Billy Reil

Infobox Wrestler
name=Billy Reil

---

img_capt=
names=Billy Reil
The Rougue
height=height|ft=6|in=0
weight=convert|205|lb|kg|abbr=on|lk=on
birth_date=birth date and age|1979|6|19
death_date=
birth_place=South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
death_place=
resides=South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
billed=
trainer=Reckless Youth
New Jack
Dory Funk Jr.
Mike Kehner
debut=May 19 1995
vs. Trent Acid
retired=
website=MySpace|therealbillyreil|Billy Reil|

Billy Reil (born June 19 1979) is an American professional wrestler currently working the Northeastern Independent circuit in the United States. A longtime veteran of the Tri-State area, he was a mainstay of Jersey All Pro Wrestling during the late 1990s. A former JAPW Light Heavyweight Champion, his 18-month title reign is currently the longest in the promotion's history.

He is also a guest writer for wrestling websites such as Wrestling-News.com, most notably his "Reil World" and "Billy Reil Uncut" columns. [cite web |url=http://www.wrestling-news.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/1/304 |title=Indy Wrestling Star Billy Reil Presents 'Billy Reil UNCUT' |author=Reil, Billy |date=2004-10-15 |publisher=Wrestling-News.com]

Career

Early life and career

Born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Reil was a wrestling fan growing up and often attended World Wrestling Federation events at The Spectrum during the late 1980s. As a teenager, he began hanging out at the ECW Arena attempting to make contacts in the professional wrestling business and eventually met Angel, who then introduced Reil to Reckless Youth. He soon made his in-ring debut on May 19, 1995 in a match against his childhood friend Trent Acid. During the summer of 1996, Reil would begin training with The Pit Bulls before leaving for college the following year.cite web |url=http://www.wrestlingclothesline.com/reil.htm |title=Ten Questions With ... Billy Reil |author=Schwan, Brett |year=2001 |publisher=WrestlingClothesline.com]

In 1997, he was given a four year scholarship to Penn State University for his athletic skills on the baseball diamond. While at Penn State, Reil continued to wrestle outside the university. Unfortunately, his baseball career was cut short when he was injured in a wrestling match against LostBoy Yar.

Jersey All-Pro Wrestling and the independents

Reil continued to wrestle and was honing his craft working in Jersey All Pro Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) New Jersey territory, and Grande Wrestling Alliance when his big break happened outside the ring. Due to his smaller size (160lb) at the time, Reil was often taken advantage of in the ring. One night in a Wildwood, New Jersey nightclub, Reil was choked from behind by fellow indy wrestler J.R. Ryder. Reil rushed the club and Ryder tried to strike him, but Reil busted the larger wrestler wide open. After the incident, Reil created a new gimmick for himself: a "Loose cannon" type wrestler, who wasn't afraid of anybody or afraid to speak his mind about anything.

In 1999, Reil was partially responsible for helping International Superstar Low Ki to some of his finest matches as a rookie. The two had great matches, and battled over the Jersey All Pro Wrestling Lightheavyweight title. Billy Reil, under the ring name "The Human Highlight," compiled twenty Indy titles by age 20. Also in 1999, many say Billy Reil was responsible for the progression of best friend Trent Acid, who later went on to Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) fame. The two would team as D-Sex defeating The Nation of Immigration (Homicide & Kane D) for the JAPW Tag Team titles in Bayonne, New Jersey on January 29. The two would defend the titles for a month before losing the titles to The Big Unit (Dave Desire and Rick Silver) on February 26, 1999.

