Published: Sunday, August 5, 2007
Laying the Smackdown, Chevy Centre style
The last time the WWE televised a show from Youngstown was 1995.
By GUY D'ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN — Tuesday's WWE wrestling show will be the first event at the Chevrolet Centre to be televised to a national audience.
It will also be the first time in more than 12 years that the wrestling company has aired a show from Youngstown.
Wrestlers from two WWE television shows — "ECW" and "Smackdown" — are on Tuesday's card.
The action at the Chevy Centre will start at 7:30 p.m. The ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) bouts will air at 10 p.m. the same night on "ECW" on Sci-Fi. The remaining bouts will air at 8 p.m. Friday on "Smackdown" on The CW.
Annual appearances
The WWE has been making annual appearances in Youngstown for many years. "Youngstown has always been a strong market for wrestling," said Arthur Mroczek, the WWE executive who is handling the show. "It's a great wrestling town."
Before the Chevrolet Centre opened in late 2005, the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) held its local shows at either Beeghly Center on the Youngstown State University campus or at the Struthers Fieldhouse.
The last three telecasts from Youngstown were shows May 23, 1994, at the Fieldhouse; Aug. 1, 1994, at Beeghly; and June 5, 1995, at the Fieldhouse. At the time of all three shows, the WWE was known as the WWF (World Wrestling Federation).
The first-rate accommodations at the Chevy Centre are part of the reason the WWE is bringing its TV crews back to town.
"We need a place that's big enough to support the light rigging, sound system, storage space and with plenty of room backstage for the crew," Mroczek said. "It's a pretty big operation."
But the Youngstown telecast also had to jibe with the tour schedule. The WWE's routing department figured that the Youngstown date was a good fit, said Mroczek.
Barring injuries, all of the WWE's biggest stars will be at the Chevy Centre on Tuesday, including Kane, Rick Flair, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Matt Hardy and world heavyweight champion The Great Khali, who will square off against Batista.
ECW stars will include CM Punk, Elijah Burke, The Boogeyman and John Morrison.
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