By Andy Furman
NKyTribune staff writer
How about that. Beck Reeves says he never considered himself a great athlete.
“I didn’t play football, or wrestled in high school,” the Dixie Heights High School grad told the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “But I did start watching wrestling when I was about 13.”
And he was hooked.
“I just loved the theatrics and backstage stuff,” he said.
Reeves is no longer backstage – in fact he’ll be front and center for Summer Sizzler, Saturday, August 16 at Thomas More Stadium.
“You can say I was a late-bloomer,” the 29-year-old Reeves said. “I saved some money after college; applied to a training facility camp in New Zealand – I was accepted but didn’t go.”
In fact, he was so close to moving – he quit his job.
“Maybe I was just thinking too far ahead,” he laughed. “It was the week after COVID hit, and there was no traveling outside the country.”
But when one door closes – you know the rest. He saw a commercial on TV for the Northern Wrestling Federation – a long-running independent wrestling promotion centered in Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati area.
Established in 1994, with current owner Roger Ruffen at the head since 1998, this family-friendly company – and affiliated training facility, BoneKrushers National Pro Wrestling Training Center, has served as a springboard for stars like internationally recognized pro wrestlers “Wildcat” Chris Harris, Karl “The Machine Gun” Anderson, and “The Monster” Abyss.
Welcome Beck Reeves.
“I thought wrestling was dead until I saw that commercial,” Reeves said. “I went to see a show in 2021.”
And he never left. He started training that year at BoneKrushers – near Elmwood Place, Ohio – and he became part of the troupe.
“We train 6-8 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday,” he said. “And at NWF, the pay for entry is very flexible. Dues are about $30 per-session and it covers the $15 training cost.”
It took about 18 months until Reeves heard an announcer call his name into the ring.
“I remember like it was yesterday,” he said. “It was August 22, 2021 – my very first match, staged at BoneKrushers.”
BoneKrushers, he said, serves as a student showcase as well as an event center.
Surprisingly, Reeves remembered that very first one – he got his butt kicked.
“I fought Dakota Wolf,” he said, “And, yes, he beat me up – a lot. But, I almost won.”
Did he think of packing it in?
“Hey, after paying all that money, I’d never quit. He kept going.”
And this time he kept his day job — working in a local warehouse shipping off heart catheters.
So, Beck, how tough really is wrestling?
“Really tough, because of the mental toll and challenges,” he said. “And falling on your back, landing on your head, breaking a finger, and getting a black eye isn’t any fun at all. But we are taught to keep going. Taught to get back up after a fall.”
But what do you say to those naysayers that wrestling might be choreographed?
“It is a sport and believe me it’s entirely different when you see it, and then when you perform,” he said.
“Wrestling is so great, because it is so different from other sports. It is one-on-one. It isn’t like baseball, or football or even UFC. It is more real than people think.”
Saturday (August 16), Reeves and his cohorts will start their evening action at Thomas More Stadium 6:30 p.m. — gates open at 4:30. Prior to the event, fans will have the opportunity to interact with NWF superstars in unique and immersive experiences.
The wrestling card will feature a Ladder match, a Stretcher Death match, a WARGAMES steel cage match, and more.
And you can decide how tough it is.
Tickets and more: www.nwfwrestling.com/events
