West Virginia 1968

[cwh47]

Wrestling Memories has just received some photos
and documentation for some Jim Crockett shows in
Charleston,West Virginia.My question is which JCP
tv show from the 60's aired there to promote the
shows or did Big Jim run the shows there without
tv? Are there any old timers from West VA that have
any memories concerning this?

[Baltimore Jack]

I can't help you withthe TV question, but i sure am anxious to see the photos on Wrestling Memories!

[weaverlock]

Hi guys. I maybe able to help a little here. The tv show was called Championship Wrestling and came on WCHS channel 8 it was shown every Saturday at 5 PM. The show ran from '66 thru '72. Then for no apparent WCHS stopped airing the show sometime during '73 (I guess whenthe show became Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling).

Around '77 the tv show (along with a new show called World Wide Wrestling ) did return to the fans in the Chas. WV area but we got it on WOAK (Oak Hill - Beckley WV) tv station late on Sat. nights.

In the early 70's it would sometimes be pre-empted by ACC basketball, which is how I became a big UNC fan and a huge fan of Dean Smith and Phil Ford. I loved the way they would work the clock to come from behind and win games.

I fondly remember the Infernos, Weaver & Becker, The Scott Brothers, Two Ton Harris, and of course Lars, Gene and Ole Anderson.

[cwh47]

Hello weaverlock! I really appreciate your response to this question. Now I want to ask you if you remember who was the host of that show? Did you attend any of the arena shows there in West Virginia during that time period. We will be posting the photo's from a couple of those shows on our tag team page in the near future.

www.wrestlingmemories.com

[yamahog]

I used to watch a wrestling show in (Bluefield) West Virginia and the show host's name was "Shirley Love." I remember that only because I thought it was so unusual that a man was called, "Shirley." I don't recall where the show originated from but I believe it was the local area. As I recall, the show was shown on Saturday nights at either 11:00pm or 11:30pm and was broadcast on WOAY. I also believe that "Shirley" was a local news anchor. This would have been the early to mid-'70s and I don't recall ANY Mid-Atlantic (or NWA) talent on the show.

I found this on the web:

But probably the most popular live show on Channel 4 was "Saturday Night Wrestling," which featured famous professional wrestlers and local talents in matches performed first in the station's studios and then in an auditorium adjacent ot the original WOAY station. The show lasted about two decades.

"This was probably the most watched show," said Love, who announced the matches for many years. "People would come from Virginia, Kentucky, even Ohio. ... People watched it for the wrestling itself, but other people watched it to see the people. Folks would get carried away, jump into the ring, and they'd do their thing, too. They would actually want to fight and a lot of them did fight.

"We would have wresting bears," he said. "We would have the top wrestlers in the country in that auditorium. We're talking about Argentine Rocko, Gorgeous George; we had them all when wrestling was in its heyday. The excitement that wasn't there, we'd create."

Hundreds of people would fill the auditorium every Saturday night to watch the matches, Love said.

"What made it the most popular here was interviewing the fans in between bouts. You talked to children, you talked to senior citizens, you talked to people from out-of-state, and often people would get carried away and forget they were on the air. Sometimes you had to be quick on the microphone trigger because anything could go across the airways, and did many times."

Love believes the local programming is what made WOAY popular with area viewers.

"When people remember and think of Channel 4, these are the things that pop into their minds, not necessarily a James Bond movie or a Jackie Gleason show."

The auditorium in which the matches took place first served as a skating rink and was part of a recreation complex that included the old TV Lanes Bowling alley and restaurant. Channel 4's television and radio studio was destroyed by fire in September 1977, just two months after the station's founder and owner had died, leaving his children, Robert R. Thomas III and Leah Thomas to take over the operations of the TV and radio stations.

[cwh47]

That is some great info yamahog.I read some of those
articles on the WOAY history.Most of the wrestlers
mentioned also wrestled for JCP at one time or another.

From what weaverlock has told us the show he saw
on channel 8 there ended about the same time Big
Jim Crockett passed away.Also at around that same
time (1973) I was able to receive WHIS channel 6 from
Bluefield,West Virginia.The Sheik's Detroit show aired
on Sat. afternoon's during tne NFL football season
and Sun. afternoon's during the Major League
baseball season.The station became WVVA in 1979.

Maybe there was some kind of agreement that WVA
became part of the Sheik's territory and Jim Crockett
Promotions would no longer run shows there.If this is
true that would explain why West Virginia was not
included when the Mid-Atlantic logo was created.

[weaverlock]

Thanks for responding cwh47. The only announcer I can remember is Mr. Caudle. I was born in 1960 so I was around 6 when my grandfather got me hooked on Pro Wrestling. I didn't get to attend any of the matches which were held at the old Chas. Civic Center, but I hardly ever missed a tv show. The kids in the neighborhood would dropped everything at 5 pm and run home to watch the show.

I also remember Shirely Love and wrestling from WOAY, which originated from Oak Hill/Beckley WV. Best I can remember Mr. Love's shows were canceled before the JCP tv shows started running on WOAY around '77-78. Mr. Love's show had Gene and Jan Madrid, The Spaceman Frank (something like Casey), Irish Pat Clancy.

[cwh47]

Weaverlock, you have provided some great info here.
Jan Madrid and Frank "Spaceman" Hickey also worked
for JCP during that era.

As for Irish Pat Clancy,that was one of the names
Bob Hamby wrestled under.I met Mr. Hamby earlier
this year at a CCW show in Lenoir.He told me about
wrestling under that name in Tennessee,Kentucky
and West Virginia.We discussed Mr. Hamby in an
earlier thread in this section of the board.

I received some additional info on West Virginia
shows in 1969 today.A card featuring the Sheik
ran in Huntington,WVA while Big Jim Crockett ran a
show in Charleston,WVA during the same time period.

[bobbyryates]

didn't you introduce me to hamby in lenoir that night? i'm thinking you did. i know the name but it didn't register until just now.

[cwh47]

You are right about that Bobby.I am thinking that you
showed Mr. Hamby your book with some of the guys
from the past.I hope we get to see him again in the
future.I would like to talk to him some more about
the sixties.

[bobbyryates]

yeah, i'm sure anyone from back then has a zillion stories to to tell about themselves, and everyone else, that we've never heard.
i always love to hear or read stories of the past.

[tmbailey]

I live in Charleston, WV but I was not born until 1970. So, I can't be of any real help to ya, LOL! But, I was at every wrestling event held at the Chas. Civic Center from about 1985 and on.

I have friends that live in the Beckly area that atteneded the Three Rivers Wrestling Promotion shows in that area.

I have also heard tales of a West Virginia title that was first held by Johnny Valentine?! Have no clue which promotion that would have been affiliated with.

Tom B.

[tmbailey]

Ah....I just looked wrestlingtitlehistories.com to see if I could find info on the WVa Heavyweight Title. Seemed to be a part of the before mentioned Bluefield wrestling scene. JV didnt hold the title either! (darn, I knew that was too good to be true) LOL!


Tom B.

[weaverlock]

Question: Does anyone here remember when Rip Hawk pilecrived Sam Steamboat during a TV tag match? I remember Steamboat's partner being Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) and of course Rip was with Swede.

I think that move by Rip retired Steamboat.......I never saw him on TV again.

Any Help?

[countgrog]

was the show with Shirley Love the same show as Championship Wrestling with Jan Madrid from Oak Hill?