While there are plenty of entertainment options to enjoy in life, few are as consistently misunderstood like professional wrestling.

It’s a surreal industry which is fundamentally built on fiction, but one that is admired by those who love it for its solidity and structure. Much like choosing a football team or a political party, when you get hooked on wrestling the intrigue can last forever despite bursts of disappointment. Loyalty is tested, names change and memories fade, but across community centres and sold out stadiums, the flame still burns.

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Every aspect of human society can be explored through wrestling, both inside the ring and behind the curtain. Emotions flicker through the slap of a referee’s hand on the mat, while tragedy and despair are bookended by camaraderie and euphoria. It does things to you this business, and for those who truly live it, either as fans, performers or promoters, nothing means more.



Above all else though is community. Throughout youth, being a wrestling fan can often be tinged with loneliness. But then, as the interest grows, becoming friendly with other enthusiasts makes the whole experience so much stronger. Whether it’s subtle too-sweets after you drunkenly spot someone in a Bullet Club t-shirt, or seeing the eyes of the new guy at work light up when you mention John Cena, the safety in numbers is a marvellous thing. For a lot of fans, wrestling is a protective shield amidst a chaotic world.


For Emily Read, it helped to keep her alive.

A wrestling promoter for over seven years, Emily has been the lynchpin and matriarch of Pro-Wrestling: EVE since its inception in 2010. EVE is one of the few all-female promotions, and is enjoyed and celebrated by fans of all backgrounds. Many of the greatest female talents in wrestling history have been offered opportunities to compete in the United Kingdom by the pink haired Read, whose vegan, bisexual and feminist ideologies have helped define EVE through action, rather than preaching.

The success and longevity of EVE is an achievement in itself, but is all the more remarkable considering Read’s battle with mental illness. In 2012, Emily was admitted under the Mental Health Act, and spent a lengthy period of time convalescing. The road to recovery was difficult, and the promotion she had worked so hard to establish was put on hold as she attempted to simply stay alive.

‘The Mental Health Act is for people who are just so unwell that they can’t cope, and their families can’t cope looking after them,’ says Read to Metro.co.uk. ‘I was at the point where I was not safe to myself, I was extremely suicidal and my mind was gone. I was just broken.’

When experiencing mental health issues, self harm is often used as an attempt to pacify the situation. Self harm can result in personal injury, but the pain is eased by the perceived control and calmness. As Emily’s problems continued, her need to maintain at least a semblance of control spiralled into increasingly more dangerous situations.

‘When your mind starts to break you always start clinging to that, but it doesn’t pull you out so you think ‘I’ll fucking do more. I’ll rip off all my toenails.

‘I was looking at things and everything was moving around, and my thoughts were going too fast and then they stopped. Then it was daytime, then nighttime, and what happened to that fucking time? You just break.’

Emily’s time in hospital allowed her to understand her condition, and how to alleviate the symptoms. After an initial diagnosis of depression, she was eventually found to have Bipolar disorder, and began to receive the correct treatment she required. Acceptance and awareness of mental health issues has improved over the past decade, but funding and infrastructure is struggling to keep up with the costs that such advancement requires.



‘You need to be monitored 24 hours a day and you need staff to cope with you,’ confirms Read. ‘You need to be sedated if you’re going for control through self harm. Or if it’s all too much and you think death is just the nicer option than having your brain turn on you.’

Mental health issues have caused problems across the wrestling industry. The intensity of the business teamed with the claustrophobic Groundhog Day reality of day-to-day life when not in the ring can often combine to damaging effect. Throw in physical injuries, frequent domestic and international travel and the need to both understand and play internal politics, and the result is often severe issues that are ignored for too long.

For Emily, the help she received was invaluable.

‘Being in there helped me be safe and kept me alive, and then helped me get the right diagnosis and the right medication. I got to speak to other ill people and you’re all in there because you’ve all hit rock bottom. You feel this shame and then you’d say the things you felt the most ashamed about.

‘It’d be the most stupid things like constantly keeping the same washing in the machine for a week and being so anxious about it. Being too anxious to take it out of the machine, so then to stop it smelling you just press the button to make it wash again.

