“If you know, you know”.
Today is the day, one that I have been looking forward to for months. In a personal aside, February is my ‘Birthday Month’, I try to treat myself as much as possible throughout the month, in this example for my 29th Birthday, and it’s kicking off with today. Reach Wrestling have lit a fire upon the South West, having stormed out of nowhere to grab the imagination of their followers. Their first event was a huge success, displaying six matches with some great crowd interactions, tremendous atmosphere, and an amazingly good main event that had the crowd rocking. The show was less than three hours, and whilst not every match was a world beater, at no point was the crowd restless or disappointed. Reach Wrestling then followed up with an even more consistently good event in The Second Coming, one that featured five top notch matches in an excellent environment and culminated in a completely awesome ACT 3.
Reach have created a tremendous family following, but this Thursday, they shall unleash their first Over-18’s event, based in the club Walkabout, one which will feature booths, large screens and a unique atmosphere. Jason King and Grayson Reeves have come together to create their own wrestling company proudly waving the flag for South-West Devon and Cornwall, with tickets ranging from about £8-14 (seriously, I could legitimately watch at least three Reach Wrestling events for the same price of one NXT UK show and be guaranteed an excellent show) and the tremendous value is backed by the ability to meet many of the stars beforehand. There has even been several members of the Reach Army even organising meeting for drinks beforehand, to soak up the atmosphere for an amazing day ahead. But let’s look towards what keeps bringing the fans back every time: the matches.
Fatal 4-Way Match:
Kelly Sixx Vs Danny Duggan Vs Sammy Smooth Vs Josh Knott
Reach Wrestling has decided to introduce some surprising matches for the first time in Reach history, one of which is a Fatal 4-Way featuring three wrestlers yet to be involved with Reach. Kelly Sixx is a Southampton-based wrestler who has previously appeared in Plymouth, but not for over a year, having spent time in Japan learning and improving his ability. Sixx is determined to back up his self-proclamation of being the King of Performance and will bring his A-Game this match. The Reach Army will also be introduced to another trainee of the Los Angeles-based New Japan Dojo, Danny Duggan, an up and coming British wrestler looking to make a name for himself in his first appearance in Plymouth. Sammy Smooth has only been wrestling for less than five years but is gaining a solid reputation for himself, predominantly based at IPW:UK and being given an opportunity for his debut in Reach.
It’s only the fourth member of the match, ‘Country Big’ Josh Knott, who has appeared in Reach Wrestling before, having won the Battle Royal at The Beginning to win a full-time contract, defeating fan favourite Beano at The Second Coming, but losing to Man Like Beano (‘Dirty’ Dick Riley and Beano) at ACT 3. Will Knott’s experience allow him to achieve victory against three difficult opponents, will Sixx prove himself as the King Of Performance, will Duggan debut in Plymouth with a victory, or will Smooth represent IPW:UK in victory?
No Disqualification Match:
Psycho Phillips Vs PJ Jones
‘The Winner’ PJ Jones has created himself some very important enemies, Jason King and Grayson Reeves, the two men he faced at the first two events. He defeated King at The Beginning through count-out after attacking a fan, whilst at The Second Coming, Jones was disqualified after low-blowing Grayson. Putting Grayson through a table would lead to a massive main event at ACT 3, where Grayson and King would team together to take on Jones and a partner of his choice in a No Disqualification and No Count-Out Match. Whilst Grayson and King would achieve victory, Jones would escape true revenge from them, leaving his partner Marcus Bain to take the pinfall. This would lead to Jones ‘earning’ a match with a returning wrestler who was last seen at The Beginning, ‘Psycho’ Phillips. Phillips lost in his first match against the ‘Devon Powerhouse’ Chris Andrews, but proved himself a dangerous competitor, and it seems tailormade for him to face Jones in a No Disqualification match. However, one thing Jones has proven is his ability to escape and survive seemingly impossible situations, and if anybody will be able to squeak victory out against Phillips, it will be him. Will ‘The Winner’ continue his ability to frustrate and anger King and Grayson with victory over Phillips or will Jones’ luck run out against Phillips?
Singles Match:
Jody Fleisch Vs Charlie Sterling
Currently announced as the main event, we see the return of Charlie Sterling, an integral part of the history of Reach Wrestling. His appearance at The Beginning in the main event against Eddie Ryan was absolutely awesome, one that had people rushing to buy tickets for the next event. He would return to Reach Wrestling at ACT 3 after demanding a chance against Eddie Ryan, only to be told he had to earn the opportunity, taking on Big Grizzly in a solid opener with a good closing sequence. Following his loss to Big Grizzly, a bitter Sterling would attack Ryan, and would finally be offered the ultimate opportunity: if Sterling wins at Thursday Night Reach, he might get an opportunity against Ryan at an upcoming event, so who does he need to beat?
