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Professional Wrestling In New Zealand
Professional wrestling in New Zealand has been promoted in the country from the early 20th century. In 1919, Gisborne Katene became the first NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship, national heavyweight champion, though the title was not recognised by the National Wrestling Alliance, National Wrestling Association until 1925, and promoter Walter Miller (wrestler), Walter Miller began running events under the Dominion Wrestling Union banner ten years later. It was not until the years following the Second World War that professional wrestling enjoyed its first Golden age (metaphor), golden age. Pat O'Connor (wrestler), Pat O'Connor, a one-time NWA World Heavyweight Championship, NWA and AWA World Heavyweight Championship, AWA World Heavyweight Champion, was one of the earliest stars of that era. During the 1960s and 1970s, other wrestlers from New Zealand also travelled to the United States, where they enjoyed similar success in the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island), and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. The area was initially settled by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. Smith's plan included a series of inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independent Promotion
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. Independent promotions are essentially viewed as a minor league or farm system for the larger national promotions, as wrestlers in "indie" companies (especially young wrestlers just starting their careers) are usually honing their craft with the goal of being noticed and signed by a major national promotion such as WWE, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) (which also owns Ring of Honor (ROH)), or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the United States, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (which is owned by WWE) or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, or New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Dragongate, All Japan Pro Wrestling, World Wonder Ring Stardom or the CyberFight promotions in Japan. It is also not uncommon for veteran wrestlers who have had past tenures with ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auckland University Of Technology
Auckland University of Technology ( AUT; ) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT is New Zealand's third largest university in terms of total student enrolment, with approximately 29,100 students enrolled across three campuses in Auckland. It has five faculties, and an additional two specialist locations: AUT Millennium and AUT Centre for Refugee Education. AUT enrolled more than 29,000 students in 2018, including 4,194 international students from 94 countries and 2,417 postgraduate students. Students also represent a wide age range with 22% being aged 25–39 years and 10% being 40 or older. AUT employed 2,474 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in 2016, including both professional and academic. History Historically New Zealand lacked technical training institutions even after the establishment of free and compulsory education in 1877 many calls were made for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sharon Mazer
Sharon Mazer is an academic in New Zealand who is professor of theatre and performance studies at Auckland University of Technology. She is known for her book, ''Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle'', and as a researcher of popular performance. Academic career After completing a BA at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1977, Mazer worked for some years as a theatre director. She returned to study, graduating with an MA from University of California, Los Angeles in 1985 and then moving to New York to study at Columbia University for a MPhil in 1989 and a PhD in 1991. Mazer moved to New Zealand in 1994 to lecture at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal .... She joined Auckland University of Technology in 2014, where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The magazine is the longest published English language wrestling magazine still in production. ''PWI'' publishes bi-monthly issues and annual special issues such as their "Almanac and Book of Facts". The magazine recognizes various world championships as legitimate, similar to ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' in boxing. ''PWI'' is often referred to as an "Apter Mag", named after its long-time photographer Bill Apter, a term used for wrestling magazines that keep kayfabe. In recent years, the ''PWI'' has moved away from reporting on storylines as actual news and mixed in editorial comments on the behind-the-scenes workings of wrestling. Since 1991, ''PWI'' has been publishing its annual "Top 500 Wrestlers" listing the top male wrestlers in the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Conlan
Jason Conlan (born 1971) is a New Zealand cartoonist, best known under the pseudonym Mister J, who is the creator of Pro Wrestling Illustrated's monthly cartoon strip "On the Mat". He has also contributed to the similar Australian wrestling publication ''Piledriver'' and long-running newsletter ''Wrestling Then and Now'' as well as professional wrestling websites ProWrestlingDaily.com and Bill Apter's 1wrestling.com. Conlan has also done work for the online version of ''The Sun'', the most-read daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. Biography Early life and influences Jason Conlan developed an interest in drawing and professional wrestling as a child. As early as the age of six, he began watching Steve Rickard's NWA-affiliated promotion All Star Pro-Wrestling and its wrestling programme '' On the Mat''. He became an avid fan of the show and was encouraged to begin drawing some of the wrestlers he saw such as Baron Von Krupp. After ''On the Mat'' was cancelled in 1984, Conlan s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Rickard
Sydney Mervin "Merv" Batt (3 September 1929 – 5 April 2015), best known by his ring name Steve Rickard, was a New Zealand professional wrestler, trainer and promoter. As a wrestler, he traveled throughout the world during the 1960s and 1970s, often visiting countries where professional wrestling was unknown such as southeast Asia, and was one of the top competitors to come from New Zealand during that era. Rickard was a frequent opponent for many foreign wrestlers travelling overseas including NWA World Heavyweight Champions such as Jack Brisco, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race and "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. He also had high-profile matches with Karl Gotch, Killer Kowalski, The Destroyer, André the Giant, Abe Jacobs and King Kong as well. He was a former NWA Australasian Heavyweight Champion, a 3-time NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Champion, and a record 8-time NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Champion. He and Mark Lewin were also the first NWA Australasian Tag Team Cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1980s Wrestling Boom
The 1980s professional wrestling boom, more commonly referred to as the Golden Era or the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and elsewhere throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to one dominated by two nationwide companies: McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then dominated the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the kayfabe of wrestling. History In the early 1980s, professional wrestling in the United States consisted mainly of three competing organizations: the promotions the World Wrestling Federation in the Northeast, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On The Mat
''On the Mat'' was a professional wrestling television programme for the National Wrestling Alliance-affiliated All Star Pro Wrestling (ASPW), or simply NWA New Zealand, that aired on Television New Zealand's TV2 from 1975 to 1984. One of the most popular and the longest-running weekly sports series in the history of New Zealand, the show featured some of the country's top wrestlers and international stars from throughout the world during the 1970s and early 1980s. ''On the Mat'' characterized the "golden age" of professional wrestling in New Zealand and made household names of promoter Steve Rickard, John da Silva, Robert Bruce and others during the 1970s. Much of the show's popularity was based on native New Zealanders and foreign wrestlers working together against their common enemies or, sometimes, being pitted against each other. Several New Zealand wrestlers such as Tony Garea, Peter Maivia, Siva Afi and The Sheepherders, partly from their television appearances, were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Professional Wrestling In The United Kingdom
The history of professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over one hundred years. After a brief spell of popularity for Greco Roman professional wrestling during the Edwardian era, the first catch-as-catch-can based scene began in the 1930s,"All In was introduced to Britain in 1930 by Atholl Oakeley, a professional wrestler turned promoter" '' The Wrestling'', Simon Garfield, Faber & Faber 1996 edition page 16 when it was popularised under the concept of " All-in Wrestling", which emphasised an "anything goes" style and presentation. Following World War II, the style and presentation of professional wrestling in the UK underwent a dramatic shift, as the Admiral-Lord Mountevans rules were introduced to make British professional wrestling appear much closer to a legitimate sport. Professional wrestling entered the mainstream British culture when the newly formed independent television network ITV began broadcasting it in 1955, firstly on Saturday afternoons and then al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WWA World Heavyweight Championship
The World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Wrestling All-Stars. It was the primary championship in the WWA. The title was sanctioned by WWA as their world championship and defended in multiple countries. It was unified with the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship on May 25, 2003. History The WWA World Heavyweight Championship was unveiled in 2001 and first won by Road Dogg on October 23, 2001 by defeating Jeff Jarrett in Australia.World Wrestling All-Stars, October 23, 2001 - Canberra, Australia Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved March 14, 2012.< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
