Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association is now the new home of Marrow Pro Wrestling.
“We are excited to bring Marrow Pro Wrestling to Center Place,” said Center Place’s executive director, Libby Hopkins. “We are always looking for new and exciting opportunities to bring to Center Place, and Marrow Pro Wrestling is definitely new and exciting.”
Marrow Pro Wrestling will be making its debut at Center Place on Saturday, May 11, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15.
Marrow Pro Wrestling is managed by promoter, wrestler and Riverview resident Ashley Hartley.
“My love of wrestling started with my dad,” Hartley said. “Over the last 28 years, he has instilled the love of the sport in me. The first thing he taught me was about gigging and taking chair shots and giving chair shots. It has progressed from there and now my 3-year-old son loves wrestling. He calls it ‘boom’ and thinking he can do all the moves.”
Marrow Pro Wrestling was started by Hartley because there are no female promoters in the wrestling industry.
“It’s very rare to find women in a promoter position,” Hartley said. “I wanted to make the men in this business realize that women can do this too. We are just as good, if not better. It’s important to guard this like my baby and put out a fresh product with the matches.”
Hartley’s father, Byron Bruch, started wrestling in 1985.
“When I started wrestling, there were no women wrestlers,” Bruch said. “Ashley came to me when she was 17 years old when she came to me and said she wanted to get into wrestling. I was concerned when she wanted to do this, but now I have full confidence in her wrestling and promoting.”
It truly is a family affair. Bruch runs the concessions at the wrestling matches while Hartley promotes the events and wrestles as well.
Marrow Pro Wrestling chose Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association because Hartley loved the venue.
“It was important to me to find a venue that’s indoors,” Hartley said. “I also wanted a venue that the fans would enjoy coming to for a wrestling match. Center Place is an absolutely beautiful building and I loved it when I first came to see it.”
If you’d like to learn more about Marrow Pro Wrestling or purchase tickets to the wrestling event at Center Place, you can visit its Facebook page at Marrow Pro or call 813-486-2214. Center Place is located at 619 Vonderburg Dr., Ste. B inside the Brandon Regional Library.
