Simon Musk Instagram – I was sad to hear of the unfortunate demise of Preston’s Evoque nightclub last week and it turned me to reflect on a lot of brilliant memories I had there as part of Preston City Wrestling. I debuted for PCW on their first official show at Evoque and, being completely honest, the first few shows there felt underwhelming. The wrestling felt secondary, almost like it was background fodder for a night out. In December 2011 however, things clicked. Myself and 5 of my best friends at the time opened the Christmas show in a 6-Way and the atmosphere was fantastic. The crowds had started to recognise and resonate with a lot of the British wrestlers, most of us being relatively unknown at that point, an indication of the U.K. scene at the time. From that point onwards, PCW began to hit its stride and as wrestling began to catch fire across the country, Evoque became one of the hotbeds of the scene. Pretty much every single show was packed and so many of us were afforded these wonderful opportunities to wrestle some of the biggest names the independents had to offer. I credit my 2012 match with then-Dragon Gate star Akira Tozawa as being one of the key moments of my career, but I had a lot of moments in Evoque that I hold dear. I had matches with many that have gone on to big things. I wrestled The Young Bucks, ReDragon, Tommaso Ciampa, Ultimo Dragon, Adam Cole, Super Crazy and Juventud Guerrera. I wrestled Matt Hardy on an afternoon show 15 minutes after he showed up at the venue worse for wear from the night before, and I got absolutely battered by Low-Ki after he spent 3 hours explaining how wrestling worked to me. I got to see my friends absolutely kill it against big names, I got to see them get huge reactions and create incredible moments, with undoubtedly the pinnacle being Trav’s inspiring return from cancer. Evoque wasn’t just responsible for being part of a golden era for British wrestling, it was a place that helped us all grow as performers. I’ve no real involvement in wrestling anymore, but I’ll always be grateful for places like Evoque and PCW for what it gave to me.