New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling (NZWPW) is a

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

based in

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

and later

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

in New Zealand. The promotion entered a hiatus in 2018, when former NZWPW wrestler, Jay Marshall left the promotion to start Capital Pro Wrestling. Since 2020, professional wrestling and training in Wainuiomata is now run by former NZWPW wrestler, Hayden Thiele with his Valiant Pro promotion. This promotion has many former wrestlers from NZWPW such as Axl Stirling, "Rufguts" Roddy Gunn, Chad Howard and Jade Priest.

History

Formation

NZWPW was formed in October 2003 by

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

trainer, former New Zealand Sumo Wrestling champion and head of Petone's He Toa Sports Association, Martin Stirling. Stirling noticed a new generation of wrestling fans, brought up on WWF action. With a wrestling ring already set up at his He Toa gym, Stirling sent an invitation for prospective Wrestlers. Four men answered the call, X-Rated, Juice, Inferno and D-Hoya, with these four pioneers, NZWPW was born. Wrestlers trained by Stirling first performed at the Armageddon Convention on 20 September 2003, as part of an Impact Pro Wrestling show, and the promotion was launched under the name Wellington Pro Wrestling (WPW). WPW's first show was held on 14 November 2003 in

. Throughout 2004, more wrestlers joined and small shows were held at community venues around the

Hutt Valley The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...

. Soon, Stirling, was inundated with prospective wrestlers and had to hold training weekends to find the best talent.Wrestling Revival
10 May 2005 WPW then got re-branded to New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling in January 2005. This was partly because the

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

for WPW was already used and to reflect the growing interest in touring New Zealand (

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

, Levin, Gisborne,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

) as well as the

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) 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 second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

area. By May 2005, NZWPW had a presence on the internet and thirty five active wrestlers. On 25 March 2005 NZWPW held the Powerplay 2 event at the Lower Hutt Town Hall with over 300 fans in attendance

Expansion

NZWPW performed shows in Christchurch,

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

, Otaki, Levin,

Paraparaumu Paraparaumu () is a town in the south-western North Island of New Zealand. It lies on the Kapiti Coast, north of the nation's capital city, Wellington. Like other towns in the area, it has a partner settlement at the coast called Paraparaumu Bea ...

, Blenheim and many others major centres up and down the country making it the most widely touring New Zealand promotion and the only one to perform regularly in both New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

and

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. Wrestlers from NZWPW have also wrestled for Australian promotion Impact Pro Wrestling Australia (formerly Major Impact Wrestling). Female wrestler Misty also competed in the all women's Australian promotion PWWA. In May 2006 a number of NZWPW wrestlers, led by former NZWPW booker The Punisher and

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

NWA NWA or Nwa most commonly refers to: * N.W.A ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes"), a hip hop group from Compton, California, US * National Wrestling Alliance, a professional wrestling organization NWA or Nwa may refer to: Music * New Weird America, a subgenr ...

star

Rip Morgan Michael Morgan (born August 20, 1957) is a former professional wrestler from New Zealand who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling best known as Rip Morgan. Best known as ...

, left to set up a rival promotion called Kiwi Pro Wrestling. Since then NZWPW has had an on-again-off-again working relationship with Auckland-based promotion Impact Pro Wrestling. In 2008 NZWPW featured on the television show 'Good Morning' which is a nationally seen show on TV One to promote Powerplay V with all profits being donated to the Te Omanga Hospice. It continued on its charity work in 2009 when it ran a show to raise funds for the Movember foundation. NZWPW also co-promoted a show with the Australasian Wrestling Federation featuring Raven. In 2009 Chris Masters featured at Powerplay VI, making numerous television appearances to promote the event including 'Good Morning' and '20/20'.

Martial arts

Thanks to Martin Stirling's

background, NZWPW made much of its links with New Zealand's martial arts scene. Many of their early shows featured demonstrations of fighting styles such as

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

and

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

. Shows have also been co-promoted with major

Sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

events such as the 2005

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

Sumo Championships and the 2006 New Zealand Open Sumo Championships. Also in 2006, NZWPW co-sponsored sumo wrestlers Sio Sakaria and Mark Tanu to attend the Junior World Championships in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, where they won silver and bronze medals respectively. In 2009 NZWPW wrestlers

Travis Banks Travis Bligh (born 15 February 1987), better known by his ring name Travis Banks, is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE on their NXT UK brand. He is also known for competing in promotions such as Fight Cl ...

and Tykade both won gold medals at the Oceania Sumo championships in Australia. This was backed up in 2010 when numerous NZWPW wrestlers took part in the Oceania Sumo Championships (this time held in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

, Wellington, New Zealand). With Tykade once again taking out the open and heavyweight divisions, Rufguts and Ben Mana were also in the medals in the heavyweight and open divisions. Travis Banks, Tykade and Rufguts went on to compete at the

World Combat Games The World Combat Games is an international multi-sport event featuring combat sports and martial arts. The games were founded by SportAccord (now known as the Global Association of International Sports Federations) as a way of bringing various m ...

in China in August 2010.

