So, Sunday 8th July 2018 saw the debut of REACH Wrestling in Plymouth. A 5 hour round trip for me from Gloucester down to Plymouth on an absolutely sweltering day – would it be worth it? How would REACH do in their debut show? Would the crowd react well? What went down? Let’s get into it!
The show was a sell out. Well, more than a sell out as they made room for additional people once it had sold out which is absolutely incredible for the first show. The crowd were red hot from the opening with the announcer, referee and commentary team receiving rapturous applause and cheers. Once the formalities were out of the way, we dove into the first match.
Our opening match was the deranged Psycho Phillips going up against fan favourite Chris Andrews. The crowd were white hot for Andrews in this one with Phillips intimidating the crowd throughout his entrance and the match. Some interesting chants for Phillips throughout the match with the crowd really trying to rile him up but this just seemed to fuel his anger and fire. A back and forth match with both men trading big blows with both trying to get the upper hand until Phillips hit a hanging neckbreaker from the ropes which put the big man down for a 2 count. Phillips continued to punish Andrews and delivered a cheap shot and then locked in a sleeper hold but Andrews somehow managed to drag his way to the ropes and break the hold. Andrews tried to mount a comeback but succumbed to the sleeper hold once again, this time it was locked on for a long time. It looked looked like Andrews was really beginning to fade, but the crowd energy pushed him to get his foot on the bottom rope and force a rope break. Andrews managed to bounce back from this and deliver a huge T-Bone Suplex followed by a massive delayed vertical suplex which nearly netted him the 3 count. The crowd were in disbelief that Phillips had kicked out! Phillips went to the well once more and locked in the sleeper hold but Andrews managed to counter and reverse it into a roll up pin, keeping Phillip’s shoulders down for the three count which sent the crowd into rapture! “Psycho’s going home” chants rained down (as it is World Cup season after all) and Phillips stormed out of the arena absolutely raging. A brilliant opener which had the crowd on the edge of their seat the whole way through.
Battle Royal – Winner Get’s A One Year Reach Contract!
Adam Da Silva, David Eton, Joshua Goodwin, Joseph Miller, Marcus Bain, Josh Knott, Blake Harrison, Adam Flynn, Vinnie Clay, Draven, Max Castle, August Jackson
This one was as open as it gets. I had absolutely no clue who was going to win this and I don’t think any of the crowd did either. Everyone had their favourites going into this one so were firmly behind them. This was as crazy as it gets – all men getting good offence in. One of the highlights of this was the showdown between Joseph Miller & Marcus Bain – two big men looking to make a serious impact. Sadly, it was cut short by Eton & Goodwin of the Heritage City Hitmen. I was majorly impressed with all in this match – a particular highlight being an elimination by Blake Harrison by using a headscissors! Adam Flint thought he had the match won, however Josh Knott had hidden around the ring after not going over the top rope and burst into the ring as Flint was alone and dumped him over the top rope unceremoniously to win the one year contract with Reach! The crowd were devastated and hated the result as they were firmly behind Flint. The poor guy looked heartbroken but received plenty of support from the crowd on his way out as Knott basked in the boos and seemed to enjoy it! Really good battle royal overall and hope to see all of these men used in Reach again.
Next up, we had one of the creators of REACH going up against one of the hottest properties in British Wrestling at the moment – Dick Riley. The crowd were loving both men and definitely appreciated how talented both of them are. Duelling chants for both men broke out as they battled for position in the opening stages of this match. There was an amazing sequence of counters which even included a back flip from Dick Riley which had the crowd firmly on their feet appreciating how good it was! Riley nailed a beautiful looking enziguiri to Reeves on the apron which took him to the floor. Reeves managed to recover from this an managed to hit a beautiful looking flying lariat. In my notes I’d written – beautiful looking and smooth… Riley managed to regain control of the match and planted Reeves with a humongous superplex from the top rope for which the crowd exploded! Both men were wanting the win and were going for the 3 count, this led to a series of countered teddy bear rolls and pin attempts by both, to which neither could get past a 1 count! The match progressed and Riley nailed Reeves with an incredible looking Spanish Fly which came out of nowhere and got a hell of a reaction from this writer! Riley took to the top rope to nail Reeves but was caught in midair and dropped with a picture perfect spinebuster – Arn Anderson would have been proud of that one. A moonsault from Riley could only net a 2 count as well – this match had been incredible at this point. Riley then managed to counter a move from Reeves into his finisher and finally managed to pick up the three count. An absolute blockbuster of a match with both men putting in incredible performances. A show of respect post match between them further cemented how good this match was.
