Episode Details

 Ringside in Rose City #29 – Matt Farmer: The Historian’s Historian

One ring.
One city.
A thousand stories.
And this week… we bring in someone who’s spent a lifetime uncovering them.

When Lisa Hughes punches the button, Frank Culbertsonand Mike Rogers welcome a very special guest into the Rose City ring: Matt Farmer.

Historian. Researcher. Wrestler. Promoter.
And one of the most respected voices in wrestling history today.

📚 The Puzzle of Wrestling History

Matt takes us deep into the process of uncoveringwrestling’s past:

• Digging through microfilm, newspapers, and archives
• Piecing together forgotten spot shows and lost results
• Reconstructing territories town-by-town—Tacoma, Longview, Salem, Eugene
• The thrill of discovering matches featuring names like André the Giant in places you’d never expect

As Matt explains, wrestling history isn’t just research…

It’s a puzzle—and every piece matters.

🌎 Beyond Portland

While Portland Wrestling is the foundation, this episodeexpands far beyond:

• The surprising reach of wrestling across small towns,islands, and international territories
• Stories from places like Hawaii during WWII-era wrestling booms
• How territories across North America—and beyond—were deeply connected

It’s a reminder that wrestling’s footprint was once everywhere.

🧠 Historians Talking History

For the first time…
Mike isn’t the only historian in the room.

And as he puts it:

“Tonight Matt and I can finally have a real historian conversation…”

What follows is a deep, passionate exchange between twopeople who have spent decades preserving wrestling’s past—while Frank (and all of us) try to keep up.

🥊 From Fan to the Business

Matt isn’t just a historian—he’s lived the business:

• Early days breaking in and learning from veterans
• Behind-the-scenes roles across the industry
• Becoming a driving force behind DEFY Wrestling, one of the most successful independent promotions today

This is the rare perspective of someone who has seen wrestling from every angle.

🎤 Stories You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else

This episode delivers:

·   Behind-the-scenes insights on Roddy Piper’s creative genius

·   The truth about Buddy Rose—his brilliance, his mindset, and his legacy

·    The reality of how wrestlers were trained, protected, and developed

·    And the small, often forgotten details that made territories like Portland so special

·     How close Hulk Hogan was to appearing in Portland Wrestling

This isn’t just an episode about wrestling history.

It’s about how that history is found, preserved, andunderstood.

Because without people like Matt Farmer… a lot of these stories would be gone forever.

Step into the arena.

This is Ringside in Rose City —

Wrestling

Wrestling the way it should be.