TAMPA, Fla. — The former home of Championship Wrestling in Florida could soon be history.
The 'Tampa Sportatorium,' located at 106 North Albany Avenue, looks to be facing demolition.
Subtext Living, a Missouri-based company, plans to construct an eight-story building with both housing and commercial space, according to a post on the company website. They hope to break ground at 2117 West Kennedy Boulevard in 2025.
One of the blocks adjacent to the proposed development is the former television home of Championship Wrestling in Florida. Subtext purchased it in March of 2023 and paid $1.7 million.
From 1965 through 1987, the small building at 106 North Albany was home to Championship Wrestling from Florida with Gordon Solie. Professional wrestling legends The Great Malenko, Dusty Rhodes, Jack and Jerry Brisco, Mike and Eddie Graham, Steve Keirn, and Austin Idol – among others – cut their teeth in that building.
“If it happens, that is very sad. I have a lot of great memories from that place,” said former professional wrestler/Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair said when he heard the news. “I first stepped foot there in 1975, and for the next three years, I was ‘stretched hard’ – trained by some of the best in the business.”
‘Stretched’ is a term applied to those trying to break into professional wrestling. Anytime a ‘wanna-be,’ would come around, the promoters would put them through a gauntlet of training exercise to try to get them to quit.
According to Blair, some of the hopefuls would run out a side door, leaving their belongings behind.
“It was torture; I came away with new bumps and bruises every single day,” Blair recalled. “It was very, very difficult part of the process. They [the promoters] needed to see if you had what it takes to be a professional wrestler – it was not easy to break in back then.”
During his in-ring career, Blair performed at WrestleMania and was one-half of the World Wrestling Federation tag-team champions with Jim Brunzell—known as the Killer Bs. Once he became established in the business, he became a trainer for CWF.
“We would have guys that watched it on TV and show up to the building saying they could be the next Dusty Rhodes or Jack Brisco,” he said. “It was my job to convince them otherwise.”
Another well-known Tampa-based venue for CWF back then was the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory, which sits less than a mile from 106 North Albany. In October 2013, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Three years later, it underwent a $30 million renovation and was converted into the Bryan Glazer Family Jewish Community Center.
In August 2018, a wall comprised of historic pictures of professional wrestlers went up at the facility, paying homage to the grapplers of yesteryear – it is called ‘Wrestling at the Armory.’
ABC Action News reached out to Subtext Living to confirm plans for the development but has not heard back.
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