First match up after the break was the Jason King Open Challenge and the man came out to a heroes welcome. Barely able to get a word in over the chanting of his name – adored in the building! Who was going to answer the open challenge? It was PJ Jones! The current CPW champion had answered the challenge! PJ tripped up entering the ring which got a brilliant reaction from the crowd. Both men were trying to outwit eachother which led to some funny spots and both men jumping over one another until PJ fell out of the ring. PJ ran and hid from King going under the ring and coming out the other side until King then rode PJ like a donkey! Crowd were loving this! A real back and forth match with PJ getting on top until King fought back and nailed a top rope crossbody for a 2 count. A big back body drop from King netted him another two count, seemingly unable to put away “The Winner” PJ left the ring and marched up the stairs and threw a child fan into the wall! Unbelievable scenes! King ran up to check on the child with PJ running back into the ring and winning via countout. Shocking scenes and despicable actions from The Winner, but he lived up his name and came away with the victory.
Battle of the Dragon Pro graduates here saw “Man Like” Beano take on “Bronco” Brendan White. The NP44 native got a fantastic reception, whereas the Suplex Slinger received somewhat of a mixed reaction, the crowd not taking too kindly to him riling them up! White channelled his inner Miz by saying “When my hand goes up, you all shut up” to which again the crowd did not take too kindly to! A great back and forth contest to begin with, neither man really able to assert dominance in it until Beano nailed a beautiful looking slingblade to gain the upper hand. White rolled out of the ring but was met by a rolling senton from Beano. Beano went to the top rope for another high risk move but was caught in midair by a wicked looking clothesline from White. The “Suplex Slinger” then found his groove – rattling off suplex after suplex and keeping Beano from gaining any momentum in the match. White hit a slick looking dropkick to Beano and managed a 2 count. Beano finally regained some momentum by hitting a spinebuster for a 2 count but not quite managing to keep White down for three. White hit an unbelievable looking powerbomb (Last Ride style) which I was convinced would be enough for the win but again only netted him a 2 count! The crowd were white hot for this as both men pushed one another to the limit in an engrossing and enthralling match. White brought a steel chair into the mix and missed Beano but nailed the referee! The chair changed hands back and forth until White was able to smash Beano with the chair as the referee was coming back around and was able to count for 3 and give White the win. Absolutely incredible match and cannot recommend these two guys highly enough – truly brilliant !
Main Event time. The collision of Crazy Teacups. This match was absolutely insane. Both men pulled out everything to win this one. Both Ryan and Sterling traded blows back and forth, nailing one another with their signature offense in an attempt to gain the upper hand. The fans were on their feet in droves as they cheered on the hometown favourite in the English Lion. This looked like it was going to be a respectable match between the tag team partners, but soured once Ryan offered his hand out to Sterling who slapped it away and brought out his vicious side. Sterling was using every trick in the book to keep Ryan down but the English Lion kept on fighting back. This match was fought at such a frenetic and fast pace that the crowd couldn’t help but lose their minds at how good it was! As the match hotted up, Eddie Ryan nailed Sterling with a Canadian Destroyer and the crowd absolutely lost their minds! Nobody knew that Eddie had that in his locker! The match went to the outside with both men throwing one another into the walls of the building – there was a real worry that the walls were going to go through! Sterling, using underhanded tactics attempted to use a fan as a shield in order to get away from Eddie but to no avail – into the wall he went! Back in the ring and an errant move sent the referee flying leaving Ryan open to a cheap shot by Sterling. Sterling called out Joseph Miller who brought with him a wet floor sign to which Charlie then nailed Eddie clean in the head with! The crowd were incensed! Miller got involved and nailed Ryan also! Eddie managed to fight back and send Miller flying via a smash with the sign and as the referee started to come to, Ryan nailed his trademark superkick to Sterling and picked up the victory. A standing ovation followed and it was rightfully deserved. This had to easily be one of the best matches I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live and hats off to both men, it was a phenomenal way to end the debut show of REACH.
So, in answer to my question was the 5 hour round trip worth it? Absolutely. REACH have something incredible going on down in Plymouth – an area that has been neglected when it comes to wrestling but REACH are putting that right. Their next show is on October 7th and features the likes of Dick Riley, Iestyn Rees, Big Grizzly to name but a few! If Episode One is anything to go by, The Second Coming is bound to be an incredible show and I implore you not to miss out!
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