Forever in a quest to learn about the history of professional wrestling I came across a wonderful video that I think everybody should watch. “Wrestling At The Chase” tells the story of one of the greatest venues in the history of the sport. I have always heard about how wonderful of territory St. Louis was for wrestling. The city is still a hot town whenever the WWE or any other organization stops through. This story is about a 40 year legacy of wrestling at one of the best places in the world.
Wrestling At The Chase was the invention of the legendary promoter Sam Muchnick who was president of the St. Louis Wrestling Club. He partnered with Harold Koplar of the television station KPLR and they broadcast their show from the Chase Hotel. This 48 minute video tells the story of a wrestling show that ran from 1959 to 1983. They produced over 1000 episodes in that 24 year time span.
The video is introduced by legendary broadcaster Bob Costas. You get to see a lot of archival footage from actual broadcast and learn how Wrestling At The Chase came about. The show is hosted by Larry Matyshik, who worked for Muchnick from 1963 to 1983 and also wrote a book about the legendary venue. The film has several appearances by some of the greatest stars of all time. Guys like Harley Race, Ted Dibiase and Lou Thesz talk about their time working at this wonderful building. There are also a lot wrestling clips packed into the show with the likes of Cowboy Bob Orton, Rocky Johnson, Kevin Von Erich and Ric Flair. St Louis was the place to be from the 1960’s to the 1980’s and this a good start into learning about that legacy.
Written By
Keith B. Holt
Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr
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