New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling

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New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling
Acronym NZWPW
Founded 2003
Founder(s) Martin Stirling
Formerly Wellington Pro Wrestling
Website nzwpw.com
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New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling (NZWPW) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Petone and later Wainuiomata in New Zealand. The promotion entered a hiatus in 2018,[1][2] when former NZWPW wrestler, Jay Marshall left the promotion to start Capital Pro Wrestling.[3] Since 2020, professional wrestling and training in Wainuiomata is now run by former NZWPW wrestler, Hayden Thiele with his Valiant Pro promotion. This promotion has many former wrestlers from NZWPW such as Axl Stirling, “Rufguts” Roddy Gunn, Chad Howard and Jade Priest.[4]

History[edit]

Formation[edit]

NZWPW logo used from 2005 to 2013

NZWPW was formed in October 2003 by martial arts trainer, former New Zealand Sumo Wrestling champion and head of Petone’s He Toa Sports Association, Martin Stirling. Stirling noticed a new generation of wrestling fans, brought up on WWF action. With a wrestling ring already set up at his He Toa gym, Stirling sent an invitation for prospective Wrestlers. Four men answered the call, X-Rated, Juice, Inferno and D-Hoya, with these four pioneers, NZWPW was born. Wrestlers trained by Stirling first performed at the Armageddon Convention on 20 September 2003, as part of an Impact Pro Wrestling show, and the promotion was launched under the name Wellington Pro Wrestling (WPW). WPW’s first show was held on 14 November 2003 in Petone. Throughout 2004, more wrestlers joined and small shows were held at community venues around the Hutt Valley. Soon, Stirling, was inundated with prospective wrestlers and had to hold training weekends to find the best talent.[5]

WPW then got re-branded to New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling in January 2005. This was partly because the domain name for WPW was already used and to reflect the growing interest in touring New Zealand (Christchurch, Masterton, Levin, Gisborne, Hastings and Auckland) as well as the Wellington area. By May 2005, NZWPW had a presence on the internet and thirty five active wrestlers. On 25 March 2005 NZWPW held the Powerplay 2 event at the Lower Hutt Town Hall with over 300 fans in attendance[5]

Expansion[edit]

NZWPW performed shows in Christchurch, Palmerston North, Porirua, Otaki, Levin, Paraparaumu, Blenheim and many others major centres up and down the country making it the most widely touring New Zealand promotion and the only one to perform regularly in both New Zealand’s North Island and South Island. Wrestlers from NZWPW have also wrestled for Australian promotion Impact Pro Wrestling Australia (formerly Major Impact Wrestling).[6] Female wrestler Misty also competed in the all women’s Australian promotion PWWA.

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In May 2006 a number of NZWPW wrestlers, led by former NZWPW booker The Punisher and WCW/NWA star Rip Morgan, left to set up a rival promotion called Kiwi Pro Wrestling. Since then NZWPW has had an on-again-off-again working relationship with Auckland-based promotion Impact Pro Wrestling. In 2008 NZWPW featured on the television show ‘Good Morning’ which is a nationally seen show on TV One to promote Powerplay V with all profits being donated to the Te Omanga Hospice. It continued on its charity work in 2009 when it ran a show to raise funds for the Movember foundation. NZWPW also co-promoted a show with the Australasian Wrestling Federation featuring Raven. In 2009 Chris Masters featured at Powerplay VI, making numerous television appearances to promote the event including ‘Good Morning’ and ’20/20′.

Martial arts[edit]

Thanks to Martin Stirling’s martial arts background, NZWPW made much of its links with New Zealand’s martial arts scene. Many of their early shows featured demonstrations of fighting styles such as karate and kickboxing.[7] Shows have also been co-promoted with major Sumo events such as the 2005 Oceania Sumo Championships[8] and the 2006 New Zealand Open Sumo Championships.[9]

Also in 2006, NZWPW co-sponsored sumo wrestlers Sio Sakaria and Mark Tanu to attend the Junior World Championships in Estonia, where they won silver and bronze medals respectively.[10]

In 2009 NZWPW wrestlers Travis Banks and Tykade both won gold medals at the Oceania Sumo championships in Australia.[11][12]

This was backed up in 2010 when numerous NZWPW wrestlers took part in the Oceania Sumo Championships (this time held in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand). With Tykade once again taking out the open and heavyweight divisions, Rufguts and Ben Mana were also in the medals in the heavyweight and open divisions.

Travis Banks, Tykade and Rufguts went on to compete at the World Combat Games in China in August 2010.

Triangle TV[edit]

Invasion[edit]

New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling Invasion previously aired on Triangle TV & Stratos.[13] The show debuted on 21 August 2008[14] at 11pm.[15] Invasion includes touring of NZWPW and was officially kicked off on 16 August in Wainuiomata and occasionally, Upper Hutt. The show ended prior to the New Year of 2009.

