And the boys were big in Texas, but Fritz was a worldwide star. I mean, he. Going back to the 60s. [01:16:25] Speaker A: I mean, he was world champion. [01:16:28] Speaker B: Oh, my God. He was so over in Japan, I mean, back in the 60s. [01:16:32] Speaker A: And so, I mean, he was a giant baba foe. [01:16:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:16:36] Speaker A: The monster heel for the monster, you know, Baba, right? [01:16:38] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. He was a worldwide sensation. [01:16:43] Speaker A: Yeah. It's all right, Tony. Here's the big reveal as we go. [01:16:46] Speaker B: The super bowl of Wrestling, June 5th. [01:16:49] Speaker A: This is from June 1st, 1976. So this is from the Tuesday night show at the Sportatorium. But of course it's hyping the big show. [01:17:00] Speaker B: In today's vernacular, we'd call this the Go Home show. Right? [01:17:03] Speaker A: This is the Go Home show. Yeah. So the Go Home show is very interesting. The main event is a 10 man battle royal with Andre Killer Brooks, Paul Pershman, Don Fargo, Larry Sharp, Leo Seitz, Rocky Johnson, Red Bastine, Jose Lothario and Francisco Flores. And then the semi main event is Maia Villa and the Stomper. The third main event or the third event is Paul Pershman and Rocky Johnson. Then Leo Seitz and Jose Lothario and Francisco Flores and Larry Sharp. So that's Tuesday, June 1, 1976. Remember, they have the big match that weekend on a Saturday. So here is the lineup for the big show. Diamond Lil beat Darling, Dagmar Red Bastine and Rick Martel went to a time limit draw. Rocky Johnson beat Larry Sharp. Peter Maivia beat Don Fargo. Andre the giant beat J.J. dillon in the Mongolian Stomper. El Santo and Jose Lothario beat Paul Pershman and Tim Brooks. [01:18:04] Speaker B: I thought that was, I thought that was very smart too, putting the handicap match in there for Andre with. Yeah, JJ could bump his butt off. [01:18:13] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And then Terry Funk and Fritz Von Air go to a double count out in the main event. Somebody was selling, telling us online that Paul Pershman also had to pick up El Santo at the airport. [01:18:28] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, yeah, that would, that would have been cool. [01:18:31] Speaker A: So he was, he was so green that he was picking up his main event opponent. And you know, it was like the typical. They told him not to turn around. Don't look at El Santo. [01:18:40] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Pay no attention to the man in the back. Yeah. This is a massive outdoor spectacle. I mean, this is a really, really big deal in Texas wrestling, especially in Dallas history. Yeah. [01:18:52] Speaker A: And you know, but then the amazing thing is like this is the summer of outdoor spectacles and summer of wrestling making news, as you said, summer of 76, big bicentennial. And then just a couple of weeks later, everybody gets in on this Andre and Inoki thing. You know, I know you're going to talk about it other places with other people with Stephen, but all the territories jump in on this one as well. [01:19:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that was, you know, that was a time where the booking offices and the territory principals cooperated and it was all for one and one for all. And it still had. Even though Fritz is actually the president of the NWA at this time for his one year term. But there was still a large spirit of cooperation among the NWA crowd and even with the. The members not officially recognized, like Ganya and McMahon as well. [01:19:52] Speaker A: Yeah, so you know, that is June 25, 1976. [01:19:57] Speaker B: And obviously, I mean, obviously, if you see Andre on a card, that's the same as Vince McMahon senior cooperating. [01:20:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, but so Andre and Inoki are in Tokyo. Yep, obviously. But as you'll touch on, Tony, you know, there's what, like almost 10 other wrestling events going on simultaneously, you know, that are done in conjunction, where people are getting Andre and Enoki closed circuit and then they're getting their own little slice of wrestling. You've got Bruno and Hansen, you've got Bachwinkle and Vern Gagne. You've got Dory Funk Jr. And Jack Briscoe in Atlanta, you've got Terry Funk and Rocky Johnson in Houston, You've got Roddy Piper and gory Guerrero in LA. You've got Pat Patterson and Mr. Fuji in San Francisco. And you've got, even in Indianapolis, you've got a tag team main event with Art Thomas and Pepper Gomez against Ox Baker and Carl Von Krupp. This is something that all the promoters got in on and Texas, you know, did as well. [01:21:04] Speaker B: And to honor Fuji, I have to mention that for that