Pro Wrestling Australia
Diego’s Last Show ft Jimmy Havoc
January 13, 2018
Max Watt’s
Sydney, Australia
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Gb508hYMM (Free)
Pro Wrestling Australia is a promotion that I’m really high on. It’s like a weird hybrid of PROGRESS and CHIKARA. They have decided to release their recent show for free on YouTube because one of their hard cams wasn’t working for the first half.
This is Diego Retamales (the current ring announcer) last appearance for PWA and has a bit of a tear in his eye when he comes out. Crowd chants ‘Thanks Diego, Thanks’. He has been a great announcer for PWA (has great gusto and showmanship) and will be missed by the fans.
PWA Tag Team Championship
Mick Moretti and Jack Bonza def. Juan Direction (Funny Juan and Romantic Juan)
The 4 Nations have to defend their titles against the luchador version of One Direction. Bonza and Moretti have tension building as they are both finalists for the Colosseum tournament. Not to mention that the crowd is pro-Moretti and anti-Bonza which makes things more complicated for the duo. There are signs early on, with the crowd asking for a Moretti tag but Bonza denying it. This would continue when Moretti gets into the match and denies the tag to Bonza. It gave the opportunity to Juan Direction for them to capitalize at certain points. Including a moment where they did the old ‘twin magic’ (because all four members of Juan Direction looked the same) and switched members for the illegal replacement (utilizing Tough Juan on the outside) to do a roll up on Bonza. Only got a two as Bonza got the rope and crowd chants ‘ring awareness’. The 4 Nations eventually got on the same track to get the win with both men putting a foot on the prone Juan Direction member for the win.
I struggle to tell you which one is Funny Juan, Romantic Juan or Tough Juan (I can tell who Giant Juan is because he is noticeably taller). I’m hopeless. Good tag work in this match. Juan Direction are surprising solid considering their comedy gimmick. Bonza and Moretti are just tremendous as the ring general tag team and I think they are going to have a killer match in the finals. ***1/4
Tree Hugger Luchi cuts a promo about how he is should be PWA’s sanitation commission (do you know the Simpsons episode when Homer Simpson tries to run for sanitation commissioner. Well, Big Fudge is Homer Simpson and Tree Hugger Luchi is Ray Patterson).
Shazza McKenzie def. Tree Hugger Luchi
‘Oh Shazza McKenzie’ goes the audience. ‘Who are ya’ to Tree Hugger Luchi. To start, Luchi asks Shazza for the first shot and gets a slap. Results in a terrible start for Luchi but turns the tables with some hair pulling. He then takes control until Shazza returns the favor with some hair pulling of her own. Series of saito suplexs by Shazza and then some kicks. Luchi then hits a backbreaker and goes for a nice springboard tornillo. His momentum didn’t last long, Shazza got the split-legged stunner for the win. Solid match as PWA looks to book Shazza as a potential challenger for the PWA championship. Luchi had some good moments. **3/4
Juan Direction are backstage and are very disappointed with their loss. They plan to go on hiatus.
Paris De Silva def. Adam Hoffman vs Jax Jordan vs Gavin McGavin
Got the ‘get your shit in’ multi-man match which is normally on these shows (I love the good old ‘get your shit in’ filler match). Hoffman and McGavin try to gang up on De Silva, but Hoffman gets thrown out. McGavin then hits a Northern Lights suplex on De Silva. Jordan comes back with a hurricanrana on McGavin. Hoffman is back into the fray and gets ‘Hoffman is a shit cunt’ by the audience. Doesn’t last long as McGavin gets in and he gets some boos from the crowd because Gavin is a natural heel. Takes a moment to stand on the ropes and jaw jack with the fans, but Jax gives a 619 to his legs on follows with a wild tope.
An incredible spot where Hoffman catches a crossbody from Jordan and then a diving seated senton from De Silva for a ‘two in row’ powerbomb combo. That’s freaking strength. Nice little technical exchange with McGavin and Hoffman. Then the flippy boys De Silva and Party Boy Jax have an exchange after they kick them out of the ring. Eventually, McGavin gets back and hits a couple of his signature reverse DDT’s. Hoffman would get up to the top to hit a shooting star press to show that he also has both the agility and the strength. De Silva would take the victory by connecting with an even prettier shooting star press for the three count (a bit awkward because it didn’t look like the referees hand had hit the ground for it to count as three). Hoffman didn’t like being shown up and attacked De Silva post-match. Adam Hoffman looked very impressive in this little showcase, but everyone got to shine (like the high flying of Paris and Jax, also McGavin’s technical capabilities). ***1/2
PWWA champ (a very rarely defended title and should just become defunct) Shazza McKenzie had an interview to say that she is a worthy champ and that the critics are wrong (meh, because you don’t defend the freaking title).
Mat Rogers def. Kai Drake
Fellow VOW writer Tim Teresi says that Kai Drake is the most underrated wrestler in the Oceanic and he’s probably on to something. Drake has to face the big man that is ‘FULL FORCE’ Mat Rogers. Kai attacks before the bell. Tries to strikes Rogers down but struggles because he is too big and powerful. Struggles to get him off his feet for a brief period and then continues with some stiff chops. Kai goes for some hard kicks but FULL FORCE keeps coming. Big boot and then a pumphandle slam for the FULL FORCE victory. Disappointing in the sense that I wanted Kai Drake to have a stronger showing because I want to see him get a bigger push in PWA. But I guess FULL FORCE has to be kept strong (shrug). NR
Post match, The VeloCites try to get FULL FORCE to join their stable. However, FULL FORCE said ‘I thought that I told you pussies to get fucked’ because FULL FORCE is an old fit for a group that consists of flippy dudes. London slaps FULL FORCE but that is a big mistake as that enraged Rogers. FULL FORCE almost decides to kill The VeloCites but security prevented that.