‘It was wonderful to finally realise that you’re not alone. So many of these things make you feel like a failed adult, but they were just symptoms. That realisation is so helpful.’


Read’s time in hospital allowed her to recover ambitions of existence, and in the months after she returned to a degree of normality. As the haze lifted however, something felt like it was missing. EVE had taken an extended hiatus during Emily’s illness, and few believed that a return was possible. The absence of wrestling from her life hurt, but she couldn’t see a future for the promotion she had worked so hard to create.

‘It crushed me because I lost everything and I never thought I would get to run EVE again. I thought it was done and I felt that I’d let down the wrestlers and also my family. This was something I wanted so badly for my children to see, and it was gone. I didn’t think it would ever come back because it takes a very long time to recover. I didn’t see it as a driving force because it was too far away.’

Emily’s husband Dann is also a wrestling promoter, and has been a constant source of inspiration and help for his wife. Together, the Read’s have worked hard to establish their corner of British wrestling over the past decade, and have supported each other to better not just their careers, but their lives.

‘Dann is the first person I met where I felt like I exhaled and could relax,’ says Emily. ‘His love for me has never wavered no matter how ill I got. When I fall down and my health is so hard, without making me feel guilty or complaining he picks up my flack and does the work of two people. He’s my everything and I would not be alive without him.’


With Dann’s support, the green shoots of an EVE rebirth began to sprout and flourish.

‘When I started getting to the point of leaving the house regularly and handling day-to-day life, it then became a glimmer of maybe. That’s when I decided that instead of being a normal wrestling promotion that happened to be all female, I’d put everything into it.

‘Fucking scary. But so is having a breakdown.’

EVE finally returned on March 20, 2016, with an event that became the first all female show to ever take place in London. This weekend, they return to the capital at the excellent Resistance Gallery in Bethnal Green to crown a new champion.

Rhia O’Reilly has been forced to vacate the championship after suffering a broken ankle earlier this year, and the popular Irish wrestler will be forced to hand over her title on Sunday night to the new queen of EVE.

And who will that be? Take your pick from this array of talent who will be competing at Babes with the Power.

Even if you can't make it down you can still #SupportYourLocalGirlGang by sharing these images & event details on all your socials ?? pic.twitter.com/O9h3AH0vaf — EVE Women Wrestling (@ProWrestlingEVE) May 16, 2017

‘This is an unexpected tournament,’ confirms Emily. ‘But that can often be a good thing.

‘Our roster is so packed with talent that anyone can win and be a fantastic champion. That’s what makes it so exciting. All the matches are going to be corkers. Everyone is bringing their A-game and everyone wants that show stealing match. Bold moves are how Dann and I live our lives. We’re not afraid of change and a lot of people are.’

The self-styled riot girls of wrestling, EVE represents a grassroots feminist movement which celebrates women of all shapes and sizes. Wrestling quality is an important aspect, alongside a DIY attitude and a desire for change.

‘I really encourage women to see what’s possible,’ says Emily. ‘When they see us and notice us they will remember and keep coming along. It’s so important for women to see our shows.’

It all comes back to wrestling. Life’s battles can start at any time. Through our own actions or others, the ticking clock of unexpected gloom will attack without warning.

That’s why it’s important to arm ourselves with as many weapons as we can. Family, friends, adventure. Smiles, helpfulness, belief. And for those that know, it’s wrestling. That reassuring arm around the shoulder just when we need it the most. It could be Monday Night Raw, a late night AJPW binge YouTube session or even watching two drunk blokes attempting some Greco-Roman after one too many down the boozer.

‘It helps people to talk,’ says Emily. ‘I’m trying to be as open about it as I can, for people to know and see you can still achieve, and there’s no shame.’

If you’re in London this weekend, head down to East London to experience a company that has defined and saved lives. One where the communication has often been as vital as the competition.

Visit Pro-Wrestling: EVE on Facebook to buy tickets for their two-day event this weekend. Tickets also available on the door.