County Hall was wrestling mecca

For generations of pro wrestling fans, County Hall was the place to be on Friday evenings.

Friday nights at the hall meant wrestling, and the arena was usually packed to capacity. On hot summer nights the spectators might sweat as much as the wrestlers in the ring, with the only forms of cooling being a few box fans and an occasional breeze from outside the building.

Even though conditions weren’t always the most comfortable, to wrestling followers it was a home away from home for a couple of hours a week.

For years this culturally significant structure, which was built as a cotton mill in 1902 and later converted to a community auditorium, was a gathering place for locals to enjoy entertainment acts ranging from Tommy Dorsey and Elvis Presley to James Brown, Bob Dylan and Herman’s Hermits. The Charleston landmark also served as host to dances, graduations, sporting events, and even welcomed such American icons as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Harlem Globetrotters.

But wrestling was the ticket and Henry Marcus was the ring master once a week when the longtime promoter would bring some of the biggest names in the business to town. From the original Gorgeous George to Lou Thesz to Ric Flair, the names of wrestling stars who graced the County Hall ring could fill up a who’s who of mat greats.

To thousands of wrestling fans in these parts, Marcus was as much the building as the mortar that held it together. He was a promoter extraordinaire who dabbled in everything from the Royal Canadian Ballet to the Ice Capades. But pro wrestling was his bread and butter. It’s what endeared him to mat fans throughout the state for half a century, and his weekly Friday night shows at the storied structure on King Street were a staple for local mat fans for decades.

The building, though, would fall into disrepair in later years, a victim of leaky roofs, bad floors and balconies destroyed by termites. Considered a firetrap, County Hall closed as an auditorium in 1985. It marked the end of an era for wrestling fans in the Lowcountry.

When County Hall shut its doors , wrestling shows were moved to the old St. Andrews High School gym and later to Johnson Hagood Stadium.

But it was never quite the same.

The landmark was brought back to life when a motion picture production company bought it in 1988 and embarked on a $1.5 million renovation project. Complete with facelift and additional seating, the building was reopened as the King Street Palace.

Following Hurricane Hugo in 1989, Oprah Winfrey broadcast her show from the “new” venue, highlighting the devastated families in the area.

But it was a short-lived return, as the county regained ownership several years later, officially ending the aging building’s era as a showplace.

The building is still there, at 1000 King, along with its distinctive art deco facade and tower. But it’s now an affordable housing complex known as The Palace apartments, and pro wrestling as we knew it is just a shadow crossing our collective memory.

Have any special memories of County Hall?

Email them to me at mooneyham@postandcourier.com, and I’ll publish some in an upcoming column.

-- Scott Hall recently was sentenced to 10 days in jail stemming from an arrest in May 2010.

The sentence, based on previous time served, was reduced to two days in a Seminole County, Florida, jail.

Hall, who is scheduled to begin serving the time on July 5, will be placed in the jail’s medical unit due to health concerns.

Hall was arrested on May 14, 2010, and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a police officer. A police report listed Hall as “drinking heavily” and “aggressive” when authorities were called to the Hitching Post Bar in Chuluota, Fla.

The wrestler allegedly pushed one customer, then argued with a female bartender. When he was told the bar was getting him a ride home, he shoved two females outside the bar and punched the window of a car, according to police reports.

When authorities arrived, they found Hall yelling and cursing at the patrons and staff of the bar. When he was told he was being taken into custody, he cursed at officers, according to reports.

Hall was taken to a Seminole County jail and was given a warning before being released. He also was issued a trespassing warning banning him from returning to that establishment.

Fallout from the arrest led to Hall, who at the time was one half of the TNA tag-team champs along with partner Kevin Nash, being released in June 2010.

-- Matt Hardy was left off of TNA Impact Wrestling tapings last week and pulled from a pair of house shows.

The controversial Hardy reportedly has been showing up late to live events. Company officials also reportedly were upset over a recent video Hardy posted online.

