Professional wrestling in Australia
Encyclopedia
Professional wrestling
in Australia
makes up a small but growing part of Australian culture
. Unlike the North America
n or Japan
ese products which have large, globally renowned organisations such as World Wrestling Entertainment
, New Japan Pro Wrestling
or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
with several hundred smaller promotions
, Australia has approximately 30 smaller independent circuit
promotions which exist in all but two of the states, those being the Northern Territory
and Tasmania
. Tours from the North American product are regularly sold out in capital cities such as Melbourne
, Sydney
, Perth
and Brisbane
.
, Clarence Whistler
and Georg Hackenschmidt
were made. As time went on, the sport's popularity began to grow, particularly in the 1930s as people sought to find relief from The Great Depression
.
Throughout the 1940s professional wrestling suffered due to World War II
but in the 1950s reached new highs as many stars from overseas were imported and created larger crowds and, in turn, a larger market. Established names such as Lou Thesz
, Dr. Jerry Graham
and Gorgeous George
toured the country during the decade.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Australia established its only major promotion
in WCW Australia
. WCW had a television deal with the Nine Network
, the first in Australia to do so and attracted crowds between 2,000 and 9,000 people on a weekly basis. International stars such as Killer Kowalski
, Ray Stevens
, Dominic Denucci
, Mario Milano
, Spiros Arion, Karl Gotch, Bruno Sammartino
, Gorilla Monsoon
and local stars Ron Miller
and Larry O’Dea were all involved with the promotion which grew steadily through the 1960s and was a well known product in the 1970s. However, with the introduction of World Series Cricket
, WCW was left with no television deal and was forced to close down in 1978. This sent the Australian market into a large decline. With no access to any product anywhere in the world, the Australian market was almost dead until World Wrestling Entertainment
became a prominent figure in professional wrestling in the mid-1980s.
Australia has depended on the North America
n product since 1985. Hosting tours in 1985 and 1986 kept a solid viewing in the sport through programmes such as Superstars of Wrestling and Saturday Night's Main Event. Small local promotions have tried to take advantage of the popularity of professional wrestling in more recent times, but there has been nothing of note since the demise of World Championship Wrestling in 1978.
However the local scene has been the subject of controversy.
In September 2002, a promotion called PCW presented a show called Carnage, in which two wrestlers faced off in the first-ever barbed-wire match in Australia
. The event was billed as a "Great Family Night Out", however before the bout an announcer warned parents to take their children from the Rowville arena if they were upset by blood.
The match saw real blood, fake glass and one contestant setting fire to a chair. The ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire and a bucket of thumb tacks was dumped on the ring floor. Much of the controversy surrounded rumours about the event, suggesting that the outpour of blood was so intense that it 'splattered' onto members of the crowd. Much of this can be attributed to people who had heard about the match giving their take of it on the Internet.
Despite the fact that this event was publicised as having a gory match and the preceding warning, people complained that the match in question was 'too much'. A concerned mother called Melbourne Talkback radio station 3AW
, and a wrestler heard this call and also rang in. This resulted in the main media outlets covering the story. For the record, neither of the wrestlers were seriously injured. It also resulted in a police investigation. and a furore within the local Knox City Council.
have struggled for the most part to obtain any international recognition. Perhaps the two biggest names when one mentions Australia are the Fabulous Kangaroos - Roy Heffernan
and Al Costello
. They are the only Australian wrestlers to make it big
in the United States
and held the WWWF
Tag Team Championship, as well as being inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
.
Australian wrestler Peter Stilsbury
was brought into the WWF in the mid 80's under the name Outback Jack in response to the mainstream popularity at the time of the Australian film Crocodile Dundee. He appeared in several vignettes hyping his debut by showing Jack in the wilds of the Australian Outback, drinking beer with cows, and came down to the ring to the theme song by Rolf Harris
, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". Outback Jack started his career touring in Canada
with several promotions including Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling.
In more recent times Nathan Jones
made two WWE appearances at WrestleMania XIX
and at Survivor Series
later that same year, making him the only Australian wrestler to ever appear on a WWE pay-per-view
event. Jones also appeared on two World Wrestling All-Stars
pay-per-views, losing to Jeff Jarrett
at WWA: The Inception and to Scott Steiner
at WWA: The Eruption.
