Wrestling at the Chase

Did You Know?

• The show was the brainchild of Sam Muchnick and Harold Koplar, who conceived it while on an airplane in 1958.
• A few episodes under the name Wrestling at the Chase were filmed elsewhere locally before the main run.

The program

Wrestling at the Chase first aired on May 23, 1959, and its final episode was broadcast on September 10, 1983. The matches were produced and televised by KPLR-TV, Channel 11, taking place at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis' Central West End. The show aired at 10:00 A.M., and the KPLR studios were located in a building next door, connected to the hotel. At the start, matches were broadcast live on Saturday nights and then repeated on Sunday mornings.

This approach later changed to a live-to-tape format, where the performances were recorded in a single continuous take as if they were happening live, with no adjustments made for any unexpected or unscripted events. Over its 24-year run, the show produced roughly 1,100 episodes. For matches expected to draw larger audiences, recordings occasionally moved to the Kiel Auditorium or the St. Louis Arena. The St. Louis Wrestling Club initially taped one show at a time, but in the early 1970s, they began recording three shows on Sunday mornings.

Admission to these tapings was free, and the room where the matches were held could seat 900 fans. Joe Garagiola served as the first play-by-play commentator. After he left in 1963, Don Cunningham took over, but he died the following year and was replaced by George Abel. In 1972, Larry Matysik, who also worked as a part-time police officer in Belleville, Illinois, joined Abel.

Ring announcers included John Curley, Eddie Gromacki, and Joe Garagiola's brother, Mickey Garagiola. The program featured many of the most well-known wrestlers from the NWA, including Ric Flair, Harley Race, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Dick the Bruiser, Bruiser Brody, Gene Kiniski, Lou Thesz, Dory Funk, Jr., and Ted DiBiase.

WWF tapings held at the Chase

In September 1983, KPLR cut ties with the St. Louis Wrestling Club, ending the local version of Wrestling at the Chase. The station then partnered with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to produce its wrestling shows. The WWF taped episodes at the Chase Park Plaza on December 27, 1983, and January 16, 1984, which aired as Wrestling at the Chase starting in 1984. The debut episode marked Gene Okerlund’s first WWF appearance and Hulk Hogan’s first WWF match during his second run with the company, after leaving the American Wrestling Association.

By February 1984, tapings moved to Kiel Auditorium. The WWF returned to the Chase Park Plaza for one last taping on Saturday, September 29, 1984, at 11 a.m., following a Friday night live event at Kiel Auditorium. The final episode featuring original local content aired on October 21, 1984. After switching to syndicated WWF material, the program was canceled in 1985.

Legacy

A St. Louis television staple, Wrestling at the Chase ranked as one of the city's most-watched programs. It placed third among local shows, trailing only the evening news and Cardinals baseball, and regularly drew over 100,000 viewers per episode. The program is regarded as a landmark in professional wrestling history. By 2009, twelve volumes of the show had been released commercially. Author Larry Matysik published a book on the subject, Wrestling at the Chase: The Inside Story of Sam Muchnick and the Legends of Professional Wrestling, through ECW Press in 2005. The series later became accessible on the Global Wrestling Network starting October 10, 2017.

Revival

In August 2021, the National Wrestling Alliance held a four-night event series at the Chase Park Plaza, announced the previous July by NWA President Billy Corgan. The lineup featured NWA EmPowerrr, an all-female pay-per-view produced by Mickie James after her WWE exit, and the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show. That show’s main event was a Worlds Heavyweight Championship match between reigning champion Nick Aldis and challenger Trevor Murdoch. The series also included two nights of television tapings.