The Winter Palace Podcast

Episode 139 - Who are You

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/556baa23e4b0da12435d5a3d/e14e4932-1cde-443b-ad5f-8867692af507/kryptonite.JPG?format=1000w] Even Kryptonite got an entry in Who’s Who. © 2025 DC Comics. It’s back to the future as we welcome back to the podcast our very first guest, Al Kennedy from House to Astonish. The original plan was to discuss one of Al’s Mastermind subjects, the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (and DC’s Who’s Who), but we only got there after a meandering bit of chat about a variety of subjects, including wrestlers from the 2010s and their current identities (no kayfabe breaking here). But we do a deep dive on the original 1980s version of the Handbook, how DC’s approach to Who’s Who differed, Marvel’s readjustment with the Deluxe Handbook, the art in both books and more. Amazingly, we didn’t mention the three-ring binder era of Who’s Who or DC doing a spinoff Who’s Who for Star Trek (which DC was publishing at the time). There’s also some dicussion on some current books we are enjoying, including work by past guests Mark Waid (Justice League Unlimited) and Al Ewing (the gone too soon Metamorpho, with Steve Lieber). There’s also reminiscing about late 90s comics, including John Ostrander and Pascual Ferry’s Heroes for Hire and Starman. Sadly, no Swingers talk, although I had it in my notes. Shame on me. There’s also some sci-fi media talk, but nothing on Doctor Who (I stopped watching after Capaldi left). Since Al and Paul O’Brien do a Thunderbolts podcast, we obliquely discuss the new movie, the Fabian Nicieza era of the book and rehabilitating of super villains, how the pod with deal with the “fight club” era of the book and more. Al also discusses some of his other projects, including his Terry Pratchett podcast Desert Island Discworld and some shout-out for our pals Joe and Todd at Longbox Heroes.

Episode 137 - Carolina Drama

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/556baa23e4b0da12435d5a3d/b67ac6e3-f7bc-41cf-b6de-5f6e147028c9/dusty.jpg?format=1000w] Dusty Rhodes bemoans to Magnum TA and David Crockett how Baby Doll spent $4035 of his money in Hawaii. I’m happy to say that after almost ten years of doing the podcast, I can finally welcome Rob Naylor (@NINaylor) to the podcast to talk about Jim Crockett Promotions in the summer of 1985, when Rob and I both starting watching the company. We begin by talking about how we first found it, possibly on the same TV station in Philadelphia, even though we live 200 miles from each other in different states. And yes for longtime listeners, we play Mid-Atlantic TV Station Bingo (17, 29, 43, 45, 54, 57). We talk about our favorite wrestlers from those shows, including the booker at the time and later Rob’s mentor Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Magnum TA, Ole and Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Baby Doll, Sam Houston, Manny Fernandez, Jimmy Valiant, the Rock and Roll Express, the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette, Ron Bass, Black Bart, J.J. Dillon and maybe our favorite person of that era, Nature Boy Buddy Landell. We discuss how the guys in the Georgia loop of the company were rarely on the syndicated TV shows, which is all Rob and I could watch regularly, since neither of us had cable yet. We discuss some of the more memorable angles and feuds of that time frame. Suprisingly, we totally did not discuss the return of Superstar Billy Graham to wearing the tie-dye gear and quoting Bo Diddley and/or George Thorogood. There’s also a lot of meandering and digressions as one would expect, including the importance of the magazines in our fandom, first getting the Observer, the history of the National, booking around Japan tours, the blandness of Central States and, as young fans, not undestanding the importance of the Missouri title in the wider NWA ecosystem. This was a very fun show to do and I’m glad Rob and I finally got to nerd out on the show about our early fandom.

Episode 136 - Whip It Good

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/556baa23e4b0da12435d5a3d/ba0dc6ef-98aa-481a-a7ef-8c365a069444/Screenshot+2024-12-21+014408.png?format=1000w] Do you remember this 1980s TV show, one of many Indiana Jones-inspired projects? We’re happy to welcome Jason Pays (@JasonPlaysNMS) back to the show for a chat about video games, adventure movies and more. The main reason Jason is here is to discuss the new game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Since it’s a massive game and Jason has other titles to play, neither of us has been able to even put a dent in the game yet. At the time of recording, Jason was still in the first setting and I just started the second. So, as you might imagine, not much spoiler talk. We do talk about how much we have enjoyed the game so far and how far the franchise have come since the Raiders game on the Atari 2600. This leads into a discussion about the original Raiders trilogy, not much about the later films and much talk about the 1980s Indy-inspired knock-offs, including Romancing the Stone, High Road to China, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Bring ‘Em Back Alive, Tale Spin and yes, even The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak, a favorite bad movie from the 1980s Skinemax generation and many impressionable teenagers. And, as always, there’s some James Bond talk, the eternal ranking of 007 actors, what we’d like to see in future installments and the like. There’s also chat about No Man’s Sky, Light No Fire and the lack of news about the game at this year’s Game Awards, Jason recently joining the cult of Balatro and other video game chatter. Thanks to Jason as always for doing the show. You can catch him streaming multiple times a week on You Tube.

Episode 135 - History Repeating

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/556baa23e4b0da12435d5a3d/725c72ab-4129-40cd-99bd-c502cdc0bbd3/ali+g.gif?format=1000w] Gorilla Monsoon squares off against Muhammad Ali in 1976, prior to the Ali vs Inoki fight. It’s our second WON HOF show of the week. We’re happy to have back on the show author and podcaster Brian R Solomon (@brianrsolomon) for another round of discussions about this year’s ballot. We cover a lot of the same topics as we did with Greg on the last show, including measuring tag teams in dog years, not voting for active competitors, judging someone’s entire career regardless of the category in which they are placed and comparisons to both Cooperstown and the Rock and Roll HOF. We also to talk to Brian about his upcoming book next year on the legendary Gorilla Moonson and what surprised him most while researching the man, in his career, billed from both Manchuria and Cherry Hill, NJ. And since it’s almost Halloween, we also threw out a couple of film recommendations for the season, including Gothic, The Abominable Dr. Phibes and The Black Cat. Be sure to check out Brian’s podcast Shut Up and Wrestle, especially if you love hearing about the Weston/Apter wrestling magazines, as well as Brian’s great ability to get wrestlers’ children on as guests, as they always have fascinating stories to tell.

Episode 134 - Yippy-Yo Yippy-Yeah

[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/556baa23e4b0da12435d5a3d/d8073997-6129-448d-9e5a-e7a21dd0f4bb/jyd.jpg?format=1000w] Michael Hayes blinds the Junkyard Dog with the Freebird Hair Cream in 1981. It’s WON Hall of Fame season and this is the first of our shows examining this year’s candidates. We’re happy to welcome back Greg Klein (@jydbook) to discuss his advocacy of two people in particular, the Junkyard Dog and Houston promoter Morris Sigel. We go over both candidates in detail, including JYD’s drawing power in Mid-South and New Orleans in particular, his time as a main eventer versus his later career, the cultural implications of JYD’s push and his feuds, comparing him candicacy to Paul Orndorff, Sigel promoting Houston for 40+ years, the scope of the Texas wrestling office and how that compares to Roy Welch in the Southeast, wrestlers who got their break in Houston, the Texas Wrestling War and more. We also go over the rest of the ballot discussing things like “should tag team longevity count in dog years,” lack of footage for pre-territory wrestlers, voting for still-active competitors on the ballot and comparing candidates to their baseball equivalents. Be sure to check out Greg on some other wrestling podcasts this HOF season. The more discussions on worthy candidate, the better.