XWA PRESS RELEASE
HOW YOU CAN SAVE THE DOME
It has been announced that Tuesday January 22 2008 will be D-Day for The Morecambe Dome.
The future of XWA’s home venue and Morecambe’s main live entertainment hall will be decided at a Lancaster City Council meeting on that date, which is also ironically XWA owner Greg Lambert's birthday.
An article in Morecambe’s newspaper The Visitor dated January 16 (see
www.thevisitor.co.uk/more-top-news/Is-The-Dome-doomed.3674832.jp) outlines the latest position, and the four options the City Council cabinet will have to decide between.
In a nutshell, these options are:
OPTION 1) Close The Dome from April 1 2008 as a cost-cutting measure. This would mean XWA Goldrush on Saturday February 2 2008 would be the LAST EVER wrestling show at The Dome. We would then attempt to find an alternative venue for our other scheduled Dome dates for 2008.
OPTION 2) Close The Dome from April 1 2009. This would mean XWA will run all 2008 events as scheduled at The Dome, but from April 1 2009 onwards XWA shows would have to transfer to a different venue.
OPTION 3) The council will keep The Dome open for at least the next four years, until an expected redevelopment of Morecambe’s central promenade area by award-winning designers Urban Splash.
OPTION 4) Find a private operator to run The Dome for at least the next four years until Urban Splash’s redevelopment affects the venue. It is extremely unlikely councillors will choose this option.
We at the XWA want Lancaster City Council to CHOOSE OPTION 3.
We realise The Dome is probably going to be demolished eventually as part of Urban Splash’s exciting regeneration plans for Morecambe seafront. But we love the venue passionately – we think it’s the best for British wrestling in the UK – and we want it to stay open for as long as possible.
Many other people in Morecambe, including Lancaster City Council’s regeneration partners Urban Splash, think it would be a catastrophic decision for the Council to close The Dome until a suitable replacement venue is up and running. That replacement venue, the considerably larger-capacity Winter Gardens Theatre across the road from The Dome, is not expected to open for at least four or five years. We agree with Urban Splash. Closing The Dome would be a PR disaster for Morecambe and would be perceived by locals and visitors alike as a step back for the town, when in reality the town’s future is looking healthier than ever.
Like many other live entertainments promoters - local, national and international - who use The Dome for their events, the XWA would love to be able to transfer its events from The Dome to The Winter Gardens without a break. But if The Dome closes either this year or next, the XWA and many other high quality events will be lost to Morecambe town centre at this crucial time in the town’s regeneration.
Last year The Dome was in the national media after hosting concerts by top British bands Arctic Monkeys and Reverend and the Makers. On January 30 2008 it will host another major group, The Kooks. No other Morecambe venue can cater for such big-name gigs that bring such high-profile and feel good factor to the town. So we say The Dome must stay open!
Morecambe needs to keep moving forward and not take a step back, and the XWA is exactly the same. The XWA has tremendous momentum at the present time and we want this to continue. So we plea to councillors – don’t close our main venue!
The Dome has been a fantastic venue for professional wrestling since the 80s. Back in the 90s we remember sitting at ringside as fans to watch Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Fit Finlay, William Regal and many more, and as promoters we have had some unbelievable nights there since our first show on April 21 2003. The Dome has hosted some of the biggest names in international wrestling during the FWA/XWA era and some of the most memorable matches seen on UK shores during that time, matches like:
Doug Williams vs Juventud Guerrera, Chris Hamrick vs Zebra Kid – 21/4/03
Doug Williams vs Christopher Daniels, Jody Fleisch vs Jack Xavier – 2/8/03
D-Lo Brown vs Jonny Storm, Sonjay Dutt vs James Tighe, Doug Williams vs Five Star Flash, Aviv Maayan vs Alex Shane – 8/4/04
James Tighe vs Jonny Storm (Loser Leaves FWA) – 29/5/04
Doug Williams vs Joe Legend – 4/9/04
Alex Shane vs Raven – 26/3/05
Naomichi Marufuji and Minoru Suzuki vs Doug Williams and Scorpio, Alex Shane vs Stevie Knight, Stixx and Stone vs Hampton Court – 18/6/05
Team FWA beats Team All-Star for the Inter-Federation Cup – 13/5/06
Robbie Brookside vs Jonny Storm vs Hade Vansen – 15/7/06
Jonny Storm vs Robbie Brookside – 7/4/07
El Ligero vs Ross Jordan, Jonny Storm vs Johnny Phere – 24/11/07
Fans and wrestlers alike say the atmosphere inside The Morecambe Dome on wrestling night is something that no other UK venue can match. So it would be an enormously bitter pill to swallow for The Dome to close on April 1 - just days before our scheduled fifth anniversary show, War On The Shore.
We need to do everything possible to stop this from happening. So you are an XWA fan local to the Morecambe and Lancaster area, and you agree with us that The Dome should stay open, then we encourage you to contact your local councillor prior to January 22 and make your feelings known.
We would also like you to join the on-line wrestling fans’ petition to Save The Morecambe Dome, opened by long-time FWA and XWA fan John ‘Cheetah UK’ Searle, which you can access at
groups.myspace.com/morecambedome and leave your comments of support and memories of The Dome.
Hopefully by doing this, you can help save British wrestling’s best venue and send a message loudly and clearly to Lancaster City Council, which is...
“KEEP THE DOME OPEN – CHOOSE OPTION 3!”
Greg Lambert and Mark Kay
XWA Wrestling
Credit: XWA