The Last Card Vicky and I Attended
Finding the first wrestling card that Vicky and I attended did not prove that difficult. Finding the last card, we attended proved more of a challenge. I thought it was around 1985 or 1986. It turned out to be in June 1984. Within two and a half years, Pat O’Connor, Bob Geigel, and Verne Gagne decimated a forty-year-old promotion they inherited from St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick.
In 1981 and 1982, my sister Vicky had season tickets for us to attend the matches. At the end of 1982, Vicky decided to drop the season tickets and just purchase tickets for the cards that interested us. Those cards were becoming fewer and far between.
My sister Vicky, brother-in-law Dave, and niece Tara at my parent’s house (Author’s Collection)
After looking through the St. Louis Post-Dispatch archive, I am 99.9 percent certain that the last card we attended was on Friday, June 1, 1984, at Kiel Auditorium. I remembered a world championship match headlined the card, that the Blackjacks were on the card, and Crusher Blackwell wrestled in a tag team match.
In the main event of the June 1st card, Ric Flair defended the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship against Kerry Von Erich. Kerry won the title at Texas Stadium on May 6, 1984, and dropped it back to Ric on May 24, 1984. They wrestled to a one-hour draw.
In the co-main event, Blackjack Lanza and Blackjack Mulligan wrestled Crusher Blackwell and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie. The Blackjacks won in twelve minutes, forty-five seconds. Al-Kassie substituted for Ken Patera, Blackwell’s regular partner.
Wahoo McDaniel wrestled Kamala, who the referee disqualified after five minutes, fifty-five seconds. Hacksaw Duggan wrestled Crazy Luke Graham in the fourth match. The referee disqualified Graham after six minutes, twenty-eight seconds.
Central States Wrestling talent made up the first three matches on the card. In the third match, Tommy Rodgers, not of the Fantastics, defeated T.G. Stone. In the second match, the Grapplers defeated Ted Oates and Tom Ivie. In the opener, Marty Jannetty pinned Roger Kirby in ten minutes, five seconds.
The card drew 7,643, which was nothing to write home about. Sam drew 9 to 10 thousand every three weeks. On Friday, July 15th, 1984, only 4,000 fans showed up at Kiel Auditorium for a card headlined by Ric Flair. The WWF show on Friday, July 22nd, 1984, drew 8,000 fans, a great crowd for WWF in St. Louis at the time. By August, the St. Louis Wrestling Club card drew over 8,000 fans again, but it was obvious that the WWF show hurt the club’s ticket sales in July.
WWF continued to sign up talent and made it impossible for the Central States territory to remain profitable. Bob Giegel sold the territory including St. Louis to Jim Crockett Promotions at the end of 1986.
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Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO) June 3, 1984, p. 51