There are no words to properly describe the feeling that a parent goes through when they outlive their children. During my ten years of working in the health field I worked with thousands of great grandparents, grandparents and parents as they came to stay in an assisted living facility during their twilight years. One of my responsibilities of working as an Activities Director was to get to know each and every one of the men and women that came to make our place their home. During the interview phase, one of the most important aspects of the discussion almost always came back to the family. Memories of watching their kids grow up, get married and have children would often be reminisced during out discussions. Good times were remembered with smiles, but as with life, mistakes would bring hard times and for some tragedy during war, homes lost to fire and divorce are just a few unfortunate events to happen to them. Yet, the truly saddest events were those that were discussed of a parent losing a child. No matter the amount of years that passed that empty feeling was always there, but with friends and family in their lives they were able to endure through the pain.
On March 7th,Jeff Thompson made his way to cheer on the Nevada, Iowa girls basketball team win their first ever state basketball tournament . On the way out of the building Jeff collapsed and pass away due to a brain aneurysm on the way out of the arena that night.
For the past several years Jeff had supported Iowa’s 3XWrestling with his good friend Brian VanderWal cheering on his favorites such as Jeremy Wyatt, Mauler, and Nate Redwing to name a few. After the events Jeff and Brian would continue their support of the wrestlers by building a friendship with the wrestlers in person and on Facebook. When his friend Brian encouraged Jeff’s mom Deb to have a wrestling fundraiser to benefit the famil, she asked that the night also be to honor Jeff’s love for pro wrestling.
We spoke to Corrie McDowell, co-owner of 3XWrestling who stated that “3XW has had the privilege over the past almost 10 years now of providing family fun entertainment for people of all ages. This Saturday is going to honor one of 3XW’s biggest fans, Jeff Thompson, who passed away suddenly in March. There are going to be wrestlers from near and far that are coming to wrestle and honor this hard core 3XW fan. I interacted with Jeff at every show he attended and always got a good chuckle at his passion for not only the wrestling, but the wrestlers themselves. Brian VanderWal and Jeff always hung around after the shows to talk to the guys and tell them what a great job they had done that night. Jeff was the kind of fan and person that we love to have at our events. He loved to have a great time and spend it with his wrestling family. 3XW is extremely honored to help raise money for his family for expenses and their loss from his untimely death. We know that Jeff Thompson will be cheering and booing the wrestlers on Saturday night from up above as we provide a show especially for him.”
So I invite you this Mothers’ Day weekend on Saturday in Jeff’s hometown of Nevada, Iowa as Jeff’s mom Deb and father Ken, along with several other of his loved ones will be at the Leonard Dueland Pavallion for a night of celebration on the life of Jeff Thompson.
The headline of the night will be the first ever Jeff Thompson Memorial Tag Team tournament featuring “The American Fury” Jon West & Maddog McDowell , the American Bulldogs taking on the 3XW Dream team of Mark Sterling and The Unbreakable” Zach Thompson. Also in the first round will be the electrifying team of AC/DC “The Anarchist” Arik Cannon & Darin Corbin battling against the 3XW Champion Jeremy Wyatt and “The Rockstar” Jimmy Rockwell.
Nevada’s very own Don Desher goes one on one against “Delicious” Devin Carter. Adrian Alexander challenges Rory Fox while JD Riggs w/Skylar Pierce collides against The Mauler. The action will be intense in a Triple Threat match as SM King , Sentai and Cuco Santiago will pull out all the stops for a victory. Brady A. Dezire returning to the ring for one night only will meet Jesse Malone.
Ticket prices are only $12 General Admission while kids 12 and under are only $6.00
We hope to see you there for this memorable night to honor Jeff Thompson with two of his favorite past times wrestling and family.
Missouri Wrestling Revival 