25th Anniversary: Jim Crockett celebrates a Quarter Century as a Promoter (1958)

by Dick Bourne
Mid-Atlantic Gateway

"You can count on Jim Crockett to bring Charlotte the finest of National figures in the entertainment world..."

In 1958, Jim Crockett Sr. was celebrating 25 years in the event promotion business. The image below is from a wrestling photo-book sold at the matches.

It was in this same year that Mr. Crockett first put pro-wrestling on television in Charlotte, the first broadcast taking place on January 11, 1958, at the studios of WBTV-3. You will notice the invitation to see wrestling live at the channel 3 studio.

 "See the outstanding events at the Charlotte Coliseum,
'Madison Square Garden of the South!'" 

Crockett first came to North Carolina in 1933, running his first wrestling events here first in Greensboro, and then moving his base of operations to Charlotte in 1934. 

The page also mentions the Charlotte Coliseum (later known as Independence Arena and Cricket Arena, and now known as Bojangles Coliseum) and it's nickname "Madison Square Garden of the South." The coliseum had opened three years earlier, in 1955, and was renowned as an engineering marvel. At the time, it was the largest unsupported dome in the world and the first free-spanning dome in the United States.

Originally posted March 17, 2017 on the Mid-Atlantic Gateway.