We started attending wrestling matches at the Gardens in 1959. The building was owned by Herman Ray. The wrestling promoter, at that time, was Monte LaDue. Matches were held on Monday Nights and that would be the start of a grudge match to be held on Friday Night.
The building was usually packed. We saw such wrestling greats as: Mr Moto, Fred Blassie, Georgous George, Lou Thesz (6 time world champ), the Fabulous Moolah, May Young.
Local favorites were: Al Kashey, Phil Melby, Rudy Navarro, Spike Jones, Tona Tomah.
Wrestling folded at the Gardens for a while.
Ernie Mohammed was the next promoter that I remember. He booked the likes of Chuck Karbo, the Hell's Angels, Arman Hussein, Tito Montez plus many others that I can't remember.
After a few years the Garden closed again.
It stayed closed for a long time.
The next promoters were Karl and Kirk Von Steiger. They ran their matches out of the St. Mary's Gym. My kids and myself would go to the gym every Friday afternoon and get the chairs set up for the matches that night. They had a portable ring and it was brought up from Tucson every week. The Von Steigers were finally able to get back into the Gardens and I can remember'a bunch of us spending a few days getting it clean and washing all the dirt and dust off of the chairs so we could have matches the next week.
My husband and I used to drive all over town putting out posters advertising the matches to earn free tickets.
There were lots of regular fans and we all became like family. If someone missed a night we all wondered why. During this time is when we became good friends with a group that always sat on the front row south. We called them the "FRONT ROW FAMILY". It just didn't seem like Friday night if they weren't there.
During all this time was when I remember Jody Arnold becoming a regular name on the card.
After the Von Steigers left, Tito Montez took over as promoter and he gave the Lumberjacks their first matches in Arizona. They worked with the likes of: Bob Yuma, Mr Wrestling, Tony Hernandez, Eddie Lopez, Nano Ortego, Freddie Gomez.
After the Gardens closed for the final time and Arizona Jobbers Supply took it over as an Auto Parts Warehouse, my husband went to work for them for about five years.
If those walls could talk, they would surely have some great stories to tell.
Memories of Madison Square Garden of Phoenix.