Championships[edit]

Current Champions[edit]

Championship Champion(s) Date won Days held Location Event Previous Champion
NZWPW Heavyweight Championship Bryant 14 September 2018 1,676 Epuni Friday Night Live Pro Wrestling Wayne La Perfeccion
NZWPW Tag Team Championship The Wainui Express
(Hayden and Jade Priest) 		20 July 2018 1,732 Epuni Friday Night Live Pro Wrestling Vacant
He Toa Cup “The Spartan” Sam Black 15 June 2018 1,767 Epuni Friday Night Live Pro Wrestling Cam Owens The Third

NZWPW Heavyweight Championship[edit]

The NZWPW Heavyweight Championship was the top professional wrestling championship title in the New Zealand promotion New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling (NZWPW). It was the original super heavyweight title of Wellington Pro Wrestling and introduced as the WPW Super Heavyweight Championship on 3 December 2004. The inaugural champion was Ruamoko, who defeated Les Barrett in a tournament final in Lower Hutt, New Zealand on 25 April 1992. The title became vacant when Ruamoko suffered an injury in early-2005 and, after the promotion became New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling, it was replaced by the current heavyweight championship first won by Island Boy Si on 25 March 2005.

NZWPW Tag Team Championship[edit]

The NZWPW Tag Team Championship was the top professional wrestling tag team championship title in the New Zealand promotion New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling. The title was first won by The Superlatives (Jean Miracle and Nick Silver), who won a tournament final at Power Play IV in Lower Hutt, New Zealand to win the titles on 14 April 2007. It was the first title of its kind to be established by a major promotion since the NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship during the early 1980s and was the oldest active tag team championship in New Zealand.

He Toa Cup[edit]

He Toa Cup
NZWPW He Toa Cup.jpg

The final He Toa Cup holder, “The Spartan” Sam Black
Promotion New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling
Date established 10 December 2011
Date retired 17 November 2018
First champion(s) Ben Mana
Final champion(s) “The Spartan” Sam Black
Most reigns Chad Howard & Axl (2)
Longest reign Axl (595 days)
Shortest reign Dream Catcher (35 days)

The He Toa Cup was the secondary singles professional wrestling championship in the New Zealand promotion New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling. The cup was first won by Ben Mana on 10 December 2011 in Petone, New Zealand. From 2011 – 2013, the cup was defended at every NZWPW show held in the He Toa Gym in Petone. The final champion was “The Spartan” Sam Black, who was in his first reign.

Title history[edit]

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Ben Mana 10 December 2011 Final Countdown (2011) Petone 1 120 Ben Mana became the first He Toa Cup champion [16]
2 Jakob Cross 8 April 2012 Bringing Down The House Petone 1 257 [16]
3 JC Star 21 December 2012 Bringing Down The House Petone 1 98 [16]
4 Dream Catcher 29 March 2013 Bringing Down The House Petone 1 35 [16]
5 Chad Howard 3 May 2013 Bringing Down The House Petone 1 168 [16]
— Vacated N/A Right 2 Challenge (2013) Otaki — — Chad Howard exchanged the cup for a match against Ben Mana for the NZWPW Championship [17]
6 Mikey 28 February 2014 Bringing Down The House Petone 1 119 [18]
7 Mr Silver 27 June 2014 Beat Down (2014) Petone 1 85 [19]
8 Axl 20 September 2014 Road to Rescue (2014) Waikanae 1 167 Axl defeated Mr Silver in a Loser Wears a Dress match [20]
9 Chad Howard 6 March 2015 Bringing Down The House – End of an Era Petone 2 204 Chad Howard won a He Toa Cup Rumble [21]
10 Jade Priest 26 September 2015 Live Pro Wrestling – Featuring A Cosplay Contest Wainuiomata 1 181 [22]
11 Axl 25 March 2016 NZWPW Returns To Masterton Masterton 2 595 [23]
12 Kartik 10 November 2017 Powerplay 2017 Epuni 1 140 Kartik won a Battle Royale for the He Toa Cup [24]
13 Cam Owens The Third 30 March 2018 Friday Night Live Pro Wrestling Ngaio 1 77 Cam Owens The Third won a Royal Rumble Match for the He Toa Cup [25]
14 “The Spartan” Sam Black 15 June 2018 Friday Night Live Pro Wrestling Epuni 1 155 [26]
List of combined reigns[edit]
Rank Champion No. of reigns Combined days
1 Axl 2 762
2 Chad Howard 2 372
3 Jakob Cross 1 257
4 Jade Priest 1 181
5 “The Spartan” Sam Black 1 155
6 Kartik 1 140
7 Ben Mana 1 120
8 Mikey 1 119
9 JC Star 1 98
10 Mr Silver 1 85
11 Cam Owens The Third 1 77
12 Dream Catcher 1 35

Powerplay history[edit]

Powerplay was NZWPW’s biggest and longest running event. A Powerplay event had been held almost every year of the promotion’s existence.

