Tuesday Night at the Gardens

by Jim Cornette, Mark James

Tuesday Night At The Gardens: Pro Wrestling In Louisville is the latest release from Jim Cornette and Mark James. This book took two years to create and features the history of Louisville wrestling from the debut of Strangler Louis to the rise of Jerry "the King" Lawler. With more than 500 illustrations, photos, programs and newspaper articles, most not seen in over four decades. The most complete analysis of the "golden age" of Louisville Gardens wrestling from 1970-1975 ever printed, with all the line-ups and hundreds of match results, plus TV show and arena reports taken directly from Jim Cornette's original eyewitness notes. Additional biographies of stars like the Fabulous Fargos, Tojo Yamamoto and Jerry Jarrett. Further information includes the complete hundred year history of the Louisville Garden Arena. The most descriptive inside look at promoters Nick Gulas & Roy Welch and their Nashville-based booking office, and the "Memphis Wrestliing" territory expanded by Jerry Jarrett, ever in print! Backgrounds on major rivalries, booking details and business statistics from all over the Tennessee wrestling circuits. This is the only book of its kind ever written by a major wrestling personality on the sport from a fan and a performer's perspective. If you want wrestling history, this book both teaches and makes it!

312 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2015

About the author

James Mark Cornette is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, booker and podcaster.

As a manager, commentator, member of the booking committee and member of the creative team, he has worked for Continental Wrestling Association, Mid-South Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (now WWE), and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He has also worked as an on-screen character in an authoritative role; as "Commissioner" of Ring of Honor (in a previous stint with the company) and "Management Director" (and off-screen road agent) for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is going to be a short review. The photos and old flyers were cool. Page after page of match results were kind of boring. The sidebars on Jerry Jarrett, the creation of the scaffold match, and other topics were by far the most interesting part. I think someone more acquainted with wrestling in Louisville would get a lot more out of this.

[Tom Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tuesday Night at the Gardens is Jim Cornette's and Mark James' love letter to the Louisville Gardens, Kentucky-Tennessee-Alabama wrestling promotion and Southern wrestling in general. The book looks at wrestling at the Louisville Gardens from 1970-1975 and gives a bit of the prehistory of the Roy Welch/Nick Gulas promotion and also documents the rise of 3 people who later come to epitomize Southern wrestling: Jerry Jarrett, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Bill Dundee. The heart of the book is the collection of match cards, b&w photos, and sidebars explaining some of the more interesting or outrageous angles, events, and characters. Literally hundreds of march cards and photos comprise the bulk of the book. Along the way we meet a veritable who's who of top professional wrestling talent . Both folks who hit their prime in the 1970's, as well as, young stars who would go to become household names nationally by the end of the decade and beginning of the 1980's. A very short of the folks who will meet in the pages of this book includes: Mongolian Stomper, Jackie, Sonny, and Don Fargo, Tommy Rich, Andre the Giant, Bob Armstrong, Ron and Rob Fuller, Angelo Poffo, Dennis Condry, Mr. Wrestling, Luke Graham and many more. Jim Cornette described writing the book as a labor of love and that shines through on every page. If you are a fan of the territory era of wrestling, love the history of pro wrestling, or simply love the antics and insanity that was southern wrestling you'll love this book. **Important note: Tuesday Night at the Gardens is self-published. The book itself is available on Amazon. However, if you visit the author's website and order thru him, he autographs each book and includes a 2 hour DVD of matches from the Gardens. It is not clear if copies ordered from Amazon also include these two extras.** Highly recommended.

[Jason Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastically in-depth look at wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky from 1970-1975 from the all-knowing James E. Cornette (and Mark James). Over the course of some 280 pages, every card for which evidence could be found is presented, complete with newspaper box ad and where available, a varying level of detail about the individual cards and the context in which they were presented. Not only context for Louisville, but the context of where those events fit within the larger scope of the Gulas-Welch promotions across Tennessee and Alabama, as well.

Unlike many results-oriented books, Cornette was actually at many of the shows and has first hand accounts from his childhood of his memories and impressions of the wrestlers, crowds and action (in-ring and out). Also included are several snapshots from fledgling Cornette the photographer.

Given the time-frame, there is a lot of great overlap with Ron Fuller's Studcast, where Fuller recounts his career, as Fuller was a fairly big deal in the early 1970s in the Memphis territory, especially once he purchased what would be come Southeastern, and he needed cash to help support his own promotion. If you like Memphis wrestling, this is a must-read.

[Lance Lumley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a gem of wrestling history from the territory days. Stories about Jerry Lawler, Tojo Yamamoto, Bobby Heenan, and others, along with great ads from the shows are detailed here. The Welch-Gulas-Jarrett territory is covers with ads, Tv guide programming notes, and match results, along with a section from Cornette's own photos that he took when he started attending the matches. This is a must for fans of wrestling history.
For an in depth review , visit my page at : https://lancewrites.wordpress.com/201...

[Tyler Cates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the newspaper ads, clippings, and results. I learned a great deal from reading this book.

[David Quattrocchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ostensibly a big book of Pro Wrestling Illustrated results for one territory over half a decade, Cornette & James slowly tell the story of not only Louisville wrestling rowdy rise but also how consistent they were in staying there, even in these years of its territorial infancy. For anyone who loves Cornette, the personal stats & notes he contributes to individual cards & venues are constant reminders of how the biz has changed, and it does get heavy-handed, but the numbers astonish and Cornette's childhood/childlike enthusiasm for the territory is engaging. Read it because you love pro wrestling.

The Memphis Heat doc is a nice visual complement to Tuesday Night, which shows many of the stars Cornette & James document in the book.