Attending Dory Funk, Jr.'s Dojo in 1999, Reil was also trained by some of the leading independent wrestlers in the United States on the independent circuit including New Jack, Steve Corino, Don Montoya, Reckless Youth and former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) referee, Mike Kehner. By 2000, Reil had gained a considerable following in the Northeastern United States which included a high profile match against Sabu and Lo-Ki in a "Three-Way Dance" on April 7, 2000. [cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/smokyrobmoore/jp050800.htm |title=View from the Rising Sun: Sabu - Where Will He Go? |author=Horie, Masanori |date=2000-05-08 |publisher=Rob Moore, Texas Wrestling Announcer]

Later that year, while wrestling at an event for the Central Wrestling Coalition, Reil suffered a separated shoulder and neck injuries in a match against Breaker Morant in South Philadelphia in November. ["Biff! Pow! Sock!; Pro wrestling's hopefuls take their dreams to the mat in South Philly.". Philadelphia Inquirer. 20 May 2001]

CM Punk also helped Reil's career when the two wrestled at the 2002 J-Cup. Reil was a last minute replacement for Judas Young, and they had a good bout. It was here that future owner of Ring Of Honor, Rob Feinstein scouted and recruited Punk. That same year, Reil was backstage during Xtreme Pro Wrestling's Hostile Takeover at the old ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 31, 2002. [cite web |url=http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2002_/articles/1030906215.php |title=XPW "Hostile Takeover" Results from Philadelphia 8-31-02 |author=Calvin, Martin |year=2002-09-01 |publisher=LordsofPain.net]

Crimefighting and controversy

In October 2002, while in his apartment in South Philadelphia, Reil was involved in the capture of a roller skating purse snatcher who had attempted to rob a young women in the nearby Italian Market. Hearing the commotion outside the apartment, he ran outside in only his boxer shorts and attempted to intervene. After chasing the criminal for six blocks, he managed to capture the thief after commandeering a bicycle and held him in custody until police arrived.cite web |url=http://www.wrestling-news.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/1/452 |title=Philadelphia Daily News Article On Indy Wrestling Star Billy Reil, New Wrestling School Formed, & More |author=DeBlasi, Anthony |year=2004-11-18 |publisher=1wrestling.com] The suspect, Reil stated in later interviews, was as an old college friend who had apparently since become a heroin addict.cite web |url=http://www.wrestlingclothesline.com/strauss-reil.htm |title=Seven Deadly Questions |author=Strauss, Gerry |year=2007-11-14 |publisher=WrestlingClothesline.com] He would again be involved in a similar situation 18 months later when, while walking into Prudential Savings Bank with his 74-year-old grandfather, he pursued career criminal James Prevard who was attempting to leave the bank with an undisclosed amount of money. Going after him, Reil was joined by two undercover narcotics officers who eventually caught Prevard near Carlisle Street. ["Billy Reil rides again! Helps chase down; S. Phila. bank robber". Philadelphia Daily News. 12 Mar 2004]

In 2003, Reil debuted in Frank Goodman's USA Pro wrestling promotion, disrupting his real life ex-girlfriend's proposal to Mike Kruel. Many said that when Reil punched Becky Bayless, it was a shoot, as blood came poring out of her mouth and nose. The angle which also included Mike Tobin, Danny Drake, Tony Lo, Simon Diamond, and Matt Striker lasted well over a year. He also lost to Chris Candido and Balls Mahoney in a "three-way dance" in a match for the UWA Heavyweight Championship in an event for the Universal Wrestling Association (later NWA New Jersey) on May 23, 2004. [cite web |url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/whtuwa2.html |title=UWA/NWA New Jersey Heavyweight Title History |author=Roelfsema, Eric |year=2005 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]

In November 2004, appearing at the Wildwood City Municipal Court where the underage drinking and assault charges from the 1999 incident with J.R. Ryder were dropped, he opened the Animal House wrestling school with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan which would train several independent wrestlers in the New Jersey area. [cite web |url=http://www.1wrestling.com/news/newsline.asp?news=20496 |title=Wrestling is Reil |author=Makropoulos, Georgiann |date=2004-11-17 |publisher=1wrestling.com]

