Dusty Rhodes bemoans to Magnum TA and David Crockett how Baby Doll spent $4035 of his money in Hawaii.

I’m happy to say that after almost ten years of doing the podcast, I can finally welcome Rob Naylor (@NINaylor) to the podcast to talk about Jim Crockett Promotions in the summer of 1985, when Rob and I both starting watching the company.

We begin by talking about how we first found it, possibly on the same TV station in Philadelphia, even though we live 200 miles from each other in different states. And yes for longtime listeners, we play Mid-Atlantic TV Station Bingo (17, 29, 43, 45, 54, 57). We talk about our favorite wrestlers from those shows, including the booker at the time and later Rob’s mentor Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Magnum TA, Ole and Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Baby Doll, Sam Houston, Manny Fernandez, Jimmy Valiant, the Rock and Roll Express, the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette, Ron Bass, Black Bart, J.J. Dillon and maybe our favorite person of that era, Nature Boy Buddy Landell.

We discuss how the guys in the Georgia loop of the company were rarely on the syndicated TV shows, which is all Rob and I could watch regularly, since neither of us had cable yet. We discuss some of the more memorable angles and feuds of that time frame. Suprisingly, we totally did not discuss the return of Superstar Billy Graham to wearing the tie-dye gear and quoting Bo Diddley and/or George Thorogood.

There’s also a lot of meandering and digressions as one would expect, including the importance of the magazines in our fandom, first getting the Observer, the history of the National, booking around Japan tours, the blandness of Central States and, as young fans, not undestanding the importance of the Missouri title in the wider NWA ecosystem.

This was a very fun show to do and I’m glad Rob and I finally got to nerd out on the show about our early fandom.

Before he was Handsome Jimmy or the Boogie Woogie Man, he was Big John Vallen.

We have a very special show and a very special guest today. It’s our first on-location recording and it’s a big one. While going through Southwestern Virginia, I was able to stop and have a conversation with the legendary Hall of Famer, the Boogie Woogie Man, Handsome Jimmy Valiant.. We sat down ringside at Boogie’s Wrestling Camp to have a chat about a lifetime in the wrestling business. We couldn’t get to everything in his almost six decades career , but we talked about his early years in the business, who gave him the Jimmy Valiant name, working for Vince Senior in the WWWF, Dick the Bruiser in Indianapolis, his many years in both Memphis and the Carolinas and more. We also talk about his singing career and the three singles he recorded, including at the legendary Sun Records. There’s plenty more but that’s a sampling of our chat. Thanks again to Jimmy for his hospitality. And if you’re in the area, make sure to come to Boogie’s Wrestling Camp on Sunady afternoon June 5th for the annual Valiant Cup Battle Royal. You can get more info at Jimmy’s website. And thanks for friend of the show Beau James for helping line up the interview.

Note: we recorded this on my phone so the sound quality is not as great as usual. Also, about halfway through the interview, Jimmy starts calling me Chris. I wasn’t going to stop Handsome in the middle of story to correct him, so you just go with the flow. Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy the show

Episode 137 - Carolina Drama

Episode 108 - Son of a Gypsy