Retro Wrestling w/Gene Jackson Ep. 61: The Rich History of Portland Wrestling w/Rich Patterson

On Episode #61 of Retro Wrestling w/Gene Jackson, Gene sits down with Rich Patterson, the man Gene calls the owner of the closest thing there is to a true Portland Wrestling Archive, for a deep conversation about Don Owen’s Portland territory, Buddy Rose’s tape collection, lost footage, territory preservation, Billy Jack Haynes, Rip Oliver, Frank Bonnema, Don Coss, Tom Peterson commercials, Roddy Piper, Chris Colt, Len Denton, and why Portland Wrestling deserves far more respect in the history of the wrestling business.This episode serves as both a Portland Wrestling history lesson and a launch primer for the new Retro Wrestling Re-View Portland Wrestling Patreon watchalong series with Gene Jackson and “The Grizzled Vet” Michael McCurdy. Gene explains that, growing up in Mississippi and Alabama, he mostly knew Portland through wrestling magazines and traded VHS tapes and his knowledge was mostly limited to the Billy Jack heel turn, some random angles, and scattered footage but Rich’s hard drive opened the door to a much bigger world.The heart of the episode is the story of Buddy Rose’s tape collection. Buddy started recording Portland Wrestling in 1977, saved hundreds of tapes, and preserved footage that easily could have disappeared forever. The preservation talk is tremendous. Rich tells Gene about the old Quasar tapes, the machine he had to track down, the repairs, the mold damage, and the thrill of finally finding rare Lonnie “Moondog” Mayne footage. Look, for wrestling fans who care about territory history, this is the good stuff. It’s not just “some guy has tapes.” It’s a rescue mission for an entire piece of territory wrestling history.Basically, this is one of those conversations where every name opens another door. Buddy Rose leads to Piper. Piper leads to Don Owen. Don Owen leads to Tom Peterson. Billy Jack leads to Rip Oliver. Rip Oliver leads to Santa Claus with a crowbar. Frank Bonnema leads to the whole feel of Portland television. And before long, you realize Portland wasn’t some forgotten minor stop, it was a real, long running, talent rich territory that helped shape a lot of the wrestling people still talk about today.For fans of Portland Wrestling, Don Owen, Buddy Rose, Roddy Piper, Billy Jack Haynes, Rip Oliver, Lonnie Mayne, Frank Bonnema, Tom Peterson, Chris Colt, Len Denton, Art Barr, Scotty the Body, “Mean” Mike Miller, Dave Sierra, Ed Wiskowski, and the lost footage that keeps territory wrestling alive, this episode is required listening.Portland Wrestling may not have gotten the magazine covers.But thanks to Rich Patterson, it didn’t get erased.As mentioned on the show, if you would like to purchase one of Rich's hard drives featuring 500+ hours of Portland Wrestling, you can contact him via email at [email protected] ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★