Disabled wrestlers find confidence in the ring at Derry's Foyle Rumble

The music thumped, the lights blazed, and as the ring announcer began the countdown, the crowd at St Columb’s Hall in Derry erupted in cheers. On Saturday night, wrestlers stepped into the ring as heroes and villains at a wrestling show called the Foyle Rumble.

Fans of WrestleMania would have recognised the blend of athleticism and scripted storytelling, but this Northern Irish version came with a twist: many of the performers grew up with learning or physical disabilities, and the characters they play in the ring go on inspiring them in real life too.

The initiative aims to build confidence and resilience in disabled people by teaching them to wrestle and to create stage personae.

Keelan O’Hagan, 24, said before the show: “I’ve been slagged and made fun of because I was overweight and went to a special school but I’ve proved that I’m somebody.” His stage character is called Kellio.

“He doesn’t step away from any challenge, he always accepts the mission. No matter what, he doesn’t quit,” said O’Hagan. He transformed his diet and fitness to play Kellio.

“To anybody who has tried to bring me down, I’ve been able to get back on my feet and come back stronger,” he said.

Brian Walsh, 44, who is blind, plays a character called Brian Brogue, who defeats opponents with wrist locks, head locks and by pinning them to the floor. “Before, I wouldn’t have had the strength,” he said. “The training was scary at the start, then I got the hang of it. To be a blind person who does wrestling is the best thing ever.”

The Foyle Rumble is a joint initiative of the Tuned In Project, a Derry-based organisation that creates opportunities for disabled adults, and Complete Anarchy Wrestling (CAW), an event promoter based across the border in County Donegal.

The goal is to give disabled people more independence and agency, said Phil Conn, the Tuned In Project’s programme manager. “We challenge them to be the best they can be. It gives them purpose and a support community. It’s a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

Participants train for months and know there is an element of real risk and danger, said Conn. “It’s a choreographed performance — if this was an actual fight, we couldn’t do it — but we’ve had students bruised and battered. The throws and hits have an impact.”

The inaugural rumble was in 2024, and Saturday’s show was the third and most ambitious yet, with hundreds of spectators and dozens of performers, including some without disabilities. There were smoke machines, dramatic entrances, elaborate stunts and a storyline that pitted the heroic characters against a black-clad entity called The Fault.

“It’s mad how far it has come,” said Sean Curran of the Tuned In Project. “Wrestling is great. It’s basically your personality pushed up to 11. We’ve seen them grow in confidence and sort of become the characters.”