Aus Pro Wrestling ICYMI 30/03, EPW, ACW, WR, MXW

March is coming to a close but Australian Pro Wrestling still had plenty to offer audiences across the country this past weekend. With 5 states active, from the East to the West, wrestling fans had plenty to sink their teeth into before WrestleMania.

Kicking things off over in Western Australia, Perth got to gaze at some rising stars when The EPW School of Pro Wrestling presented Showcase 25: “The One With All The Wrestling”. Fans were treated to championship triple threat action, tag team bouts and a GAUNTLET (omg I love those). This Showcase proved why The EPW School of Pro Wrestling is one of the leading schools in the country.

First, The Central Perk Gauntlet Match:

Cal Collins defeats Ryan Rivers via Pinfall
Cal Collins defeats Harry Dux via Pinfall
Blake Walker defeats Cal Collins via Pinfall
Riley Parker defeats Blake Walker via Countout
Riley Parker defeats ‘Untouchable’ Jesse Lambert via Pinfall

The scheduled S.H.W.A Pride title match between The Great George and Lucas Fantasia was shaken up when Chris J Lazareth inserted Chris Target into the match.

After some assistance by Unified Heavyweight Champion Michael Morleone, Chris Target would pick up the win and become the new Pride Champion.

Some more highlights from the night:

The Retrogrades defeated Metal 64
Rogan Kargius defeated Aaron Hawk
The Dux Brother and Miss Divine defeated Twitch, Chadwick Jackson and Papa Jerm

Moving east now, Victoria had a Golden Opportunity to see history made when MXW Pro Wrestling stopped in at Ballarat. The inaugural MXW Heavyweight Champion was crowned, new contenders for the MXW Tag Team Titles emerged, hardcore action settled a championship dispute and Six-man tag action sailed in to treat the fans.

Kid Valiant continues to assert his status as the “Yung Goat” by defeating Billy Riot.

Piracy show the fans why they’re to be feared out on the high seas, beating the trio of Choc Morrus, Luke Reznor & Terry Shaw.

Hex remains the Carnage champion, winning a violent No DQ match against a very game Jason ‘Krusher’ Cole.

‘The Main Character’ Will Walker keeps his arms tightly around the MXW Ascend Championship after winning in triple threat action against Ace Shak and Tommy A.

Cudas (JP Bamford and Robbie Parker) defeat Conflict Axiom (Blake Curtis & James Marshall) to earn a shot at BlackRoach Reserve and the MXW Tag Team Titles.

It truly was a Golden Opportunity 4 of Victoria’s best when Charli Rose, Jordan Samson, YORK and Joel Bateman collided to crown the first ever MXW Heavyweight Champion. In the end it would be Charli Rose standing alone at the top of the mountain as MXW’s first Heavyweight Champion.

Continuing on to South Australia, ACW made their Final March and made it count. There was loads of championship action, back and forth contests, and tensions rose all through the locker room.

In the opening contest James Kray would defeat Corporate Clint and Simple Simon by pinfall. After the match Kray would make off with Clint’s prized briefcase, to the delight of fans.

After being unable to help his Simply Slic teammate secure the win, Malakai Slic would have no time to make sense of Simon’s loss as his own opponent Corvidae marched to the ring, in what proved to be an entertaining back and forth contest, Corvidae would come out on top via pinfall after further miscommunications between Simply Slic and their manager, Melody.

James Cruiser, despite protestation, would meet fan favorite Acid Haze for the ACW Championship. A conflict of styles saw Cruiser’s methodical approach matched by Haze’s intensity. Cruiser would attempt to take shortcuts to victory but thanks to the ever vigilant crowd of the ACW academy, he was stopped by the ACW officials.However Cruiser would go on to secure victory by referee stoppage as Haze passed-out in a submission hold applied by the Champion. Redshaw accompanied by AMT would appear afterwards, threatening to cash in Redhaw’s title shot before opting to proclaim a fair bout for a later date.

The tournament to crown new #1 contender for the ACW Tag Team Titles would host its semi-finals throughout the night. The first of these bouts saw Duke Marshall team up with Mr Cliff (replacing Joe Mundie due to surgery) to take on Purgatory (Barren and Einar the Strange). Not having time to build chemistry beforehand, Duke and Cliff would be no match for Purgatory.

Aaron O’Malley, having recently returned from competing in the UK, was itching to make his mark back on home soil and the opportunity to do so came in the form of an Evolve Title shot against Ronin Richter. After a hard fought contest, Ronin Richter would emerge the fair victor via pinfall.

In the second semi-final match of the night, Draven Ragnarsson and Redshaw would team up to fight Outback’s Most Wanted (Downunder and Jesse Hendy). The raw strength of Draven and Redshaw almost seemed enough to battle the experience of OMW but Ragnarsson would be left to dry as ACW Champion James Cruiser managed to lure Redshaw away from the ring, leaving Downunder and his nephew Hendy to finish strong and move on to the finals.

The closing moments of the night saw Purgatory rush out to confront Outback’s Most Wanted, resulting in a brawl so vicious it emptied the locker room in an attempt to separate the Tag Team tournaments finalists, General Manager Riley would threaten the teams would suspension before sweetening the pot for both teams. The finals will be contested on April 29th in a No Disqualification match.

Keeping our eyes on Adelaide, Wrestle Rampage presented Bad Moon Rising. WR brought yet another stacked card to the table, proving to fans both in SA and nationwide why they are a top player in Australian Professional Wrestling.

Wam Bam Bellows defeated Party Guy Ty (An injury to Leah Lovegrove forced a last minute card change)

‘Wreckin’ Ball’ Will Gibson defeated Edward Dusk & PAT in thrilling triple threat action.

Fans would get to witness Queensland’s Top Tier in Solomun Blackwell & Mitch Ryder square off against fan favorites Joey Graham & Punch-Drunk Istria and while Ryder and Blackwell would put up a fight, it would be enough to beat the homestate heroes.

Corndog would put the Australian National Title on the line against one of Sydney’s greatest in ‘The Example’ Tuff Stuff Ricky South. The visiting PWA Heavyweight Champion would show why he’s a main event player no matter where he goes but it would not be enough to secure gold in Adelaide as Corndog would successfully retain by displaying the tenacity that won him the title in the first place.

‘The Empress of Darkness’ Amber vowed to become champion and alongside ‘The Darkest Soul’ Robby Heart she has done so, successfully putting an end to the 364 day adventure of Havok & Link as the Australian National Tag Team Champions.

Renegades of Wrestling toured through Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with Knotfest but due to a lack of information we’re unable to report properly on it, they will be releasing matches and highlights from the tour over the coming weeks so make sure to follow their socials to catch it all as it drops.

Professional Wrestling in Australia continues to provide an abundance of action to wrestling nerds nationwide, whetting our appetites as we look forward to WrestleMania this weekend. But psst… There’ll be more than Mania this weekend, make sure to check out your locals after each day of Mania, you might just see a future WM Main eventer.

(PS for JESSE LAMBERT ONLY. Damian Slater called, he told me to tell you, you’re not Untouchable.)