Mid-South Coliseum set to close

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State News from AP

 

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Nov 23, 4:40 PM EST

 

Memphis site of Kaufman and Beatles acts to shut down

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- The days of pile drivers at the Mid-South Coliseum are likely over.

 

The venue where professional wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler in 1982 slammed comedian Andy Kaufman onto a mat and into the hospital is shutting down for all but graduations and other community events.

 

Cindy Buchanan, director of City Park Services, said the arena will go into "minimal maintenance mode" starting in January. Officials project that the coliseum will lose $400,000 in the current budget year.

 

Coliseum director Steve Fox said the decision to essentially shut down the 42-year-old building was "probably, in my opinion, the best move they could make to stop the bleeding."

 

Kaufman, who died in 1984, and Lawler engaged in a high-profile feud in what was later revealed to be an elaborate act. In the Memphis match, Kaufman managed to stay away from Lawler for five minutes before the wrestler dragged the comedian by his hair to the center of the ring, picked him up and slammed him down head first.

 

That move, called a pile driver, was repeated a second time, and Kaufman lay motionless on his back for 15 minutes before being sent to the hospital.

 

The Mid-South Coliseum also was the site 40 years ago of two Beatles shows on what ended up being the band's final U.S. tour. Local officials were not thrilled, though, passing a resolution to "advise the Beatles that they are not welcome in the City of Memphis."

 

The Mid-South Coliseum began to become obsolete when the city opened The Pyramid in 1991. That building was the city's primary sports and entertainment venue until 2004, when the FedExForum opened off Beale Street.

 

Bass Pro Shops announced in February a plan for a Pyramid store, but progress has been slow toward a binding contract. Fox said the city is still trying to find a private investor in the Mid-South Coliseum.

 

"I'm also very hopeful ... that there will be a firm offer from a private group to try and secure the building's future by privatization," Fox said.

 

Fox said the building had six full-time employees, down from 18 in earlier years.

 

"We're down to a basic skeleton crew - three engineers, myself, an office manager and a director of operations," he said.

 

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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com

 

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