We’re happy to welcome Al Getz (@AlGetzwrestling) back to the show to discuss a variety of topics, but most importantly his new book, Charting the Territories: The 1971-1973 LeRoy McGuirk Oklahoma/Louisiana Wrestling Almanac.

We talk about the process of putting the book together from all of Al Getz’s into the 20+ year history of the territory and the use of his wrestling statistics to look at where people worked on a card and how prominent their feuds were during a particular time. We look at some of the familiar names in the territory, like Bill Watts and Danny Hodge, superstars working there regularly like Dusty Rhodes and the Spoiler and youngsters in the infancy of their careers, like Bob Backlund and Pez Whatley.

Al also talks about his odyssey this year to visit every Major League Baseball park and some of the minor league stadia as well. We learn what state Al visited for the first time, as well as some of the atypical ballpark food he ate during the course of the year.

We wrap with a cursory look at the new Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame ballot which had just been released when we recorded the pod. Rather than discuss individual candidates, we talked about some of the procedural changes implemented this year, increasing the number of votes and the inclusion of many tag teams and how that could effect people’s voting.

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