IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship
Encyclopedia
IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship is the top professional wrestling
championship title
in the New Zealand
promotion
Impact Pro Wrestling. It was the original heavyweight title of the Mania Pro Wrestling promotion, later used in IPW as its primary singles title. It was introduced as the MPW Heavyweight Championship on 9 April 2002. When a new promotion was founded by a core group of MPW wrestlers in 2003, the title was established as its new heavyweight championship. The promotion became Impact Pro Wrestling and the title became the IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship. On 29 May 2010, the title was won by former K-1
kickboxer and "New Zealand's strongest man" Reuben de Jong
.
The championship is regularly defended throughout New Zealand, most often in central Auckland, at live events
such as the Armageddon Expo
as well at monthly supercard
s and on its weekly series IPW Ignition
. In 2007, the title made its debut in the Northland Region, with the promotion's IPW Collision event in Whangarei
. The title match featured Jon E. King facing off against the Samoan Silverback Alexander. It has also been defended at several interpromotional events both in New Zealand and Australia. IPW Heavyweight Champion Jon E. King competed at the 2006 NZPWI Invitational with KPW Heavyweight Champion H-Flame where both men made it to the semi-finals and where King was eliminated by "Heartless" Alfred Valentine. The 2007 NZPWI Invitational saw the first ever "champion vs. champion" match when returning champions Jon E. King and H-Flame faced each other in a non-title match in the opening rounds. King went on to win the tournament.
The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches
, in which participants execute scripted
endings rather than contend in direct competition. The inaugural champion was The Machine, who defeated Jon E. King in Mangere, Auckland
on 9 April 2002 to become the first MPW Heavyweight Champion; King had won a Royal Rumble
-type match, eliminating "Superstar" Troy Daniels to earn a place in the championship decider. IPW recognized both MPW Heavyweight Championship reigns when the promotion became Impact Pro Wrestling in 2003. King and Davey Deluxeo hold the record for most reigns, with three each. At 515 days, Deluxeo's first reign was the longest in the title's history. Vinny Dunn's second reign, which lasted mere minutes, was the shortest in the history of the title. Overall, there have been 21 reigns shared between 11 wrestlers, with one vacancy.
The promotion has often been represented by the reigning IPW Champion in the national media. In May 2005, TVNZ
's Hadyn Jones conducted an interview with The Machine and then IPW Champion The Economist at their Auckland gym. On 2 February 2006, Jon E. King was a guest on Ngati Hine FM where he was interviewed by disc jockey
Darcy Edwards and with fellow IPW wrestler Alfred Valentine on the TV One's morning talk show Breakfast by Kay Gregory
that summer. Jordan Invincible was among the wrestlers featured on the 10 October 2008 edition Television New Zealand
's IAM TV and where Invincible wrestled the host in a mock battle at their IPW facility in Auckland. IPW New Zealand Champion Dal Knox was interviewed at the 2008 Armageddon Expo, along with IPW colour commentator Dion McCracken, as part of an upcoming documentary
on professional wrestling in New Zealand
, A Kiwi Century On The Mat, in April 2009. Knox was also profiled by 20/20 in a special report on professional wrestling in New Zealand, as well as on the Maori Television
sports show Hyundai Code.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
championship title
Championship (professional wrestling)
A Championship or "title" in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations.Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in scripted rivalries...
in the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
promotion
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
Impact Pro Wrestling. It was the original heavyweight title of the Mania Pro Wrestling promotion, later used in IPW as its primary singles title. It was introduced as the MPW Heavyweight Championship on 9 April 2002. When a new promotion was founded by a core group of MPW wrestlers in 2003, the title was established as its new heavyweight championship. The promotion became Impact Pro Wrestling and the title became the IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship. On 29 May 2010, the title was won by former K-1
K-1
K-1 is a defunct world-wide kickboxing promotion based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a formerKyokushin karate practitioner. K-1 combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San Shou, kickboxing, western-style boxing, and other martial arts...
kickboxer and "New Zealand's strongest man" Reuben de Jong
Reuben de Jong
Reuben de Jong is a New Zealand heavyweight kickboxer, mixed martial artist, strongman and professional wrestler of Dutch descent. He is a 2-time professional strongman champion of New Zealand and competed in the K-1 Kings of Oceania in 2006 and 2007...
.
The championship is regularly defended throughout New Zealand, most often in central Auckland, at live events
House show
A house show is a professional wrestling show run by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive during televised events, as well as test reactions to matches, wrestlers, and...
such as the Armageddon Expo
Armageddon (convention)
Armageddon is a commercial science fiction and comics convention held in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Melbourne Adelaide and Sydney. In recent years it has also showcased computer and video gaming, animation, and consumer electronics...
as well at monthly supercard
SuperCard
SuperCard is a high-level development environment that runs on Macintosh computers, under OS 8 and 9, and OS X. It is inspired by HyperCard, but includes a richer language, a full GUI toolkit, and native color .The programming language used by SuperCard is called SuperTalk, and is largely based on...
s and on its weekly series IPW Ignition
IPW Ignition
IPW Ignition is a professional wrestling television program for Impact Pro Wrestling . The show debuted on Sky Television's Alt TV in New Zealand on 10 February 2007, and later became available worldwide via internet broadcasting...
