Episode Details

This week on Retro Wrestling with Gene Jackson, Gene sits down with fellow wrestling podcaster Rick Del Santo for a deep dive conversation into old school fandom, tape trading, territory wrestling, and the art of interviewing the forgotten names of the business.

Rick has built a reputation for tracking down wrestlers you haven’t heard from in years, guys like Vladimir Koloff, Jimmy “the Original Dirty White Boy” Powell, Richard Sartain, Joe Malenko, and more, giving them a real platform to tell their stories.

In this episode, they talk about:

- Rick growing up in Connecticut during the 80s wrestling boom
- Discovering Memphis, World Class, AWA, and Southern wrestling through magazines and tape trading
- The lost art of tape trading (and getting burned chasing rare footage)
- Herb Abrams’ UWF:  the good, the bad, and the non-finishes!
- Heel Tony Atlas in IWCCW
- Tracking down hard to find wrestling personalities for interviews
- What makes a great wrestling interview
- Podcasting in today’s wrestling landscape

They also get into Barry Horowitz, Rod Price, Keith Steinborn, and the importance of preserving wrestling history through long form conversations.

If you’re a fan of territory wrestling, lost promotions, or just two wrestling lifers talking shop, this one’s for you!