REACH Wrestling: The Second Coming Review (7/10/18)

As I stood outside the Plymouth School of Creative Arts, my Rasslin Blogs shirt on my back and my nephew Harvey bouncing alongside me in anticipation of his first event, for the briefest moment, I thought to myself “have I bigged it up too much? Have I overdone the anticipation, have I set myself up for a fall?” And as I walked up the steps, sighting upon my colleague Taylor with his wife Hannah, I saw a message from our other colleague Gary, informing me he’d been called into work five minutes before he was supposed to join us. And my first thought was “you unlucky bugger”, a thought that was pure instinct. And I began to think to myself “It doesn’t matter how good this event is. I’m just glad to be here”. With that, Harvey and I walked through those doors, sighting Eddie Ryan through the window, Harvey’s excitement infectious as we walked through the entrance doors, to our first surprise of the evening. At the table where tickets were being shown, stood co-owner Jason King, in an admittedly lovely white rose-adorned shirt, welcoming each attendee and shaking their hands, cracking a joke with them. Before I’d even watched a single match, I was reminded of why REACH Wrestling speaks to me so much as a fan; I feel there’s an integral connection between the co-creators King and Grayson Reeves, and their fans, one I can only hope is reminiscent of the passion shared between Paul Heyman and the ECW faithful.

After a warm welcome from King, Harvey and I chilled out and were able to chat with Eddie Ryan, who I’m pretty sure has muscles in places I do not even possess. Eddie and I discussed the upcoming NXT UK event in Plymouth, where I admitted to buying tickets, but finding myself more excited for tonight’s event, with Eddie coming up with a really good point. “When you go to WWE or NXT, there’s a barricade, there’s a set seat, you file in, you file out. But when you come to an event like REACH, you can touch the wrestlers, it’s more inclusive” and I couldn’t dispute it. The reason why I had been so excited for coming to The Second Act was because I felt emotionally attached to REACH. Seeing two hundred plus fans enter this arena would be small change to WWE, but to those involved, it means the world. Just like before, there is a descending level of seats, akin to a theatre, with a screen on the back wall behind the ring. The screen would be used in a countdown, from ten minutes down to signify the build-up to the start of the event, a cracking marketing idea. There were several rows of chairs laid out on the three sides to accommodate extra fans, which was a great indication for the popularity of the show. The commentary team consisted of ‘The Mad Dog’ Vinnie Clay, ‘The Voice’ Carl Andrews, and ‘The Eye’ Dave Rawles, and the MC for the evening was John Obrey.

‘The Alpha Male’ Iestyn Reeves VS ‘Devon Powerhouse’ Chris Andrews

The opening match is quite often referred to in wrestling as the ‘curtain-jerker’, which for me underappreciates the importance of the role. The opening match needs to set a standard, a tone, an expectation of the matches that are awaiting you; if the opening match is a damp squib, then it creates a negative connotation of the event ahead. On the other hand, if you start off with a barnbuster that gets the audience quickly involved, then the heat is on for the rest of the event, you’ve got the audience in the palm of your hand. Which for me is the reason why, for the second event in a row, REACH has kicked off with the ‘Devon Powerhouse’, a local hero who the crowd absolutely loves and gets the audience popping. Rees and Andrews both looked massive as they squared off, with Andrews on top early on, before Rees retreated to the outside. This led to an excellent moment where a young fan a few rows down from me was giving Rees lip, and Rees offered to swap positions with, Rees sitting down in the crowd as the lad clambered into the ring! This led to a nice moment where the lad and Andrews shook hands, hugged and raised one another’s hands, to an excellent reaction from the crowd. Rees attempted to sneak in unsuccessfully, but would start to battle back, escaping the TKO to slam Andrews’ shoulder hard into the ringpost twice, gaining some great heat from the crowd. As the boos rained down on Rees, he just threw out shouts of “Shut Up” to the rampant crowd. Rees hit a lovely Shoulder Block off the second tope, taking Andrews down, drawing heat, following up with two second rope double axe handles to Andrews, milking the boos. As the build-up to the third attempt reached fever pitch, Andrews reversed with a lovely T-Bone Suplex, following up with a second rope dropkick and an impressive delayed suplex for a two-count. Rees hit back with a strong spear, gaining a two count, and would follow up with a heavy spinebuster for a close two count. A tantrum from Rees drew smiles from me as he was flung off the ropes into Andrews’ TKO for the three count! Yet again, Andrews has kicked REACH off fantastically, and is gathering a run of two straight victories for REACH Wrestling. I do think Rees was a more suited opponent, the similarities in strength allowing them to challenge each other very closely, and I hope he returns again. Overall, good opener with a hot crowd.

