The First Family of Amarillo: Terry, Dory Sr and Dory Funk Jr.

We’re happy to welcome author and broadcaster Tony Richards (@tonyrichards4) to the show ahead of his receiving the James Melby Historian Award at this year’s Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame in July. We discuss how doing historical research has changed in modern times, the campaigns for Morris Sigel and Roy Welch to get in the WON HOF, discuss the careers of Dennis Condrey and Phil Hickerson, his podcast work with Jerry Brischo and JBL, Dory Funk and his connection to the West Texas State football team and more. It was great having Tony on the show finally and will be looking forward to seeing him in Waterloo soon.

Technical note: For some reason, there was a delay on the line when we recorded the show. We tried to clear that up as much as possible, but apologize for any odd gaps that we may have missed. Thanks for listening.

Johnny Legend and friends from his mid-1980s Rock ‘n’ Roll Wrestling VHS tape.

We welcome Kurt Brown back to the show to discuss the life and times of Johnny Legend, who passed away recently at the age of 77.

Not only was Kurt a long-time of Johnny, but he also wrestled for his Incredibly Strange Wrestling in the 1990s. Just what where those shows like, which featured such characters as Cletus the Fetus, the Abortionist, Ku Klux Klown and manager Harley Racist and Stacey Domina (Synn in Ohio Valley Wrestling).

This leads to a discussion of alternative/punk/meta wrestling companies, including Chikara, Inter Species Wrestling, Kaiju Big Battel and the precursor to them all, Argentina’s Titanes el en Ring.

We also talk about some of Johnny’s other wrestling other projects: the 1980s Rock ‘n’ Roll Wrestling VHS tape (chock full of Memphis music videos), writing the classic novelty song Pencil Neck Geek and helping create My Breakfast with Blassie, starring Fred Blassie and Andy Kaufman.

There’s plenty of other topics, including Johnny and Kurt’s mutual friend Eric Caiden from Hollywood Book and Poster (you can hear Kurt eulogize Eric way back in Winter Palace episode seven in 2015), going to see lucha in Tiajuana back in the day, the success of former Odessa Steps Magazine cover star Hechicero, Los Hernandez Brothers and lucha in Love and Rockets (see our article about that on the website, including a chat with Xaime Hernandez) and more.

It’s been a while since Kurt has been on the show, but we hope to have him again soon for more stories.

Episode 8 - The Cactus Plants Are Tough on Pants

Episode 3 - California Rockabilly