Recent years

During the next two years he would continue competing in independent promotions including Frank Goodman's UXW teaming with Mike Tobin as Knight Life to defeat the Christopher Street Connection for the vacant UXW Tag Team titles on April 15, 2005 and was scheduled to defend their titles against Papadon & Havok, the Solution at the Chris Candido Memorial Show in Long Island, New York on May 21 however Reil failed to show up for the event. During the show, Reil's partners Mike Tobin and Trent Acid criticized Reil during an interview in which they mentioned his staged retirement via the internet earlier that year [cite web |url=http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=14677 |title=Billy Reil talks about leaving UXW |author=Reil, Billy |date=2005-04-11 |publisher=Wrestling Observer] [cite web |url=http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/lofiversion/index.php?t69072.html |title=Billy Reil retires |author=Reil, Billy |date=2005-04-12 |publisher=TheSmartMarks.com] and introduced Trinity and Justin Credible to the Knight Life stable. [cite web |url=http://www.gumgod.com/matt_candido.htm |title=Chris Candido Memorial Show |author=Burgan, Derek |year=2005 |publisher=Gumgod.com]

The following year at an event for National Wrestling Superstars, Reil defeating Corey Havoc, Dan Petit and J.R. in a Four-Way Match on December 29, 2006. In January 2007, he began feuding with Danny Demanto and, while their first encounter on January 26 resulted in a no contest, Reil defeated Demanto and Bison Bravado in a tag team match with Jim Neidhart the following day. The following month, in a match for the vacant UXW X-Treme Championship, he would participate in a 7-way match with Chasyn Rance, Kirby Mack, T.J. Mack, Naphtali, Greatness, Jerrelle Clark later losing to Kirby Mack in Orlando, Florida on February 24. [cite web |url=http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=18770 |title=Wrestling Observer Headlines, 2/25/2007 |author=Meltzer, Dave |authorlink=Dave Meltzer |date=2007-02-25 |publisher=Wrestling Observer] [cite web |url=http://www.chasynrance.com/2007.htm |title=Results: 2007 |author=Rance, Chasyn |publisher=ChasynRance.com] [cite web |url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/xtusapw.html |title=USA UXW X-Treme Title History |author=Tsakiries, Phil |coauthors=Brian Westcott |year=2007 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]

Championships and accomplishments

*Independent Superstars of Professional Wrestling
**ISPW Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times) - first champion/last champion [cite web |url=http://solie.org/titlehistories/lhtjapw.html |title=ISPW Light Heavyweight Title History |author=Roelfsema, Eric |year=2001 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]
*Jersey All Pro Wrestling
**JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship (3 times) [cite web |url=http://solie.org/titlehistories/lhtjapw.html |title=JAPW Light Heavyweight Title History |author=Tsakiries, Phil |year=2006 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]
**JAPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Trent Acid [cite web |url=http://solie.org/titlehistories/ttjapw.html |title=JAPW Tag Team Title History |author=Tsakiries, Phil |year=2006 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]
*USA Pro Wrestling
**USA Pro United States Championship (1 time) [cite web |url=http://solie.org/titlehistories/ustusapw.html |title=USA Pro Wrestling Light Heavyweight Title History |author=Tsakiries, Phil |coauthors=Brian Westcott |year=2007 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]
**USA Pro Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Mike Tobin [cite web |url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/ttusapw.html |title=USA Pro Wrestling Tag Team Title History |author=Tsakiries, Phil |coauthors=Brian Westcott and Kriss Knights |year=2007 |publisher=Solie's Title Histories]
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him # 467 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2002
**PWI ranked him # 430 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2000
**PWI ranked him # 438 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1999Finishing Move:South Philly Driver (Spicolli Driver #2)Favorite Moves: The SuperBombThe BrainBuster

References

External links

* [http://prowrestlingwebcast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=158448 The Minority Report: The Masked Maniac Show w/ Billy Reil]
* [http://www.wrestlingclothesline.com/strauss-reil.htm Seven Deadly Questions] by Gerry Strauss
* [http://www.geocities.com/acidprowrestling/billyreil.html Acid Pro Wrestling: Billy Reil]
* [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/b/billy-reil.html Profile at Online World of Wrestling]
* [http://bodyslamming.com/other/billyreil.html Other Superstars: Billy Reid]