Triangle TV

Invasion

New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling Invasion previously aired on

Triangle TV Face TV (previously Triangle Television) is a public service television station based in Auckland, New Zealand. Since August 1998. It broadcasts on the Sky Network as of December 2013 ASO. Previously, Triangle has broadcast across Auckland o ...

& Stratos. The show debuted on 21 August 2008 at 11pm. Invasion includes touring of NZWPW and was officially kicked off on 16 August in Wainuiomata and occasionally,

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city cent ...

. The show ended prior to the New Year of 2009.

Championships

Current Champions

NZWPW Heavyweight Championship

The NZWPW Heavyweight Championship was the top

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

championship title in the New Zealand

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling (NZWPW). It was the original super heavyweight title of Wellington Pro Wrestling and introduced as the WPW Super Heavyweight Championship on 3 December 2004. The inaugural champion was Ruamoko, who defeated Les Barrett in a tournament final in

, New Zealand on 25 April 1992. The title became vacant when Ruamoko suffered an injury in early-2005 and, after the promotion became New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling, it was replaced by the current heavyweight championship first won by Island Boy Si on 25 March 2005.

NZWPW Tag Team Championship

The NZWPW Tag Team Championship was the top professional wrestling

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

championship title in the New Zealand promotion New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling. The title was first won by The Superlatives (Jean Miracle and Nick Silver), who won a tournament final at Power Play IV in Lower Hutt, New Zealand to win the titles on 14 April 2007. It was the first title of its kind to be established by a major promotion since the

NWA Australasian Tag Team Championship The New Zealand version of the NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship defended in the National Wrestling Alliance-affiliated All Star Pro Wrestling from 1981 to 1984. The titles were awarded to S ...

during the early 1980s and was the oldest active tag team championship in New Zealand.

He Toa Cup

The He Toa Cup was the secondary singles professional wrestling championship in the New Zealand promotion New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling. The cup was first won by Ben Mana on 10 December 2011 in Petone, New Zealand. From 2011 – 2013, the cup was defended at every NZWPW show held in the He Toa Gym in Petone. The final champion was "The Spartan" Sam Black, who was in his first reign.

Title history

=List of combined reigns

Alumni

* Adam Avalanche * Axl * Amy St. Clere * Ben Mana * Bryant * CD * Chad Howard * Chrome * Corey Dallas * Creed * D-Hoya * Dan Stirling * Fred The Great * GI Jay * Gold * H-Flame * Harry Peters * Hayden Thiele * Inferno * Island Boy Si * Ivan Dragunov * Jakob Cross * Jade Priest * James Shaw * Jay Marshall * JC Star * Jean Miracle * Jimmy Sparx * Johnny Idol * Jonnie Juice * Les Barrett * Lolly Lane * Matt Ryder * MacBeth * Matariki * Max Damage NZWPW Bryant&Axl

* Mikey Rave * Misty * Mr Silver * NOS * Osiris * Paul Sayers * Roddy Gunn * Ruamoko * Sandstorm * Scarlett * Scravenge * Silky Love * Skull Kid * Sonya Meyers * Stellar Hammer * Tank * The Nerd * The Punisher * The Ram * Shane Sinclair * Thor *

* Tykade * Umlaut * X-Rated

Non-Wrestling Personnel

* Chris Ferguson (Referee) * Damian Skyfire (Referee) * Danny Sol (Referee) * Martin Stirling (Owner) * Phil Woodgate (Chief Wrestling Officer) * Rehua (Commentator) * Roneel Kumar (Commentator)

Powerplay history

Powerplay was NZWPW's biggest and longest running event. A Powerplay event had been held almost every year of the promotion's existence.

Powerplay (2004)

Powerplay II

Powerplay III

Powerplay 6

Powerplay VII

Powerplay XI

5 on 5 Elimination Tag Team mtch

Powerplay 2017

References

External links

* {{Professional wrestling in New Zealand New Zealand professional wrestling promotions Entertainment companies established in 2003 Sport in Wellington Companies based in Wellington