The Wrestling Archives
Two nerdy librarians aim to preserve the art form that is Professional Wrestling by watching old shows and discussing their place in the lore. They also interview wrestlers and wrestling personalities to share their story and have conversations on topics relating to the pro wrestling community.
Episodes
Saturday Mar 02, 2024
The Greek God Papadon
Saturday Mar 02, 2024
Saturday Mar 02, 2024
The Greek God Papadon blessed Tim and Rich with his presence in a no holds barred interview that talked about everything. One thing I can tell you, this God among men loves Star Wars and hates thigh slapping. This interview gets raucous as we discuss his 3-way match against Dirty Money and Chris Slade next week at Virginia Championship Wrestling's return to Hampton High School. Papadon is a veteran of the business, approaching his 25th year wrestling. He has wrestled pretty every big star there is today, either on their way up on their way down. Oh, did we mention he's a movie star? He was one of the wrestlers in The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. Of course The Greek God has an opinion on that experience too! Make sure you download this one, folks. This is one not to miss!
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Friday Feb 23, 2024
Parade of Champions - 1984
Friday Feb 23, 2024
Friday Feb 23, 2024
Tim and Rich flashback to Texas in 1984. Tragedy had struck the Von Erich family in February when David Von Erich was stricken with an intestinal illness and passed away while on tour in Japan. Fritz, the patriarch and promoter of World Class Championship Wrestling assembled a super card in his honor with the main event being Ric Flair vs Kerry Von Erich for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The card is sprinkled with other familiar faces, like Kamala the Ugandan Giant, The Fabulous Freebirds, Butch Reed, and the rest of the Von Erich clan, including Fritz, who returned to the ring to defend the family's honor. This was an emotionally charged show with great action and one of the loudest and passionate stadium crowds we've ever seen on this show. Thanks for listening!Support the Archives: https://ko-fi.com/wrestlingarchives
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Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Collision in Korea
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
One of the most notorious and infamous wrestling shows ever. In 1995, six months before the start of the Monday Night Wars, WCW decided to bring peace and harmony through violence. The great Antonio Inoki contacted Eric Bischoff with the terrible idea of taking professional wrestling to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, street name North Korea. Not only did we watch the wrestling show, we watched the Dark Side of the Ring episode on this event. If you're curious about what happens when you take wrestlers who play loose with the rules in the US to a totalitarian Asian culture, take a listen. Ever wonder what happens when you show wrestling to a compulsory crowd of 150,000 people who have never seen wrestling? This is the show for you. As if that wasn't enough, one performer on the show goes into a murderous rage against another! Thanks for listening!
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Devantes
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Hey y'all we made a friend! The Hoss of all Hosses and former Virginia Championship Wrestling United States Champion, Devantes stops by to have a chat. He's been burned by his former manager, scum of the Earth Neil Sharkey, and is looking for vengeance. While we do talk a lot of wrestling, our boy is from Philly, so that leaves us with no choice but to talk food. The go-to cheesesteak, steak preparation, mid-tier steakhouses of old, we touch on all things red meat. The dude is real cool and we really had a great time talking with a new friend of the show who we think will probably be back on in the future to talk more food. Someone please help us with this Amish chicken business.
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See Devantes in action: https://vcwprowrestling.com/events/
Friday Jan 19, 2024
The One with RoboCop?
Friday Jan 19, 2024
Friday Jan 19, 2024
Look, some strange stuff has happened over the years in pro wrestling; Mae Young birthing a hand, the Gobbledy Gooker, Kane beating up Pete Rose, but nothing has become quite as infamous or part of the wrestling lore as Capital Combat '90: The Return of RoboCop. Tim and Rich break down this show which had a pretty solid card for an early WCW show. Ric Flair and Luger, the Four Horsemen running amuck, and Doom and The Steiner brothers nearly destroy humanity. It's pretty run of the mill until RoboCop shows up to keep the peace. All we can say is take a listen to Tim and Rich try to make sense of a show that really pushes kayfabe to its breaking point. Thanks for listening!
