2022 Edinburgh Fringe
The Wrestling 2022 line-up revealed
Comedy duo Max & Ivan's annual Fringe staple The Wrestling returns to Edinburgh on 23rd August, and this year's line-up has been revealed.
The event sees a host of comedians take part in a series of wrestling matches, this year taking place in the largest capacity room at the festival, the Assembly Main Hall. The show is staged in aid of Comic Relief, and will for the first time be viewable by those without a ringside ticket as NextUp stream the full show online. It will also be seen live on screen at the Curzon Cinema in Soho, London, and at Islington's Angel Comedy pub venue.
Rhys Nicholson will be acting as MC for the show, which begins at 11pm, whilst commentary will come from Phil Wang, Rose Matafeo and Andrew Maxwell. Olga Koch will deliver "frontline roving reportage".
The three matches are as follows:
MATCH #1 - TAG TEAM ACTION
Max & Ivan VS 'The Head Boy' Ivo Graham & 'The Mad Boy' Mr Dawkins (managed by 'The Bad Boy' Nish Kumar)
Producers say: "The founders of The Wrestling, teaming up for the very first time! Max was once the youngest wrestler in the UK, Ivan is now father to a baby who was once the youngest child in the UK; who will be a match for 'The Human Dynamo' Max Voltage and 'The Tired Dad' Ivan Gonzalez? Quite possibly, their opponents: 'The Head Boy' Ivo Graham, and his former Eton wrestling teacher, Mr Dawkins. Under the mentorship of the villainous Nish Kumar (now a self-styled 'Bad Boy') they seem set to wreak absolute havoc..."
MATCH #2 - COMEDIAN VS WRESTLER
'Kween Bee' Sophie Duker VS Rhia O'Reilly
"Feared professional wrestler Rhia O'Reilly is here to prove wrestling isn't the domain of comedians. But to do that, she's got to get through Kween Bee, Sophie Duker - and there's already a lot of buzz about her..."
THE MAIN EVENT - 6 WAY CHAOS
Rosie 'Daddy' Jones VS 'The Henchwoman' Jess Fostekew VS 'The Welsh Dragon' Kiri Pritchard-McLean VS 'The Prince of Mumbai' Rishi Ghosh VS La Cyclonica 'Masked Woman of Mystery' VS WHOEVER IS REIGNING CHAMPION...
The organisers explain: "Ever since Joe Lycett, live on stage at the Eventim Apollo, declared his championship to be "Up for grabs, 24/7, until the main event of The Wrestling", chaos has been unleashed across the comedy universe. The coveted title has been claimed by John Robins, Mae Martin, Ray Badran, Celya AB, Jack Barry (despite the best efforts of James Acaster), and is currently held by Rosie Holt.
"When the main event rolls around on 23rd August, Lycett's 24/7 ruling will finally expire - and Holt (or whoever is then champion) will have to defend their belt in a sanctioned match against five other competitors."
Max & Ivan recently had their own wrestling sitcom, Deep Heat, on ITV2.
The Wrestling is at Assembly Hall at 11pm, 23 Aug. EdFringe.com