‘Country Big’ Josh Knott VS Beano

The match actually began with some ‘technical difficulties’, where Joseph Miller’s music played and froze mid-song, bringing a furious Miller out to chastise the crowd and insult his upcoming opponent Adam Flint. As soon as the technical difficulties occurred, and Jason King ran behind the ring to deal with it, the crowd instantly began cheering for MC John Obrey. Obrey, masterfully allowing the suspense to build as he first told a dirty sex joke (which got a great laugh to be fair) and played to the audience. I personally question whether the technical difficulties were real and not just a clever way of bringing Miller out early, but if it was, the team dealt with it very professionally and there was nary a hiccup in relation to it. Knott would come out first gesticulating to the crowd, being booed heavily, in stark contrast to Beano, who gets a great welcome, including from my nephew. There was a cool moment as Beano lent his jacket to the referee and the two of them climbed up the turnbuckles to pose, getting a good reaction. During this, Knott stormed to the back, then returned back, shouting insults to the crowd as they serenaded him with “Sheep, Sheep, Sheep”. Knott responded brilliantly, telling the audience “Do NOT talk about Linda like that!” Fair play, Josh, that’s the moment you got me on side, as the crowd started chanting “Poor Old Linda”, with Knott using the referee’s hands to block his ears.

Beano used his pace and hard kicks to counteract Knott’s power, until a huge Samoan Drop left Beano writhing on the mat. Beano would attempt to pick up Knott, but wasn’t strong enough, so hit two heavy discus elbows in the corner to Knott, only for his third attempt to leave him open for a splash from Knott. Knott would then remove the padding from the turnbuckle, the referee getting distracted as he sorted it. Knott would hit a massive Spinebuster to Beano for a very close two-count, before the crowd began chanting heavily for Beano, inspiring him to battle back. Beano hit some hard kicks in the corner once, twice, before hitting a Flatliner, only for Brendan White to run out to ringside! As Beano went for victory, White jumped into the apron, distracting the referee, as Knott procured his cowbell and knocked Beano out, for a tainted victory. As Knott and White celebrated, Beano was left in the ring dejected, as the crowd demonstrated their sympathy for Beano. This was a fun match, some great crowd interaction with Knott and Beano has been taken to heart very quickly by the Reach faithful. Even better, this felt like a continuation of a developing storyline related to all three wrestlers.

‘The Winner’ PJ Jones VS Grayson Reeves

The audience is rabid as ‘The Winner’ PJ Jones comes out to chants of “Where’s your belt?”, which he had lost to ‘The Rocker’ John Harding recently at Cornish Pro Wrestling. The feeling in the crowd is electric as the build-up to Grayson’s entrance reaches fever pitch as he comes out, Grayson basking in the cheers. Jones attacks Grayson during the entrance and they begin fighting up the stairs, throwing each other around and onto a table, before venturing down the other stairs, with Jones taking a VERY nasty tumble down them (ouch). Jones gets thrown into the ring post, with Grayson hitting two painfully hard slaps to Jones chest. Jones turns the table and attempts the same slap, only to hit the ring post, Grayson following up with spitting a spray of water into Jones’ face. Jones again attempts the same, taking a swig of water, only to get punched with Jones spittaking. Grayson attempts a Piledriver on the arena, only for Jones to reverse with a back-body drop. In desperation, Jones grabs a woman and throws her into Grayson, with Jones taking advantage with a Tornado DDT onto the ring floor. It is here that Jones throws Grayson into the ring and the bell finally rings to start the match with PJ on top and the crowd reacting massively. I will say, this was a brilliant start, with the audience completely engrossed.

Jones focuses his attention on Grayson’s kidneys, attacking with his thighs twice, only for Grayson to spin around and have Jones land testicles first on his knees. Jones attempts to Bronco Buster Grayson and lands again testicles first into the corner, Grayson following up with a Back Stabber from the middle rope. Jones hits a Superkick, climbs to the top rope for an attempt, but a MASSIVE Spinebuster from Grayson to Jones. Grayson rolls out and drags the announce table closer to the apron, grabbing a desperate Jones by the ankles to try and pull him out. They end up on the apron, Grayson battling to hit a Spinebuster, only for Jones to fight back and clothesline Grayson into the ring. Grayson attempts a Package Piledriver, reversed by Jones, who hits a rolling Fireman’s Carry Slam and a gorgeous Moonsaults for a two count. Grayson takes the straps off, hits a Hooked Front Face Buster for a very close two-count! Jones belies his chicken s*** persona with some surprising perseverance against close calls. Grayson takes Jones up the turnbuckles, Jones attempts a Sunset Flip Powerbomb, Grayson holds onto the ropes, and Jones just low blows Grayson for the disqualification. As the MC begins announcing Grayson as the winner, PJ hits a vicious underarm and Grayson smashes through the announce table! The audience are shocked, the announcer has stopped dead in mid-sentence, Jones is posing as he basks in the boos.

