Before he was X-Pac and 1-2-3 Kid, Sean Waltman was The Lightening Kid in the early '90s.

He changed professional wrestling for the better with his innovative ring style. The effect is still felt in every major wrestling promotion today.

The Lightening Kid was pivotal, and necessary, in changing the narrow perception of what it meant to be a professional wrestler.

He is the defined beginning in the U.S. of making in-ring ability a viable component to connect with an audience on a large scale and find sustained success as a wrestler.


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Host Russell Franklin in Part II of outlining a suggested AEW territory promotion names the five underutilized AEW wrestlers he would use and push. He also talks about interviewing a pre-WCW Chris Jericho for a wrestling magazine in the early '90s, as well as discusses Roddy Piper's impact on professional wrestling. Other topics include reflections of interviewing and writing about Ivan Koloff, an overview of the content of a Pro Wrestling USA wrestling program from the Star Wars 85 card that featured NWA and AWA talent, and reviews of assorted recent wrestling figure releases. Subscribe monthly to The Pro Wrestling Exuberant Podcast and get subscriber only content. Learn more at https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366340/subscribe. Also, subscribe to the free The Pro Wrestling Exuberant e-mail newsletter at substack.com/@theprowrestlingexuberant and follow The Pro Wrestling Exuberant on X for original content at https//www.x.com/tpwexuberant.com

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In the September 1985, Hulk Hogan was immensely popular and had rapidly growing mainstream name recognition. He was bringing lots of new fans into wrestling. His fans were known as "Hulkamaniacs".
Subscribe monthly to The Pro Wrestling Exuberant podcast and get subscriber only content. Learn more at https://www.buzzsprout.com/2366340/subscribe and also subscribe to the free The Pro Wrestling Exuberant email newsletter, with original feature articles on past and present topics, news analysis on the latest happenings, wrestling figure reviews and more at substack.com/@theprowrestlingexuberant

Support the Show.