A professional wrestling show in Lincoln has raised £4,100 for two charities. Fight Factory Wrestling’s ‘Bodyslams to Cancer’ event took place in Yarborough Leisure Centre on Saturday, October 28th.
The event was the tenth annual edition of FFW’s fundraiser and broke the show’s record by raising £4,100.
The money raised will be split between two charities, one helping people with cancer and the other helping people who are recovering from it. Sophie’s Journey provides caravans and holidays to children with cancer and the Lincoln City Foundation has a ‘Fighting Fit’ campaign, which helps people who’ve had cancer get fit.
FFW owner Becca Loeve said: “We’ve been doing this for 10 years and it’s important to us because of family members we’ve lost for cancer and we always wanted to make sure we could do this in their memory.”
She added: “There’s not enough money available for cancer research and cancer charities.”
One of the show’s wrestlers was Hayden Loeve, known by his ring-name Dutch. The loss of his mother to cancer was the reason for FFW starting their annual fundraising show.
He said: “It all started with my mum’s story. She had never been to see me wrestle because she was fighting cancer. So, we decide we were going to run an event that when she was going through treatment and had a low immune system she could sit at the back of the room and still be part of the show.”
He added: “But before the event happened she passed away, so then we decided we were going to fill this room. We still do it to celebrate our own family.”
Pro wrestler Jake Lee (ring name Dalton Chase) was in the main event of the show, challenging for the FFW Heavyweight Championship. He said: “The story that I’ve told is about my mum. She died of cancer this year. It’s important that everyone’s got a story because bottling it up affects you mentally.”
He added: “It’s important to me to do this show and raise money.” And continued: “To be put on as main event with what’s happened this year is equally important as well.”
346 attended the event in Lincoln. Owner Becca Loeve touted the show as their biggest ‘Bodyslams to Cancer’ event yet, featuring more matches than previous editions. In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the company said it was “proud and thankful for everyone who took part”.
The company announced that a final donation had been received, raising the amount from £4,079 to a final count of £4,100.