Episode 130 - Some Jackets Required

Don Fargo and his new Fabulous Fargos (Ken Timbs and Pat Rose) with host Christopher Love (Bert Prentice) from a 1987 episode of World Organization Wrestling

We’re happy to welcome back Al Getz (@AlGetzWrestling) to discuss the latest edition of his Charting the Territories books, this one covering 1971-1973 Gulf Coast Wrestling. We talk about the main players in the territory at this time, including Cowboy Bob Kelly, Bobby Shane, Don Fargo and Rip Tyler, as well as future stars like Kevin Sullivan, Steve Keirn, Ron Bass and Greg Valentine, wrestling as Don’s brother Johnny Fargo. We talk about the towns the promotion ran and some of the interesting ways they crowned champions there (not with belts or trophies).

Then, as we did recently with Beau James, we talk about the travails of being a wrestling historian, covering a business that’s built on a lie. How hard is it to get “accurate” data on things like shows, box office and the like? And Al talk us through his methodology, both online and boots on the ground research.

We chat about Al being inducted into the Tragos/Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa, getting the James C. Melby Historian Award.

The show ends with some quick baseball chat, with the season just a week old and Al’s Atlanta Braves being the only National League East team with a winning record. He also tells us about his first road trip of the year and dealing with weather issues with early spring baseball in the Midwest.

And the next episode of the Charting the Territories will look at Dick the Bruiser’s WWA in Indianapolis coming next week.

Episode 116 - It's a Family Affair # 4 - La Vie en Rose

The Natural Blonds, Ken Timbs and Pat Rose, with Chris Love (Bert Prentice) from WOW TV. in 1987.

It’s been a while, but this is episode number four of the It’s a Family Affair episode of the podcast. We’re very happy to welcome to the show for the first time, and hopefully not the last, veteran wrestler Pat Rose.

We go over a good chunk of Pat’s career, starting with Nick Gulas in Chattanooga in 1979, working most of the territories in the 1980s and then retiring in the mid 1990s.

Of particular note for us here on this pod is both his time in Southeastern and Continental, teaming with first his boyhood idol Mr. Wrestling II and later Randy Rose as the Rose Cousins and, more importantly, his time in the short-lived independent promotion World Organization Wrestling (WOW).

You’ve heard us talk about WOW here on the pod with Armstrong Alley, who has about 8 months of the promotion on his YouTube channel and on Between the Sheets, when we talked about the week in December 1987 when Nick Gulas showed up on set with Christopher Love (Bert Prentice) and had a showdown with Don Fargo, Ken Timbs and Pat himself.

We talk about the promotion’s start, who was in charge and a number of the wrestlers who came in and out of the territory, including Bob Sweetan, Bob Holly, Marcel Pringle, Bad Company, Samu and Kokina (Yokozuna) and others.

There’s also talk about his time in Memphis with Dr. Tom Prichard and Sherri Martel as the Heavenly Bodies, how they got put together, the run’s premature end and the “Dear John” letter Pat read on live Memphis TV when Tom and Sherri left the area.

We also talk to Pat about working with people like Lord Humongous (Jeff Van Camp), Sid Vicious, the Master of Pain (The Undertaker) and how important it was for guys like him to make those guys look like stars.

To wrap up, Pat tells us about his fishing show Set the Hook, how it got started, where you can hear it and also his son’s country music career.

We had a great time talking to Pat and hopefully he will be back on the show with more stories from his time in the business.

Episode 112 - Wowie Zowie

Don Fargo, Rip Tyler and Mike Diamond in “Rip’s Corner” from WOW TV.

We have our first back to back guest, even though it’s been two months and there were also three episodes of the Plot Podcast since then, but we’ve happy to welcome back Kris P Lettuce (@krisplettuce) from the Armstrong Alley You Tube channel to talk more rediscovered old school wrestling.

We start by talking about his upcoming order from his tape source “the Greek” and just what will be on that 100 DVD order, including Windy CIty, WIld Wrestling and wrestling from Montreal and the Maritimes.

Then we discuss some of the wrestling on his channel now, including IWA from Nashville, featuring a young Maxx Payne, Texas Championship Wrestling (including the American Ninja, who we discussed last episode) and WOW, World Organization Wrestling. WOW is easily my favorite promotion of the stuff Kris has uploaded, so we spend a good portion of the show talking about some of the better-known names that worked there, including Bob Holly, Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond, Bob Sweetan, Jerry Stubbs, Kokina (aka Yokozuna) and more. We also mention how many of these promotions in the late 80s and early 90s had a connection to legendary promoter Nick Gulas.

Also, coming up this month on the Plot Podcast, look for some vampire-themed shows, as part of When IT Was Cool’s Dracula Month. How well do spies and vampires? Tune in and find out.