Bob Roop

Bob Roop was a state champion high school wrestler in Michigan and then played football and wrestled at Michigan State University, which he entered on a football scholarship. His college education was interrupted by military service, during which he was a paratrooper and had training as a Special Forces medic. He finished college at Southern Illinois University, making the 1968 US Olympic team in Greco-Roman wrestling while a student there. After college graduation, Roop turned to professional wrestling, with an active career from 1969 to 1986. He is regarded as one of the great mat technicians wrestling with Championship Wrestling from Florida, a dozen National Wrestling Alliance territories including Japan and Australia, and a dozen additional foreign countries. He also wrestled for outlaw group International Championship Wrestling run by the Poffo family. Roop adopted the ring name Maya Singh as part of the Army of Darkness stable which included Kevin Sullivan, Purple Haze, Luna Vachon and Lock, Kharma/Molokai and Fallen Angel. Roop was inducted into the George Trago/Lou Thesz Pro/Am Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006, the Greater Lansing (MI) Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. the National Amateur Athletic Union Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018, and induction into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame at Wichita Falls, Texas In 2019. He also received the Cauliflower Alley Club Lou Thesz Award and the Stu Hart Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hart Foundation. With Mike McKlassky, Roop started the "Bob Roop Project-The CWF Years" Facebook page where he regularly gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes look into his time with CWF.