HITTING THE SPOT - Visiting Smaller
Mid-Atlantic Venues In The Mid-Atlantic Area
While Virginia was blessed to be home
to some of the best wrestling in the world during the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling era, the great cards were not confined to the
Commonwealth’s larger cities and their corresponding bigger venues.
Make no mistake, the Richmond Coliseum, the Hampton Coliseum, the
Norfolk Scope and the Roanoke Civic Center all housed their share of
spectacular Mid-Atlantic events, but great Mid-Atlantic events were
also routinely put on in smaller places.
The term “spot show” was used within
the wrestling industry to characterize sporadic cards that were held
in outlying areas. These spot shows served a number of purposes, all
of them good. Perhaps most importantly, it allowed fans who didn’t
live close to a major city the opportunity to conveniently see a
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling card in their neighborhood.
Often times, these local cards were sponsored in part by local civic
groups, whereby the locality was benefitted by Jim Crockett
Promotions coming to town.
Even to those fans who routinely went
to Mid-Atlantic cards in Virginia’s big cities and big arenas, it
was a nice change of pace to travel to a spot show in a smaller
venue, like a high school gym or a high school football field, to
see the action really up close and personal. And to the credit of
the wrestlers, the effort put forth in a Jim Crockett Promotions
card at a high school gym was every bit as intense as a card at a
major Coliseum.
So, this series will be a tribute to
the small towns and buildings that were stops on the Mid-Atlantic
Championship Wrestling spot show tour. Buckle up, and let’s hit the
road and enjoy the ride as we look at Mid-Atlantic wrestling in the
Mid-Atlantic area’s hinterlands.
-David Chappell |