Chris Bey benefit proves wrestling is a tight-knit community

TORONTO – Smash Wrestling hosted a Chris Bey benefit at the Rec Room in downtown Toronto on Sunday, December 29, and put on an exciting, fast-paced show.

Every match left its mark on the fans in attendance as the crowd was heavily invested all throughout. It was the perfect benefit show for Chris Bey as all proceeds from tickets went to funding Chris Bey’s recovery.

TNA wrestler and half of the ABC tag-team (with Ace Austin), Chris Bey was involved in a serious accident while in the ring at a TNA taping in late October. He injured his neck during a tag match against the Hardy Boyz and needed to be stretchered out of the ring. There was a GoFundMe set up to aid him in his recovery and it has now surpassed its goal of $100,000.

Here are the results from the show:

Vaughn Vertigo def. London Lightning
Fresh Air def. CXR in a tag team match
Vanna Black def. Harley Rock
Carter Mason def. Tommy K, AOD and Malik Melo in a four-way match
TARIK def. Brent Banks
Locked and Loaded (Mark Wheeler & Jessie V) def. The Dub Club (KJ Reynolds & Ryan Matthias)
Psycho Mike def. Jax Williams to retain the Smash Wrestling World Championship

The evening opened with Vanna Black and Jax Williams in the ring, talking about they’re better off going their separate ways. This would come to a head in the main event, as Black came out with Psycho Mike. She would soon add another wrinkle to the tale of the match by turning on him in a futile attempt to help Williams win.

Fresh Air vs CXR in a tag team match at Smash Wrestling on Sunday, December 29, 2024, at the Rec Room in Toronto. Photo by Sully Khan

All the matches were great and made sure to showcase the talents of everyone involved. That can often be an issue with tag matches and free-for-all matches. The wrestlers were all working for free Sunday night as the show was about something much more important than themselves.

The night was all about Chris Bey.

A veteran of the ring with over 10 years of experience across North America and Europe, Vaughn Vertigo shared a quick story about his interaction with the wrestler. After being thrown into a match last-minute as a replacement for another wrestler some time ago, Vertigo was put into a tricky spot. “Bey was the most accommodating person to make me feel comfortable, to listen to my ideas, and make sure I had a say in what was happening,” Vertigo told SlamWrestling.net.

It made me think about how, despite a lot of wrestlers putting on the — for lack of a better word — act of being arrogant and only caring about themselves, you’d be surprised how down to Earth the vast majority of wrestlers are.

TARIK and Brent Banks shared a number of handshakes before their Smash Wrestling match Sunday, December 29, 2024, at the Rec Room in Toronto. Banks was initially hesitant as he didn’t want to get chopped. Photo by Sully Khan

Something Vertigo said really stuck with me. “The wrestling community generally tries to [rally around someone] when stuff like that happens.” Being a wrestling fan for as long as I can remember, I always had some idea that everyone sort of is aware of everyone in the industry.

But I never really thought about it until these last few months. It really hit home for me yesterday at this benefit show. Wrestling is worldwide but also such a small community. It’s a weird paradox where you have names that you would never think crossed paths.

But after digging, you find that the Vertigo and Bey have shared the ring countless times somewhere on the independents or they know somebody who knows that wrestler. Six degrees of separation seems like three or four degrees too many.

Not much is known about the details surrounding the accident Bey was in and his prognosis, but this much is known to be true: the wrestling community comes together around their own when needed.

NOTE: This article has been updated to include specifics of the injury Bey suffered, as well as amending details on Vaughn Vertigo.

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