Jesse Coffey remembers seeing Adam Klutz, all 200-plus pounds of him, balanced on the second rope of a wrestling ring to face a screaming crowd.
Klutz, who wrestled under the name Adam Ironz, threw his massive body into a back flip, the red flames on his shorts flying in what aficionados call a moonsault, and landed on his opponent.
It's not something you see often on the local wrestling circuit. Coffey was floored.
It's how he remembers his former high school classmate, friend and fellow wrestler. Klutz, a Caldwell County deputy, was shot and killed while responding to a 911 call in September.
Tonight, the Hickory Crawdads and WrestleKings3, Coffey's company, will dedicate a show to Klutz.
The slain deputy will be the first person inducted into the WrestleKings Hall of Fame.
Klutz' installment will be the first thing on tonight's agenda at 7 p.m.
During the rest of the evening, expect a tag-team tournament and other matches, including the last one from wrestler Col. DeBeers. He retires tonight, after facing Chris Storm, which is Coffey's wrestling name.
Klutz had served with the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office for 1 ½ years and previously worked at the Caldwell Detention Center and Hickory Police Department.
His murder sparked a five-day manhunt for the killer, whom officers found about half a mile from the scene of the crime. The man was dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Tickets to tonight's wrestling show, held at L.P. Frans Stadium, are $10.
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