Only two other Australian wrestlers have appeared on a world wide pay-per-view event at all. They are Chuck E. Chaos at WWA: The Eruption who lost to Jerry Lynn
, and Mark Mercedes at WWA: The Reckoning who lost to Rick Steiner
.
Shows from North American promotions have been held in Australia as early as 1985 when WWE toured through Melbourne
, Perth
, Newcastle
and through Melbourne and Brisbane again in 1986. That was the last Australia saw of a live North American product until WCW
did a Nitro
and Thunder
taping in Melbourne, a Nitro
taping in Brisbane and a Thunder
taping and a house show in Sydney in 2000.
The next time WWE came to Australia was for the WWE Global Warning Tour in 2002. The tour drew 56,700 attendance at Colonial Stadium for what was the first WWE event in Australia in 16 years. WWE has visited Australia regularly since Global Warning by touring at least once a year since 2003, with the latest show by the Raw brand in July 2011 visiting Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Australia also hosted shows presented by World Wrestling All-Stars
and various smaller shows have featured overseas talent, but nothing of note.
In 2000, I-Generation Superstars of Wrestling
held a Pay Per View in Sydney headlined "Rodman Down Under" where Dennis Rodman would lose to Curt Hennig
with the i-Generation Championship being contested.
and RAW
were broadcasted pay television networks with WCW Monday Nitro
on TNT. and WWE Raw
on Fox Sports. WWE's major pay-per-view
s (Royal Rumble
, WrestleMania
, King of the Ring
, SummerSlam
and Survivor Series
began to be shown on pay-per-view by the late 90's.
In September 2002 negotiations between FOX8 and WWE fell through and SmackDown! was cancelled. A special NWA-TNA
package replaced it in early 2003 but only lasted a year. NWA-TNA pay-per-views were shown once a month throughout 2003 during a time when they were being presented weekly in the United States
. WWE pay-per-views were also lost to Main Event in the same deal that cost Australian fans SmackDown. Village Cinemas showed them for a few months until August 2003 when SmackDown! returned on Saturday nights as well as the pay-per-views, starting with SummerSlam
. RAW was moved from Fox Sports to FOX8 and was shown on Friday nights. In order to prevent spoiler hunting on the internet, FOX8 moved WWE programming to timeslots closer to their United States air date.
In February 2005, WWE Heat
, WWE Velocity
and The WWE Experience
were added to Fox8 and set up a large wrestling program on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite Heat, Velocity and Experience all being cancelled in the United States
the shows continued to be shown in Australia to fulfill contractual obligations. When SmackDown! was moved to Friday nights in the United States, in Australia it remained on Friday afternoons. ECW on Sci Fi began broadcasting in Australia from 2 September 2006 in the place of WWE Velocity
on Saturdays and the WWE Fanatic Series
began airing in October 2006.
After just over 3 years, TNA made its return. Beginning with TNA Sacrifice 2006 on 27 May 2006 on tape delay. This continued for 12 months before events started being broadcast live in May 2007. TNA Impact!
began airing on 5 April 2008 on Fox8
. TNA Impact aired on saturday nights at 11.30pm eastern. As of Saturday 11 June TNA Impact will be shown weekly on Fuel TV
at 8.30pm eastern
Free to air wrestling programming has been scarce on Australian television in recent times. However with the conversion to Digital Television, several wrestling programs were purchased. In June 2008, WWE After Burn aired on Channel 9 on Sunday afternoon. However it later aired at 1am on Tuesday mornings. TNA Xplosion
began airing on One HD in prime time at 8:30pm on Thursday but by late 2010 it had been replaced in effect by the WWE Experience.
s in Australia are shown on Main Event
, the only provider in Australia. Main Event has been broadcasting pay-per-views for both WWE
starting from the late 90's until the present time (including the Fanatic Series from 2006) and WCW
pay-per-views from around the same time until they were bought out in March 2001. Main Event also began broadcasting TNA
pay-per-views in May 2006, starting with Sacrifice. One year later, TNA pay per views were lifted from the 13 day tape delay format to a live format.
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...
in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
makes up a small but growing part of Australian culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. Unlike the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n or Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese products which have large, globally renowned organisations such as World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
, New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan Pro Wrestling
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it...
or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...
with several hundred smaller promotions
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...
, Australia has approximately 30 smaller independent circuit
Independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indy circuit refers to the many independent promotions which are much smaller than major televised promotions. They are roughly analagous to a minor league for pro wrestling, or community or regional theatre.Specific promotions on the...
promotions which exist in all but two of the states, those being the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. Tours from the North American product are regularly sold out in capital cities such as Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
.