Suddenly, “I Want It All” begins to play, and out comes a furious Jason King, shaking in anger as he eyes Jones, mouthing off at him. There’s a nice little touch where King takes off his watch and gives it to a member of the audience. Jones runs away from King and cowers, as King grabs a microphone and shouts “Two times, two times, Jones, you’ve managed to come here and PISS ME OFF!” The entire crowd went insane as King goes off at Jones, desperate to hurt him, with King proclaiming “no more count outs! No more disqualification!” as he announces in December, at ACT 3, we shall see Grayson Reeves and Jason King teaming up in a No Disqualification, No Count-Outs, Tag Team match against PJ Jones and a partner of his choice. This storyline has been booked perfectly, with Jones having proved himself a dirty heel willing to do whatever is required to survive, whilst leaving King and Grayson furious and frustrated. Having insulted both men on a personal and professional level, Jones has left himself open to two men who are desperate to hurt him. The question now is who would be willing to team alongside the most hated man in REACH? Charlie Sterling was been desperate to have a return match against Eddie Ryan, maybe defeating King and Grayson could give him an opportunity? Or maybe a wrestling veteran looking for a return? Who knows, but so far, this storyline has been perfect, and I cannot wait to see who will team alongside ‘The Winner’.

‘Dirty’ Dick Riley VS ‘Bronco’ Brendan White

Returning back from the interval with the audience molten lava in terms of heat, absolutely loving the event so far, we kick off with ‘Bronco’ Brendan White coming out to boos, followed up by an energetic ‘Dirty’ Dick Riley entering to great applause. White has some great crowd interaction, proclaiming “I Hate Dick”, with the crowd loving it and chanting “We Love Dick”. Dick kicks off with a beautiful moonsaults over ‘Bronco’ with the crowd popping heavily. Whenever Dick goes for a pinfall, he plants his crotch in White’s face, which angers ‘Bronco’ tremendously. White pushes the ref into the ropes to crotch Dick to the chants of “Brokeback Mountain”, White interacting with the crowd brilliantly as he digs into Dick’s back. White is quite reminiscent of Kevin Owens in that he never shuts up, he’s always jawing at the crowd and his opponent, which gets the crowd reacting. Dick hits another moonsault for a two-count but ends up hitting the post so hard you can see the ring and the ref move! Dick reverses with a cutter between the ropes to ‘Bronco’, with a senton to the outside on White, with a lovely moment where he hoists a kid up into the air for a cheer! Back in the ring and ‘Bronco’ hits a vicious German Suplex, only to turn into a Dick Spanish Fly! Lovely twisting-in-the-air arm-locked pinning predicament for a two-count by Dick, only for ‘Bronco’ to hit an Angle Slam for a two-count. “You can’t beat Dick” chanted by the crowd with White screaming back “Yes, I can!” Sit-Out Powerbomb by Dick for a close two-count, as out walks Josh Knott to distract. White hits a Black-Hole Slam for a close two-count, with White and Knott both furious. ‘Bronco’ grabs the cowbell but hits Knott by accident, with Dick hitting an F5 for the three-count!

Knott and White rush the ring to attack Dick, only for Beano to appear and make the save to a huge reaction! Knott and White powder out and run off like cowards as Beano and Dick celebrate. Beano ends up jumping onto and legdropping White’s jacket and hat to a great pop. Dick and Beano take it in turns and click well, as the crowd react wonderfully. This was a fun, exciting match that combined Dick’s connection with the crowd and pop-inducing repertoire of moves with White’s Arn Anderson meets Kevin Owens rough technical brawling style. The match also helped culminate the booking of multiple elements, Knott’s victory in the battle royal, Beano’s combined loss to both White and Knott, and Dick’s run of two successive victories. The booking seems set up perfectly for a tag team match between Beano and Dick Riley versus Brendan White and Josh Knott, which I can’t wait to see.

