The golden days of Australian wrestling came to a halt in 1978 when Nine Network owner Kerry Packer pulled the pin on World Championship Wrestling, removing it from programming in favour of his latest pet project, World Series Cricket.
Cricket’s greatest gain became Australian wrestling’s greatest loss.
Where once Australian wrestling shows packed venues such as Melbourne’s Festival Hall and Perth’s Perry Lakes Stadium, it was then held in RSLs, high school gyms and recreation centres.
Of course, some shows have drawn decent crowds for the scene. NWA Australia’s debut show, Turning over Tradition, at South Australia’s Thebarton Theatre in April 2004, being a case in point, drawing over 1000 fans from around the country.
Unfortunately, the promotion couldn’t keep up the momentum, drawing as low as 50 by the fourth show.
Although very unlikely the Australian independent scene will ever again get near the success of the golden era, especially with even the WWE drawing smaller crowds to their house shows, a return to a nationally run promotion with free-to-air TV on a major network backing is something that the true believers of the scene would love to see occur.
Who wouldn’t love to see the cream of the Australian scene, the likes of Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, KrackerJak, Carlo Cannon, “Jag” Hartley Jackson, Damian Slater, T.N.T., Ryan Eagles, Mikey Broderick and Sean O’Shea, just to name a few, battle it out on our screens on a weekly basis and being part of successful tours.
International guys could do tours like the days gone by taking on the Australian contingent. It’s only just a dream.
At least we get to see our favourites up close every month or so and enjoy seeing them do well overseas when they get the opportunity.
Go to as many shows as you can and you will see Australian talent that can perform just as good as any talent you may see on WWE or TNA programming.
Fat-E
Guest
i dont care how fake wrestling is or looks... its awesome entertainment... so quit your complaining and just accept the fact that it made it onto the site
GrecoRoman
Guest
Looks like there are some lazy journos trawling this site looking for article ideas. Or just a coincidence maybe? http://www.smh.com.au/national/wrestling-with-a-secret-passion-20110701-1gv3v.html
GrecoRoman
Guest
Maybe they should have a tab on the home page - Stunt Acting. I nominate the first article to be a profile on the greatest stunt actors of all time - Jackie Chan, Hulk Hogan, Jimmy 'the Superfly' Snuka and Jet Li. This website should be about real sport, not some random endeavour that may have some physical aspect to it. Otherwise maybe they should produce articles on police officers - I watched that TV show Cops and they seem quite 'sporty' in their foot pursuits and takedowns of crims. Porn stars seem pretty physical as well. Where will it end? Real Wrestling = Real Heroes = Real Sport!
GrecoRoman
Guest
These so called 'athletes' are not wrestlers, but very enthusiastic stuntmen and women running around in some freak filled circus side show. The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) successfully sued the organisation controlled by Vince McMahon as it was illegally using their name. Maybe FILA (Olympic Wrestling's controlling body) can sue the WWE organisation to prevent them from using the term 'Wrestling'? I don't deny that they have a set of physical skills, but so do all professional stunt people.
GrecoRoman
Guest
And where did he state that? Have you a link for that? I might add his 'career' so far in MMA has been pretty short and though there was a bit of hype around him initially, it has petered out. Not to mention that the UFC has been a pretty poor promotion in terms of developing highly technical fighters in Lesnar's weight division.
Carl Unger
Roar Pro
I've seen footage of AWF shows with crowds less than 50. From most footage I've seen I would say there would be less than 200. I saw a clip of the AWF when I think the company just started in 1998 and the crowds were big and loud, I would say in the vicinity of a 1,000 or more. 400 would be considered a much better than average crowd these days you would have to admit. Hmm you could say rugby league is both sport and entertainment but you should never put it in the same category as professional wrestling. It is entertainment simulating sport. As mentioned before sport is not predetermined, in sport there is an INTENT to actually win a match, in professional wrestling the intent does not exist.
Marek
Guest
Yes the outcome is predetermined, but you can't ignore the elements of sport in professional wrestling. This is why there should be coverage on this website.
Wylie
Guest
In sport the outcome isn't predetermined, in professional wrestling it is. Therefore it isn't a sport regardless of how physically demanding it is.
Marek
Guest
I'm glad this article was posted and I thank whoever made the decision to put it up. I disagree with Carl, there will be improvements to the Aussie wrestling scene. There are tremendous athletes in Pro Wrestling in this country and they spend alot of time improving themselves. Two guys that come to mind are Ethan Hughes and Bronson King. They both have stepped up their game in the past year working out in the gym, there are people involved in Aussie wrestling that put the time and effort in to improve themselves. There are some people who just want to play wrestler and not look the part and dont put the effort in to better their look and wrestling. These people are hurting the scene and making some people seem that its a joke. The crowd numbers are small, but most shows draw alot more then 50 people. I was at AWF this month and they had near 400 people attend. It's both Sport and Entertainment.
Carl Unger
Roar Pro
Absolutely, I think I remember Brock Lesnar the ex WWE pro wrestler who became UFC Heavyweight champion saying that pro wrestling was alot more physically demanding then competing in the UFC. Perhaps the schedule has alot to do with it, doesn't matter, bottom line is professional wrestling takes alot of ability and guts.
Carl Unger
Roar Pro
I'm shocked that this article made it onto the website as you can't classify pro wrestling as a sport. I've attended Australian pro wrestling shows before and have a few friends involved in it and I don't think we'll be seeing any improvements anytime soon, sadly for the time being a lot of it is just a poor side show rip off of the American product with usually less then 50 people attending but I guess the problem is if you stray from the American style of wrestling too much then you won't gain much interest from outsiders as alot of the time pay to see shows and expect and want something like WWE. I do have a lot of respect though for some of the people involved who try really hard at it despite the lack of pay off.
Marek
Guest
Daniels, I think you've used the wrong terms in describing both MMA and Pro-Wrestling. MMA is not violence, sure it's violent, but it's a competitive situation between two fighters. I'm sure this is the perception from most people as why that can't get it legalized in Victoria because it's viewed as violence. When you use the term fake wrestling, it shows a complete lack of respect to the people involved. Pro-Wrestling is entertainment with talented athletes with a passion for their craft that would blow the roof off anyone in MMA. There are both Males and Females around Australia dedicated their lives, money and time to Pro-Wrestling. Would you tell an actor after watching a movie that it was fake?
Daniels
Guest
John has a point, i think people have decided that they prefer real violence over fake wrestling. Here in melbourne there is a new promotion that is trying to legalise the cage fighting in victoria
John
Guest
Tez, I think you've danced around the elephant in the room, which is MMA and UFC. Wrestling as entertainment has little value to those who are now getting their entertainment from watching real fights. WWE is experiecing a similar decline. Enjoyed some of your points, cheers.