Jax Jordan interview and he’s disenchanted about losing matches. Said that he needs back up. Next interview, Adam Hoffman gets grilled by interviewer Heather who told him ‘cheap move to punch Paris in the back’. Hoffman gets pissed and says that deserves better than multi-man matches. He said more people will punched in the back until PWA management give him better matches.
Robbie Eagles def. Jonah Rock, Adam Brooks
Streamers for Jonah who is heading to the WWE. A lot of love for the big man. ‘Jonah Fucking Rock’. He soon gets double-teamed by Eagles and Brooks. Quick exchanges with Eagles and Brooks. Rocks comes with two big scoop slams. Carries both in a fireman’s carry position then drops them. Brooksy does some clever offense to get the advantage (because he’s a shrewd fella) but then Eagles does some even smarter offense to take both guys. Brooks was able to connect with a beautifully timed Meteora and tope combo to the outside to get the advantage. But it’s not for long because this action is quickly moving. Brooks had Rock in position on the top rope but Brooks get pushed off. Then Robbie tries his luck for a top hurricane but Rock counters into a big super powerbomb. Robbie and Adam fire up and superkick Rock.
Those two have an awesome exchange until the Samoan rams into them with a double clothesline. All three get up and trade shots. However, Jonah has the powerful strikes and would then a double spear to channel his inner Roman Reigns. BRAINBUSTER to Adam Brooks for a two. Loose Ledge got a codebreaker followed by a slingshot DDT. Went for the swanton bomb on Jonah and looked like winning. But Robbie got in the way and eventually hit his 450 on Rock for the win. These three guys have great chemistry and gel so well. They really are the cream of the crop in Australia and it was a good little showcase of that. Great stuff. ***1/2
All three hug and embrace after. Rock puts over PWA and says that he will continue to be a strong force overseas.
Big Fudge cuts a funny promo about how he should be the sanitation commission of PWA.
Jude London gets questioned about whether slapping FULL FORCE was a good move and basically said he didn’t wanted The VeloCites treated like pussies. Fair enough, but FULL FORCE is coming you.
Caveman Ugg def. The Prefects (Billy Preston and Jimmy Townsend)
Caveman Ugg askes for an open challenge. The Prefects answer the call and get SQUASHED by the monster. NR
Ugg makes another challenge because he isn’t satisfied. Big Fudge music hits. RIP Big Fudge. Wait a minute, he isn’t here for Ugg but Diego? He says as PWA’s future sanitation commission, he got a present for Diego (a bottle of Johnnie Walker whisky and a lap dance from Ricky South). SMS comes out to put a stop to the lap dance because Unsocial Jordan was very disgusted by it. So, it looks like a feud with Unsocial Jordan and Ricky South is set. Should be fun because both are very talented young lads.
No Rope Break Match
Jessica Troy def. Michael Spencer
Spencer gets straight into the ring, no music and all business. Wears a Madison Eagles t-shirt (who is his rival) and bad mouths her for not appearing (she is sidelined with an injury). This brings Jessica Troy with a hobbled Eagles who announces Troy as his opponent for tonight. Troy gets the kimura locked in straight away. Spencer eventually breaks free and hits a killer running knee. Not for long, as Troy gets a Tarantula on the ropes and then let’s go to hit a running bicycle kick. Jess continues to be relentless with the kimura and gets the tap out. Surprisingly short match with Troy being persistent with the kimura in this no rope break match and quickly getting the win as a result. Not sure what to make of it. NR
The Prefects are backstage but who cares about those jobbers.
No DQ
Matty Wahlberg def. Jimmy Havoc
Wahlberg is wearing a blood red OJ Simpson jersey. Oh shit. Then comes Jimmy Havoc with his full goth attire and Wahlberg quickly gets imitated. Gets a bit scaredy cat and asks for this to be a regular wrestling match. Dammit, it’s going to be one of those matches (OVERBOOKED HEEL HIJINKS ALERT!). Havoc gives him the middle finger and it’s still going to be No DQ. Flurry of forearms by Havoc to begin. Havoc gets a chair to head but quickly recovers for a tope because he’s hardcore. Barbwire to the face gets Havoc some colour and bleeds. They have a brawl on the outside. A table gets introduced and that brings out the Wahlberg’s stablemates from the BABES (Carter Deams and Harley Wonderland) to help him. This then results in some comedy moments which I had no interest in seeing from this contest (mainly because Wahlberg had cut an awesome promo before the match which was very serious and personal, so I was expecting less comedy from this). However, PWA is a comedy promotion like DDT and CHIKARA at its core, but still. Eventually, Jimmy Havoc scares away Wahlberg’s friends by introducing lightubes.
They had some pretty cool spots with the lightubes. Havoc would do a Finlay Roll on Wahlberg into a pile of chairs and then go for his Acid Rainmaker finisher for what was going to be a three count. But Carter Deams from the BABES came back to pull the referee out and stop him. Wahlberg gets another lightube shot and Havoc looked set to finish Matty with a lightube contraption that he made. But he got distracted by the BABES and was curb stomped through the tubes by Wahlberg for the pinfall loss. The match delivered with the violence and plunder, but it felt way too overbooked and lacked the seriousness for a big main event match. Carter Deams and Harley Wonderland didn’t need to interfere in this match that much and make it an overbooked three on one handicap match. It was bullshit. Just go all the way and really put over Wahlberg. There was no need for that from a booking perspective. So it lived up to expectations in some ways, but disappointed in a lot of ways as well. **1/2
Diego gives his final goodbyes to close the show.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, this show was one of PWA’s weaker shows from recent memory but still fun. It’s free on YouTube and should watch for that fact alone. I really think that 2019 will be a huge year for this promotion and it’s worth getting on the ground floor.
