Aussies Abroad: Buddy’s AEW domination and locals heading overseas
Welcome back to another week’s installment of Aussies Abroad, where we take a look at the Aussies kicking ass overseas in the world of Pro-Wrestling.
Let’s start this week’s coverage off with the ever-growing feud between the Adelaide-born brutality Rhea Ripley, her Terror Twin Damien Priest, and their former family The Judgement Day ‘2.0’. Earlier this month saw the Terror Twins unleash their fury on Ripley’s ‘ex’ Dirty Dom and his new girl Liv Morgan. Last week’s RAW saw another confrontation between the two groups when Morgan ambushed Ripley’s in-ring promo, which saw Ripley finally address her want to reclaim the “one thing I never actually lost” – the Women’s World Championship. Mysterio showed his face (quite a set of balls he has doing that ‘round these parts) instead in defense of Morgan, before she got her hands on Ripley, sending her tied up and caught between the ring ropes. Later in the night, Priest teamed up with Jey Uso (YEET) to go head-to-head with Mysterio and JD Mc Bobble-Head. Morgan interrupted the match to help her Judgement Day scums before Ripley’s iconic entrance song filled the stadium. Ripley, seemingly injured from the previous encounter, came out hobbling on a crutch until she was face-to-face with Morgan. Instead of succumbing to her injuries, Ripley stood strong and viciously beat Morgan with the crutch before joining the boys in a victorious celebration in-ring. The WWE Universe seems to be eating this feud up, and we can’t wait to see Ripley back holding her championship belt.
On the blue brand, Aussie Grayson Waller, along with his teammate Austin Theory, unfortunately, suffered a loss to Kevin Owens on last weekend’s Smackdown but didn’t leave the ring without first showing the WWE Universe Australia’s ferocity. Waller sent Owens crashing to the floor after the match before becoming victim to an A-Town down and a rolling flatliner. The crowd may not have liked the pair that night, but we Aussies back home will always be backing our very own Waller.
Over in AEW, Buddy Matthews, alongside his House of Black teammate Brody King, picked up a win over the MxM Collection team of Mansoor and Mason Madden. The House of Black unleashed chaos on MxM, amongst some communication errors between the losing team. In between pulling poses for the camera, MxM where able to get some impressive hits in against Matthews, but it was the House of Black that dominated much of the second half of the match. An insane knee from Matthews was the start of the end for MxM, and it was a superplex from the top rope followed by a Dante’s inferno by King that saw MxM out for the three count.
The Aussie favourite Kyle Fletcher however did not see much luck last week, when he was defeated by Kazuchika Okada in a match for the AEW Continental Title. Fletcher let his emotions get the better of him at times during the match and became victim to some hard hits from Okada. In what was an epic show of strength between the two men, Fletcher was still able to pull his weight to bring some impressive moves to the match-up as the crowd cheered “Aussie, Aussie Aussie, oi, oi, oi.” It was however a rainmaker by Okada that saw him down for the three count.
House of Glory’s PPV last week saw a Six Way match for the HOG Cruiserweight Title featuring Aussie Robbie Eagles, who was unfortunately taken out, along with 4 other men, by Gringo Loco. Eagles has been bringing the Aussie heat across America this year, and this match was no different with him landing an impressive spinning heel kick on Daron before being locked up with Red. Robbie also hit a flip dive to the floor on several guys and landed impressively upright. It was however when Eagles was outside the ring in a punch-up that Loco hit a top-rope base bomb to pin Arez for the three count.
Over in Japan, the Australians have once again been bringing the heat. The talented Kira Summer has been wrestling every week with TJPW, meanwhile, Xena has also been competing with Stardom in Tokyo. Chris Vice also recently advanced through the first active tournament in 2AW in Chiba, Japan.
Perth’s Lena Kross has also been kicking goals overseas with her recent stints in Japan, the UK, and now America. In an Instagram post, the star shared that she is spending the next 4 weeks training in the US.
The ‘Kid Valiant’ Kobe Reid from Melbourne also recently made his UGWA debut in America last week. Another Melbourne talent Levi Nixon had a match-up for the All Asia Heavyweight Title with So Daimonji in Osaka, Japan.
News Writer + Aussies Abroad. Based in Adelaide and winner of the 2023 CPA Young Journo of the year, has been a news and arts journalist for a number of years working across radio and print, but has decided to take her wrestling addiction to PWDU. You can find her at any local wrestling night across the state with a beer in-hand and a front-row ticket to the action.
