BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

IRONTON, Ohio — All of FTC Wrestling’s titles will be on the line at their Homecoming “Fit for a King” event Oct. 1 at the Ro-Na Theater in Ironton. 

One of the main events of the night will be a face-off between Jerry “The King” Lawler and Jock Samson. 

FTC Wrestling has been blazing the tri-state area this summer, frequently appearing at fairs, including Martin County’s Harvest Fest.

“We’ve had a fantastic summer. This has been our biggest summer to date,” said head trainer and co-organizer Robert Smedley, better known by his ring name “Bobby Blaze.”

Joe Pace started the wrestling federation in October 2016. Blaze joined the crew and they officially opened a grappling school to train professional wrestlers in December 2020. 

“We’ve been running in Ohio, we’ve been running in West Virginia, we’ve been doing a lot in Kentucky,” said Pace. “But our home base is in an old theater in Ironton called the Ro-Na Theater. That’s where we do our big shows.”

The homecoming show Oct. 1 will be FTC’s first show at their “home base” in over a year, and they’re not pulling any punches for this one.

“All our titles will be on the line that night,” said Pace. “Our heavyweight champion, Brocks Boulder – the  AOG champion – will be defending his title, the women’s title will be on the line, the tag team title. So it’s definitely going to be a big show.”

Follow FTC Wrestling on Facebook for more information.