History
Professional wrestling in Australia first gained distinction in the early 1900s, however there were very few shows promoted. Nonetheless, stars such as Clarence Weber, Jack CarkeekJack Carkeek
Jack Carkeek, was an American Cornish champion wrestler, from Rockland, Michigan United States. His parents were from Cornwall, United Kingdom. He met many wrestlers in his career. He died March 12 1924 in Havana, Cuba....
, Clarence Whistler
Clarence Whistler
Clarence Whistler was a professional athlete and champion Greco-Roman wrestler of the 1880s. As the main rival to William Muldoon in wrestling of the early 80s, he was best remembered for his unusual strength, indifference to pain and tragic death...
and Georg Hackenschmidt
Georg Hackenschmidt
Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt was an early 20th-century Estonian strongman and professional wrestler, and the first free-style heavyweight champion of the world. He launched his professional career in Russia and lived most of his life in London, England, where he gained the nickname of 'The...
were made. As time went on, the sport's popularity began to grow, particularly in the 1930s as people sought to find relief from The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Throughout the 1940s professional wrestling suffered due to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
but in the 1950s reached new highs as many stars from overseas were imported and created larger crowds and, in turn, a larger market. Established names such as Lou Thesz
Lou Thesz
Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz was a United States professional wrestler and 18-time world heavyweight champion, most notably holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. Combined, he held the NWA Championship for 10 years, three months and nine days , longer than anyone else in history...
, Dr. Jerry Graham
Dr. Jerry Graham
Jerry Martin Matthews , better known by his ring name Dr. Jerry Graham, was an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time spent in the World Wide Wrestling Federation and as the founder of the Graham wrestling family.Jerry Martin Matthews was adopted by his stepfather Harold...
and Gorgeous George
George Wagner
George Raymond Wagner was an American professional wrestler best known by his ring name Gorgeous George...
toured the country during the decade.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Australia established its only major 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...
in WCW Australia
WCW Australia
World Championship Wrestling was an Australian professional wrestling promotion that ran from 1964 until 1978.-History:The promotion gained valuable publicity through televising programs through the Nine Network which was presented at noon on Saturdays and Sundays.An average of 6,500 people...
. WCW had a television deal with the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
, the first in Australia to do so and attracted crowds between 2,000 and 9,000 people on a weekly basis. International stars such as Killer Kowalski
Killer Kowalski
Władek "Killer" Kowalski was a Canadian professional wrestler. Kowalski wrestled for numerous promotions during his career, including the NWA and WWF, and was a known heel wrestler...
, Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens (wrestler)
Carl Ray Stevens , better known as Ray "The Crippler" Stevens or Ray "Blond Bomber" Stevens, was an American professional wrestler. Stevens was a wrestling superstar since the early years of the television era until he retired during the early 1990s...
, Dominic Denucci
Dominic DeNucci
Dominic DeNucci is an Italian-American professional wrestler. He is also an accomplished trainer, counting former World Heavyweight champions Mick Foley and Shane Douglas, as well as referee Brian Hildebrand, among his students.-Early career:...
, Mario Milano
Mario Milano
Mario Bulfone, better known by his ring name Mario Milano is a former professional wrestler. Milano got his start in wrestling in Venezuela and later competed in the United States and Australia.-Early career:...
, Spiros Arion, Karl Gotch, Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino
Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino is an Italian-American former professional wrestler, best known for being the longest-running champion of the World Wide Wrestling Federation , holding the title across two reigns for over 11 years in total, as well as the longest single WWE Championship reign...
, Gorilla Monsoon
Gorilla Monsoon
Robert James "Gino" Marella , better known by his ring name of Gorilla Monsoon, was an American professional wrestler, play-by-play announcer, and booker...
and local stars Ron Miller
Ron Miller
Ron Miller may refer to:* Ron W. Miller, son-in-law of Walt Disney and CEO and president of Walt Disney Productions in the 1970s and 80s* Ronald H. Miller, author and a professor of religion at Lake Forest College* Ron E...
and Larry O’Dea were all involved with the promotion which grew steadily through the 1960s and was a well known product in the 1970s. However, with the introduction of World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket
World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...
, WCW was left with no television deal and was forced to close down in 1978. This sent the Australian market into a large decline. With no access to any product anywhere in the world, the Australian market was almost dead until World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
became a prominent figure in professional wrestling in the mid-1980s.
