Independent wrestler Billy Reil dies at 44 years old

The Philadelphian was a lifelong fan of the business, and turned that into a career on the Northeast indie scene in the late 1990s and 2000s.

Yesterday (April 29), GCW’s Brett Lauderdale posted on X that independent wrestler Billy Reil had died recently. PWInsider reports Reil’s family also shared the sad news about the 44 year old.

Insider notes that Reil “had been dealing with a lot of health issues in [the] last year”, and Lauderdale’s tweet and others posted in remembrance would seem to indicate Reil struggled with addiction issues that have led to too many early deaths — in pro wrestling and in general.

Reil began wrestling in 1996 after growing up attending WWE and ECW shows in his Philadelphia hometown. He was active in the tri-state area’s indie scene throughout the late 90s and the aughts, wrestling for promotions like Jersey Championship Wrestling, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Independent Superstars Of Professional Wrestling. Reil won all three of those promotion’s Light Heavyweight titles during his career. He was perhaps most well known for a turn of the century rivalry with Low Ki that spanned companies, which included this 2000 match with Ki and Sabu for JAPW.

After his full-time career as a pro wrestler essentially ended in 2009, Reil had a last match for IWA Vintage in 2013.

Reil also had 15 minutes of mainstream local fame for an act of real-life heroism in 2002, with reports of his intervening when a a man in rollerblades mugged his 61 year old neighbor made the local Philly news:

When local professional wrestler Bill Reil saw a man on Rollerblades attempting to mug his elder neighbor around 11:30 a.m., he ran out of the house clad only in his underwear, commandeered a bicycle from a young man and then tackled the culprit.

On behalf of the entire Cageside Seats community, our hearts go out to Reil’s family, friends, and everyone missing him today.