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Back in December 2021, I penned a piece titled Whatever Happened to The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame?, outlining the mysterious closure of the PWHF museum in Wichita Falls, Texas due to COVID-19 and how the museum never returned, no one could get a clear answer on what truly happened, where these priceless artifacts were and how many who had donated to the Hall over the years were left wondering where their donation went and whether they could even retrieve them. You can read the piece by clicking here to catch up.
In that piece, Grey Pierson, who was the only member of the PWHF Board of Directors to respond to PWInsider.com's queries, stated that the hope was to move everything to the Dallas market and that the materials were safe and sound in Wichita Falls.
PWInsider.com has learned however that move will not be taking place and in fact, if it was not for a Guardian Angel in Texas, the collection would have been lost forever, but instead, many of the items in the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame collection have been spirited to safety and have been returned to their original owners, while others are still in the midst of having their rightful owners located.
The Guardian Angel is question is Lori Hurst, who has been around the professional wrestling world in Texas dating back to the World Class Championship Wrestling era. The word making the rounds is that Hurst has been working with the building that was housing the PWHF to get the items in the collection back to where they originally belonged.
PWInsider.com has reached out to Hurst and will be speaking with her later in the day, but given the importance of this situation, wanted to get the word out. Hurst has been able to tour the facility and remove items to catalog them in advance of getting them back to original owners. In one case, the day after she visited one room to remove items, the facility flooded, so Hurst ended up saving many priceless artifacts in that visit alone. We are told some items have been returned and others are on their way.
We are also told, sadly, that the memorabilia in some cases, had been left in what has been described as "poor conditions" - and that while Hurst is taking measures to document everything, including her own moves as she processes the collection, there may have been items damaged and/or lost.
We can also confirm that some of the items in the collection have been confirmed as returning to their original point of origin, Upstate New York. When former PWHF President Tony Vellano retired from his post of running and operating the original Hall of Fame and Museum to spend more time with family, the collection was moved to Texas under the eye of Johnny Mantel. With Hurst now heading up the extrication of the artifacts, she reached out to Vellano.
Vellano, in turn, put Hurst in contact with the International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Albany, NY, which has become the spiritual successor to the PWHF. IPWHF President Seth Turner confirmed to PWInsider.com this morning that a number of artifacts that were originally housed in the former Amsterdam, NY Museum location are en route back to New York, including the original Championship belt and other artifacts owned by NY-born Pinky Gardner, who wrestled in the 1910s-1930s. The hope is that many of these items will now be displayed when the IPWF opens their official Museum in the MVP Arena in Albany, NY.
In speaking to Turner today, he described Hurst as "A Godsend."
Obviously this is a breaking story with lots of elements still to be confirmed, but the question of Whatever Happened to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame now has an answer - a guardian angel flew in to try and rescue it and although the collection may never, ever be in the same place ever again, let's hope at least the majority, if not all of it, will soon be safe in the hands of those who will protect it and keep it as pristine as possible, so those who love professional wrestling can view and enjoy much of it for decades and decades to come.
Meanwhile, as the International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame awaits the return of items that have been spirited back under their ownership, they also prepare for their second annual Hall of Fame Induction ceremony in Albany, NY, the weekend of 8/26. For details on that, visit www.prowrestlinghall.org.
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