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With all of the additions of classic wrestling content of late on the WWE Network, a new generation of fans have been exposed to the "good old days" of professional wrestling that some fans and talents often openly reminisce about. It's been interesting getting emails and social media feedback from obviously younger fans who have never truly seen the likes of Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-South Wrestling and Smoky Mountain Wrestling, especially fans who previously, might dismiss the comments of performers from that era of being out-dated and having let the business pass them by.
The reality is this: professional wrestling will always morph into something that fits the current culture of the time period it exists in but that doesn't mean the way it was presented in the past was wrong, or that elements of it cannot work today. Smoky Mountain Wrestling in particular shows that. The look is dark and gritty, the characters are obviously built to appeal to the Southern wrestling fan weaned on generations of Hatfield/McCoy style conflicts in their pro wrestling and there's nothing wrong with that, because at the time, it worked and even now, looking at it with a fresh lens of cleaned up material via VOD, why it works is obvious - because it was good.
One of the events I've seen the most emails about, possibly because the lure of Chris Jericho's infamous blade job and the ridiculously gruesome amounts of blood that resulted from it, is the SMW Night of Legends-related episodes from 1994. In many ways, that was the best night of SMW, because it celebrated the past and showcased the talents that had fought to build SMW at the time. It was Jim Cornette's love letter to Knoxville Wrestling and it's one of a handful of shows that at the time, I regretted not going to and today, two decades later, it's probably the ONLY one I still regret not traveling to. That show will always, to me, be the epitome of what made Knoxville Wrestling great and something that you can show to anyone who needs to understand why the territory, before and during SMW, was so important.
Say what you will about Cornette, but passion is what makes him so, for me, infectious to listen to and enjoy speaking with. That passion has spilled over into a number of writing projects and his latest team-up with Memphis wrestling historian Mark James, looking at the old Louisville wrestling territory in their new book Tuesday Night at the Gardens: Pro Wrestling in Louisville.
To be honest, I've had the book for weeks and I've been very hesitant to write about it, partially because I've been completely overwhelmed by the information overload. In many ways, for me, the book is as close to a wormhole of wrestling overload as possible. Ever have one of those nights where you look for something on Youtube and then five hours are gone as you get sucked into watching video after video? That's what happens when you read this book, because there is such a ridiculous amount of old clippings, advertisements, newspaper accountings, promotional photos, program reprints that I keep getting caught up not just looking at what happened over time, but then end up online trying to follow up where certain talents went pre and post-Louisville or seeking match footage on the likes of Bobby Mayne and Sir Clement, to see if there is anything out there on these valiant warriors.
Similar to Cornette and James' previous book on Memphis Wrestling, Tuesday Nights provides an incredible education on the formation and early days of the territory, covering everything from the way the business was promoted locally in the early era, the buildings and their importance to the area, the different promoters and more.
Just some of the interesting material covered in the book - how the city ended up being the first place to have a star who was African-American, how promotional shenanigans resulted in the creation of the ring name Ed "The Stranger" Lewis, the beginnings of the Jarrett wrestling family's involvement in the wrestling business, how the territory became part of what was later considered the Memphis territory, how six weeks of TV brought the city back to life after being dormant for years and the big money made by promoters in that era and more. The information is so detailed that I've gone back to re-read chapters to reference where things stood when I got into the results and historical information presented later on, just to have a sharper insight into how the landscape stood at the time.
Most amusingly (and reprinted in the book) is the reveal that Jim Cornette wasn't the first member of his family to cover pro wrestling. His FATHER, Doug Cornette, actually reviewed a show as part of his job writing for The Louisville Courier and in true pro wrestling shenanigan fashion, there's a twist to this story as well.
Of course, there's also the story of what happened to the son of a wrestling promoter when a Judge decided to let him out of jail for a weekend....
One of the best parts of the book boils down the weekly formula of wrestling in Louisville and how the promoters often built the cards so that by the time the main events hit the ring, fans were ravenous and ready to riot, so that they weren't just getting the most excitement out of the headline talents but also enticed them enough to want to return the following Tuesday, creating the type of ritualistic following that most national wrestling promotions would kill for today. Going to the matches was part of the DNA of the city and that, unfortunately, is a loyalty that has been lost in today's professional wrestling in all but the most niche independent promotions, none of which are running weekly or in venues the size of the Louisville Gardens.
If you are a fan of photos, the type that used to bring us those vivid imagery that we all raced to see in the latest issues of Pro Wrestling Illustrated when we were kids, there are tons of photos from Cornette's archives, showcasing not just the gritty, bloody battles but in the case of one with Roughhouse Fargo, some of the silliness that was funny in pro wrestling without exposing or mocking it.
In reality, the only things that could have made this book better is that every photo came in vibrant color or that the book was released in hardcover, because selfishly, I want even more of the richness that the book writes about and even more selfishly, I know how dog-eared my own softcover copy is going to get every time I take it back off the shelf. It's that much fun if you have even a passing interest in wrestling history.
Just as Night of Legends was a love letter to Knoxville, Tuesday Nights is as much that letter to Louisville. It's an important book, both from a historical and sociological standpoint, not just for pro wrestling but on an element of the city that might be overlooked if it wasn't for the passion of Cornette and James.
Now, the best part, for some may be the thing I haven't even mentioned yet. Like a great film that comes packed with extras when it's released on DVD, what makes Tuesday Nights even better is the companion DVD that comes with it, featuring some of the only existing Louisville territory films from the 1970s, featuring Jerry Jarrett, Tojo Yamamoto, a young Jerry Lawler and more in some of the rarest Southern wrestling material you can imagine, giving you a true taste of what Cornette and James recount in the book. Given that pro wrestling is such a visual medium, this gives you not just an education but a chance to experience a small taste of what captivated fans in another era - because it was good.
Scratch that. It was great. Just like this book.
To order Tuesday Nights at the Gardens: Pro Wrestling in Louisville, visit www.JimCornette.com
Mike Johnson's 2014 review of Jim Cornette's Mid-Atlantic Films DVD Collection.
Mike Johnson's 2013 review of Jim Cornette & Mark James' Rags, Paper & Pins - The Merchandising of Memphis Wrestling.
Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com. He is already counting down to the next Cornette/James collaboration and can be followed on Twitter @MikePWInsider.
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