"I always wanted to help people," said Thompson, who ministers to over 50 parishioners three times a week at the Pentecostal Church of God in Jersey City.
Thompson had previously served as a deacon for 18 years at the Assembly of God Church at 707 Willow Ave. in Hoboken, where he taught Sunday school to children and held bible study groups for adults.
"I had a hunger and desire to administer to others in the community who needed guidance and direction. It was a calling in my life that I had for a long time," added Thompson.
Strong ties in Hoboken
Although the 50-year-old father of two has resided in Bayonne for the past 11 years, he hasn't been able to cut ties with the Hoboken community where he was first introduced to wrestling and would later find God.
"They could take me out of Hoboken, but they couldn't take the Hoboken out of me," added Thompson who currently works as an electrician in Stevens Institute of Technology and volunteers as a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with Hoboken's Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
Thompson officially retired from wrestling in 2002. A year later he earned a certificate in ministry and in pastoral theology from Berean University of the Assemblies of God, based out of Springfield, Missouri.
In time, Thompson joined the Hispanic Pastors Association of Hudson County and began ministering to a mostly Central-American immigrant community living in Jersey City, where he became a pastor for the storefront Pentecostal Church of God at 951 West Side Ave.
The early years
Prior to becoming a minister, Thompson had wrestled such famous personalities as Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Jesse "The Body" Ventura, former governor of Minnesota, in nationally televised matches through the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE).
Originally from Jersey City, Thompson moved to Hoboken in 1969 at the age of 12, where he first began wrestling other local teens at the Hoboken Athletic Club in 1972. From there he began to wrestle boys from all over the tri-state area, traveling to the Bronx, Jersey City and as far away as Connecticut.
The Cowboy's most feared move was what he called the "Boston Crab" in which he would knock his opponent down, flip him on his belly and wrap his arms around his victim's legs, pulling the legs backward while putting his entire body weight on the individual's back.
After graduating from Hoboken High School in 1974, Thompson continued wrestling at clubs and in school gymnasiums in the area, supplementing his salary as an electrician by receiving approximately $175 on average per match during the '80s.
Many of the competitions in which Thompson took part in were charity events, including his last match which took place in October of 2002 in a club on Summit Ave. in Union City for a local chapter of Feed the Children.
Although Thompson acknowledged that the matches were staged, one of his reasons for retiring when he did was out of a fear that he would injure himself, being that he was wrestling 20-somethings in his late forties, some of whom weighing more than 300 lbs.
"It was entertainment. People enjoyed it so I enjoyed it. But if the other guy makes a mistake, you can get hurt," said Thompson.
According to Thompson, the experiences he's accumulated throughout his 30 plus years of wrestling have enabled him to become a better counselor.
He is better able to relate to people on several levels having interacted with so many people over the years from all walks of life throughout the wrestling circuit.