Australia has depended on the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n product since 1985. Hosting tours in 1985 and 1986 kept a solid viewing in the sport through programmes such as Superstars of Wrestling and Saturday Night's Main Event. Small local promotions have tried to take advantage of the popularity of professional wrestling in more recent times, but there has been nothing of note since the demise of World Championship Wrestling in 1978.
However the local scene has been the subject of controversy.
In September 2002, a promotion called PCW presented a show called Carnage, in which two wrestlers faced off in the first-ever barbed-wire match in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The event was billed as a "Great Family Night Out", however before the bout an announcer warned parents to take their children from the Rowville arena if they were upset by blood.
The match saw real blood, fake glass and one contestant setting fire to a chair. The ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire and a bucket of thumb tacks was dumped on the ring floor. Much of the controversy surrounded rumours about the event, suggesting that the outpour of blood was so intense that it 'splattered' onto members of the crowd. Much of this can be attributed to people who had heard about the match giving their take of it on the Internet.
Despite the fact that this event was publicised as having a gory match and the preceding warning, people complained that the match in question was 'too much'. A concerned mother called Melbourne Talkback radio station 3AW
3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.-History:...
, and a wrestler heard this call and also rang in. This resulted in the main media outlets covering the story. For the record, neither of the wrestlers were seriously injured. It also resulted in a police investigation. and a furore within the local Knox City Council.
Australian wrestlers overseas
Individual wrestlers originating in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
have struggled for the most part to obtain any international recognition. Perhaps the two biggest names when one mentions Australia are the Fabulous Kangaroos - Roy Heffernan
Roy Heffernan
Laurence Roy Heffernan was an Australian professional wrestler. Roy Heffernan toured all over the world, but is most famous for being one half of the original version of the tag team the Fabulous Kangaroos...
and Al Costello
Al Costello
Giacomo Costa was an Italian Australian professional wrestler best known by his ring name, Al Costello. Costello was the first professional wrestler to be nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Holds" because of his innovative and very technical style.Costello was the creator and original member of the...
. They are the only Australian wrestlers to make it big
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and held the WWWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
Tag Team Championship, as well as being inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to the sport. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is not...
.
Australian wrestler Peter Stilsbury
Peter Stilsbury
Peter Stilsbury is a former Australian professional wrestler, best known for appearing in the World Wrestling Federation as Outback Jack from 1986 to 1988...
was brought into the WWF in the mid 80's under the name Outback Jack in response to the mainstream popularity at the time of the Australian film Crocodile Dundee. He appeared in several vignettes hyping his debut by showing Jack in the wilds of the Australian Outback, drinking beer with cows, and came down to the ring to the theme song by Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". Outback Jack started his career touring in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
with several promotions including Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling.
In more recent times Nathan Jones
Nathan Jones (wrestler)
Nathan Boyce Jones is an Australian actor, powerlifting champion, strongman, and retired professional wrestler...
made two WWE appearances at WrestleMania XIX
WrestleMania XIX
WrestleMania XIX was the nineteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It took place on March 30, 2003 at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington. The event was the first WrestleMania held in the state of Washington, and the first...
and at Survivor Series
Survivor Series (2003)
Survivor Series was the seventeenth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment...
later that same year, making him the only Australian wrestler to ever appear on a WWE pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
event. Jones also appeared on two World Wrestling All-Stars
World Wrestling All-Stars
The World Wrestling All-Stars was a professional wrestling promotion founded by Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus in 2001. The promotion was operated by McManus' International Touring Company. WWA was one of several promotions to come into existence shortly after the closings of Extreme...
pay-per-views, losing to Jeff Jarrett
Jeff Jarrett
Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett is an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , an organization he co-founded along with his father and in which he holds some stock but not total control...
at WWA: The Inception and to Scott Steiner
Scott Steiner
Scott Carl Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Scott Steiner. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers and as a member of the New World Order...
at WWA: The Eruption.
Only two other Australian wrestlers have appeared on a world wide pay-per-view event at all. They are Chuck E. Chaos at WWA: The Eruption who lost to Jerry Lynn
Jerry Lynn
Jeremy "Jerry" Lynn is an American professional wrestler who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
, and Mark Mercedes at WWA: The Reckoning who lost to Rick Steiner
Rick Steiner
Robert Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Rick Steiner.Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling, where he was an eight time World Tag Team Champion...
