When the spotlight is put on a wrestler on the independent scene, so often the story is about someone who has been on the circuit for a number of years, traveling all over making towns and developing their craft to the point that they are on the cusp of breaking out and moving on to bigger and better things, much like Jody Threat.
But in the case of one Canadian woman wrestler, her time in the wrestling business has been comparatively short, but nonetheless, she is in the midst of a rapid rise that suggests her future is as bright as her very red hair.
Her name is ‘Wild Child’ Jody Threat, and in recent months she has rapidly risen in exposure. She seems poised to raise her profile even more and perhaps get the chance to perform on even bigger stages.
Better Late Than Never
Jody Threat, now in her very early thirties, started later than many of her peers and, as stated, is still somewhat new to the wrestling business, having begun her career less than three years ago. She attended her first independent wrestling show in November of 2016 and decided then and there to pursue a career in the ring.
By September of 2017, less than a year later, she had her first match for the Superkick’d promotion in her hometown of Toronto. Several of her earliest matches were for a wrestling training facility in nearby Kitchener, Ontario, run by long-time independent veterans ‘Big’ Ben Ortmanns and Chris ‘The Notorious TID’ Tidwell.
Always a Threat
Not long after those early matches, Jody Threat quickly began making a name for herself in many prominent promotions in Ontario. She debuted for Smash Wrestling in November of 2017 and has been a mainstay there ever since. She wrestled for Crossfire Wrestling a month later and also performed for them throughout 2018.
It was during 2018 that her career truly began to take off. Early on in the year, she performed for a number of Ontario promotions, such as Demand Lucha, Alpha-1, and Pro Wrestling Eclipse.
But by the spring, she was traveling to the US, wrestling for promotions in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And her excursions south of the border were not confined to states near the border; she also traveled to Texas in the fall of that year to wrestle for multiple promotions there.
And even as she was gaining exposure in America, she also began gaining more elsewhere in her home country, as she had multiple opportunities to wrestle in Quebec. She ended the year by winning her first title, becoming the Barrie Wrestling women’s champion in December.
2018 The Year of the Whirlwind for Jody
While Threat’s 2018 seems like a whirlwind, as she was on the road in a variety of different places wrestling week in and week out, 2019 was more of the same. Early on this year, she debuted for prominent US independents Glory Pro and AAW. Not long after that, she won her second title, becoming champion of Michigan’s Divine Pro Wrestling in March.
In July, she got the opportunity to wrestle overseas, as she traveled to the UK to wrestle for Sendai Girls UK and Fight Club: PRO before capping her trip off by wrestling on PROGRESS Wrestling’s Chapter 93.
After returning home to Toronto, she had some of her biggest matches yet, facing WWE NXT UK women’s champion Toni Storm on the Smash vs. PROGRESS show in August of 2019 and then battling PROGRESS women’s champion and Impact Wrestling knockout Jordynne Grave as part of a mixed tag match during PROGRESS Toronto two days later, where Threat’s partner was ‘The Product’ David Starr.
On The Horizon
Besides consistently wrestling all over and battling against some of the biggest stars in wrestling today, there have been other signs that big things may be on the horizon for Jody Threat. She recently had a tryout with WWE when the promotion was in Toronto for SummerSlam week.
During that week, she also appeared on NXT Takeover: Toronto as one of the masked people guiding Mia Yim to the ring. While the identities of most of those individuals was hidden by the bandanas on their face, it was not hard to identify Threat by her scarlet mane.
And during the week prior to SummerSlam, ‘Wild Child’ Jody Threat had the opportunity to work with the greatest woman wrestler Toronto has produced, Trish Stratus, taking part in the WWE Hall of Famer’s last in-ring workouts as she shook off the ring rust prior to her match against Charlotte Flair.
This was actually the second time Threat took part in workouts with the veteran, as she was involved in similar sessions in October 2018 in the lead-up to Stratus’ match at WWE Evolution.
Jody Threat – The Wild Child Unleashed
Threat’s passion for wrestling is clear, and it is exemplified by her ongoing pursuit of further training and development. In the latter part of 2018, she attended Tyson Dux’s Wrestling Factory, sitting under the learning tree of the independent legend. And most recently, she has been training at Canadian Strong Style Wrestling Academy, a new facility operated by Impact tag team champion ‘The Walking Weapon’ Josh Alexander.
It’s not hard to see why Threat is making such big waves. Her in-ring persona is clearly authentic: she comes to the ring carrying a skateboard because she has for many, many years been an avid skateboarder and snowboarder. Perhaps it was that fondness for extreme sports that drew her to wrestling in the first place.
And her style in the ring also makes a strong impression on fans; she is very physical and deceptively strong, and because of those attributes, she has frequently taken part in intergender and mixed tag matches since the early days of her career. She is just as capable of suplexing a man as she is a woman.
Wild Child Jody Threat: The Future is Bright
Her name and reputation are rapidly growing. She can be seen in more and more places. In the last few weeks, she has debuted for several prominent US independents: Black Label Pro, Pro Wrestling Revolver, Limitless Wrestling, and now IMPACT! Wrestling. Fans should be on the lookout for her, as who knows where she may turn up next?
