After nearly four decades, athletes will again be bouncing off ropes and crashing into turnbuckles this weekend at the Chase Park Plaza. Professional wrestling is returning, thanks to the leader of an alternative rock band.

Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins is the owner of the National Wrestling Alliance, which is putting on two pay-per-views at the Central West End landmark, including Sunday night’s event marking the NWA’s 73-year history.

For a good chunk of that time, the NWA was a top-flight wrestling promotion, booking some of the biggest names in the industry, like Ric Flair, Dick the Bruiser and Gene Kiniski. But much of the shine had come off that legacy by the time Corgan purchased it in 2017.

“It was considered of such little value that nobody, including the WWE, even wanted it,” Corgan said. “It was just considered a quote, unquote ‘worthless three letters.'”

Corgan’s acquisition is the culmination of a love affair with wrestling that started as a child watching television with his grandmother.

Read the full article on St. Louis Public Radio.