.
Foreign tours
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
and through Melbourne and Brisbane again in 1986. That was the last Australia saw of a live North American product until WCW
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
did a Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
and Thunder
WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001...
taping in Melbourne, a Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
taping in Brisbane and a Thunder
WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001...
taping and a house show in Sydney in 2000.
The next time WWE came to Australia was for the WWE Global Warning Tour in 2002. The tour drew 56,700 attendance at Colonial Stadium for what was the first WWE event in Australia in 16 years. WWE has visited Australia regularly since Global Warning by touring at least once a year since 2003, with the latest show by the Raw brand in July 2011 visiting Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Australia also hosted shows presented by World Wrestling All-Stars
World Wrestling All-Stars
The World Wrestling All-Stars was a professional wrestling promotion founded by Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus in 2001. The promotion was operated by McManus' International Touring Company. WWA was one of several promotions to come into existence shortly after the closings of Extreme...
and various smaller shows have featured overseas talent, but nothing of note.
In 2000, I-Generation Superstars of Wrestling
I-Generation Superstars of Wrestling
i-Generation Wrestling Superstars of Wrestling was a small series of professional wrestling shows in 2000.The roster consisted of wrestlers who had previously achieved fame in other promotions. The tour promoted a World Championship, an International Championship and a Tag Team...
held a Pay Per View in Sydney headlined "Rodman Down Under" where Dennis Rodman would lose to Curt Hennig
Curt Hennig
Curtis Michael "Curt" Hennig , also known by the ring name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler, manager and color commentator who worked for, among other promotions, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , the American Wrestling Association , World Championship Wrestling and the World...
with the i-Generation Championship being contested.
| 2000 Tour | World Championship Wrestling | WCW: Nitro & Thunder TV Tapings |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 Tour | I-Generation Superstars of Wrestling | Rodman Down Under Pay Per View |
| 2001 - 2003 Tour | World Wrestling All-Stars | Series of Pay Per View events such as Inception and Eruption. |
| 2002 Tour | WWE Global Warning Tour (Melbourne) | Taped event later released on DVD and VHS. |
| 2003 Tour | WWE Ruthless Aggression Tour/Passport to SmackDown (Perth) | Raw Superstars/Smackdown Superstars (Perth) |
| 2004 Tour | WWE Return of the Deadman Tour | Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane House Shows. |
| 2005 Tour | WWE WrestleMania Revenge Tour/Survivor Series Tour | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Newcastle, Adelaide & Brisbane House Shows |
| 2006 Tour | WWE Summerslam Tour | Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney & Brisbane House Shows. |
| 2007 Tour | WWE Survivor Series Tour | Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane House Shows. |
| 2008 Tour | WWE SmackDown & ECW Tour | Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide & Brisbane House Shows. |
| 2009 Tour | WWE Raw & ECW Tour | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide & Brisbane House Shows. |
| 2009 Tour | Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, & Brisbane shows. |
| 2010 Tour | WWE Smackdown Tour | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide & Brisbane House Shows. |
| 2011 Tour | WWE Raw Tour | Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide & Brisbane House Shows. |
History
Throughout the 1990s, both WCW Monday NitroWCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
and RAW
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
were broadcasted pay television networks with WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
on TNT. and WWE Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
on Fox Sports. WWE's major pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
s (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...
, WrestleMania
WrestleMania
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in late March or early April by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut...
, King of the Ring
King of the Ring
King of the Ring is a professional wrestling single-elimination tournament held by WWE. The tournament was held annually from 1985 to 2002, with the exception of 1990 and 1992, and from 1993 to 2002 the tournament was produced as a pay-per-view event....
, SummerSlam
SummerSlam
SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in August by professional wrestling promotion WWE. The inaugural SummerSlam took place on August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York and was broadcast via pay-per-view, unlike the Royal Rumble of that...
and Survivor Series
Survivor Series
The Survivor Series is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event held in November by WWE. It is one of the "Big Four" events, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam, as It is one of the original four pay-per-views produced by WWE....
began to be shown on pay-per-view by the late 90's.
