I admire the ongoing effort of the folks at Mid-Atlantic Territory Wrestling, for trying to revive the territory pro wrestling model that was successful until Vince McMahon monopolized the business.
The promotion, based in Gloucester, about an hour east of Richmond, is returning to the Shenandoah Valley on Saturday, Aug. 1, with a show at Augusta Expo in Fishersville, with an early bell time – 4 p.m.
The early bell time, I’m presuming here, is a function of Saturday, Aug. 1, also being Night 1 of WWE’s two-night “SummerSlam” weekend.
The local event is being billed as the inaugural Chuck Coates Memorial Tag Team Tournament – Coates, a native of Durham, N.C., worked in the Mid-Atlantic territory in the 1980s and 1990s, in a career that also had him working in the WWF and WWE, WCW and in Puerto Rico.
His final match came on March 22, 2025, in an MATW show in Thomasville, N.C.
Coates passed away on Sept. 8, 2025, amid complications from bypass surgery.
The tag tournament being held in his honor will feature a couple of names that you might be familiar with from TV – Brock Anderson, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson, and James Ellsworth, who had a run in WWE in the 2010s.
Arn Anderson will also be at the Expo show, for a meet-and-greet with fans ahead of bell time.
Brock Anderson will team with ECW veteran CW Anderson in the tournament, which also features XLG (G-Moniy and Gem Stone), Sent 2 Slaughter (Shawn Donovan and Dan Maff), Ellsworth in a team with “Brutal” Bob Evans, and the Sons of Brutality (Man O War and Malice).
Tickets are available at www.matwtix.com and at the door of the event.
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Chris Graham
