In June 2024, Indianapolis was home to the U.S. Olympic swim trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. This week, it was time for the Olympics again, but the WWETT Show at the Indiana Convention Center hosted a different sport — pipe lining.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of the WWETT Show, manufacturer Waterline Renewal Technologies hosted the first Lining Olympics. Three teams — from Wisconsin, Texas and California — competed in the event in the manufacturer’s booth, drawing a large crowd both days.
In the end, Texas’ Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Abilene walked away with the WWE-style championship belt and the title of Lining Olympic Champions.
Teams competed to see who could complete the repair of two “leaks” on a pipe using UV CIPP technology. The teams were assessed on speed, accuracy and teamwork and received point scores from three judges.
Tuesday was the semifinal with Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Abilene and IHN Company (Pewaukee, Wisconsin) holding off Evans Plumbing Service (Costa Mesa, California) to advance to the championship round on Wednesday afternoon.
It was close with all three teams having trouble filling both leaks — two holes cut into the pipe.
“We missed it because the reel came back on the pull and one of the guys didn’t see it and that’s why we missed the second hole so far,” said Pete Torres, owner of Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Abilene. “On Wednesday we made an adjustment and made sure we didn’t let it go. We learn from mistakes that we make and that’s how you get better.”
The championship match between Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Abilene and IHN Company was another close competition with judges deliberating for a long time. Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Abilene held off IHN Company 31-27 to take the title.
“My kids and I have been working at it,” Torres said. “We train almost every day on our jobs. We follow the training that Waterline taught us and we practice on that all the time, even though we forgot a few little things, but that’s because we were doing it so fast.”
All of the teams stressed that they normally don’t get lining jobs done in only 13 minutes.
“When we’re in a real scenario, we do take a lot more time,” Torres said. “It’s a one-time deal and if we mess up, it’s on us.”
Torres, who has operated his company for 14 years, says all of his lining equipment is from Waterline Renewal Technologies. All three teams competing were contacted by the manufacturer to see if they would compete.
“I go to a lot of their training in Florida and I take my team there to train also and we buy a lot of material from them,” Torres said. “They know that we follow their steps and if we don’t know something we’re calling their experts. We’re learning from them and hopefully we become an expert as well.”
Torres says the championship belt will be hung up at the office when they return from the WWETT Show.
“The whole team at home has been rooting for us and asking if we won, so they’re about to find out we won,” Torres said. “They’re going to be excited. We had a big part of the group here also, there were 12 of us and my brother had his team here too, so we had two plumbing companies here cheering us on.”
Waterline Renewal Technologies hopes to bring the competition back for future years and Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Abilene is planning to defend its title next year at the 2026 WWETT Show.
