grapplin' apple

On Thanksgiving, I am super thankful that I discovered this board within the last two years and especially for this thread. I love it and keep up the good work. This is one of my favorite territories. I also wonder how you obtained this footage since it's ridiculously hard to find. I've been looking for some of it since '96 and have only stumbled across a handful of discs and videotapes. Anyway, thanks for this and please keep posting.

Paul Jones and anyone.

For me, it was 1989 WWF and the Zeus vs. Hogan feud. It's the point that I stopped watching wrestling because that angle was so....corny. I've always generally hated celebrities involved in wrestling, and this is one of the most egregious examples of bad celebrity usage. Even though '89 was a great year for WCW, towards the end of that year I felt that it had drifted too far away from how it was presented in JCP. I also think I was disheartened that many of my Crockett heroes (JCP was always my favorite followed by World Class and then AWA followed by WWF) "transformation" in the WWF. I couldn't believe what Dusty, Arn and Tully, Ronnie Garvin, and the Sheepherders were turned into in the WWF, particularly the Sheepherders because they were terrifying to me as a kid. I grew up devouring the Apter mags and my next door neighbor was a HUGE JCP/southern territories fan which shaped my views on how wrestling should be presented. I didn't get back into it until mid-'95 with the advent of Nitro and have been a hardcore since. I watched casually from about '90 to '94 meaning watching the Clash once a year and maybe catching a Raw. If we received SMW where I lived, I'm sure I would have gotten back in a few years earlier.

George Gulas' push as lead babyface in Memphis.

Hogan's second title run. I like the matches with Bossman, but I hate, hate, hate the feud with Zeus. It was one of the major reasons I went from a hardcore fan to watching tangentially until 1995.

Agreed. I loved this show and want the full list in print.

If you are interested in the history of Houston wrestling, there is a pictorial history of it in the early-mid '70s here: http://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Coliseum-Geoff-Winningham/dp/B001TO23P6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442772405&sr=8-2&keywords=friday+night+at+the+coliseum Worldcat record in case any one would want to use InterLibrary Loan to receive it at their local public library. This assumes you live in the US as I'm not sure how ILL works in other countries: http://www.worldcat.org/title/friday-night-in-the-coliseum/oclc/315164&referer=brief_results It's called "Friday Night at the Coliseum" and it's by Geoff Winningham. Winningham was a photographer who photographed Texas culture in the '70s. It has interviews and reprints of letters from fans as well as interviews (strictly Kayfaybe) with Johnny Valentine, Paul Boesch, Wahoo, Tim Woods, and many others. It's a good companion piece to NWALegends.com which I have and love.

I don't have the exact date, but it was an indy show in Dubuque, Iowa in 1984. Chief Jay Strongbow (or someone trying to pass themselves as him) was in the main event.

This is awesome so far. Is the promo where Dundee and Landell diss going to church on Memphis TV anywhere on youtube?

Eugene's push in the summer of 2004. I think Dinsmore was a decent wrestler, but I hated that gimmick.

Any time I saw Buddy Landell in any territory, he brought a spark to it. The corkscrew elbow was an awesome move, and way ahead of its time. I just bought a set of USA Wrestling from Knoxville yesterday, and seeing that Buddy was on it convinced me to finally purchase it. RIP.

In my opinion, none of the damage can be laid at the feet of Memphis. Memphis ran the Tupelo Concession Brawl once every couple of years. ECW ran it seemingly every night. It's true Memphis had brutal feuds with bloodletting, but they hardly worked as over a top "hardcore" style of ECW. No one in Memphis would have jumping off a balcony as their gimmick.

Thank you so much for doing this. I love these shows. As a life long fan, I learn tons of stuff I never knew. Here is that clip of Mike Davis being turned into Virgil Runnels. The whole Dusty vs. Sullivan feud from Florida is one of my all time favorites.

One of my most mark-ish moments as a kid happened when Paul Heyman and the original Midnight Express showed up on TV to beat up Stan Lane/Bobby Eaton/Jim Cornette The matches that followed, however, were not very good.

I went to an AWA house show in 1988 in Iowa where a bunch of guys yelled racist epithets at Wahoo McDaniel. It was pretty nice to see him go out of the ring, grab one by his goatee, and chop him. At Great American Bash 1997 in Iowa, there were skinheads near the front row yelling that they had Sonny Ono's Mom in their car's trunk. For me, that takes the cake as far as live events go.

Favourite style of wrestling? Southern brawling with lots of blood. Favourite way wrestling is presented? Poorly lit studio. Favourite type of match? One Fall-45 minutes. Favourite gimmick match? I have a strange affinity for Bull Rope matches. Favourite wrestler? Jerry Lawler Favourite match? The first Wargames match or Tully vs. Magnum -I Quit. Favourite feud? Lawler vs. Idol and Rich Favourite angle? Probably the first six months of the NWO. Favourite promotion/period of wrestling? I grew up with it, so Crockett from '86-'88. I started watching wrestling in I think late '86. Little things that happen in wrestling that you always love? Jackie Fargo's punches, The Sheik or Lawler throwing fire, Satanic Kevin Sullivan, When territories would put a large X over actions because they were too brutal on television, Brock's suplexes, Bret Hart's second rope elbow.

I really enjoyed Matt Bourne as Doink especially when he was a heel. I thought it was a creepy and effective, particularly his escalating pranks on babyfaces.

