Like a Thunderbolt from the sky, it’s been a pretty bright, electric few weeks for Toronto’s Ron Hutchison.
In early December 2024, he was announced as the recipient of the Verne Gagne Trainer Award at the upcoming George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend in Waterloo, Iowa.
Then on February 4, 2025, just days before his 61st birthday, the Cauliflower Alley Club announced that it was naming its trainer award after him.
Brian Blair, the CAC President, sent Hutchison an email on behalf of the CAC Executive Board:
After much consideration and because of your dedication to the CAC for over a decade, as well as the outstanding success you’ve had in training some of the top talent in the pro wrestling industry, the board has voted unanimously to name the Trainers Award after you… Congratulations!
We hope you will be at the 59th CAC reunion to accept this honor and present the award to this year’s recipient, Mr. Tom Prichard. You are under no obligation to be in attendance but we thought it would be a fitting touch.
Thanks again Ron, for not only the above accomplishments but for being someone whom we could always count on as a fellow CAC board member, to go above and beyond your job description during times of need, as well as being a worthy contributor to the growth and success of the CAC during the last decade plus!
Hutchison had been a part of CAC’s board for a decade, but stepped down after August 2024’s reunion.
It’s appropriate, in some ways, that CAC is naming its trainer award after Hutchison since its first trainer award, presented in 2014 went to … Hutchison. That was just a year after his last matches, coming out of retirement for a summer tour of the Canadian Maritime provinces for promoter Emile Dupre, where Hutchison worked under a mask as the Thunderbolt.
Among those that Hutchison has trained or helped polish, working for a time alongside Sweet Daddy Siki and then Rod Boudreau, are Edge/Cope/Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, Trish Stratus, Joe E. Legend, Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix and Johnny Swinger.
In a response to the announcement, Hutchison wrote back to Blair and the board:
I am humbled and deeply honoured that the Cauliflower Alley Club has chosen to name its wrestling trainer award after me. To be recognized in this way by an organization that has meant and continues to mean so much to me is something I could never have possibly imagined.
As is well known, training has always been a passion of mine. I’ve been blessed to work with so many incredible talents over the course of the last four plus decades. To now have my name associated with an award that celebrates the dedication and commitment of wrestling’s top trainers is humbling.
This honour is especially meaningful as I was the very first recipient of the Cauliflower Alley Club’s inaugural Trainer’s Award in 2014 and will now be the first Canadian to have a CAC award named after them as well. Having served on the CAC’s Board of Directors for 10 years, I’ve witnessed firsthand the positive impact the club has on the wrestling community, and I’m proud to have played a role in that mission.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to President B. Brian Blair, the current CAC Executive Board, and everyone who played a role in making this possible. To join the ranks of those whose names are attached to CAC’s prestigious awards—legends like Mike Mazurki, Lou Thesz, Red Bastien, and Jim Ross—is an honour I will always cherish and be eternally grateful for.
Thank you to the Cauliflower Alley Club for this incredible recognition, and to all the trainers—past, present, and future—who continue to shape the next generation of professional wrestling.
With sincere appreciation,
Ron Hutchison
Back in December, Hutchison had done a long Facebook post thanking the Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame, which is a part of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum, for the trainer award:
To be recognized alongside some of the greatest names in the industry is not just a milestone—it is a career-defining moment that I will cherish forever.
Throughout my journey, from wrestler to trainer, promoter, booker, and author, my passion for professional wrestling has always centered around teaching and storytelling, both inside and outside of the ring. Helping to shape the careers of so many talented individuals—some who need no introduction and have become household names, and others who worked tirelessly but didn’t receive the same spotlight—has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.
This award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of ALL the students I’ve had the honor of training over the decades, and to the incredible wrestling community that has supported me for so long. I’d especially like to dedicate this recognition to three former students who left us far too soon but who, I believe, are watching and smiling from above: Neil Carr, known in the ring as Maddog Rex, Ernie MacDonald, also known as Sgt. MacDonald, and Vijay Hemanchal, who wrestled as ‘Jaguar’ Vijay Singh.I extend my deepest gratitude to my peers, fellow trainers, family, friends, students, and the loyal fans who have stood by me throughout the years. This honour means more to me than words can express, and, God willing, I will continue to share my love for this sport with future generations as I have for over four decades.
A heartfelt thank you to the Hall of Fame selection committee and its head, Gerald Brisco for this incredible recognition. I am truly looking forward to celebrating with all of you at the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame on July 17-19, 2025, in Waterloo, IA and will remain forever grateful for this most prestigious honour and Hall of Fame induction.
The first recipient of the Ron Hutchison Trainer Award from the CAC is Dr. Tom Prichard. The award to trainers has not been an every-year presentation. Past recipients include Dominic DeNucci, Cody Hawk and Steve Keirn.
The Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame weekend is July 17-19, 2025, and the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion is August 18-20, 2025, at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
RELATED LINKS
- Mar. 22, 2013: Maritimes forecast: Thunderbolts from Ron Hutchison
- Review: Ron Hutchison’s ‘Pain Torture Agony’ made me a fan
- Cauliflower Alley Club story archive
- Cauliflower Alley Club website
- George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame story archive
- Tragos/Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame website
