The week in review is a compilation of the research, writing, audio and video output of Tony Richards and the team at the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel.
Hey Everyone, it’s Tony here! I hope you had a great Labor Day Holiday last weekend. Its been a crazy week here with so many things going on, and as you can see in this special week in review newsletter, we put out a lot of content last week! Its part of my commitment to provide as much extensive research as possible on the territory era, as well as developments such as losing great performers like we did this past week. I know its difficult to keep up with all we do, that why we do this Sunday afternoon re-cap you so can catch up on all my writing, recording and guest shots on other shows. It’s all here, I have to use this myself! Thank you so much for your support, I am happy to have you here in our Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel Community!
Sincerely,
Tony
This Past Week’s Issues of Our Daily Wrestling History Newsletter, The Daily Chronicle:
One Territory Era chapter every day: personalities, territories, towns & buildings that built pro wrestling.
Sunday, September 6th, 2026:
Issue 509: Flashback 1976: Q3 Analysis (July-Sept) St. Louis, Missouri Office
Monday, September 7th, 2026:
Issue 510: 7 Stages of the Territory Era: Stage 4: Investigation September 1956
Tuesday, September 8th, 2026:
Issue 511: The Life and Career of LeRoy Brown, ONE Thing About Bob Roop
Wednesday, September 9th, 2026:
Thursday, September 10th, 2026:
Friday, September 11th, 2026:
Issue 514: The Life and Career of Don Muraco, ONE Thing I Learned About Paul Heyman
Saturday, September 12, 2026:
Issue 515: The Life and Career of Little Tokyo, ONE Thing I Learned About Wendi Richter
Special Premium Content for Our ALL Subscribers
From time to time I enjoy writing special pieces that I like to share as an extra value to all our subscribers, both free and paid. Due to the recent passing of Paul LeDuc on August 30th, 2026 at the age of 89, I decided to write a special piece about the LeDuc Brothers tag team, The Canadian Lumberjacks. I know many of our Pro Wrestling History Enthusiast Commnity is familiar with Jos LeDuc, but I’m not sure how many knew Paul, or their tag team, which was very success for a few years.
Few tag teams of the Territory Era created a more memorable combination of appearance, personality, physicality and storytelling than Jos and Paul LeDuc, better known as The Canadian Lumberjacks. They were presented as rough-and-tumble Canadian woodsmen, complete with flannel shirts, lumberjack attire and the unmistakable image of two enormous, rugged men who seemed to have walked straight out of the forests of Quebec and into a wrestling arena. The gimmick was simple, but the men who portrayed it understood professional wrestling well enough to turn that simplicity into a highly successful act.
Saturday, September 12, 2026:
The Story of The LeDuc Brothers' Canadian Lumberjack Tag Team
Special Premium Content for Our Paid Premium Subscribers
This week in the time tunnel we put a lot of focus on going back 70 years to 1956 with two 7 Stages of the Territory Era features in the Daily Chronicle and then two 1956 features for our Premium subs. One of the Chronicle features covered the month of September of 1956, while the other covered the NWA World Women’s Title split in September of that year. We also had two Premium features on 1956, the first was our Tracking The World Champions feature on the month of September.
September 1956 was one of the most revealing months of Whipper Billy Watson’s reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Seven months removed from his historic victory over Lou Thesz in Toronto, Watson was no longer simply the popular Canadian champion defending his title in his home country. He was functioning as exactly what the National Wrestling Alliance needed its world champion to be: a traveling representative of the Alliance, moving from territory to territory, defending the championship against established local stars and carrying the NWA banner across a remarkably broad geographic footprint.
Thursday, September 10th, 2026:
Tracking The World Champions: Whipper Billy Watson, NWA World Heavyweight Champion, September 1956
Our second Premium feature this week was in our The Evolution of Pro Wrestling Series. This special feature isn’t limited to 1956, it looks at the World Women’s Championship across all 7 Stages of the Territory Era, from the beginnings in pre-1925 all the way to the end in the mid-1990s.
The seven stages of the territory era and the NWA women’s championship are not separate histories that happen to share dates. They are the same system viewed from the men’s offices and from the women’s booking office. What the National Wrestling Alliance did with towns, television, and the world heavyweight title, Moolah did with girls, dates, and a strap that could be sold. Here’s my look at how the Women’s World Championship evolved through the 7 Stages of the Territory Era and how it fits within the story of The Evolution of Pro Wrestling!
Friday, September 11th, 2026:
The Evolution of Pro Wrestling: The World Women's Title In The 7 Stages of the Territory Framework
The Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History Show
Episode 79 of The Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History Show welcomes two first-time guests to the show — and we also pause to remember three wrestlers we’ve lost recently.