Powerplay (2004)[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 Les “The Slammer” Barrett defeated Chrome Singles match
2 H-Flame defeated “Silencer” Jean Miracle Singles match
3 The Ram defeated Creed by disqualification Singles match
4 Gold & Dal Knox defeated Inferno & Jonnie Juice Tag team match
5 X-Rated defeated D-Hoya (c) Singles match for the WPW Catchweight Championship
6 Jonnie Juice defeated Les “The Slammer” Barrett, Blade, Chrome, Creed, D-Hoya, AJ Freely, Gold, H-Flame, Inferno, Dal Knox, “Silencer” Jean Miracle & The Ram 13-man Crusade match
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Powerplay II[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 The Ram defeated “The Hype” Bobby Cool Singles match
2 X-Rated defeated Dan “The Man” Stirling Singles match
3 Island Boy Si defeated Max “The Axe” Damage NZWPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final
4 Ivan Dragunov vs. The Rookie ended in a draw Singles match
5 The Punisher defeated Harvey Dollars NZWPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semi-Final
6 Inferno & H-Flame defeated Jonnie Juice & “Silencer” Jean Miracle Tag team match
7 D-Hoya (c) defeated NOS Singles match for the NZWPW Catchweight Championship
8 Island Boy Si defeated The Punisher NZWPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship Tournament Final
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Powerplay III[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 “Shining” Nick Silver vs. Dan Stirling ended in a draw Singles match
2 Chrome defeated Anarchy Singles match
3 Adam Avalanche defeated CD & Jimmy Sparx Triple threat match
4 The Ram defeated Inferno Singles match to determine the Number 1 Contender to the NZWPW New Zealand Championship
5 TNT defeated Angel of Destruction Singles match
6 D-Hoya defeated Jonnie Juice (c) Singles match for the NZWPW New Zealand Championship
7 “Silencer” Jean Miracle & Max Damage def. H-Flame & NOS Tag team match
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Powerplay 6[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 El Montana defeated Axl Singles match
2 The Nerd defeated Travis Banks Singles match
3 MacBeth & Misty defeated Carmella Caprice & Matariki Tag team match
4 Ben Mana & Tykade defeated The Circus of Tragedy (Osiris & Phil Woodgate) (c) Tag team match for the NZWPW Tag Team Championship
5 CD defeated Dan Stirling Singles match
6 D-Hoya (c) defeated JC Star Singles match for the NZWPW Heavyweight Championship
7 Chris Masters defeated Adam Avalanche and Rufguts Triple threat match
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Powerplay VII[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 G.I. Jay defeated Fred The Great Singles match
2 Thor defeated Axl, Mikey Rave & The Nerd Four way match
3 Red Dragon def. Kid Mystique Singles match
4 “Shining” Nick Silver defeated Travis Banks Lance Storm Tournament Final
5 Corey Dallas vs. JC Star ended in a draw Singles match
6 Jon E. King & “The One” Vinny Dunn defeated Corey Dallas & JC Star Tag team match
7 Ben Mana defeated Adam Avalanche Singles match
8 Chi-Tah defeated Misty, Carmella Caprice & Stella Hammer Four way match
9 Chad Howard defeated Johnny Idol Hair vs. Mask Match
10 Tykade defeated Rufguts (c) Singles match for the NZWPW New Zealand Championship
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Powerplay XI[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 The Wainui Express (c) defeated Rodeo Drive Tag team match for the NZWPW Tag Team Championship
2 “The Standard Hero” Graham Hughes defeated Kade Morgan 3G Singles match
3 Franke Quinn defeated Scarlett (c) Singles match for the KPW Women’s Championship
4 Charlie Roberts defeated Shane Sinclair Singles match. Hughes Academy Champion vs. KPW Champion
5 Misty (c) defeated Krystal Kayne Singles match for the Hughes Academy Women’s Championship
6 Team Warriors (Ben Mana, Paul Sayers, Hayden Thiele, Jade Priest & Mr. Silver defeated Team Nobodies Drive (Bryant, Chad Howard, Axl, XXX-Rated & “Dreamcatcher” Phil Woodgate) 5 on 5 elimination tag team match
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

5 on 5 Elimination Tag Team mtch[edit]

Elimination Wrestler Eliminated by
1 Bryant Disqualification
2 Ben Mana Countout
2 Axl Countout
3 Mr. Silver Pinfall
4 Jade Priest Pinfall
5 Hayden Thiele Pinfall
6 Chad Howard Pinfall
6 XXX-Rated Pinfall
6 “Dreamcatcher” Phil Woodgate Submission
Survivor(s): Paul Sayers

Powerplay 2017[edit]

No. Results Stipulations
1 Cam Owens the Third defeated Sam Black Singles match
2 Shane Sinclair defeated “Rufguts” Roddy Gunn via Disqualification Stirling Rules match
3 Wayne la Perfeccion defeated Paul Sayers Singles match
4 Katrik defeated Bryant, Misty, Umlaut, Jay Marshal, Axl (c), Robbo “The Aussie Dreamboat” Smith, and “The Standard Hero” Graham Hughes Battle Royale for the He Toa Cup
5 Jade Priest defeated “Thunderbird” Daniel Martins Singles match
6 Charlie Roberts defeated Chad Howard (c) Singles match for the NZWPW Heavyweight Championship
7 Axl defeated Charlie Roberts (c) Singles match for the NZWPW Heavyweight Championship
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]


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