Retro Wrestling w/Gene Jackson Ep. 62: Ozark Mountain Wrestling Deep Dive Part 3 w/Brian Tramel

On Episode #62 of Retro Wrestling w/Gene Jackson, Gene Jackson is joined once again by Brian Tramel for Part Three of the deep dive into Ozark Mountain Wrestling, the Jonesboro, Arkansas based promotion that somehow managed to be local, outlaw adjacent, surprisingly ambitious, deeply personal, and connected to the dying days of the territory system all at the same time.This final chapter picks up with BT admitting that even he thought Ozark Mountain Wrestling was pretty much done after 1995 only to find out through the research that Bert Prentice and company kept running well into 1996, changed directions, crossed paths with USWA, and eventually morphed toward North American All-Star Wrestling and later Music City Wrestling.The centerpiece of this episode is the realization that Ozark Mountain Wrestling didn’t just vanish after its biggest Jonesboro show. BT explains that the promotion kept running through 1996, drew real money in certain towns, worked with USWA talent, and eventually became tangled up with the same late territory Memphis ecosystem that Gene and Robb have been covering in the USWA lawsuit series.The episode also has plenty of classic BT side roads: Dirty Little Dave, outlaw shows in Arkansas, a dirt-floor dressing room, Reggie Montgomery, flea market wrestling, small town pizza economics, local promoters fighting over the same tiny audience, and BT’s own idea for a Jonesboro wrestling venue that would have mixed weekly wrestling with YouTube style distribution and event rentals.By the end, Part Three becomes less about wrapping up a failed little promotion and more about understanding one of the last strange branches of the territory era. Ozark Mountain Wrestling started as this quirky Jonesboro project built around Bert Prentice, Colorado Kid, local Arkansas talent, and borrowed names but it lasted longer than expected, drew better than expected in spots, crossed paths with USWA, and helped bridge the gap between dying territory wrestling and the independent scene that followed.For fans of Ozark Mountain Wrestling, Bert Prentice, Colorado Kid, Jonesboro wrestling, USWA, Bill Dundee, Jerry Lawler, Brian Christopher, Bull Pain, Dirty Little Dave, Future Shock, Cactus Jack, Missy Hyatt, Music City Wrestling, and weird little pieces of wrestling history that almost slipped through the cracks, this is the one that ties it all together.Ozark Mountain Wrestling wasn’t dead after 1995.It was just getting weirder. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★