Check out the Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling Zone at When It Was Cool. This is a comprehensive timeline of the history of professional wrestling curated by pro wrestling historian and author Karl Stern (DragonKingKarl). Using the research of dozens of pro wrestling’s most respected historians along with Karl Stern’s own deep dives into the newspapers, books, magazines, and newsletters of pro wrestling’s past, Karl Stern has put together the most comprehensive and easy to use chronological timeline of the history of pro wrestling. Jump into the timeline of pro wrestling history by clicking - here!
NWA Southeastern Championship Wrestling Results Project
Results for NWA Southeastern Championship Wrestling. This is an on-going project with TV shows and results continually being added. This focuses on the southern end of the promotion known among wrestlers as the "Pensacola" or "Alabama" territory. The promotion was owned by Ron Fuller (with shareholders Bob Armstrong, Robert Fuller, and Roy Lee Welch). View Results
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame 2024 - Tracking the Future
A poster at The Board at Wrestling Observer called 'AmericanNumbers' has put together an incredible resource that I am sure will stir a lot of discussion over the next year. This is a spread sheet with everything you need to know about the remaining candidates in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. Read More.
DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era of Pro Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of the Pioneer Era of Pro Wrestling Book. What’s to Know and Why Does it Matter?
I am very excited to release my new book, DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era of Pro Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of the Pioneer Era of Pro Wrestling. I have put years of work into this project which, I believe, is the most in-depth and detailed exploration of pre-1900 professional wrestling ever undertaken. The Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of the Pioneer Era of Wrestling is sourced from hundreds of pro wrestling researchers, newsletters, books, magazines, newspapers, and years of firsthand research, and I have documented every major event in pro wrestling before the year 1900. Read More.
The Curious Case of the Poisoning of Tom Connors (Patreon Exclusive)
Tournaments were a popular promotional tool dating well into the early pioneer era in pro wrestling in the United States. The 1870 Detroit International Tournament was a giant success and generally speaking, set the rules and the feel of pro wrestling for most of the rest of the 1800s. In 1883, St. Louis, MO decided to host a Grand Wrestling Tournament featuring all the biggest names of the day. Whoever was backing Clarence Whistler following his split from William Muldoon's combination was probably behind the financing of the tournament. Read More.
The Real History of Pro Wrestling Is Far More Incredible Than You Can Imagine…
The stories of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, and others have been told and retold in countless newsletter articles, books, documentaries, and feature films. The rich history of professional wrestling and its uniqueness in the entertainment world gives no shortage of source material. However, even for serious hardcore wrestling fans you might think the story of pro wrestling begins with Frank Gotch and continues until Roman Reigns. It’s an understandable belief, but some of the most colorful and interesting people and events happened before Frank Gotch and that is why I am writing DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Wrestling Omnibus: The Bible of 1800s Pro Wrestling to be released in the late fall of 2024. Read More.
Who Killed WCW? A Wrestling With the Dawg Special Article
On Saturday, July 6th, 2024, I was having a late lunch with my mother and one of my brothers Nate in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, at Lost Times Tavern and sitting there visiting with them got me thinking about professional wrestling and it connecting with people. Lost Times Tavern had several older WWF and WCW action figures up at the bar, from Jesse Ventura’s run in 1998 for Minnesota Governor to an Andre the Giant Mattel figure to a LJN figure of Hulk Hogan and Iron Sheik to early-90s WCW Galoob figure of Sting and Ric Flair. Seeing those figures up at the bar as decorations made me appreciate becoming a wrestling fan in the early 90s due to the influence of both of my brothers and growing up during the Monday Night War era of late-90s professional wrestling in the United States. Read More.
The Pioneer Era of Wrestling and the Modern Era of Wrestling Have More in Common Than You Might Expect
I do a podcast called 1000 Hours which focuses on the pioneer era of professional wrestling which I describe as the era before Frank Gotch or the year 1900. I am also currently working on a new book which I hope to release before fall titled DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Wrestling Omnibus which I hope will be looked at as the Bible of pioneer era pro wrestling. I have spent years in research for this book and have examined in excess of 1000 newspapers from the 1800s in an effort to put together a timeline and narrative of the pioneer era of wrestling. Read More.