year in Los Angeles, he was the great Fuji. And the great Fuji was the big heel in the LA territory that year of 76. And in San Francisco, I might say, instead of Los Angeles, he was the big heel in San Francisco. And who better to be his baby face opponent than Pat Patterson? They were actually the main event at the Coliseum during the Ali Anoki closed circuit event. [01:21:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:21:40] Speaker B: So, you know, and it was very bloody too, I understand. [01:21:44] Speaker A: Yeah. The other thing about that June 25 show in Houston, Tony, is they start to hype up for July again, the return of Superstar Graham. Now just when we thought that Superstar Graham was going to come back and be a baby face fight with Mongolian Stomper. No, in Houston they're going to reignite the Jose Lothario Superstar Graham feud, which is really, this would be the third year running of Super Sock against the Superstar. So what better than the bicentennial celebration in Houston? You're gonna see some stars, right? Yeah. [01:22:22] Speaker B: And again, what's going on behind the scenes is McMahon senior is about to, in about six months gonna put the title on Graham. And so he wants to send him around to a few territories as the guy who he's going to get in New York, which is the heel, Graham. And so he wants to send that around and see how the heel superstar does, I'm sure. [01:22:46] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you know, it's a great start to the year in Texas wrestling, that's for sure. [01:22:50] Speaker B: And just to indicate we were. We opened today's show about how all these markets are different. That's another great example. You know, Graham was over big time in Houston. He couldn't hardly get over at all in St. Louis. So it just, it shows, you know, just different towns had different preferences for that particular fan base. [01:23:12] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Well, he fit right into the monster heel, you know, monster heel gimmick in Houston in a way that obviously they didn't do in St. Louis. [01:23:21] Speaker B: Right, exactly. All right, well, great. That. That's a great recap of the first half of 76. I'm. I'm excited. I want to go and watch that whole show, but we can't. [01:23:33] Speaker A: But I'd be fun to watch, that's for sure. [01:23:35] Speaker B: But I'd like to. I. As a matter of fact, I'd like to see several of these shows we talked about today. This. This is on fire. I mean, this is good. Strong booking for the Dallas office in 76, in my opinion. [01:23:47] Speaker A: Yeah, well, your guy Red Bastine is still there. And, you know, obviously a lot of promoting for the big show, a lot of traditional Texas wrestling booking with the monster heels and just over, over baby faces, really over heels. Great time in Texas wrestling. [01:24:03] Speaker B: And if you're watching or listening today, that means you're kind of into Texas wrestling history. And if you are, and I'm sure you are, you don't want to miss Greg's new book on the Texas wrestling wars of the 1950s. And Greg, tell everybody about the book a little bit here at the end of the show and tell them where they can get the book. I. We had that guy asked me that on Twitter. I'm like, Amazon, Right? [01:24:28] Speaker A: Exactly. So, yeah. So, first of all, thank you, Tony. And the Texas wrestling wars. The 1950s was a labor of love. I had been reading and researching more Siegel for a couple of years, trying to get him into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter hall of Fame. And I. I just. It was like a brain worm with me where I just started reading about this fight between him and Ed McLemore from Dallas in the 1950s. And the more I read about it, the more I researched about it, the more I wanted to know. And a year ago, I said, you know, who better than me to tell this story? And Here we are a year later, thanks to Greg Oliver, my editor. We are online, you know, wherever you get books, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com I'm going to be in Iowa in July selling the books and then mid month I should have them in hand. So if you want, you know, sign copies, you can reach out personally to me. You can always listen to my own podcast, Greg Klein's Old School Wrestling Talk. And Tony, it doesn't have anything to do with Texas wrestling, but I, I would be remiss if I did not just give a little tribute to my boy, golden boy, Jerry Gray, my mentor in the wrestling business, my really, really good friend. I had his longtime tag team partner Bob Cook on my wrestling show to do a tribute. [01:25:47] Speaker B: And great, great, great show too by the way. [01:25:51] Speaker A: Thank you. Jerry was somebody that gave me such a break in the business. It