Welcome to Wednesday, the Holiday weekend has us on warp speed this week!
I'm starting something new this week in the Daily Chronicle that will appear on Wednesdays due to that being the day I release a new podcast. I will be doing a Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Community Update in each Wednesday's Daily Chronicle.
The Community Update will be for you since you have invested both your interest, your faith and for some of you, your dollars into the development and growth of the Time Tunnel. I want to write this update in much the same spirit as an investor letter for shareholders. I really do feel like you are in this endeavor with me, and I want to let you in on what our plans are each week and also update you on how this community is growing across the globe.
The first Community Update is below once we honor our wrestlers in our daily features.
July 9th in the Time Tunnel:
Happy Birthday to those who have passed on and to those great wrestlers still with us:
In Memoriam:
Murray Gerald Aitkin\Jerry London 1929
Bert Assirati 1908
Herb Abrams 1955
Happy Birthday:
Bobo Johnson (77)
Kevin Nash (66)
Marc Mero (65)
Leonardo Gomez\Damian 666 (64)
Jerry Gray (61)
Paul Neu\PN News (59)
Salvatore Sincere\Tom Brandi\Johnny Gunn (59)
Shelton Benjamin (50)
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.
Emil Dusek 7-9-1986 at the age of 81
Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Community Weekly Update
Since Wednesdays are the days, I release a "Personalities, Territories, Towns and Buildings" Podcast Episode for your daily Wrestling History content fix, I want to start providing a weekly update on our growing community of pro wrestling history enthusiasts.
And we are growing!
The Pro Wrestling Daily Chronicle email on wrestling history is read in 32 states in the United States and my largest subscriber participation is located in the state of California! Thank you to those wrestling history fans on the West Coast for being our leading state for readership, I appreciate you as well as all our readers in the USA.
Internationally, we have readers in the United Kingdom and in Canada as well as India, Australia and the continent of Africa! Sending much gratitude and appreciation to our friends around the world who have subscribed and read my work on the history of the art form of pro wrestling!
With today's new release of a new episode of Personalities, Territories, Towns & Buildings, our first podcast to our free subscribers is on fire being watched and listened to in 41 states in the United States and in 15 countries around our globe! I couldn't feel humbler about your interest and support in what I am doing with pro wrestling history and our panel of amazing experts who have agreed to partner with me in this journey into the past in the Time Tunnel.
What’s Around The Corner:
Coming soon in the weeks ahead, I will be talking to Kurt Neilsen about the amazing Plowboy Stan Frazier. Neilsen is working on a biography of Stan, who I grew up watching in the Tennessee Territory in the 1970s and who some fans might know better as Uncle Elmer in the WWF. Also, Wed Maidment, one of my historian colleagues will be joining me to discuss the Toronto, Ontario wrestling territory in 1975. Also, Jerry Oates will be returning by popular demand as we will be going back to his tremendous run in the Kansas City Territory in the Summer of 1975 where he faced off against a young Ed Wiskoski for the NWA Central States Title. That was the biggest singles feud in the territory that year and Jerry will give us all the details on it!
Another amazing historian, Mike Rodgers will be coming over to the Richards Ranch to talk the history of Portland Wrestling in 1975 and he'll be bringing his research assistant & right-hand man, Frank Culbertson and we have a great time in the Pacific Northwest.
Steve Verrier and Richard Vicek will be dropping in to talk with me about their recent book on Wilbur Snyder and my dear friend Greg Klein is going to cover the Dallas booking office of Big Time Wrestling in East Texas in June and July of 1975. I have many more great experts, authors, wrestlers and historians with whom we are working out schedules, some return guests and three amazing wrestlers from the year of 1975 that I can't wait to tell you about that are coming to do their careers in 1975!
I can never fail to mention my talented and tireless producer, Jake Hamar who works his tail off and uses his creativity to make our show look and sound so good each week. If you know anyone who needs any audio or video production work done, I think the work Jake does on our shows speaks for itself and if you wouldn't mind giving him a referral to that friend or peer of yours on behalf of my buddy Jake, I would appreciate it. Jake will always be my first partner here in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel, he believed from the start in what I wanted to do.
Finally for our paid subscribers, I hope you enjoyed my What Did You Read in June 2025 feature on my thoughts about Steven Johnson's Classic Characters book. More features for our paid subscribers are coming, including Tony's Territory Tour where I'll be doing a video podcast taking a tour around the Tennessee Wrestling Territory in June of 1975. Starting Monday in Memphis and ending in Chattanooga on Saturday night, I'll tool around in my 1972 Gold Duster with you in the seat beside me as we make the towns in on the roads in Tennessee. I can't wait for this.... I think it's going to be fun. Thanks to our paid subscribers who have invested your financial resources into what we are doing, I appreciate you.
Coming Tomorrow in the Daily Chronicle:
The war in 1985 continues to escalate as Jim Crockett Promotions adds two more potent and powerful weapons to their talent arsenal and we'll cover it tomorrow morning in Issue 86.
Today: Episode 13 of the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Podcast: Personalities, Territories, Towns & Buildings
My Personalities, Territories, Towns & Buildings Shows focus on a by-gone era of regional booking offices of wrestling talent in historic towns and legendary buildings around the world!
The man who is the be-all-end-all authority on the American Wrestling Association, George Schire joins me at the Richards Ranch. This is an amazing conversation as George relaxes from his "wrestling room" in Minnesota and I sit back at the Richards Ranch to enjoy George discussing these key topics:
The career of Verne Gagne
The AWA World Title and how it was established with the blessing of the NWA
The babyface turn of Superstar Billy Graham at the end of 1974
The powerful team of the Dream Team, Dusty Rhodes and Superstar Graham against Baron Von Raschke & Horst Hoffmann
Their ally Andre the Giant, Boris Breznikoff and Bobby Heenan
The Tag Champions Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens
The genius of banning Verne Gagne and his sleeperhold
George covers the history of the AWA in a great history teaching session then we shift gears into the tail end of 1974 and then take a marvelous trip through 1975.
This is a great episode about one of the greatest territories in professional wrestling history.
Episode 13: 1975 AWA with George Schire here for all subscribers in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel
One Thing I Learned Today About Pro Wrestling History
Emil Dusek was from Omaha, Nebraska and began wrestling in the 1920s. He wrestled with his brothers Ernie, Rudy and Joe collectively as The Riot Squad. He remained a popular star through the 1950s, joined in the ring by his cousin Wally. Emil & brother Ernie held various versions of the NWA World Tag Team Titles on several occasions in various territories.
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.