Saturday, June 18, 2022

On the Beat With John Cosper

Writer-author and friend John Cosper has a few book projects on the horizon. I always love talking wrestling with John and these books provided the perfect opportunity. On Monday, I interviewed John for Global Women Sports Radio. Our interview is at On the Beat With John Cosper.

We started by talking about “The Amazing Life of Mars Bennett.” While writing “The Ballad of Cousin Elvira,” about Elvira Snodgrass, Mars Bennett caught John's eye. Although Bennett died at the young age of 35, she lived quite a life and John covers it all with more than 70 photos and many stories. This is another example of John putting the spotlight on one of the women pioneers of wrestling.

Next up was “Katie Bar the Door!: History of Portland Wrestling.” The title says it all. This is an in depth look at the Portland territory. When I hear “Portland,” I immediately think of Roddy Piper. John states there is plenty of Piper in there and so much more.

The third book we discussed was “The Darkest Side of the Ring: Stories of Charlie Kruel and Ella.” Wrestling fans and horror lovers will enjoy the fictional tales of indy wrestlers Charlie and Ella.

The final book of the quartet is the second edition of “Bluegrass Brawlers: The Story of Professional Wrestling in Louisville.” With about 50 percent more text, John fills in some time gaps, expands on other stories and includes things that happened since 2014. The new cover includes Billie Starkz, one of the brightest young wrestlers and one I recently interviewed.

In addition to these books, John also talked about Ohio Valley Wrestling and Girl Fight Wrestling. Run by Al Snow, OVW has a great women's division led by “The Amazing” Maria. Our old friend Mad Man Pondo continues to give opportunities to impressive young women wrestlers.

As always with John, we packed a lot of fun wrestling talk into the interview. I applaud John for continually thinking outside the box with wrestlers like Mars Bennett. John would eschew the praise, but he is bridging the gap between several generations of women wrestlers.

Check out John's books at EatSleepWrestle.com. I am not just promoting John here. I am filling my personal book shelf with his books.

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