Segment One:
I pay tribute to Paul LeDuc, one of the Canadian Lumberjacks along with his kayfabe brother Jos LeDuc. Then we welcome Lucha Libre historian and enthusiast Roy Lucier for his first appearance on the show. Roy and I discuss wrestling in Mexico as we cover the EMLL and UWA promotions in 1976.
Segment Two:
I offer a heartfelt tribute to Jerry Oates, a Southern territory legend and a member of our Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel family. Then we welcome Ross Hart of the famous Stu Hart family for his first appearance on the show. Ross and I cover Stampede Wrestling in 1976
Segment Three:
I wrap up the episode with thoughts on Superstar Bill Dundee, who passed away over the weekend. It’s a territory history-packed episode with new voices, important tributes, and another look at 1976 around the wrestling world.
📌 Episode 79 is available now on Castos, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and all your usual platforms.
Hit play, leave a review, and keep riding with us through the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel.
Wednesday, September 9th, 2026:
Tony’s Media Appearances This Past Week:
This past weekend was a tough one. I woke up very early around 2am to find out Jerry Oates had passed away. Then, on Sunday morning, Randy Hales sent out a text that Superstar Bill Dundee had passed as well. Randy was gracious to invite several of us to come on and help with his special edition of The Randy Show, so I gulped down another cup of Starbucks and joined in. Here’s a link to the special Sunday morning, first reaction edition of The Randy Hales Show on the passing of Superstar Bill Dundee.
Sunday, September 6th, 2026:
Also, I am going to include here, the Tuesday night edition of Talking Memphis Wrestling, as the regular crew and panel of that show paid their respects and held a tribute to Superstar Bill Dundee, and even though I was not on the Tuesday night show, I still wanted to include here for you in our community because it really was so good. They will will following up with a part two coming this Tuesday night.
Tuesday, September 8th, 2026:
Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel YouTube Channel:
Also, just as a reminder, we have set up two special playlists on our Pro Wrestling You Tube Channel, one is RIP: Jerry Oates which includes all the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel History Shows that Jerry helped us with and as many of his matches that we could find on YouTube and we curated them all in that special playlist.
We also set up a special playlist, RIP: Superstar Bill Dundee, which has many of Bill’s greatest matches, angles and interviews in it, including these two great shows by the Talking Memphis Wrestling Crew above.
Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw Show
As The Official Historian for the Brisco and Bradshaw Show, I am continuing The History of Texas Wrestling in with Episode 13!
Gerry, JBL and I discuss the years of 1955 and the beginning year of the 1966 in West Texas and Amarillo Wrestling.
On this show, we have these great stories:
-Thoughts on the passing of Jerry Oates and Superstar Bill Dundee
-Great Monday Night Towns of the Territory Era
-”The Texas Tornado” June Byers, NWA World Women’s Champion plus her relationship and marriage to El Paso Promoter, Sam Menacker
-”The Fabulous Texan” Frank Murdoch, the father of Dick Murdoch and Dory Funk, Sr’s biggest challenger from 1951 through 1954.
-The sale of Western States Sports, the Amarillo booking office from Dory Detton to Doc Sarpolis
-The Return to Amarillo of Dory Funk, Sr, the King of the Texas Death Matches
-Dory Funk, Sr’s 20 Greatest Opponents
-”Texas” Bob Geigel
-”Iron” Mike DiBiase, the greatest heel in West Texas from 1955 through 1969, including the 3 hour and 10 minute Texas Death Match in Amarillo.
-Art Nelson, DiBiase’s tag team partner and tough heel in the territory
-The Original Rip Rogers, Eddie Graham the amazing tough heel who turned babyface and got his education in the Amarillo territory before leaving in 1958 to become one of the Fabulous Golden Grahams in New york’s Madison Square Garden
and much much more in this history packed Episode 13 of the History of Texas Wrestling on Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw!
Thursday, September 10th, 2026:
Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel YouTube Channel:
As a reminder, the is a curated playlist of “Tony’s Appearances on Brisco and Bradshaw” that has every episode I have ever done on the show with Gerry and John including our entire “History of Texas Wrestling”. “The Roy Welch Family Legacy” and “The Jim Barnett Series”. These are also available on my website:
Thank You for Watching and Listening
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 and each episode of our podcast show. Thanks for your support! If you enjoy my information on select events, matches and insights, please share with folks you think might like to be a subscriber!
Remember, Premium 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 Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel for Premium Subscribers. Being a Premium Subscriber also means you support me in my efforts to document Pro Wrestling History through my research, writing, books, vidoes and podcasts. And…I have something very special planned for our Premium Subscribers on the Podcast side of things in 2026! Details soon here in the Pro Wrestling Time Tunnel.