Friday Jan 05, 2024
Invincible Vince Valor
Friday Jan 05, 2024
Friday Jan 05, 2024
New Year, new show name! New guest! We welcome Celine Dion's favorite pro wrestler to the Archives, Vince Valor. While skimming the socials, Rich picked up a distress call from Vince Valor. Vince had recently suffered a devasting injury and was needing support and was offering to do interviews since he couldn't do any ring work. The Invincible One shares some great insights into the wrestling business and tells his story, as well as putting over his cat, Eddie. Vince just won the Empire State Wrestling Heavyweight Championship while dealing with a torn pectoral muscle. Vince details not just his in-ring philosophy, but his teaching one as well, as he runs the Buffalo Wrestling Academy. Take a listen, he's a great guest, and new friend of the show. Thanks for listening!Support Vince's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/vince-valor-and-the-tale-of-the-torn-pec
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Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
2023 Year in Review
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
Here we are, at the end of 2023. A year dominated by wrestling drama. In what has become a tradition, we sat down and had a talk about the wrestling year that was 2023. The high spots, the low spots, those we lost, those we gained. The people we talked to, the stories we shared. The matches we loved and the ones we didn't. It's been an incredible year. We're retiring the name "All The WrestleManias" after this episode and growing into our new name, The Wrestling Archives. Follow us along on the journey.
Friday Dec 01, 2023
George Pantas
Friday Dec 01, 2023
Friday Dec 01, 2023
As we say farewell to the name "All The WrestleManias," another icon of the wrestling business is saying farewell. Though we talked for almost 2 hours, we barely scratched the surface of the story of the man that is George Pantas. You may not have heard of George, but everyone that you have heard of has heard of him. George is the source of some of the greatest wrestling footage Vice TV and the WWE ever acquired to tell the story of the lost days of the territories. A young Greek immigrant, son of a tinsmith, locked on to wrestling because you didn't need to know English to understand what was happening, and that blossomed into an incredible love affair. George is finally hanging it up after 50 years active in the wrestling business. He will be saying his goodbyes on December 2 at VCW's Tidings of Destruction. George has agreed to bear witness to us about the incredible wrestling moments he has experienced and provides insight to the greatest minds of wrestling. Of course, George knows everyone, from Ric Flair to Billy Corgan, Wahoo McDaniel to Tony Schiavone, and countless others. His story dovetails beautifully with our conversation with David Crockett. You don't want to miss this. George is an incredible human being and an absolute delight.Support the Show: http://www.ko-fi.com/wrestlingarchives
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Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
David Crockett
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
It is our pleasure to give to you this interview of wrestling royalty. David Crockett is the son of Jim Crockett, Sr. who created an entertainment empire in the south, but is most famous for running the "Charlotte" territory in wrestling, better known as Mid-Atlantic Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions/NWA/World Championship Wrestling. He came to us to let the world know he'll be at the Virginia Championship Wrestling's Tidings of Destruction on December 2nd to wish his good friend George Pantas well in his retirement after 50 years in wrestling. David shares with us some great stories from both his territory days and his days with Ted Turner's WCW. He shares with us the anxiety surrounding Vince McMahon's aggressive push into the southern territories and television. David doesn't hold back about the business of the past and present. Rich and Tim talk everything from Broadway, to James Brown, to ACC Football, to Ric Flair at the Baltimore Marriott. He even sheds a little more light on WCW's decision to pass on The Rock. Mr. Crockett is the genuine real deal and came to us to share his story and his family's legacy and influence over the athletic theatrical art that we love so much. We are honored to bestow upon him the title of "Friend of the Show."
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wrestlingarchives
Virginia Championship Wrestling: https://vcwprowrestling.com/tidings-of-destruction-december-2nd-in-norfolk/
Friday Nov 10, 2023
New Name, Same Great Show!
Friday Nov 10, 2023
Friday Nov 10, 2023
With the new year upon us, we felt it was time for a fresh coat of paint, so to speak. Our scope has expanded so much from just covering WrestleManias that the name is feeling restrictive. Starting in the 2024, we will become known as "The Wrestling Archives!" We discuss why we're making this change and some of the great content we have coming soon, including interviews with the one and only David Crockett and the delightful George Pantas. Keep a look out for the new name and new stuff!!!
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/wrestlingarchives
Who We Are
Co-Hosts Tim "The Hammer" Hackman (Huracan Ramirez) and Rich "The Natural" Sigwald (Prince Puma) met at a library conference in 2015 and bonded over their shared love of professional wrestling and other nerdy interests. In 2020 the pair decided to pursue the epic, some might say quixotic, project of watching All the WrestleManias in order and writing about their experience. When blog writing became too burdensome, they started to podcast about the shows instead. Quickly, they decided to branch out from just WrestleManias and in 2024 decided on a new name to reflect their common goal and love of information, and thus the name "The Wrestling Archives."
Sound editing and original music by Rich Sigwald
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