June 4th in the Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Dick Dusek 1925
Gorilla Monsoon 1937
Leon Baxter\The Wrestling Pro 1938
Happy Birthday:
Patricia Williams\Precious (70)
Jody Simon\Joe Malenko (69)
John Michael Watson\Mikey Whipwreck (52)
John Silver (35)
Riho (28)
RIP Memorial: We stop & remember those who have passed on this day and gave themselves to the business for us, the fans. We salute you and thank you.
Albert Lee Hatfield\Lee Fields 6-4-2000 at the age of 69
Jimmy Brawner\Kurt Von Brauner 6-4-2004 at the age of 79
New Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Podcast Out Today
Personalities, Territories, Towns and Buildings
On our podcast show, we are tracking and documenting the history of pro wrestling from its beginnings through 1990, with the special emphasis on the 50, 60s and 70s pre-video era.
We are profiling personalities by having the authors who have studied their lives and written their stories, we are studying and re-visiting territories and the booking offices that controlled them, historic towns where the history of pro wrestling is so deep and the legendary buildings where the fans came to see their favorite stars and storylines play out virtually every single week. We are covering all four of those dimensions of the sport of pro wrestling and I am so appreciative you have decided to allocate some of your time to go on this journey with us through this show.
On today's episode, my guest is Tim Dills, excellent historian and researcher of the Tennessee Territory. Tim has written an excellent book on the Tennessee Athletic Commission and their regulatory practices on Gulas-Welch Promotions and wrestling in the state of Tennessee. I can't wait to tap into Tim’s brain on those findings, today though, we are diving into the Tennessee Territory in the Spring of 1975, particularly what is happening in the Eastern End including the wild teaming of the babyface and heel combo of Jackie Fargo and Crazy Luke Graham to take on Randy Tyler and Rocket Monroe. This is an amazing program that is forgotten by many modern fans, if they ever knew about it!
The Personalities, Territories, Towns and Buildings Show is sent out on a separate post to all our free subscribers, so be sure and check it out today! Like, subscribe and share to help support your interest in my work to preserve pro wrestling history.
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History:
Bill Koll was undefeated during his three-year career at Iowa State Teachers College in the late 1940s. He won three NCAA Titles and was twice voted the Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.
Thank You for Reading
I'm Tony Richards, Pro Wrestling Historian, Author and Storyteller. I share pro wrestling historical items in each issue of the Time Tunnel Pro Wrestling History Newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share it with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, paid subscribers get access to exclusive and special content such as some special issues including a multi-part deep dives on wrestling territories, wrestler bios and championship title histories, special audio and video interviews on territory pro wrestling and more available in The Vault of the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Paid Subscribers.