Ringside in Rose City #54 — Gorgeous Joey Jackson: Inside the Final Years of Portland Wrestling

<p>This week, the Ringside Wheel gets the night off.</p><p>No mystery envelopes. No Card Shark. No Kayfabe Curveballs.</p><p>Because tonight, we don&#39;t have to talk <strong>about</strong> Portland Wrestling history.</p><p>We get to talk to someone who <strong>lived it.</strong></p><p>Frank Culbertson and Portland wrestling historian <strong>Mike Rodgers</strong> welcome <strong>“Gorgeous” Joey Jackson</strong> to <em>Ringside in Rose City</em> for a trip inside the final years of Don Owen&#39;s legendary territory.</p><p>Joey takes us from growing up as a wrestling fan in Louisiana to training in Houston under <strong>Len Denton—the Grappler</strong>. Then came the phone call that changed everything: Portland needed a heel, and Denton recommended a kid who had never wrestled a professional match.</p><p>Joey arrived on a two-week trial.</p><p><strong>He stayed for nearly five years.</strong></p><p>We hear how Don Owen reacted to Joey&#39;s very first match, how Don unexpectedly turned him into <strong>“Gorgeous Joey Jackson,”</strong> and why the comb, mirror and long curly hair proved far more effective at making Portland fans angry than simply trying to be another tough guy.</p><p>Joey shares stories about <strong>Don Owen, Rip Oliver, the Grappler, Art Barr, Ricky Santana, Chris Colt, Ed Moretti, Brian Adams, Roddy Piper, Billy Jack Haynes, Scotty the Body, the Southern Rockers</strong> and many more.</p><p>He remembers wrestling Art Barr in Art&#39;s first professional match, teaming with the Super Ninja, becoming part of <strong>Chris Colt&#39;s Mafia</strong>, working the competing OWF promotion, traveling to Japan for WING, and eventually appearing for WCW.</p><p>And yes, we finally get Joey to tell us a <strong>Chris Colt story</strong> that Mike couldn&#39;t get into <em>Excitement in the Air, Volume Three</em>.</p><p>It involves Ed Moretti.</p><p>It involves Chris Colt.</p><p>And it involves spit.</p><p>We&#39;ll leave it there.</p><p>There&#39;s even a special moment for longtime listener and Portland Wrestling scrapbook keeper <strong>Jody Day</strong>, a devoted Steve Doll fan, when Joey explains what it was really like trying to keep Steve down in the ring:</p><p>Apparently, Steve Doll was a bit of a <strong>“bandy rooster.”</strong></p><p>But this isn&#39;t only a trip into the past.</p><p>Joey is <strong>still in professional wrestling today</strong>—promoting shows, running a wrestling school, developing young talent and applying lessons