Wretched Old Thiebaud Bauer is Under the Ground… and Other Stories
Pioneer Era Pro Wrestler Thiebaud Bauer Was Not a Beloved Figure in Life or Death
At the time I am writing this article I am about to turn fifty-three years old. I have outlived Professor Thiebaud Bauer by six years, but I can only hope to have made an impact on the world to the degree the pioneer era wrestling champion did… only maybe in a better direction. While researching my upcoming book, DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus (slated for release around August 2024, fingers crossed), I have come across no shortage of colorful characters, many of ill repute. There was Uzile Prickett who was once nearly murdered for staging a wrestling match against a black man in Civil War era Nashville, TN and was nearly killed for it. Then, Uzile Prickett, WAS killed later on for staging another wrestling match. Both incidents were not for the entertainment of the crowd, but rather to fleece gamblers out of their betting money. Another contemporary of theirs, John McMahon, was shot for similar reasons. Few, however, can compare to the exploits of wretched old Thiebaud Bauer. Those aren’t my words, by the way, that’s what his obituary in the January 2, 1902 edition of the Los Angeles Times said. Read More.
The Strange Life and Times of Pioneer Era Wrestler Uzile Pricket
While working on my latest book project, DragonKingKarl’s Pioneer Era Pro Wrestling Omnibus, I have discovered many fascinating stories and people I did not previously know very much about. Few have turned out to be as interesting as Uzile Pricket. Uzile Pricket is a name I was not previously very familiar with. The bulk of my research on the pioneer era of wrestling came in the early 2000s when I first wrote my DragonKing Press Pioneers of Wrestling Special booklet. These were the wild west days of pre-1900 research. Finding old newspaper articles back then involved laborious hours spent searching through microfilm at a library somewhere that actually kept old newspapers or having contact with a wrestling historian who had previously done that hard work in their own region. Read More.
The 201 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All-Time List and Ranking
This is an aggregate list of the 201 greatest professional wrestlers of all time as compiled by When It Was Cool and pro wrestling historian Karl Stern using over 30 independent sources, magazines, books, newsletters, and historian rankings. By averaging all these sources we can gather a universal consensus of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time! Click Here for the List.
The Long Form History of Pro Wrestling Podcast Series
This is an on-going podcast series by pro wrestling historian Karl Stern looking at pro wrestling in a timeline format. Using information collected in the Ultimate History of Pro Wrestling Zone, the long form history of pro wrestling podcast has been running for several years at Wrestling Observer, as well as, here at When It Was Cool. Click Here for the Shows.
When It Was Cool Wrestling Podcast
The When It Was Cool Wrestling Podcast is the free podcast feed for pro wrestling historian Karl Stern and contains historical pro wrestling research and information. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast app or stream or download the shows directly from our online directory. Click here for the Shows.
Film Review: Luminous Woman
“Professional wrestling legend Keiji Mutô as you’ve never seen him before!” Okay, this is not an actual tagline for director Shinji Somai’s decidedly odd and incredibly captivating 1987 Japanese film Luminous Woman (Hikaru Onna), but you’ll definitely see Mutô, AKA The Great Muta, in unusual form. Read More.
Film Review: The Death Tour (Slamdance Film Festival)
Professional wrestling documentary The Death Tour (Canada, 2024) — directed by Stephan Peterson and Sonya Ballantyne — chronicles one season in the titular tour, so named because of its grueling challenges across Canada’s far north as its members seek to bring entertainment and education to Indigenous communities. Read More.
The Iron Claw (2023) Movie Review Article
In November 2023 I released the latest book from When It Was Cool Publishing titled DragonKingKarl’s 1984-1985 Pro Wrestling Omnibus which coincided fortuitously with the theatrical release of the Sean Durkin written and directed pro wrestling themed movie The Iron Claw, a biographical sports drama based (largely) on the life of one of the most famous families in pro wrestling, The Von Erichs, told from the perspective of the only surviving son, Kevin Von Erich (Kevin Adkisson). The Iron Claw stars Zac Efron (as Kevin Von Erich), Jeremy Allen White (as Kerry Von Erich), Harris Dickinson (as David Von Erich), Maura Tierney (as Doris “Dottie” Von Erich), Holt McCallany (as Fritz Von Erich), and Lily James (as Pam Adkisson, the wife of Kevin Von Erich). The timing lines up with my new book in that David Von Erich died in February 1984 at the young age of 25 years old. It would be far from the last tragedy the family would endure. The Iron Claw movie was released in the United States by A24 on December 22, 2023. Read More.