-- Sting (Steve Borden) told the Baltimore Sun last week that he hoped Hardy’s brother, Jeff, could return to TNA soon.

“I’m hoping he can come back because that guy is so talented, but he has personal issues in his life and it just became too much for him, too overwhelming, and he just couldn’t cope and didn’t know how to handle it,” said Sting, referring to the Victory Road pay-per-view debacle in which Hardy showed up in no shape to perform.

“So he made some bad choices and he’s having to deal with those choices and the consequences now. I hear he’s doing much, much better. Last I heard, he was riding his bike 10 miles a day and just getting in great shape and his life was getting in some kind of order.”

Sting also admitted that he sometimes felt conflicted over the adult content on some TNA Impact shows.

“There’s no question about it. This is something that many Christians will use as their ace in the hole, and I’ll use it, but I’m not going to use it in a real loose way, and that is that Jesus Christ himself went in amongst the sinners — the murderers, the adulterers, the idolaters, the drunkards, and so on and so forth. And he didn’t come to judge them, he came to save them, be a doctor to them.”

Sting said he would refuse to be involved in any angle he felt might compromise his stance.

“You have to get out there somehow or another and try to be a light or be the salt of the earth, and that’s all I’ve tried to do. As far as the content goes, I will only involve myself in situations that will not jeopardize my walk or my witness. You won’t hear vulgar things coming out of my mouth or sexual innuendos and all that kind of stuff.”

-- The talented Jay Lethal, whose recent release from TNA remains puzzling, told the Monday Night Mayhem show last week that working with Ric Flair was the “dream of a lifetime.”

“Much like the ‘Macho Man’ (Randy Savage), he helped shape my love for the business,” Lethal said of Flair. “I’ve been so lucky in this business, and it’s been unreal. Honestly, if Ric Flair doesn’t want to do something, he’s not going to do it. I don’t know if it was Ric Flair telling the office he wanted to do something with me, or the office came up with it. Either way, it has to go through his hands. He has to go with it, or he could decline. Thankfully he agreed to it. It was possibly the greatest night of my life.”

Flair has joked of Lethal’s spot-on impersonation: “He does me better than me.”

-- Former WWE champ The Miz (Mike Mizanin) took part in last week’s Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn.

Miz played alongside fellow celebrities such as Joe Pesci, Luke Wilson, Michael Bolton, Ray Allen, Doug Flutie and Chris Berman.

“It’s my first time ever playing in a celebrity pro-am, and this is fantastic. I’m used to playing at Ridgewood Golf Course in Cleveland, which is about five bucks to get in to play 18, so this is a little above and beyond what I’m used to,” the wrestler told the Suffield Patch.

All of the proceeds of the Pro-Am will go to charity.

-- Courthouse News Service reported that Hustler magazine was ordered to pay $375,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for publishing nude photos of Nancy Benoit following her murder by her husband and WWE performer Chris Benoit.

The jury in the case awarded the family $19.6 million, finding that Hustler had acted with intent to harm the plaintiffs. But Georgia’s cap of $250,000 on punitive damages forced the judge to lower the award.

Larry Flynt Publishing Group bought 20-year-old nude photos of Nancy, who was a former model and wrestling valet, and published them in the March 2008 issue of Hustler.

-- Recently released WWE performer Michael Tarver is crossing over to the world of gospel music.

Tarver, going under his real name of Tyrone Evans, recently posted on Twitter that he would be sharing his life and time with WWE on tracks from an upcoming album titled “The Armor of God.”

-- Old School Championship Wrestling will present a Champions Challenge Night on July 10 at the Hanahan Recreation Gymnasium, 3100 Mabeline Road, Hanahan.

Bell time is 6 p.m. Doors open at 5.

All champions will have their belts on the line. Top bouts include Reid Flair returning to face Calie Casanova in a challenge for Hardcore King, and Josh Magnum meeting Ken Magnum.

Adult admission (cash at the door) is $10; children 12 and under $5.

For more information, contact (843) 743-4800 or www.oscwonline.com.