was a stupid break. I was playing Doink the Clown for a year for Jerry Gray in 1996 and 1997. But it was one of those like wrestling things, you know, do you want the dumb break or do you just want to be a job guy? Right. So, so I got to wrestle for a year for Jerry gray, wrestle Bugsy McGraw, wrestle Gregory Hammer Valentine, wrestle in the Swap Shop in Fort Lauderdale, wrestle in the Canton Municipal Civic center auditorium, whatever it's called, where the Chic used to run. Yeah, you know, Jerry was the first guy that paid me in something more than like a $20 or, you know, ring time type of thing. And there were days that he would just shovel five dollar bills into my hands from my Polaroid money. And that always made an effect on me. How kind he was, what a good guy he was, how fair he was to his workers, how funny he was, and then just a great worker himself. You know, we were talking about this on my show. He started in 1981, trained by Louis to lay. Within a couple of months he was on the superstation. Like that alone would blow my mind. Right? [01:27:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:27:10] Speaker A: But so here's this guy, he starts in 81, over the course of his career, he then wrestles in Memphis, Mid South, Atlanta, Mid Atlantic, goes back to Florida, Eddie Graham doesn't use him the first time because he's a Louis Tolay guy. But by 1983 he's an established guy wrestling in Florida. He goes to Portland, gets a push, he goes to Mid south, gets a kind of mid card tag team with Eddie Gilbert, gets a little feud when Eddie Gilbert goes face, goes back to Florida, gets a little bigger push. Feuds with Tyre Pride over the Bahamas belt and then he starts his own Federation. And for 20 plus years, Jerry was a successful promoter. And I'm so lucky that I met him. I'm so lucky that I got to work with him. An underrated guy, an underrated worker and we all know, just a sweetheart of a guy, told us a lot of funny stories on the superstation in the 605. And you know, he was, he was like Bugsy McGraw and Dory Funk, Jr's boy. [01:28:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:28:16] Speaker A: So it was kind of cool for me. I'm like, you know, I don't know if that's two steps or one step removed, but, you know, Bugsy's boy was my guy. Right. [01:28:26] Speaker B: So if you want all those details and a complete retrospective into the life and career of the recently passed Jerry Gray, check out Greg's show, Greg Klein's Old School Wrestling Talk. Bob Cook is on there. What episode number is. [01:28:42] Speaker A: It's the latest episode, episode 97. Yeah, yeah. Where you, where you get your podcast? By the time we went out for our boy Jerry Gray, or I guess it's Jerry Gray. So twist one up for our boy Jerry Gray. Just a great guy. And thank you, Tony, for letting me say that because he was somebody that had a, a tremendous effect on my life and my career. I wouldn't be the guy that I was, I wouldn't be the wrestling historian that I was without getting to spend that time working for him in the 1990s. And yeah, so. And again, thank you for the stuff about the book the Texas Wrestling wars of the 1950s on sale now. [01:29:19] Speaker B: Slight correction. By the time you see this, it won't be the latest version of the podcast, but go back and get the episode where they're talking about. The title is clear on Jerry Gray and Bob Cook is. [01:29:31] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [01:29:32] Speaker B: So that'd be good for you guys to check out a little bit about Jerry and you're welcome. It's a pleasure to. And you know, it's the greatest thing in my life to see my friends succeed. So I'm happy about the book being done, being published and people are getting it in their hands and they're learning stuff that you and I have been fascinated with for a very long time. So it's very thorough, very comprehensive and you did a great job on it. And I'll just throw out again. I'm doing a panel at the Tregos Thes hall of Fame weekend, Saturday afternoon at 2:30. Greg will be there with me. We're talking about wrestling wars and we're going to talk about the Texas wrestling wars for 20 minutes or so and then Roy Lee Welch is going to be there. He's the son of Lester Welch and they were the principals of the office when Ann Gunkel broke away and we had the Atlanta Wrestling War. So Roy was right there at ground zero. So I love, I'm looking forward to talking to Roy about that and then taking all your great questions at the Waterloo event. So, Greg, thanks again, man. Great, great comprehensive review of the first half of 76 in the Dallas territory. And I'm looking forward to the second half coming up later this year. [01:30:46] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you so much, Tony. [01:30:50] Speaker