Episode 36: Merry Macho Christmas Special

Freak out—it’s a Merry Macho Crispy edition of the KFR Podcast with host Scott Bowden guiding his sleigh down memory lane to the biggest card of Memphis wrestling in 1983—Dec. 5 to be exact. The originally scheduled main event saw the Road Warriors make their post-apocolyptic debut in the territory in a rumble for the ages vs the Fabulous Ones—with more potatoes served than all area KFCs combined.

But it was the late addition to the main-event spot (along with smuggled booze) that had the Coliseum buzzing: ICW outlaw Randy “Macho Man” Savage finally invades Jerry “The Queen” Lawler’s kingdom, bringing his own brand of madness to Memphis for the first time under Jarrett’s banner.

Bowden was in attendance that night along with a little more than 8,000 other stinkin’ rednecks—not a bad house coming off the slow-dying feud between the King and Kaufman but not even close to the anticipated sellout.

Together with longtime fan John Keating and ICW co-founder “Hustler” Rip Rogers, Bowden speculates as to why the program between Macho and Kingfish fizzled after three weeks in Memphis but thrived in Louisville, Lexington and the surrounding areas.

All this and classic Savage audio make this a Merry Macho Crispy season to remember. So break out the confetti ’cause we’re doing the thing!

Visit the Kentucky Fried Rasslin’ online store at http://kentuckyfriedrasslin.bigcartel.com/

Follow Scott Bowden on Twitter @TravScottBowden and on Facebook @KentuckyFriedRasslin.

Follow Brian on Twitter at @GreatBrianLast.

Kentucky Fried Rasslin’ is a production of the Arcadian Vanguard Podcast Network

Episode 35: Close-Up on Union Avenue

KFR Pod #35 has dropped like Ricky Morton’s head through a table after a Macho Piledriver! Host Scott Bowden goes behind the camera to chat with longtime (and now retired) WMC-TV 5 engineer Ken Parnell, who reveals the crazy energy and the wild-and-wooly inner workings of the Memphis TV show in its heyday.

Ken recalls his rookie year of 1981, which resulted in some of the most entertaining Memphis TVs in history thanks to the red-hot feud between Jerry Lawler and the All the King’s Men vs. Jimmy Hart’s nefarious First Family.

Ken will also explain the details behind his ill-advised detour down Badstreet USA where he lost the Freebird version of Rock, Paper, Scissors in August 1985 as part of a bloody-good angle at the Mid-South Coliseum.

Plus, Ken breaks down what made Memphis wrestling so special and his thoughts on the show’s TV format that was as loose and flexible as any arena rat back in the day and just as action-packed.

Not only does Ken provide a unique perspective of the show working for both the station and the promotion, but he also shares inside stories such as a Macho Man promo that nearly made Ken quit the business and how that led to he and Randy Savage eventually becoming good friends. All this and more on an extra-crispy, not-so-late KFR Episode 35!

Visit the Kentucky Fried Rasslin’ online store at http://kentuckyfriedrasslin.bigcartel.com/

Follow Scott Bowden on Twitter @TravScottBowden and on Facebook @KentuckyFriedRasslin.

Follow Brian on Twitter at @GreatBrianLast.

Kentucky Fried Rasslin’ is a production of the Arcadian Vanguard Podcast Network