I actually have this set as well. The two matches that you mention with Funk and Dusty are clipped from the "I Like to Hurt People" movie which features lots of Detroit wrestling from the late '70s. That Singh vs. Sheik match is billed as a mudpit match and, yes, it is terrible, but not as bad as the two wrestlers in a shark cage match from Detroit featuring Stan Staisak. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22cekx_i-like-to-hurt-people-1985_shortfilms

Current favorite wrestler to watch: Brock. Last fun match you saw: Tommy Edge vs. Tomasso Ciampa last weekend at AAW in Berwyn. Great match. They started out catch-as-catch can style but the crowd shit all over it, so they transitioned into a strong style match. I also really liked Josh Alexander vs. Michael Elgin from ROH in Milwaukee. One of the stiffest matches I've seen live. Wrestler you want to see more of: Josh Alexander Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): AAW in Berywn last week Match you're most looking forward to watching: I just bought a 3 disc set of Dynamite Kid in Japan, and I'm looking forward to watching the British Bulldog matches from the late '80s on it. Last fun interview/promo you saw: I've been watching a lot of Eric Embry in USWA from '91-'92 and the promos are amazing. I also saw a match from Detroit either from the late '60s or early '70s of Grand Wizard (I believe he was called Abdul Farouk) managing The Sheik. The Sheik bludgeons the crap out of some poor jobber (go figure.) It's in a TV studio, and the fans rush the ring and Sheik hightails it out. This leaves Farouk in the ring cutting a killer promo while the fans surround it. Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: Hmmm.....I read "Hooker" by Lou Thesz and his hatred of the NWA promoters in the territory days was pretty enlightening. I can tell you the most interesting thing I've heard was that Michael Hayes started out with a British Lord gimmick in Mississippi in the late '70s. I so wish footage of this existed. Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: Exile on Badstreet-Death of the UWF. Excellent. One of the best wrestling history podcasts I've probably ever listened to. The Freebirds one was amazing too. Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: I really enjoyed the AAW show in Berwyn. Solid action almost all night and one of the best indy shows I've been to. I've been to a lot of live wrestling in the last two months. Enjoyed ROH in Milwaukee like I do every time they come here even though the event was way oversold. It was fun doing the doubleshot and going to ROH in Milwaukee on Friday night and ROH in Chicago Ridge on Saturday Night.

I posted this in another thread, but this is the commercially released videotape (Rock N' Roll Wrestling) in which I was able to finally see Memphis Wrestling in the late '80s. It's a compilation of wrestling videos some with original music. I bought it at K-Mart in Iowa for a friend's birthday in sixth grade. It's still one of my favorites. I especially like the Macho Man video.

+1 for Arn and Tully going over the Road Warriors at Starcade. As a kid, I was angry about that win. I also remember being peeved as a kid that Dusty Rhodes won all of the Bunkhouse Stampedes. HHH beating Punk was also bad. I also thought HHH going over at Orton at WM 25 killed any momentum Orton was gaining. In the run-up to that match, I thought Orton was growing as a heel and was becoming watchable.

Crap. I realized I should have put this in the publication and podcasts area. My bad. Is there a way I can move it there?

Hi, I'm a new user, and am loving this board so far. Has anyone read the Don Fargo book "The Hard Way?" I just finished it. It's literally the craziest wrestling book I've ever read. Some highlights: --He is illiterate. --He joined the KKK and goes on to say that they weren't a bad group of people. He gives an example of the KKK harassing child and wife abusers. --There is at least a page detailing how his wife became a stripper after they were together. --The ribs that him and Jackie Fargo did were insane. These including Don jumping onto a moving car packed with wrestlers while Jackie drove and convincing innocent hitchhikers that one of them had murdered the other. --He hated blading and the only way he would get juice is "the hard way." There is lots of territorial stuff in here as well as he worked in many major territories, but the side antics are what makes the book. I'm trying to digest this and was wondering if anyone else has read it.

One other aspect that I utterly love: --I loved when I bought or traded for videotapes and/or dvds that they would have crazy extras. For example, I had a SMW bloodiest matches tape that at the end had a bunch of Memphis footage including Cornette's run with the Galaxians. I just finished watching a DVD from VHS rip of Southeastern from January 1985. At the very end of the episode, a disembodied voice appears to tell someone named Norman about what was happening in the territory during that time period. He was testing a new feature apparently on his VHS where he could narrate into a microphone onto the videotape. He proceeds to tell Norman that the Christmas 1984 show in Birmingham drew only 4500 people and it wasn't that great because the wrestlers were all obviously drunk. Or, as he kindly puts it, they had "too much Christmas cheer." Then, he talks about Idol popping in and out of the territory and laments that he can't receive Norman's sheet anymore. Add this with the numerous commercials for mobile homes, McDonalds from 1984, and religious programming, and you have a grand mix. I also used to have a videotape of Continental when Eddie Gilbert was booking that featured nothing but commercials from some seafood buffet. It was apparently the only place that would advertise on Continental on that station during that time period. Watching these Southeastern DVDs shows me why I love southern territorial wrestling. The late night underground weirdness picked up on an obscure fuzzy UHF station,The bloodletting, the honor, the sense of eternal unreconstructed justice played in a never ending passion play between heels and babyfaces, the absurdness...this is why I love wrestling, especially from the South.

Just to echo everyone that has posted, I thought this podcast was fantastic. I am half way through, and am loving it. As someone who grew up watching the Freebirds in World Class, AWA, and Mid South, I really appreciated the look at their iconic moments.