AMSTERDAM — While the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame may not be interesting to every Amsterdam resident, those in wrestling circles certainly appreciate its existence and show their support by visiting Amsterdam at least once a year for the annual induction ceremony.

According to the president of the Hall of Fame’s board of directors, Anthony Vellano, the induction ceremony brings a few thousand people into the Amsterdam area, who stay in local hotels, eat at local restaurants and buy goods.

Vellano said the tables for the annual convention are already sold for this year’s induction ceremony weekend May 22-24, and America’s Best Value Inn is “pretty booked” according to shift manager Luis Borreli.

“It’s a pretty big weekend,” Borreli said. “Especially on Saturday for the meet-and-greet, there are lines in the hotel so that you can’t even move. It’s craziness.”

The Hall of Fame, which was founded in Schenectady in 2002, moved to Amsterdam in 2005. The Amsterdam Industrial Development Agency bought the building at 30 E. Main St. and gave the hall a $30,000 facade improvement grant to fix it up.

Vellano said the group put an additional $45,000 into the two-story space before opening it up to visitors.

Vellano said the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame has given Amsterdam international exposurebecause fans of professional wrestling stretch across the county and throughout the world.

The Cauliflower Alley Club, an association of wrestling champions, has added a new feature to its quarterly newsletter called “The Amsterdam Angle,” which lets its readers know what’s happening at the Hall of Fame.

“People in the wrestling community, they know Amsterdam,” Vellano said.

Michael Chiara, city assessor and former chairman of the AIDA board, helped bring the Hall of Fame to Amsterdam. Under Chiara, the board agreed last fall to purchase the building next to the Hall of Fame at 24 E. Main St. so the hall could expand.

“This is the greatest boon the city can imagine,” Chiara said. “It brings in people worldwide and it’s going to get bigger and bigger. Believe me there is a big following and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Mayor Ann Thane disagreed with the past AIDA board’s decision to purchase the second building for the Hall of Fame. She said AIDA money is supposed to be spent to generate jobs and economic growth. Thane said that while the Hall of Fame does bring a lot of people into the city for one weekend, it isn’t viable enough to spur the type of growth she’s looking for downtown.

“While I admire their lofty goals, they need to be open and staffed more often to attract visitors on a daily basis,” she said.

Donna Peterson, owner of Uniforms and More at 2 E. Main St. and also a member of the Downtown Amsterdam Business Association, doesn’t view the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame as a large contributor to downtown’s revitalization, but she is working with the local business owners to put something together on East Main Street for the hall’s induction weekend.

“We want to do something that weekend, make sure there are flowers on the street and show these people that there is life on Main Street,” she said.

Vellano said it will take time before the hall is successful, but they have already taken a deteriorating building and turned it around and plan to do it with a second.

“This town needs an economic boost,” he said. “We aren’t the answer to the problem but we could be the start of the solution.”