B: Wow, what a show. Greg Klein running down the happenings for us in the Dallas, Texas Territory of 1976. That, that, that show with Terry Funk and defeat defending the title against Fritz. I would, I would give anything to have that show on the video. My goodness, what a program. Drew 17,000 people there to the stadium to see that big, that big title match. Thank you so much and thank you for your support and your great feedback, your comments on our episodes that you give. We take a look and take into consideration everything you give us as far as feedback. I want to know, want to let you know how much I value you as one of our community here in the pro wrestling time tunnel. And there are so many ways to be involved in the time tunnel and I will run down some of those for you here in just a minute. But first let's talk about our sponsor, the Grizzly Up Soap Company. A family owned store right here in western Kentucky in downtown Hopkinsville. Handcrafting small batch all natural goat milk soaps and a full line of personal care products. Every bar of soap is packed with nourishing goat milk, shea butter and skin loving oils for that rich creamy lather that actually leaves your skin soft and moisturized. If you were here right now, you could feel my skin and you would feel how soft and moisturized it is. Because I use Grizzly up soap, I've been using Kentucky bourbon lately and I've been using frankincense and hemp and man, not only does my bathroom smell fresh and my shower smells fresh, I smell fresh. You can choose from bold, adventurous scents like the tropical pina colada, the classic oatmeal milk and honey or the rucked. This is a Kentucky brand here from a Kentucky store. So you know, we got to have tobacco and bay leaf and we have a brand new sweet brand. It's a floral scent called may your weeds be wildflowers. That's a new one. I don't even have one of those yet. We also got rugged men's options. Refreshing beard oils to keep your facial hair smelling good or luxurious Luxurious Body Butters. Say that really fast. Luxurious body Butters Relaxing bath soaks, natural laundry detergent and even handcrafted candles. I got a couple of candles here at the Richard's Ranch from Grizzly Up. Whether you're hitting the trails or winding down at home, there's nothing so perfect for every member of the family than a product from Grizzly Soap Company. Remember, if you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. Stop by the shop at 200 N. 9th St. In downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Or shop the fourth full line online anytime at grizzly up soapco.com Grizzly Up Soap Co. Natural goodness made bold in Kentucky. And thank you all so much for your orders. Those of you who listen to the show and watch the show and so many people have ordered up some Grizzly up soap. And I want to thank you for that because it helps Chastity and Travis and they really appreciate it and so do I. It helps everybody when you buy some soap. That's a good one. Maybe that ought to be a tagline. Buy some soap. Okay, so I want to tell you too that you can subscribe to my daily pro wrestling history newsletter. Now, this is the only pro wrestling history newsletter I know that comes out every single day that only focuses on the past of the territory era. And that's what the Daily Chronicle does. It focuses on the territory era. Pro wrestling comes out every morning at 5:00am Central, 6:00am Eastern Time, straight to your email inbox and also published on my website in substack at Tony Richards 4. You can subscribe. It's absolutely free. I mean, we provide a ton of value for your subscription. So you subscribe, we send you the newsletter. Doesn't cost you anything. Now, if you'd like to support the work that I do as a pro wrestling history historian, it you know, you got to put some investment into this podcast. Cost some money. This equipment costs some money. The hosting costs money, the research sometimes costs money. And I have to spend a whole lot of time on this stuff. So, you know, I could be doing something else to make money, but I'd rather do this for you guys. So if you want to invest, all you have to do is get a paid subscription. It's just $5 a month or it's $50 a year, which will save you 10 bucks. If you want an annual subscription, you pay the $50 all at one time and then you save $10. Or if you want the $5 a month option, you can do that as well. And we don't just give you the newsletter for that. We give you even more stuff. The Evolution of Wrestling series, we give you the Family Tradition series, we give you the Tracking the World Champions series, we give you some of my lists and countdowns series and a whole lot of stuff in addition to the daily Chronicle that comes every single day. That's at The