🎙️ Ringside in Rose City #14 – Oh Yeah: The Hawaii–Portland Pipeline

🎙️ Ringside in RoseCity #14 – Oh Yeah: The Hawaii–Portland Pipeline Ringside In Rose City #14One ring. One city. A thousand stories.And this week… we trade the rain for palm trees and trace the wild, tangled history between Hawaii wrestling and Portland wrestling.In Episode #14 of Ringside in Rose City, FrankCulbertson and Mike Rogers crack open an envelope marked “Hawaii” and dive into the wrestlers, angles, and behind-the-scenes chaos that forever linked the islands to the Sports Arena.Frank, Mike, and producer Lisa Hughes (keeping thestudio festive, spinning the wheel, and springing K-Fabe Curveballs) walk you through:🌺 Buddy Rose on the Beach – The infamous “Playboy in Hawaii” video, the Fremont Bridge belt toss, suspensions, and why half of Portland swears they were there to “catch” the title.🌴 Piper, Martel, the Sheepherders & Siva Afi – How booking in Honolulu became a dry run for one of Portland’s hottest eras, and why Hawaii was paradise and financial quicksand.🏟️ Parade of Champions, 1967 – Stack the card with Lord James Blears, Ripper Collins, Johnny Barend, Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens, Lonnie Mayne, Tony Borne… and still slip in Don Leo Jonathan vs. Stan Stasiak in a “super dreadnought” clash.⚓ Lord Blears’ Real-Life War Story – Torpedoes, a submarine, an escape from mass execution, and clinging to a makeshift life raft in the Pacific.🤯 Eric Pederson: Torpedoes, Geiger Counters & the Orchestra Pit – World-title shots blown off to go uranium hunting, jailhouse bodybuilding photos, and the night adropkick sent him into the orchestra pit with his head stuck under the stairs.👑 The Francis Family & Who Really Owned Hawaii – Ed Francis borrowing money from Don Owen to buy the territory, going off TV, restarting, selling to Steve Rickard, the murky rise of Peter Maivia as promoter, and letters that only make the story stranger.😴 Blindfold Battle Royals & Sleeper Holds – The Portland blindfold battle royal with one unmasked surprise entrant… and Ed Francis’ terrifyingly “serious” sleeper that needed a neck massage and back-slap revival every time.🔥 Pampero Firpo / The Missing Link – Short, weird run in Portland, legendary status in Hawaii, riots, scars, “Ohhh yeah!” long before another guy said it, and why he should have been a much bigger star here.🐻 Bears in Hawaii & Dutch as Dutch Schultz – Dutch Savage vs. a bear, King Curtis, Ripper Collins, and the wild Rat Pack years.🌊 Dean Ho / Dean Higuchi – Portland babyface favorite, Hawaiian gym owner, WWWF tag champ, and a man so nice the boys still ribbed him by calling him “Mr. Fuji.”Plus, Lisa drops in with a holiday-flavored K-Fabe Curveballs segment—wrestling questions, Christmas music, Santa judging the naughty list, and Mike trying to go 3-for-3 without getting figuratively bodyslammed.Hawaii. Portland. Full nelsons, bears, submarines, orchestrapits, and belts in the Willamette.Step into the arena. Hit play.This is wrestling—wrestling the way it should be.