Pro Wrestling Posts

When Bobby Heenan broke Greg Gagne’s nose in Duluth

Retired professional wrestler Greg Gagne mentions a match in Duluth on the new Vice cable television series Tales from the Territories. The anecdote occurs after the 19-minute mark in episode 3, titled “AWA: Bodyslams in the Heartland.” (The embedded video above appears to be some sort of scrambled pirated version, but it gets the story across.)

Now That’s a Great Hat: Text Dispatches of a Twin Cities Coincidence

Friday

My best friend departs for the farmlands of Southern California, where she will join her family to celebrate her sister’s 50th birthday in their hometown. On their agenda: attending a local rodeo.

My husband and teen daughter drive to Twin Cities Con, where husband is excited to see G.I. Joe author Larry Hama, and teen daughter is on the hunt for merch of Squirrel Girl and other favorite superheroes.

Ferocious Finn falls to Polish strong boy in 1922 mat tussel

It was 100 years ago today that Henry Karhunsaari, “the Ferocious Finn of Virginia,” was knocked unconscious in the deciding fall of what Duluth Herald sportswriter Sandy MacDonald called “the most spectacular and most fiercely contested wrestling match ever staged in this city.”

June of ’71: UMD’s medical school gets initial accreditation

The University of Minnesota Duluth’s medical school took its first step toward academic accreditation 50 years ago. The June 30, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that Dr. Robert E. Carter, medical school dean, announced a letter of “reasonable assurance of academic accreditation” had been received from the Joint Liaison Committee on Accreditation of the American Medical Association Council on Education and the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Video Archive: World Wrestling Federation 1988 Duluth Promo

The World Wrestling Federation’s sixth-ever card at the Duluth Arena featured …

Andre the Giant vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Demolition vs. The Powers of Pain
“Outlaw” Ron Bass vs. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake

Ripped at Midget Wrestling in 2008

[Editor’s note: The NorShor Theatre operated as a strip club from 2006 to 2010, and all manner of amoral activity took place there. For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Ten years ago he paid a visit to the NorShor to take in the rasslin’ matches.]

Lovers of the fine arts, like me, know it doesn’t get any better than strippers and midget wrestling. If you can see them both in the same building, and there’s a guy with a backpack who is graciously offering to share his hallucinogenic mushrooms with you, it’s time to chant U-S-A! U-S-A!

Yes, tonight the stars of the Micro Wrestling Federation are bringing their “MidgetPalooza 2009 World Tour” to the NorShor Experience strip club. Of course, it’s still 2008 on my calendar, but it’s probably not a mistake that the year 2009 appears on my ticket in three places. I like to think the MWF is like an auto manufacturer and releases the next year’s line of midgets early, so fans feel like they’re on the cutting edge of wrestling innovation.

Video Archive: Rick Rude vs. Kim Yates in Duluth, 1988

What Rick Rude would like right now is for all you fat, ugly, Duluth little boys to keep the noise down while he takes off his robe and shows the ladies what “simply ravishing” is all about.

Video Archive: Superstars of Wrestling in Duluth, 1988

Finally unearthed from the PDD video archive, clips from the May 10, 1988 World Wrestling Federation card at the Duluth Arena. The segments available here are matches that were broadcast on the syndicated television program Superstars of Wrestling on May 22 and 29, 1988. Numerous other matches were taped at the same Duluth card and broadcast in subsequent weeks.

Video Archive: Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage cut wrestling promos for 1988 Duluth show

Thirty years ago — May 10, 1988 — the World Wrestling Federation brought a card to Duluth for the sixth time. A television crew came along to capture matches for four episodes of the syndicated weekly program Superstars of Wrestling.

Selective Focus: Joe Klander

Joe Klander can definitely be called a multimedia artist. He paints, he sculpts, he puts opponents in a full nelson. His art show last year at the Duluth Art Institute was called “Strongman” ond explored his heroes and influences as a kid. He will appear on the upcoming season of America’s Got Talent, and a documentary about him is currently making the rounds at Film Fests, opening last weekend at the Fargo Film Fest.

JK: From what I’ve been told I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil, and watching pro wrestling not long after that. Mike Scholtz’s documentary “Kinderchomper” hit on my childhood-like arts and crafts art exhibit I was working on and my life as a pro wrestler father and husband. I am constantly reaching back to my boyhood imagination and dreams for inspiration and for some reason always ask myself the question “Would me at the age of 10 think this is pretty awesome?”

Video Archive: The Hart Foundation and Honky Tonk Man cut a special Duluth Valentine’s Day wrestling promo in 1988

Trade in your candy hearts for some “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart and the Hart Foundation. The World Wrestling Federation was in Duluth 30 years ago today — Feb. 14, 1988 — for its fifth card at the Duluth Arena. (The WWF is now the WWE, and the Duluth Arena is now the DECC Arena. Times change.)

“One uses arm drags while the other uses artifacts, but the two perform the same function: They’re both vehicles for storytelling.”

The artifacts…

Terrance Griep is a Minnesota writer and wrestler who makes frequent trips to Duluth (see stories on PDD here and here). He’s subject of an art exhibit at the MSP airport; visit when you catch a connecting flight.

Video Archive: Honky Tonk Man and Butch Reed cut wrestling promos for 1987 Duluth show

The World Wrestling Federation — now known as World Wrestling Entertainment — brought four cards to the Duluth Arena in 1987. The fourth happened 30 years ago today — Dec. 27.

Video Archive: “Macho Man” Randy Savage 1987 Duluth promo

The World Wrestling Federation — now known as World Wrestling Entertainment — brought a card to Duluth for the third time on Oct. 8, 1987. In the video clip above, Randy “Macho Man” Savage declares his enthusiasm for his first trip to the Zenith City.

Announcer Gene Okerlund mentions Bam Bam Bigelow and Nikolai Volkoff in his opening remarks, but neither of them appeared at the show.

The Amazing Story of the One Man Gang Middle Finger Photo

Thirty years ago I attended a World Wrestling Federation card at the Duluth Arena … because that’s something teenage boys did in 1987. I went with a group of friends that included Barrett Chase, who co-founded Perfect Duluth Day 16 years later. Seated directly behind us was a complete stranger. Eventually, the three of us ended up in business together … if you count goofing off on the internet as “business.” I certainly do.

As far as wrestling cards go, this one was pretty mediocre. “Macho Man” Randy Savage was in the main event, which was enough to make it worth the twelve bucks or whatever it cost to get in. A number of other well-known wrestling names were on the bill — Honky Tonk Man, Killer Khan, Junkyard Dog, Sherri Martel, Koko B. Ware, Dan Spivey — but the Macho Man was unequivocally the legend in the room.

Years later, all memory of who won or lost those wrestling matches faded. Barrett and I would end up going to five WWF cards in Duluth during a one-year timeframe spanning May 1987 to May 1988. Those events became mostly mashed together in our brains, but we could somewhat distinguish them by remembering main event matches or which other friends came with us to the shows.

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