Substack. Tony Richards 4 Substack Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel. Easy to find. I bet you if you put it in Google, it'll come right up. So. And if you get the app, the Substack app, which you just download, man, it gives you the notifications. The newsletter comes right there to your app. All the publishing comes right there to your app. And not only that, we got some great wrestling writers on Substack, some great ones. So you might even find some other stuff that you're interested in if I don't do anything on the modern current product. So if you're looking to keep up with that, you can find some good writers on Substack who do that kind of thing. All my podcasts, all my written pro wrestling history stuff is all there on the Substack. It's the hub, it's the vault. That's where you'll find all my work. Okay, now also, thank you for listening to the audio version of this show. So no matter where you get your podcast, and you can get it from a lot of different places you can get it, hang on a second and I will give you a list of the places you can get it on the Apple Podcast app. You can get it on Android, you can get it on Podcast Attic, you can get it on Apple Core Media, you can get it on Podbean, you can get it on Pocket Casts, Alexa enabled devices, Castbox, Chrome Player FM Overcast Antenna Pod, itunes, Podcast Republic, Amazon Music, Apple Podcast Web Player, Firefox, Edge Downcast, Podcast Guru, the Pod Bay Web player, iCatcher, the Podtail web player, and by RSS Feed. Wow. There's a lot of different places you can get our audio show. No matter where you get it though, hit the like subscribe follow button. Whatever it is, hit that to make sure you don't miss any of our episodes that come out. And if you'd be so kind, please give us a five star review because when you do that, that helps other people who may not have even heard of the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History show discover it and see if they like it. So Please smash the five star review button. That helps us out quite a bit. Also, our Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel YouTube channel, where I'm building a repository of our video content. Not only all of the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History show episodes there for you, but also a lot of clips that are there. The highlights of all the podcast shows. And we have all my appearances from Briscoe and Bradshaw in one easy playlist. So when we start the history of Texas wrestling here coming up in a few days, all of those shows every week will be added to the playlist. Tony's appearances on Briscoe and Bradshaw. Then there's also another playlist with all my other podcast appearances, like Talking Memphis Wrestling and some of the other great shows that have invited me to be on as a guest. We keep it all there on the YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button and turn your notifications on. So you know. And we put a new video up every single day. So you're going to get a notification every day that there's something new at the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel YouTube channel. We appreciate all your thumbs up on all our videos. We appreciate all the comments that you may. We have some really nice, polite, grateful people over there at YouTube who make some great comments. And I really appreciate you and I really thank you. Okay, I think that's. That's it. I just want to remind you, get your questions in for the mailbag show. They got to be in by this Saturday, June 20th. The Mailbag show will be out here next Wednesday morning, June 24, 5am Central Time, 6am Eastern Time, where I will be answering all the questions that you've submitted either through the Facebook group substack Channel X feed or through the emails that you send me. Tony richards4mail.com all right, that's our show. Wow. A lot of things going on. Got pretty busy. Appreciate all of your support. Appreciate all your great comments. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening here every week to the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History Show. And remember what I always say, if you want a better neighbor, be better neighbor. Right? Right. Thanks, everybody. Tony Richards saying see you next week here on the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History Show. And so long, everybody from the Bluegrass State. [01:41:15] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Pro [01:41:17] Speaker B: Wrestling Time Tunnel podcast. [01:41:19] Speaker A: Tune in for another great episode next week, interviewing wrestlers, referees and media personalities [01:41:26] Speaker B: that have made the sport of professional wrestling great. We'll release a new episode soon. Don't you dare miss it.