Only one of the biggest names in British Wrestling, a trailblazer who has been wrestling for over two decades, someone who has had a tremendous 2018 resurgence, ‘The Phoenix’ Jody Fleisch. I cannot convey how overwhelmingly excited I am to see Fleisch live (the first time was when I was about eight or nine years old in the Plymouth Guildhall), and it’s a great reward for the hard work Reach Wrestling has put into their events. Fleisch is a highflying genius who has never met a balcony he doesn’t want to dive off of and will be looking to cement a return to Plymouth with a large victory. However, Sterling has been consumed by the need to face Ryan since July of last year, and that obsession may drive him to achieve one of his biggest victories of his career. Will Sterling get to achieve the unlikely and defeat Fleisch, or will Fleisch continue Sterling’s losing streak with a feelgood victory?
Singles Match:
Eddie Ryan Vs Lance Cole
Eddie Ryan has proved himself a main player at Reach Wrestling, having featured in two excellent main events against Charlie Sterling and Big Grizzly, as well as a solid draw against Joel Redman in ACT 3. Here, he is featuring against a debutant in Lance Cole, who might be the closest we get to seeing Ryan take on the now-retired Chris Andrews due to their similarity in look and size. Ryan has faced two technical experts in Sterling and Redman, and also a giant bruiser in Big Grizzly, but this will be a completely new ballgame for him to deal with, a musclebound powerhouse capable of throwing Ryan around like a ragdoll. Cole has earned a growing reputation, and he’s been given a huge opportunity in his first appearance at Reach Wrestling, taking on the face of Reach. Will Cole shock the Reach Army and hand Ryan his first loss in Reach history, or will Ryan rebound from his draw with Joel Redman to cement victory prior to his appearance at Reach 4: Journey For Gold?
Tag Team Match:
Team Reach (Grayson Reeves & Jason King) Vs The Magnums (‘Dirty’ Dick Riley & ‘Filthy’ Chris Walker)
‘Dirty’ Dick has had a successful career in Reach so far, having debuted at The Beginning defeating Grayson Reeves, following up with outsmarting ‘Bronco’ Brendan White at The Second Coming, and having a tremendous feud ender alongside Beano against ‘Bronco’ Brendan White and ‘Country Big’ Josh Knott. Despite all that, one of the biggest questions has been “When will he team with Chris Walker?”, and this team-up has finally occurred in a huge match against the co-owners of Reach Wrestling, the men who won in the main event of ACT 3, Team Reach themselves, Grayson Reeves and Jason King. Three of the Reach Army’s favourite wrestlers will feature in a huge match that should excite and entertain the rampant crowd. If there’s any match on this event that doesn’t need selling to a Reach fan, it will be this one, possible show stealer for the entire night.
Triple Threat Main Event:
Millie McKenzie Vs Candy Floss Vs Sierra Loxton
The original announcement had been that Jamie Hayter would be appearing at Thursday Night Reach, but unfortunately had to pull out in December. This would lead to the announcement that Jordynne Grace of Impact Wrestling would take on the Welsh ‘Freaky Princess’ Sierra Loxton, in a match-up that would shock the Reach Army. However, at the end of December, Grace would inform Reach she wouldn’t be able to compete at Thursday Night Reach, and in an unprecedented move, Reach Wrestling would admit to their Army this had occurred, but would attempt to find a replacement. It was this honesty and admission with the audience was reminiscent of Paul Heyman, who when in charge of ECW would reveal if wrestlers were injured or hadn’t shown up to the audience, creating a loyalty with them (seriously look at Guilty As Charged 1999’s opening scene, where Heyman would reveal the card would be changed due to injury to Jerry Lynn and travel issues for Masato Tanaka, it’s actually mind blowing for its honesty). In January, it would be announced who Loxton would be facing at Thursday Night Reach, a young twenty year old who has recently appeared at NXT UK and gotten a good following, the fun-loving Stardom-based Candy Floss.
But just as fans came to terms with that, Reach Wrestling suddenly had a new reveal: what about a Triple Threat Women’s match? After a few days, the third combatant was revealed as Millie McKenzie, a certified bad*** with less than three years’ experience who has gained prominence as a Suplex Machine, as well as being #TeamRB colleague Craig’s favourite wrestler. The most impressive element is knowing that not only is Reach featuring three top class wrestlers in their first Women’s match, but the ages of them. Loxton is the oldest at TWENTY YEARS OLD, Floss is a year younger and McKenzie is the youngest at eighteen years of old, you are seeing possibly three future hall of famers relatively early in their career, and I cannot wait. Will IPW Champion Loxton cement her role as the Princess in victory, or will Floss entertain her way to enjoyable victory, or will it be McKenzie suplexing her way to victory? Regardless, we could see a possible bonafide classic, and I cannot wait.
Reach Wrestling had sold out their three family events with relative ease, and it would have been easy to stick to just those events, but it’s creatively exhilarating to see them push themselves beyond their comfort zone. This is Reach Wrestling’s first Over-18th event, being exemplified by their moving from their usual Plymouth School Of Creative Arts to the pub/club Walkabout, and has a distinct possibility of opening up to a whole new audience. The interesting element is that several previous wrestling Reach favourites, such as ‘Bronco’ Brendan White, Beano, Big Grizzly and Joseph Miller aren’t even involved, instead Reach seem to have taken the opportunity to try new opportunities. Their third Tag Team match in history, their first ever Fatal 4-Way match, and their first ever Women’s match combined with their first Triple Threat Match. Today, history is being made by Reach, and I cannot wait to see it occur live.
#TeamRB
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