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The future of the legendary Mid-South Coliseum, home of classic professional wrestling for decades under Jarrett Promotions, looks to be grim indeed. According to today's Memphis Commercial-Appeal, the venue, which was shuttered in 2006, will be "mothballed" by the city, as opposed to upgrading the venue and utilizing it.
Mothballing means the city plans to secure and seal off the venue, leaving it standing but not making any attempts at upgrading it. Instead of rehabilitating the Coliseum, the city will spend roughly $40 million on redevelopment of Orange Mound community to enhance its competitive sports locally.
The future of the Coliseum has been a big topic of discussion when it was shuttered in 2006 due to the costs needed to renovate the venue in order to bring it into modern standards. An attempt by Jerry Lawler to run the venue one last time, featuring a proposed match between himself and Hulk Hogan was denied by the city.
Wiseacre Brewing had previoiusly researched a plan that would have seen the company invest $12 million into renovating and lease of the former entertainment venue. That plan would have seen them yake over the the first floor of the Coliseum and rent the remaining space to a mix of businesses would have potentially included restaurants, a bowling alley, climbing walls, a wrestling museum and a Civil Rights homage."
There has been a huge push from Memphis residents to save the facility, as opposed to paying to have it destroyed. Memphis wrestling historian and author Mark James has been very involved in the campaign and noted in an interview with PWInsider.com several years ago it would actually cost the city more to destroy the venue then to renovate and repurpose it.
In today's Commercial-Times piece, the city's plan to mothball the arena, Roy Barnes, president of the Coliseum Coalition, an advocacy group that has pushed for the Arena to be repurposed, described today's decision as "real slap in the face to citizens" and claimed the move was made for political reasons, not to better the city.
The city is portraying the move as a chance to help the Coliseum, adding time towards potential investments in improving the facility or to allow the Coliseum Coalition the chance to raise their own funds towards that goal.
For decades, Monday nights in Memphis meant professional wrestling at the Mid-South Coliseum, which housed such moments as Jerry Lawler's feud with Bill Dundee, Andy Kaufman's foray into professional wrestling, Lawler's AWA World championship win over Curt Hennig and a bevy of names including Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Dutch Mantel, Randy Savage, Austin Idol, Tommy Rich, Paul Heyman, Jim Cornette, The Rock N' Roll Express, The Fantastics, The Fabulous Ones, The Midnight Express and even the earliest incarnation of what would eventually become the "Mr. McMahon" character with Vince McMahon playing heel.
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