Adam Flint VS Joseph Miller

Just beforehand, a brief set-up with the MC presenting a REACH t-shirt to Birthday boy Hayden, which received a lovely reaction as the kid enters the ring. Joseph Miller saunters out unimpressed with the crowd and riffs on the news that his opponent Adam Flint is injured. MC John Obrey announces that Adam Flint has been replaced by ‘Mad Dog’ Vinnie Clay, who is shocked and replies back he’s injured. Clay asks the crowd whether he should go for it, and peels off his shirt and jacket, leaving him in his smart trousers. He focuses on getting the crowd to gee him up, only for Miller to attack his injured knee with kicks and several German suplexes. Clay sells massively, struggling to even stand, with the crowd chanting for him, but Miller goes for a leg lock and Clay taps quickly. Miller leaves to boos, and the crowd claps as Clay limps over to the announce table, struggling badly and falling over at times. It’s quite impressive that it isn’t until the fifth match that the fans may feel slightly underwhelmed, but to be fair, this is less of a match and more of an angle. Miller comes across as a despicable villain and now has a contract with REACH Wrestling. There are multiple possible options from here, where either Flint may return desperate to get his match against Miller, or Clay may heal up wanting revenge against Miller himself. Or, in an interesting twist, Clay may decide to take revenge against REACH Wrestling for first not placing him in a match for the Contract despite eliminating Knott in the original match, and then forcing him into a match whilst injured. There feels like a lot of possibilities from here, which I’m curious to see where they go from here.

‘The English Lion’ Eddie Ryan VS Big Grizzly

After four excellent matches and an interesting angle, we come to the main event, where the huge Big Grizzly is intimidating as hell. ‘The English Lion’ gets a huge reaction as always, the crowd absolutely loving him, including Harvey by now. Eddie and Grizzly kick off with battling in the ring, Eddie using his speed and technical ability, with the two ending up battling around the ring. They battle up the stairs and down, with a desperate Grizzly using his jacket to blind Eddie and Grizzly hitting an impressive Superkick. Eddie ends up down and Grizzly rolls back in, with Eddie barely beating the nine count. Grizzly starts to decimates Ryan with some heavy slams and drops, until Ryan begins to fight back to cheers from the crowd, using his pace to hit quick attacks and some big splashes. Grizzly takes Eddie up onto the turnbuckle, Eddie knocking Grizzly back off the second rope, only for Grizzly to climb back up and hitting an over-the-shoulder belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope! Eddie is left on jelly feet, Grizzly and he hitting back and forth elbows, before Grizzly hits a huge lariat that leaves Eddie down. Eddie battles back with a Double German Suplex, finishing up with a T-Bone Suplex for a close two count. Grizzly responds back with another Lariat and a senton for his own close two count. Eddie aims for a superkick, but Grizzly drags the ref into the way, which knocks the ref out, Eddie successfully hitting Grizzly with a second superkick, but there’s no ref for the six count! Grizzly rolls out of the ring, grabs a wet floor sign, and breaks it over Ryan’s head! Ryan is down and out, Grizzly crawls in and the referee wakes up, one, two, thr-, Ryan kicks out! Massively close two-count, and as the crowd are reacting, Eddie suddenly sneaks in Over-The-Shoulder Back-To-Belly Piledriver and gets the three-count! Big Grizzly rolls out as Eddie celebrates to a ferociously happy crowd, cheering at the top of their lungs. What an excellent main event with some tremendous action, a snarling heel in Big Grizzly and the beloved fan favourite in Eddie Ryan that had the crowd eating out of their hands. At one point, Harvey was so enthralled he went down to the front row to be closer to the action!

The night ended with a quick word with Beano, Iestyn Rees, and a photo with Eddie Ryan for Harvey, but overall the night was fantastic, and amazingly it improved upon the excellent debut two months ago. What REACH Wrestling did was it took all of the positives from the first event and accentuated those elements, as well as minimizing any negatives they had. They already have created two fascinating storylines, one featuring Grayson Reeves and Jason King versus PJ Jones, the other featuring Josh Knott, Brendan White (who I was very surprised by at the first event and am slowly becoming fond of as a wrestler) and Beano, with Dick Riley having been pulled in as well. There are currently three ongoing winning streaks, in Chris Andrews, Josh Knott and Eddie Ryan, whilst Beano has lost two matches in a row with the audience desperate to see him win. There is a squadron of tremendous babyfaces that the audience love in Eddie Ryan, Jason King, Beano, Chris Andrews, Dick Riley and Grayson Reeves, whilst there are also a wide range of villains that the audience love to hate in Brendan White, Josh Knott, Joseph Miller and of course, PJ Jones. REACH Wrestling are booking and crafting some tremendous work at the moment, and I find myself counting the days down to the next event. But most impressively of all…I’ve got two nights of NXT UK to see and I don’t think combined it will measure up to such an amazingly fun night.

If you aren’t buying tickets to REACH, what are you waiting for?

@BigBadaBruce

@Rasslinblogs

#TeamRB