Jack Bonza Interview- Bonza Talks King of the Metro, Growth of PWA and Much More!

This past week I spoke with PWA’s Jack J Bonza. He wears many hats in the company, including being one of the mainstay top level talents, bringing a bruising style to the ring. In our interview, Bonza gave his unfiltered thoughts on his Rumble match at King of the Metro, along with the rest of the card. We also spoke about Bonza’s wrestling style and history in the business for any newcomers to PWA, and we also took a broader look at the growth and evolution of Sydney’s powerhouse promotion.

Below are some highlights:

Mick Robson: You’ve got the coveted #30 spot in the Rumble. You’ve been in a number of Rumbles- PWA, Newy Pro etc. What goes into the preparations for a Rumble, and how does that change being #30?

Bonza: That’s right, I go in last. I’ve been in almost all of them. I won one of the previous PWA Rumbles in 2019. Yeah, #30 definitely changes things up. It’s hard to prepare for a Rumble because Rumbles are low key one of the most terrifying and dangerous matches you can be in. I think everyone thinks about stuff like no disqualifications, weapons, ladder matches as being the most dangerous but there’s not much more dangerous than having 5, 10, 15 people behind you, possibly hitting you or trying to throw you out.

My strategy’s always the same- I go for devastation. I hit as many people as hard as I can, as quickly as I can and try to throw them over the top rope. I think too many guys get caught up in trying to hit and move, but that’s not how you win the match. You throw them over the top rope and their feet hit the floor. Going in at #30 means I know I don’t have to pace myself. There’s no chance that I’m going to be in there for an hour. I’m going to be the freshest one.

MR: We’ve got a few big championship matches happening at King of the Metro- the brand new PWA Champion, Charli Evans- Chevs- taking on Kai Drake. What are your thoughts on those two as competitors and how do you think that match is gonna go?

Bonza: I think it’s a battle of the midgets (laughs). I don’t think Charli Evans is that new anymore. With North Shore Wrestling behind her, she spent a lot of time in England, she came back and she’s been very powerful. Kai Drake, though- at the Colosseum tournament last year, he was a bit of a dark horse entry, no one thought much of him, but by the time that tournament was done, Kai Drake could’ve been one of the winners. It’s very easy to see how he’s gotten himself into a championship match.

There’s just one caveat, just one problem. In order to win the #30 spot in the Rumble, I had to go into an over the top battle royal at a PWA event. The person who wins and gets #30 has an advantage in the Rumble, but it’s not guaranteed. If you win the Rumble, you get a championship match. Kai Drake is one of the people that I threw out of the match. He lost the match before the match to get a title opportunity, and he still gets a title opportunity here. Would that have happened to him if he had red hair? (Bonza spent portions of this interview talking about his crusade with Digby to get justice and equality for redheads, and to stop the usage of derogatory terms for redheads)

I actually can’t pick a winner. I think the deciding factor will be North Shore Wrestling. If Kai Drake doesn’t have a strategy to deal with them, he’s going to be in trouble.

MR: We’ve got the Soul of PWA Championship match: Robbie Eagles- who’s had a death grip on that championship for over a year- and Michael Spencer, predominately been a tag team guy, how do you see his chances against the Sniper of the Skies?

Bonza: That’s because he’s never around to defend it! Easy to hold onto a championship when you’re never here to defend it. Although it was good to see the Soul of PWA Championship held up at Wrestle Kingdom, so you can’t fault Robbie too much.

I think the only reason Spencer got an opportunity is because he doesn’t have red hair. He also didn’t have to enter the Rumble. You know, you enter the Rumble, you don’t have to challenge Charli Evans, you could challenge Robbie Eagles, or…. I suppose, not that it’s ever happened but he could probably challenge for the tag team titles too. You get your choice of a championship match if you win that Rumble.

But yeah, he’s probably been slept on for a lot of years, Michael Spencer. He is very good. And I think in wrestling you see people who talk a lot tend to get more noticed. And the ones who are quieter but still effective, still getting the wins in the matches, they just don’t seem to get looked at as often. Michael Spencer is one of those guys. I mean, Robbie can kinda be a bit of a cocky prick, really, he obviously thinks very highly of himself, and Michael Spencer’s such a quiet guy. He probably accepted the match just because he thought it’d be an easy win, but it might end up costing him.

