FUll Circle to Shelby | The Mid-Atlantic Gateway

Full Circle to Shelby

A Wrestling Journey Begins and Ends in Shelby, NC

by Kyra Quinn (2013)

Wrestling fan visits historic Shelby venue: Pennsylvania woman to see where her hobby began in 1985

Graham Cawthon 2010-07-28 12:25:37

SHELBY – When it comes to travel / tourism, a lot of people are trying to put Shelby on the map.

But the ‘City of Pleasant Living’ is already well known for quite a few things, including country music and livermush. As well as pro wrestling.

Shelby City Park

Kyra Quinn was 8 years old and living in Pittsburgh when she turned on the TV. She didn’t know what to make of what she saw but she was hooked.

It was World Wide Wrestling, a syndicated program that aired wrestling from the Mid-Atlantic area throughout the country. And, on that particular day, the matches originated from a packed Shelby City Park gym.

July 1985

“The first match I ever saw on TV was the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express against the Russians,” she said.

And, in front of an enthusiastic Shelby crowd and nationwide audience, the fan favorite Express won the nearly 30-minute bout.

“I couldn't believe that those two young good-looking guys could take such a beating and keep coming back,” she said of the Express, comprised of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson.

Kyra found her new hobby.

“I was hooked right away by the athleticism, the drama,” Kyra said.

Now, 25 years later, Kyra will get to visit Shelby, where her passion began.

Trip to Shelby

Each August, Charlotte hosts the NWA Fanfest, where hundreds of fans from around the world converge for four days and get to meet their favorite wrestlers from the 1960s to today.

Now living in State College, Pa., Kyra will make a nearly 10-hour drive for her third Fanfest.

But, alongside wrestler George South and wrestling historian Dick Bourne, she will also make a special trip to Shelby and Spartanburg, S.C., two important wrestling towns during the 1980s.

Full circle

Bourne, who runs the Mid Atlantic Gateway website that celebrates Jim Crockett Promotions, which often ran shows in Shelby, said it’s a full circle trip for Kyra.

“Those heyday Crockett years of the mid-to-late 80s led her to Fanfest 20 years later to meet some of those wrestlers,” he said. “And now she will get to visit the building where it all started for her.”

Bourne said the three will be in town Aug. 4. Kyra said she’s looking forward to the experience.

“This trip to Shelby, and Spartanburg, 25 years after I watched that first, fabulous match, will be a special thing for me.”

Reach City Editor Graham Cawthon at 704-669-3334.

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Reprinted with permission of the author.
Link to original story: http://www.shelbystar.com/news/shelby-48517-woman-pennsylvania.html

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Link to article photo: http://www.shelbystar.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=1&id=48517

Article published 8/10/2010.