WHY PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING NEEDS AN OFFICIAL MUSEUM TO PRESERVE ITS HISTORY
By Graham Cawthon on 8/18/2009 12:36 PM
There's a museum outside Camden Yards that recently spurred on a lot of
inspiration and imagination in me.
If you're a Baltimore regular you've probably heard of it - Geppi's
Entertainment Museum (
http://www.geppismuseum.com/).
It houses, among other things, the holy grail of comic books: Detective Comics
#27 and Action Comics #1.
(For those that never were 10-year-olds enthralled with tales of superheroes,
those are the first appearances of Batman and Superman, respectively. The
estimated value of either is in the thousands of dollars.)
But Geppi's is far more than a showcase of superheroes. It spans the last
century in pop culture - from the heyday of Howdy Doody to the battles between
GI Joe and Cobra, and from spaghetti westerns to Star Wars.
For a child of the 80s, it's heaven. And on game days, admission is $1. That's
quite a bargain.
All I remember from walking through the hallways - adorned by massive posters
of just about every big movie you can think of over the past 70 years - is
saying to myself "Pro wrestling needs this."
I realize there are a handful of pro wrestling museums out there. But none
begin to compare with the atmosphere and all-encompassing nature of Geppi's.
Collectible items behind glass. Spotlights in an otherwise dimly lit room to
give it that professional touch. Background music or audio that puts you in
that given timeframe even more.
Just imagine the wall-to-wall comic books replaced by hundreds of wrestling
magazines from around the world, spanning the days of kayfabe to today. From
Mexico, from Europe, from Japan.
Replace the movie ads with event posters spanning the territory days to the
emergence of pay-per-view.
Imagine walking into a room and hearing the "ding ding ding" of a ringbell and
roar of a crowd as you peruse a collection of ring worn items from some of the
biggest names in the industry.
Ticket stubs from the first Starrcade and WrestleMania. Programs from the
Omni, Met Center, Cow Palace, or Mid South Coliseum. Action figures, games,
clothing, 8x10s, and anything else you can imagine from the beginnings of pro
wrestling to today. ...All under one roof.
Recently, I had the chance to attend the NWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte. As
always, it's an amazing weekend. Lex Luger raffled off his Narcissist cape
from his WWF run. And as the guy that won it paraded around the banquet hall
wearing it, I thought to myself "That needs to be behind glass."
This is wrestling history. If it's not taken care of, it's lost forever. The
same goes for the countless programs, posters, clippings, magazines, and toys
that we all wish we had kept in better shape.
Over the same weekend, I spoke with Jim Cornette - who could probably open up
a museum with his own collection - about the possibility of having a wrestling
museum on par with Geppi's. Having recently visited Baltimore himself, his
reply was "Impossible."
The reasoning? You're not going to find a central location throughout America
that will draw in enough casual fans to make the museum self-sustaining. And
something like that is going to cost a lot of money.
Fair point.
But a sizable number of museums across the country can't lay claim to that
either. Instead, they rely on government grants to make up the difference.
Throw in a gift shop and the occasional personal appearance. Over time, you
might - I repeat might - do OK for yourself.
The reason I wrote this was more or less to see what the general fanbase
thinks. While costly, is this concept a worthwhile endeavor? How far would you
travel for something like this if it was done properly? And, the most
important question, would you be willing to lend your time, money, and your
own memorabilia to see something like this come to fruition?
While I don't have the money, I do have more than my fair share of hard to
find wrestling items that I would be happy to donate to a museum of this
caliber. Anyone else?
If the feedback is lukewarm then I'll consider the inspiration a lost cause.
If it's not, maybe this can happen.
Shoot me an e-mail with your thoughts - positive, negative, or indifferent -
at
thehistoryofwwe@gmail.com. I'm very interested to hear what you have to
say.
Graham Cawthon
About The History of WWE:
The History of WWE.com was created in February 2002 with the intent of
documenting in detail all the in-ring action of the WWE dating back to its
inception in 1963. Over the years, the website has grown to include JCP / WCW
and ECW results, thousands of newspaper clippings and promotional
advertisements, match listings for WWE home videos and DVD releases, a
thriving message board, title histories, audio interviews, columns, and
reviews.
The website has attracted praise from wrestling journalists ("An amazing and
excellent resource that I use almost daily to double check facts." - Mike
Johnson, PWInsider.com), book authors ("Invaluable" - Michael Krugman, Andre
the Giant: A Legendary Life), and wrestlers themselves ("We love your site." -
Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant).