. In 2007, the title made its debut in the Northland Region, with the promotion's IPW Collision event in Whangarei
Whangarei
Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
. The title match featured Jon E. King facing off against the Samoan Silverback Alexander. It has also been defended at several interpromotional events both in New Zealand and Australia. IPW Heavyweight Champion Jon E. King competed at the 2006 NZPWI Invitational with KPW Heavyweight Champion H-Flame where both men made it to the semi-finals and where King was eliminated by "Heartless" Alfred Valentine. The 2007 NZPWI Invitational saw the first ever "champion vs. champion" match when returning champions Jon E. King and H-Flame faced each other in a non-title match in the opening rounds. King went on to win the tournament.
The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches
Professional wrestling match types
Many types of matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, can be found in the form of performing art that is professional wrestling....
, in which participants execute scripted
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
endings rather than contend in direct competition. The inaugural champion was The Machine, who defeated Jon E. King in Mangere, Auckland
Mangere
Māngere is one of the larger suburbs in South Auckland, in northern New Zealand.The suburb is located on flat land at the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of the centre of Manukau city and 15 kilometres south of Auckland city centre...
on 9 April 2002 to become the first MPW Heavyweight Champion; King had won a Royal Rumble
Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every January by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 1988, with its inaugural event taking place on January 24, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario...
-type match, eliminating "Superstar" Troy Daniels to earn a place in the championship decider. IPW recognized both MPW Heavyweight Championship reigns when the promotion became Impact Pro Wrestling in 2003. King and Davey Deluxeo hold the record for most reigns, with three each. At 515 days, Deluxeo's first reign was the longest in the title's history. Vinny Dunn's second reign, which lasted mere minutes, was the shortest in the history of the title. Overall, there have been 21 reigns shared between 11 wrestlers, with one vacancy.
The promotion has often been represented by the reigning IPW Champion in the national media. In May 2005, TVNZ
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
's Hadyn Jones conducted an interview with The Machine and then IPW Champion The Economist at their Auckland gym. On 2 February 2006, Jon E. King was a guest on Ngati Hine FM where he was interviewed by disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Darcy Edwards and with fellow IPW wrestler Alfred Valentine on the TV One's morning talk show Breakfast by Kay Gregory
Kay Gregory
Kay Gregory is a journalist and former presenter at Television New Zealand. She previously hosted the Breakfast show with Paul Henry. On an episode of Breakfast, Kay revealed she is an "Ox" , despite Paul's guess that she is a "Warthog"....
that summer. Jordan Invincible was among the wrestlers featured on the 10 October 2008 edition Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
's IAM TV and where Invincible wrestled the host in a mock battle at their IPW facility in Auckland. IPW New Zealand Champion Dal Knox was interviewed at the 2008 Armageddon Expo, along with IPW colour commentator Dion McCracken, as part of an upcoming documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
on professional wrestling in New Zealand
Professional wrestling in New Zealand
Professional wrestling in New Zealand has been promoted in the country from the early 1900s. In 1919, Gisborne Katene became the first national heavyweight champion, though the title was not recognized by the National Wrestling Association until 1925, and promoter Walter Miller began running events...
, A Kiwi Century On The Mat, in April 2009. Knox was also profiled by 20/20 in a special report on professional wrestling in New Zealand, as well as on the Maori Television
Maori Television
Māori Television is a New Zealand TV station broadcasting programmes that make a significant contribution to the revitalisation of the Māori language and culture . Funded by the New Zealand Government, the station started broadcasting on 28 March 2004 from a base in Newmarket.Te Reo is the...
sports show Hyundai Code.
Title history
| # | Order in reign history |
| Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
| Event | The event in which the title was won |
| — | Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
| N/A | The information is not available or is unknown |
| + | Indicates the current reign is changing daily |
Names
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| MPW Heavyweight Championship | 2001 — 2002 |
| IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship | 2003 — present |
Reigns
As of , .| # | Wrestlers | Reign | Date | Days held |
Location | Event | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defeated Jon E. King in a singles match. King had previously won a Royal Rumble-style match to face The Machine. | ||||||||
| Title renamed the IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship when IPW is formed in 2003. | ||||||||
| N/A | N/A | The championship is vacated when The Machine injures his hand. | ||||||
| Won title in tournament final by defeating Joey Kinkade, Jon E. King and The Machine in a fatal four-way elimination match. | ||||||||
| This was a ladder match Ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling that is most commonly used to describe a match where an item is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item... . |
||||||||
| This was fatal four-way elimination match also involving Jordan Invincible and Alexander. | ||||||||
| This was a Fans Bring the Weapons match. | ||||||||
| This was a No Disqualification match. | ||||||||
| This was a Fans Bring the Weapons match. | ||||||||
| This was an open challenge match put out to any professional wrestler in New Zealand by Vinny Dunn. | ||||||||
| + |
List of combined reigns
| <1 | Indicates that the reign lasted less than one day. |
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| RankEach reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the same number mean that they are tied for that certain rank. | Wrestler | # of reigns | Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| † | |||