The history of professional wrestling in Charleston, South Carolina reads like a Hemingway novel versed with a rich mix of romanticism and competitive spirit. Growing up in Charleston, it was the highlight of the week to find Mike Mooneyham’s wrestling column on Sundays which would provide countless accounts of legendary contests between superstars like Wahoo McDaniel and Ric Flair, which took place long before the current wrestling product I was enjoying at the moment.
Mooneyham’s recounts of their classic bouts at the “Mecca of Lowcountry Wrestling,” the County Hall, made every youngster that wore a Hulk Rules t-shirt, or even later an Austin 3:16 shirt, feel humbled to know that the history of wrestling on even a local scale ran as deep as the history of major sports such as football, baseball, and basketball.
Although the pop culture scene has continuously shifted around professional wrestling, the fidelity of die-hard fans in local markets has never changed.
I found this evident when I stepped into the Hanahan Recreational Center in May and witnessed my first independent wrestling show in four years. The promotion was Old School Championship Wrestling, a group that has come to define independent wrestling in the Charleston area.
Their head promoter Joe Blumenfeld, known to the fans as the American hero character Solitude, is a man I’m familiar with. I took my first wrestling bumps with Blumenfeld back in 2004, and I have taken his signature-finishing move, “the Spear”, on occasion. I’ve also had the honor of delivering my “Director’s Cut” super kick to him in the past as well.
But now I speak to Blumenfeld as the promoter he is for OSCW, and inquire about how he’s brought a mix of classic wrestling booking with a new school attitude to the business Lowcountry fans have come to love.
“A few years back, we were coming back from a show we all had worked, and one of my friends and I were complaining about all kinds of things we thought were bad about the promotion. Finally, my other friend in the backseat speaks up and basically calls us out. He tells us we should either do something about it or shut up. And that was something I really took to heart.”
Blumenfeld immediately began jotting down ideas and drafting a mission statement for what would become his own promotion. “The first thing I did was make a list of all of the crap I had been through with other promotions. By the end of it, I knew exactly what I DID NOT want to do if I was the guy running it.”
The vision Blumenfeld had was clear. In a world of wrestling that had become defined by the blurred line between faces and heels in the post-Attitude era, Blumenfeld wanted a return to the days of classic wrestling characters. And furthermore, he wanted to make his wrestling promotion one that the entire family could enjoy.
“We’re about the wrestling, but we’re also about family. We wanted to give a family friendly show that gives the fans back their heroes and villains. Clearly defined heroes and villains.”
The moniker of Old School Championship Wrestling was a perfect fit for Blumenfeld’s promotion, and with a healthy group of talent he knew in the area, he next needed a location for his wrestling shows.
After a couple of false starts, he found an opportunity with an outdoor wrestling event at Weekend’s Pub in Goose Creek.
“Before the show, the owner came up to me and showed me the empty back room behind the bar. He said to me ‘you give me something I won’t see on television, and I’ll give you the back room.’ We went out there, and my guys gave it everything they had. By the end of the night, we earned that back room.”
The first few shows were small in attendance; maybe ten or fifteen in the crowd. But the momentum was growing, and by the third year of their stint at Weekend’s, the crowds were reaching three hundred for OSCW. “Weekend’s was definitely a smaller venue. But I loved it because it was so gritty and so intimate in a way that it reminded me of the classic ECW days.”
But as fate would have it, the closing of Weekend’s Pub during OSCW’s third year would force Blumenfeld to pull up stake and search for another venue to fit his product.
A move to Mt. Pleasant seemed great on paper, with the opportunity to pull from the wrestling fans of the downtown Charleston area along with moving into the larger Omar Shrine Temple. But the actual result was anything but fruitful for OSCW.
“For whatever reason, and I still don’t understand it, but that little bit of a drive over that bridge just killed our attendance.”
The drop was significant. A third, in fact.
Blumenfeld knew the fit was not great and a change was needed.
Again, OSCW was on the move, and relocated back to where it’s fan base was located in the days of their Weekend’s Pub shows…. And the fans were waiting.
“When we did our first show in Hanahan, Cage Carnage, the fans were like ‘we’re so glad you’re back.’ It was a great feeling. And that’s why I’m all about fan input now when it comes to our shows.”
And Blumenfeld lives up to that promise. Frequently, even in character as Solitude, he will greet the fans and genuinely ask for their input about what they liked and what they want to see.
That same careful attention goes into booking the “name” talent for each of OSCW’s shows as well. “Our goal when we bring in a big name is one, for advertising value, but also it serves the purpose of getting our guys some exposure and possible opportunities with the bigger promotions.”
One of the names that come to mind is Al Snow, who Blumenfeld sings multiple praises for, not only as a competitor but also as a teacher and mentor to younger talent. “Al is awesome. We love bringing him in because he gives great feedback about what we’re doing and what the guys are doing. He is an encyclopedia of wrestling.”
With events now running about once a month, Blumenfeld’s turnaround time between shows is a small window that demands a lot of help behind the scenes to get everything prepared. “One thing people don’t realize is that the people behind the scenes are busting their butts to get these shows off of the ground. Besides the creative stuff (the fun stuff), we’re getting together insurance, and permits and even more so, the advertising. Before these shows, we’re passing out something like 5000 flyers and posting on Facebook and the internet every day. Whatever it takes.”
And at his back is a roster that is extremely dedicated and loyal to the OSCW product. “These guys give us 100% because we care about them and we appreciate them. And that can go a lot further than bigger paydays.”
Blumenfeld’s reward to his roster’s loyalty is laced in his plans for OSCW’s future as well. “We do not plan on being just another Indy fed. We want to eventually get on television so these guys can be seen because they are very talented and deserve as much attention from the national promotions as they can get.”
OSCW’s next show is coming up on Sunday, October 16th, when they will put on the aptly titled Insane Sunday for the Hanahan Recreational Center crowd.
The show starts at six o’clock, and the venue is located behind Trident Technical College on Maybelline Road.
To catch up on OSCW’s greatest matches from all of its superstars, visit http://www.x-media.tv.
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