MR: What can first-time fans expect from Jack Bonza?

Bonza: They can expect me to win. It’s not pretty, I don’t feel the need to be nice, I’m there to wrestle, I’m not there to sell merchandise. I’m there to make money and I’m there to help other gingers, other redheads for the cause, and I’m there to become champion to help do all those things.

MR: I don’t want to use the word “inspiration”, but what would you say has influenced your style, whether that be growing up or training or anything else?

Bonza: I’ve always been more of a fan of effectiveness more than anything. If it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid. I’ve trained under a lot of people- Booker T, Mike Quackenbush, Jesse Hernandez, New Japan, Fale Dojo, I’ve wrestled a lot of different guys, so it’s hard to pick one particular influence. It’s more trial and error of what works and what doesn’t work.

I do like to go and see a lot of Kurt Angle work, or William Regal, or Fit Finlay. I think a lot of people know Finlay as the shillelagh guy with Hornswoggle running around. If you go back and watch what he was like in the 90s-

MR: Like in WCW with Regal?

Bonza: Before then. Go back to Germany, go back to the UK stuff, all the British wrestling guys, they knew how to wrestle. All of the meanest and toughest guys, Finlay was the meanest and the toughest. I would say that studying those tapes would be one of my bigger influences. And then, guys more like Kobashi would be more my thing. From what I discovered, the best thing to do is stay in the middle, stay solid, hit hard, submissions, it’s really a difficult thing for people to beat.

MR: If you were to put together a “Best of Jack Bonza”, what stands out for you personally as far as favourite matches or moments?

Bonza: Wrestling Yuji Nagata at New Japan Pro Wrestling at the Sydney Quay Centre is one of the ones that sticks out. That one was because- first of all, in front of 3400 people. I mean, I’ve wrestled for New Japan a lot of times in Japan, but my goal and my dream has been to make wrestling big in Australia. It’s good to travel to America and Japan and learn and get more exposure and get more money and have a career. But I like living here, I like Australian culture. My family is here. But I’d like to keep wrestling. So to me, making it big here is a bigger deal. At capacity at the Quay Centre, against a world-class opponent, with all the staging and the fanfare, that was a big thing for me, because that’s what I want here all the time.

MR: We’ve had a lot of evolution of PWA over recent years. In terms of venues, it was RSLs, now you’re running the Metro. Also, you’re doing a lot of expansion, going to places like Commbank Stadium to be the pre-show entertainment for the [NRL] Tigers. How does all those things come about- obviously the goal is to get more eyes on Australian wrestling and PWA, but how did it come to fruition?

Bonza: The more people we can get to events, the better. And it sounds silly, but the thing about pro wrestling is that everybody has a preconceived notion of what wrestling is. It’s always- if they’re not already pro wrestling fans, it’s that “kid stuff”, that “fake fighting”. Anybody we can drag in front of us at a PWA event immediately goes, “that wasn’t what I thought it was! That’s so cool! I’m gonna keep coming back!”

And if you keep doing that with enough numbers, eventually you get somebody that has a connection to a NRL team like the West Tigers, who goes “you want help? Let me organise this”. Eventually you get a band promoter who goes, “this is awesome, imagine putting this in this thing, is that something you would consider?” Y’know, somebody who works for a marketing company goes “holy crap, that was great”. Someone who’s a videographer goes “I can help with this”. Because they want to become part of it, they want to become part of the culture.

So, for us, it’s really just about putting forward the highest quality events, doing it consistently, and then just trying to make it fun, trying to make it Australian, and then just trying to keep our hands and arms open to whoever wants to come in and whoever can be part of it, to do something to contribute. So I think if you stay open to those opportunities, they eventually start to come if you keep doing good things.

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The interview in its entirety can be seen below or at PW Downunder’s YouTube channel. Bonza also talks about the King of the Metro, including the rest of the card and intriguing potential surprise entrants in the Rumble match. He also expresses the need for a signature Australian pro wrestling style- which we’ll dive into more on PW Downunder in the coming days.

Tickets for PWA’s King of the Metro event (Friday June 27th) can be purchased at the following link: https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=PWA25&utm_source=www.metrotheatre.com.au&utm_medium=CV_site