George Tragos/Lou Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame Weekend Report

By Big Mike Little

I went to the two of three days of events at the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame  at the Dan Gable National Hall of Fame in Waterloo. This is the third year that I went to the event and as always the museum and the volunteers did an excellent job running the event.

On the second, Bruce Hart and Gerald Brisco led the wrestling camp for wrestlers which allowed us, fan, to see firsthand some of the technical side of wrestling for the first time.  It was awesome to see these two wrestling legends work with these young wrestlers.

The Podcast between Mr. Bob Backlund and the Iron Sheik was a great treat for the fans. Mr. Backlund is a truly inspiration individual and a class act who was great to meet. Iron Sheik shared many stories about his amateur wrestling background and how he was connected to Dan Gable. They were both neat to meet.

Before the impact show all of the wrestlers were great. Stan Hansen made a rare appearance which was a great treat. Mr. Backlund literally picked up one of the fans and is still in amazing shape. Iron Sheik was great with the fans as well. Tully Blanchard, Tessa Blanchard, "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell, B. Brian Blair and Magnum T.A. were also were cool and it looked like they were enjoying a fun time with the fans. Larry “the axe” Hennig , J.J. Dillion, Rob Schamberger and Baron Von Rascke made appearances for the second consecutive year and were wonderful with the fans as well.  It was also marvelous to watch Rob Schamberger create a new print of the New Day at the museum live in person. It was really cool to meet these great wrestling stars and I personally enjoyed meeting all of them.

On Saturday, the forum on the Four Horseman with J.J. Dillon and Tully Blanchard was very informational and provide a lot of great information on the greatest stable of wrestlers ever.

And last, but never least I got to meet Big E. Langston who besides being one of the members of the New Day played for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Big E was AWESOME. He was nice to everyone and talked to everyone and was cool. It was a pleasure to meet him in person.

So, if you live in the Midwest and want to enjoy a fun time in Waterloo, Iowa I highly recommend that you attend one of these annual events in the future. Each year, the Dan Gable Hall of Fame continues to blow out their previous event from the previous year and that is a testament to the hard work of their staff and volunteers.