Thank you for everything @TheJackSexsmith ??? pic.twitter.com/LnyOj8m6lH

— ??????? ????????? (@RIPTIDEwres) July 5, 2019

Yesterday, at a Riptide Wrestling event, Jack Sexsmith, “The Pansexual Phenomenon” who has been the heart and soul of RIPTIDE since the company’s genesis in July 2017, announced the MRI results that would settle his future. He is, sadly, forced him to retire from wrestling. A knee injury he suffered at a DEFIANT show last May has not only torn an ACL but several ligaments beyond repair.

At the time of the injury happened, he had an upcoming match against Spike Trivet at Riptide with a Brighton Championship title shot on the line, as well as being the current Wrestling Resurgence champion. “Cast me as your protagonist, cast me as your antagonist, cast me how you want… but I’m Jack Sexsmith, and that’s all that matters,”.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1-7SP2U8eA]

The young Jack was a fan of Kane, John Cena and The Road Dogg, a strange mix, some will say. Sexsmith, 31, was trained by Darrell Allen, Jimmy Havoc and Eddie Dennis. He made his debut at PROGRESS Wrestling ENDVR 10 against Earl Black Jr., Damon Moser and Mark Hendry in April 2015. He made his name in PROGRESS wrestling, before wrestling in independent promotions across the UK including IPW: UK, Defiant, Attack Pro Wrestling and Riptide, where he won the 2019 Riptide Rumble. 

His whole career is synonymous with the United Kingdom. If he wrestled in New York, it was with PROGRESS Wrestling. He also wrestled for wXw in Germany in 2017. Even if Sexsmith was ready to wrestle the world, he will not have the chance to.

At a time when everybody was keeping an eye on UK Wrestling, they weren’t aware of the fact Sexsmith was the epitome of it. But he chose to remain an independent wrestler and was proud to defend that lineage.

Jack Sexsmith had fun in the ring, and was incredibly popular, his series with Zack Gibson being a high point. The Alpha Male Scouser produced an expert series of promos for Jack to work against never bordering into the homophobic and is the text book of modern wrestling presentation.

In recent months he has turned heel in a lot of promotions again being creative and without resorting to old less open-minded tropes. Unfortunately for Jack, his 4-year career had been shortened by a succession of concussions, knee and arm injuries.

Sexsmith was one of the first openly LGBTQ wrestlers in the UK and ‘The Pansexual Phenomenon’ remains a spokesperson for inclusivity in wrestling. Two years ago, he told the BBC, “Wrestling has had some really concerning depictions of queer culture in the past. It was a big deal to step and a go – hey, I’m not an awful version of that.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IzUpRVBjQ0]

From a Christian background, he decided to embrace his true sexual identity and be “A proud pansexual, who loves professional wrestling and has a borderline unhealthy obsession with Ryan Reynolds.” He explained it was harder to come out as a wrestler to my family than it was as pansexual.

If PRIDE was his banner, Jack Sexsmith has had many reasons to be proud of himself. He was appreciated as a wrestler and as a man by his colleagues and the fans. Also, he was an example for a generation in quest of its identity. Jack Sexsmith was welcoming everyone, arms wide-opened, LGBTQ+. “I knew that the LGBT was becoming an accepted part of the wrestling community but I was definitely ignorant as to how many of us there were and how many allies we have,” he said once. He succeeded in being a voice for these people, and he will be remembered for that. 

How lucky am I to have had something that makes saying goodbye so hard

Thank you all pic.twitter.com/Jp3yB5jY4R

— Jack Sexsmith (@TheJackSexsmith) July 6, 2019

All pics and videos courtesy of Jack Sexsmith, PROGRESS, RIPTIDE Wrestling.