Interview: Integrity Promoter Speaks Ahead Of ‘LEGACY’
PWdowunder.com recently caught up with Nathan Shortland the promoter of Integrity Sports Entertainment. Integrity will run their first show at the St Mary’s League club (NSW) this Saturday night April 20.
Nathan gave us an insight into what fans can expect on the first show, the idea behind the Legacy Lifetime achievement awards and what will set ‘Integrity’ apart from other promotions.
Marek: With so many promotions spread across Sydney and Western Sydney how to
do feel Integrity will set themselves apart from other companies?
Nathan Shortland: Integrity plans on running shows throughout NSW, we are focusing on feeding back to past talent and those who have made a difference for the benefit of the Australian scene. We also plan on running more Sports Entertainment based shows with focus on characters, story telling and segments apart from just in ring action.
We want to take this as an opportunity to include everyone from all promotions and work in
keeping our product away from the same areas and days in similar locations, through
open communication and understanding. Having been around the industry for a while , Integrity Is hoping to use those relationships built to bring matches never before seen before seen and try and bring a fresh product that fans can enjoy.
Marek: What will be your plans after the first show? Do you plan on running the same venue and building an audience or do you see Integrity showcasing what they have to offer in other areas?
Nathan: Integrity is currently looking for a permeant home and St Marys leagues is defiantly a possibility, we are looking at the Mt Druitt/St Marys area as our home, but plan on travelling to multiple locations ,with hopes of monthly shows across multiple venues.
Marek: Can you give us an insight into the talent that will be appearing on your first show on April 20?
Nathan: Some of the talent set to appear are PWA and NJPW alumni, Bullet Club member Jack J.Bonza
and TMDK member Robbie Eagles, as well as Canberra’s Luke watts. Legacy lifetime achievement award winner ‘Ryukyu Dog Dingo’, FKA as Brian Cannon will also be competing in his home country for the first time in a long time.
Fale dojo member “The Chilean Shooter” Madd Maxx Ramirez will face Jack Bonza in the biggest
match of his career to date. Ramirez is a future star. Along with veterans Jengis Kong, Tristan Slade, and Flame. Also on the card will be Shep Alexander, Kasai, Vinnie Vain, Joey Farrugia, Shay Cassidy and Tommy Trigger. JT Robinson, Kieran ‘Duke’ Burns and Nikki Nitro are all set to appear.
Marek: How did you come up with the name Integrity Sports Entertainment?
Nathan: We named our brand Integrity as we are hoping to bring honour prestige and above all integrity not only to our in ring product but in our backstage environment through quality personnel ,open communication, transparency and not be a one man operation. Wrestling can be, at times a toxic environment and mental health is at the front line for many. We understand that most talent do this because they love it and we should all have a place to enjoy ourselves and have fun doing it in a positive team environment. Everyone has a fresh start with us and will be treated by how they treat us and the other staff.
Marek: You’ve announced two Legacy Lifetime achievement awards for your April 20th event, can you give us an insight as to how this idea come about and what has been the reaction to so far to something like this not seen in Aussie wrestling that often?
Nathan: We have decided to give out some legacy lifetime achievements awards to Dingo and
Thunder. These guys have done a lot to place the Australian name on the world scene. Sadly Thunder passed away from cancer at 34 in 2016, but his story isn’t well known and deserves to be told and heard.
He was a fantastic human being and as humble as can be, you will find it hard to find a bad word about him from anyone.
Dingo’s story is incredible, small in stature but what a legacy, over 20 years as a full time Japanese Pro Wrestler, so may setbacks but never complains, also he suffers from an immune disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome, (click here to read more about the disorder from ‘Duke’ Burns) which debilitates most but he still competes at a high level. His story has to be heard to be believed.
These awards are something we would like to do more often and Dingo and Thunder are just some of many that need to be acknowledges, we chose these 2 to be the first as we have had a long term relationship and have watched them prosper over the years.
These awards have had great reactions amongst not only fans but talent and personnel alike and we have been contacted by so many on how this needed to be done for a long time and we’ve had great feedback.
LEGACY, Saturday April 20, St Marys Leagues Club NSW, 6:30PM. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