In September 2002 negotiations between FOX8 and WWE fell through and SmackDown! was cancelled. A special NWA-TNA
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...
package replaced it in early 2003 but only lasted a year. NWA-TNA pay-per-views were shown once a month throughout 2003 during a time when they were being presented weekly in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. WWE pay-per-views were also lost to Main Event in the same deal that cost Australian fans SmackDown. Village Cinemas showed them for a few months until August 2003 when SmackDown! returned on Saturday nights as well as the pay-per-views, starting with SummerSlam
SummerSlam
SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced annually in August by professional wrestling promotion WWE. The inaugural SummerSlam took place on August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York and was broadcast via pay-per-view, unlike the Royal Rumble of that...
. RAW was moved from Fox Sports to FOX8 and was shown on Friday nights. In order to prevent spoiler hunting on the internet, FOX8 moved WWE programming to timeslots closer to their United States air date.
In February 2005, WWE Heat
WWE HEAT
WWE Heat was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment...
, WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, Jakked/Metal. Once a weekly Saturday night show on Spike TV and on Sky Sports 2 in the UK on Sunday mornings, Velocity became a webcast from 2005 to 2006...
and The WWE Experience
The WWE Experience
The WWE Experience, is a television program produced by WWE, Inc. which recaps events taking place on WWE Raw, and WWE SmackDown that started in May 2004.-History:...
were added to Fox8 and set up a large wrestling program on Saturdays and Sundays. Despite Heat, Velocity and Experience all being cancelled in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
the shows continued to be shown in Australia to fulfill contractual obligations. When SmackDown! was moved to Friday nights in the United States, in Australia it remained on Friday afternoons. ECW on Sci Fi began broadcasting in Australia from 2 September 2006 in the place of WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity
WWE Velocity was a professional wrestling television program produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, Jakked/Metal. Once a weekly Saturday night show on Spike TV and on Sky Sports 2 in the UK on Sunday mornings, Velocity became a webcast from 2005 to 2006...
on Saturdays and the WWE Fanatic Series
WWE Fanatic Series
WWE Fanatic Series is a show that looks at the best of World Wrestling Entertainment each month. The series is hosted by Todd Grisham. It premieres a new title from the best-selling WWE Home Video collection each month. Fanatic Series is part of WWE 24/7 Classics. It can also be seen on Viewers...
began airing in October 2006.
After just over 3 years, TNA made its return. Beginning with TNA Sacrifice 2006 on 27 May 2006 on tape delay. This continued for 12 months before events started being broadcast live in May 2007. TNA Impact!
TNA iMPACT!
Impact Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling that currently airs in the United States and Canada on Spike...
began airing on 5 April 2008 on Fox8
FOX8
Fox8 is an Australian cable and satellite channel available on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television's subscription platforms...
. TNA Impact aired on saturday nights at 11.30pm eastern. As of Saturday 11 June TNA Impact will be shown weekly on Fuel TV
Fuel TV
Fuel TV is a U.S. cable and satellite specialty channel that launched on July 1, 2003. It focuses on the cultures of such extreme sports as skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, motocross, surfing, BMX and FMX. It is a unit of Fox Cable Networks and is currently available to 26-million...
at 8.30pm eastern
Free to air wrestling programming has been scarce on Australian television in recent times. However with the conversion to Digital Television, several wrestling programs were purchased. In June 2008, WWE After Burn aired on Channel 9 on Sunday afternoon. However it later aired at 1am on Tuesday mornings. TNA Xplosion
TNA Xplosion
TNA Xplosion is a television program produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , featuring both highlights from Impact Wrestling and exclusive taped matches. It is now produced only for international markets, no longer airing in the United States...
began airing on One HD in prime time at 8:30pm on Thursday but by late 2010 it had been replaced in effect by the WWE Experience.
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-viewPay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
s in Australia are shown on Main Event
Main Event
Main Event is Australia's only pay-per-view channel. It transmits through Foxtel, Optus Television and Austar, which jointly own the channel...
, the only provider in Australia. Main Event has been broadcasting pay-per-views for both WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
starting from the late 90's until the present time (including the Fanatic Series from 2006) and WCW
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
pay-per-views from around the same time until they were bought out in March 2001. Main Event also began broadcasting TNA
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...
pay-per-views in May 2006, starting with Sacrifice. One year later, TNA pay per views were lifted from the 13 day tape delay format to a live format.
See also
- Professional wrestling in Japan
- Professional wrestling in MexicoLucha libreLucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
- Professional wrestling in the United KingdomProfessional wrestling in the United KingdomProfessional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over 100 years but became popular when the then new Independent Television station - ITV began showing it in 1955 firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late night mid week slot...