PWI Weekly for October 20, 2025
Kicking It Old School
Let us make no bones about it: We love us some nostalgia. In this edition of the PWI Weekly, we are getting into Bill Apter’s DeLorean and going back to celebrate some old-school heroes … as well as some new-school stars keeping the classics alive.
Enjoy!
TAG TEAM OF THE WEEK
Few tandems embody the spirit of classic tag team wrestling quite like FTR. Taking inspiration from the likes of The Midnight Express, The Brain Busters, and The Hart Foundation, FTR are the proud flag-wavers of a bygone era. And yet, they occupy a prominent position in the modern tag team landscape.
If you ask us, this is proof positive that greatness never goes out of style. Simply put, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood could have been as good in 1985 as they are in 2025.
While they don’t currently hold gold in All Elite Wrestling, their previous accomplishments would suggest it’s only a matter of time before they do again. The former AEW, IWGP, AAA, and ROH World tag team champions—not to mention Raw, Smackdown, and NXT tag champs—could be forgiven for resting on their laurels. Already, they are the envy of modern teams the world over. That’s not FTR’s modus operandi, however. The order of the day is building a reputation as all-time greats.
We have to believe that when all is said and done, these kings of old school (and two-time #1s in our annual tag team ranking) will number among the best.
SPOTLIGHT ON …
William Patrick Corgan once bristled when PWI referred to the NWA as a “throwback” promotion. When we did, we meant it as a sincere compliment. Many of us around the PWI office fondly tuned in to watch the company’s studio presentation during the height of Nick Aldis’ time with the “Ten Pounds Of Gold.”
It seems that these days, the National Wrestling Alliance is trying to distance itself somewhat from that period. We get it. Forward progress is important.
For our money, though, we’d like to see the promotion lean back into the nostalgia of the early days of NWA Powerrr. The NWA has a lineage older than any promotion in the United States, and we believe that’s something worth celebrating.
What do you think? Would you like to see the NWA do more to connect with its history? Let us know at PWI@kappapublishing.com
MUSINGS, WITH MATT BROCK
The great Stanley Weston used to tell me that the key to being a good wrestling journalist was being able to cut the through the bull and find the real story behind it all. Sometimes, wrestlers believe their own bull, which makes it tougher.
I’d like to think that I’ve spent enough time in smoke-filled arenas to know the difference between a showman and a grappler.
Let me tell you … to this day, there is no one I have ever met who was more real than Harley Race. I won’t pretend that I keep up with the business as much as I used to, but I’d bet you a steak dinner that none of today’s kids would last five minutes with the all-time great.
I feel bad that young fans today will never know the feeling of watching Race swagger down the aisle, all the way from Kansas City to whatever town he was in. He looked like a man who’d already fought three barroom brawls before breakfast and was looking for another.
An eight-time World champion, “Handsome Harley” was someone you could set your watch to. He was also the best BBQ grill operator I have ever seen … but I digress.
I remember nights at some no-name lounge after a show, Race sitting with a whiskey in one hand and a cigarette burning in the other. I’d look at his bruised and busted knuckles and feel intimidated. He intimidated tougher men than me, too. And yet, he never held that over anyone who didn’t deserve it.
On those nights, he’d talk in that trademark growl of his, telling stories about the road and what it meant to be a travelling world champion. I got the sense that with Race, it was never about the money or the fame; it was about the love of the fight.
I believed in Harley Race because Harley Race believed in himself. He proved it time and time again. Wrestlers today have the kind of bodies and athleticism that Race could only have dreamt of possessing. But they could only dream about having the heart of Harley Race.
When the man passed in 2019, wrestling lost a true giant. It seems like we live in a world today where everyone wants to brag about how great they are. Harley Race didn’t need to tell you; he lived it.
It’s no wonder that when he finally joined the World Wrestling Federation near the end of his in-ring career, they called him “King.” No other word would have sufficed.
TERRITORIAL DISSINGS
We’ll be honest: Most of us at the magazine wish we sounded half as smart as Nick Bockwinkel. In a few cases, we are loath to admit that we’ve had to look up the ten-cent words he used!
In this classic AWA promo, Bockwinkel puts his oratorial excellence on display while hyping an upcoming clash with Mad Dog Vachon. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go find “retrogress” in our office dictionary.