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#Post#: 20986--------------------------------------------------
The Five; Outdoor Stadiums
DIR By: SheriffLonestar
Date: November 19, 2013, 4:53 pm
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A new occasional series where I will put up five things for
discussion. This is a not a best of list, its just five related
things and is no way borrowed/stolen/plagiarized from The
Guardian's Joy of Six Blog which is awesome;
HTML http://www.theguardian.com/sport/series/joyofsix
As we begin the run into Wrestlemania all the talk will be of
arena shows, the great, the good and the ungodly. So this five
concentrates on things that have gone on out of doors, not
always great, but usually memorable. Back in the days before pay
per view, the only way to make money was at the gate, and to
make more money you needed a bigger gate, so the logic goes that
for the bigger matches you went to the bigger places and
eventually you got to stadia. It happened a lot sooner than you
think to;
1. Comiskey Park; The Match of the Century
To be fair the century was only 11 years old, but it set a
precedent about Comiskey Park, then only a year old. Frank Gotch
vs George Hackenshmidt was a match for the ages, a genuine shoot
in front of a sold out house on home plate. It set the standard
for arena shows, Comiskey was the home of the Chicago White Sox
and the tightest pro sports owner ever in Charles Comiskey. His
"Black" Sox would a few years later throw the World Series and
give a different kind of aura to the place, but on that night it
was Frank and George's to own as they started to show what
wrestling could do when it came to drawing in fans.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV3VRCEX1s8
2. Doncaster Belle Vue
Hometown villian Jack Pye wrestling at Doncaster's old Belle Vue
"Stadium". Jack of the Pye wrestling family, dirty as they come
and money drawing heels to a man and woman, was like all of them
a Doncaster lad. When it came to building the game outside of
the Drill Hall though there was really only one place to go, and
in the 40's what else could there possibly be to do in
Doncaster? You see that mass of corrugated iron in the
background? Thats the stadium, but hey they packed them in from
all over South Yorkshire.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFSz2ZBWNsQ
3. Puerto Rico
Matches in Puerto Rico are always good value for money. Any big
showdowns happen in the many baseball stadia around the island.
Back in the 80's it was a regular trip for some of the biggest
none WWE stars in the industry because WWC filled stadiums
literally every other Saturday wherever they went. Here is the
classic confrontation between Bruiser Brody and Abduallh the
Butcher, in class WWC style in Baseball Stadium with the fans
miles away (for the protection of the wrestlers).
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS3VRgA4c7Q
4. Kawasaki Baseball Stadium
An industrial town in Japan. Home of the Kawasaki motorcycle.
Bridgestone tires and arguably the most brutal wrestling matches
of all time. I can't possibly do a list like this and not
include those nut jobs in Kawasaki. For atmosphere and sheer
spectacle this place was like nothing else. Ohnita blew himself
up here, so did Terry Funk (at least three times), so did Cactus
Jack, for our match though I chose and afternoon affair.
Chigusau Nagayo the greatest female wrestling draw of all time
who was given her opportunity to emulate her hero Dusty Rhodes
in a street fight. She didn't disappoint. Shark Tsuchiya was
more than happy to oblige in the slice and dice stakes.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIL4yRWPUgc
5. Wembley
The wold Wembley was home of the biggest outdoor crowd the WWF
ever performed to at the time. Thanks to its growing popularity
on Sky and a home grown talent in Davey Boy Smith they packed
the old place in 1992. A logistical nightmare that cost them PPV
buys by the thousand back in the states, it has yet to be
repeated, but maybe we will get one PPV here one day soon in the
new Wembley.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tXFzz1eXI
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