Bringing the Josh Fight to life

Seward native finds himself in the middle of viral name clash

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In what's estimated to be the world's largest gathering of people named Josh, a non-Josh and Seward native served as the event's unofficial social media documentarian.

Ryan Wall, a 2019 Seward High School graduate and sophomore at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, documented the April 24 “Josh Fight” in Lincoln via the social media video app TikTok.

The Josh Fight stemmed from a challenge to a duel of the Joshes issued last year by Arizona college student Josh Swain. The initial post, made in April of 2020, was a screenshot taken from a group message sent to hundreds of people named Josh. It stated that on April 24, 2021, a fight will be held and the winner will keep the name Josh, while the losers must change their name.

The joke post culminated in hundreds, most named Josh, flocking to the Air Park in Lincoln for a pool noodle battle and food drive.

At the center was Wall, who recorded the action throughout the day via TikTok and even had the chance to show Swain the sites of Lincoln, including dinner at Runza.

So how did Wall, who had just five TikTok followers two weeks ago, wind up as the social media liaison for the battle of the Joshes? Wall saw the post, which provided a set of coordinates for the fight location. When he typed the coordinates into Google, it showed that the mystery location was in Lincoln, about five miles from the Nebraska Wesleyan campus.

Finding humor in the situation and the selection of Lincoln, of all places, as the fight site, Wall crafted what he thought was a throwaway joke meant for a handful of people.

“If I remember, it was the Tuesday before the event, I just made a silly post about it because I had five followers and they were all people I knew closely,” he said. “I made a joke post about it for them, but I didn't expect anyone else to see it. That was my original thought.”

More than 1.5 million views and upwards of 80,000 followers later, Wall's video – and the Josh Fight – became viral internet sensations. Wall used the newfound attention to promote the event and Lincoln, providing updates on the location and assisting where possible.

Throughout the day, he provided highlights and clips via TikTok, amassing thousands of more views and followers all while taking in the bizarre and fun filled action himself.

“I was there probably half an hour or 45 minutes before it started and there were already 250 to 300 people...and more and more people just kept coming,” he said. “I just walked around and watched crazy people hitting each other with pool noodles.”

When the event wrapped up, the Joshes, and a few non-Joshes, had collected hundreds of food items for the Food Bank of Lincoln and Swain has since collected more than $10,000 for the Children's Hospital and Medical Center Foundation in Omaha. Not bad for a group of people who found common ground in the name Josh.

“I've had some good friends named Josh and I've known some other people named Josh,” Wall said. “All the Joshes I met there seemed to be cool people and I say they do good work.”

Wall laughs when he thinks about the experience. The absurdity of the event itself is enough to make him chuckle, but his role and how he got there adds to the ridiculousness of it all.

“I probably saw it first when it was a thing online like, a year ago, and then I forgot about it for 11 months,” he said. “At first I wasn't planning on going and I didn't expect anyone to be there. I just made a post about it because how often does something like this happen in Lincoln?”

Adding to the humor is the fact that Wall said he had no previous experience with videography and filmmaking nor really knew the ins-and-outs of TikTok.

Since the event, Wall has learned that the joke post he initially made to his five original followers and the subsequent Josh Fight clips sent to thousands have equalled a nice payday.

“I didn't have much of an intention to continue making anything of creative value...but apparently there's a fairly decent amount of money they're going to pay me for getting that many views,” he said.

Wall said he'll try to explore more ways to have another viral hit but is pleased with the Josh Fight fame for now. He's made a few posts since then but none have rivaled the millions of hits his posts from the event gathered. And with the cooling of the Josh Fight craze has come a decline in the viewers he amassed throughout the whirlwind week.

“People have justifiably decided my account won't have a lot more information they want,” he said, stating that his follower account has dropped from 80,000 to 75,000 since the event concluded.

Nonetheless, Wall said he intends to continue experimenting with TikTok and hopes to keep it as a hobby as he pursues a career involving engineering or physics.

With finals week lurking, Wall said he's content the viral nature of the event has died down but is thankful that a little bit of luck allowed him to help settle the score and find the one true Josh.

“I'm just going to take it as it comes and be thankful for the happenstance to be as lucky as I was,” he said.