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Location: Miami and Miami Beach

My home base for many years, CWF held cards in several venues throughout the years, including the Miami Jai-Alai Fronton, Miami Marine Stadium, Miami-Dade Community College, Dinner Key Auditorium, and even a couple at my old high school, North Miami Beach Senior High. But, to most who attended the weekly events, wrestling on Miami Beach was synonymous with two venues. The Miami Beach Auditorium, renamed the Jackie Gleason Theater in later years, and the Miami Beach Convention Center. Originally presenting cards on Friday nights, CWF made the switch to Wednesdays in the mid 1960's, where it continued to present shows up until the end of the promotion in 1987.

Miami Beach was also home to possibly the greatest CWF fan that ever lived, Frank "Pops" Cletter. Pops was a retired railroad man who attended matches on the beach for many years, always sitting on the North side of the ring, about four rows back in an aisle seat. For the uninitiated, Pops was an African-American man in his late fifties, maybe early sixties. He was fairly tall, six-one, six-two. Pops was rail thin, and he was dentally challenged, to say the least. He also wore very nice three-piece suits and a hat, which was sometimes adorned with a feather. Pops would wait until the heel (and an occasional referee) would really start getting heat, and then swing into action. He'd take off his hat, rip off his jacket, puff his chest out and start swinging his arms wildly, challenging the evildoer to a fight. If you were lucky, one of Pops' friends would get in the act and "hold" him back. If you were really lucky, he went off twice a night. This went on for many years and Pops was well known by all the wrestlers, policemen, and fans. Pops was, needless to say, one of the biggest characters Miami Beach wrestling ever saw.

- Barry Rose

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