“Everyone was surprised. No one expected it. Everyone’s face was so funny (laughs). I made a big impression.”

Meet Nil Yildirim. Nil is the first Turkish woman to ever hold a pro wrestling title and is the current Compass Wrestling Champion. She is Turkey’s first and only female wrestling champion and she won that title by defeating a male opponent. In her first match. As a mystery opponent. So it’s fair to say that she made an impression.

Even without winning a championship, Nil likely would have made a big impression. There aren’t many other Turkish female wrestlers. In fact, there is only one other female wrestler in Turkey right now, Dila Ocek, who is currently competing with the Turkish Wrestling Alliance and made her debut only a few short months before Nil. But being one of the few women on the scene isn’t the only thing that would have helped Nil make an impression. She’s a very charismatic performer with a queen-sized attitude.

When asked how people reacted to her becoming a wrestler, Nil said “the reactions weren't too good. Bad people talked disgusting about me. But I don't care about them, and I move on, and I don't care what anyone says, I follow my dreams. I'm in love with wrestling.”

That love is something that started at a young age. “Ashley Massaro is the woman I fell in love with when I was little and who tied me to wrestling. I’m still mourning Ashley.” Nil also looks up to Charlotte Flair, Paige and Jon Moxley, influences that can be seen in the swagger and confidence that Nil displays in the ring.

That confidence paired with the early success has surely put Compass Wrestling and Turkish wrestling as a whole on notice. In winning her championship, Nil Yildirim was able to defeat Cesar Cage, one of Compass Wrestling’s best and perhaps their largest competitor. While Nil did get a little assist from her boyfriend and fellow Compass wrestler Anil Ilmaz in the match, having Anil by her side is in reality just an extra bit of offense in her arsenal that she can utilize.

Now, the question in Compass Wrestling and throughout Turkish wrestling will be, who can take the title from Nil Yilidrim? As of now, Nil’s opponent for her first title defense has yet to be announced. Many of Turkey’s top wrestlers are undoubtedly going to make their case that it should be them.

Turkey is a bit of a newcomer on the pro wrestling scene. Throughout the 2010’s, Turkish Power Wrestling was the only promotion in Turkey that really had any visibility in the wrestling world. However, Turkish Power only featured a handful of Turkish talent and mostly relied on international independent wrestling talent to draw crowds. But their ability to draw crowds is not to be overlooked, at one point packing the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul with a crowd of 3,111 on March 31, 2018.

One of those 3,111 was Anil Ilmaz, the current president of Compass Wrestling. “I would love to wrestle for TPW,” Anil said. But TPW hasn’t produced an event since that big night in 2018 at Volkswagen Arena. The promoter of TPW has made mention of running a show again recently but with the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic still in effect, there are no real guarantees and no dates set.

There are also no professional wrestling training facilities in Turkey. No schools or trainers either and potentially only one wrestling ring, the one used by Turkish Power. Yet, that hasn’t stopped promotions like Compass Wrestling and their counterparts Turkish Wrestling Alliance and AnkPro from starting up and operating on the unique business model of renting out gyms with boxing rings to hold their own shows in.

“We organize wrestling events every few months but we do not earn anything from this business,” Anil said. Fans that would like to attend can watch for free. The videos of the shows are also uploaded on YouTube, amassing views in the thousands.

But it’s not money that interests the wrestlers in Compass Wrestling. Instead it’s a love of the sport and having the opportunity to live out their dreams of becoming professional wrestlers. A love that has manifested into a DIY indie wrestling scene that has been created out of pure imagination without any of the usual resources available to the wrestlers. This same love for wrestling is also present in an ever growing fan base. There is a healthy wrestling fan community in Turkey, with websites like profesyonelgures.com and guresturkiye.net having very active forums that discuss everything from WWE to the wrestling that is now being produced in the country.

Compass Wrestling has been going strong since early 2019. Before that, parts of the crew that eventually became Compass Wrestling started wrestling together in the backyard and creating wrestling content. In the days leading up to the first official Compass Wrestling event, Aydin Dolapci, a close member of that crew, passed away unexpectedly. To honor Aydin’s memory, Compass called their first event Aydinlik, a Turkish word that has multiple meanings including enlightenment, and continue to honor Aydin’s memory to this day, almost two full years later.

As Compass heads into their second full year of operations, they face some challenges. For one, the Covid-19 pandemic is still making it difficult to schedule events. Compass hopes to return to action at some point in the spring of 2021 with an anniversary show. Dates are still to be determined and will depend on how the rest of the Covid situation plays out. There’s also the challenge of continuing to put out content that they feel good about without access to wrestling training or a wrestling ring.

But if there’s anything that we know for sure about these wrestlers from Turkey it’s that their love for professional wrestling will not be denied. With the passion and drive that these purveyors of the Turkish DIY indie wrestling have shown, the future can only be bright for Turkish pro wrestling.