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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] |
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] |
Tony Garea
Anthony Gareljich (born 20 September 1946) is a New Zealand retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tony Garea. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wide Wrestling Federation/ World Wrestling Federation in the 1970s and 1980s. Early life The son of Croatian-born Ivan Gareljich, Anthony Gareljich was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to parents of Yugoslavian and Irish descent. He was originally an accomplished sprinter and a rugby league player. Garea grew up in New Zealand's largest city Auckland until he was 8. It was then that his parents bought an Orchid on which they lived and worked for 6 years before returning to the western suburbs of Auckland where Tony went to school for a further year before quitting just a month before his 15th birthday. After that he worked at various jobs including in a men's clothing store for 6 months, then he spent another 6 months delivering paint and wallpaper supplies before spending ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impact Pro Wrestling
Impact Pro Wrestling (IPW), also known as New Zealand Impact Pro Wrestling, is a New Zealand professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion. It has promoted regular events throughout the country and abroad in the last several years and is credited for being the first to bring live wrestling shows to cities, such as Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton and Whangārei, in over two decades. A staple of Armageddon (convention), Armageddon Expo since 2002, its annual "Armageddon Cup" supercard has been a major attraction at the event in subsequent years. IPW frequently visited Australia during the early 2000s, in conjunction with Peter Ball's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast-based Major Impact Wrestling, and the two companies merged to form a sister promotion, Impact Pro Wrestling Australia, in 2007. That same year, the promotion signed a deal with Sky Network Television's ALT TV to broadcast a weekly television show, ''IPW Ignition'', which aired throughout the cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geylang
Geylang () is a planning area and township located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore, bordering Hougang and Toa Payoh in the north, Marine Parade in the south, Bedok in the east, and Kallang in the west. Geylang is previously known as a red-light district, particularly the areas along Geylang Road. Today only 3-4 units remain for brothels and street walkers are hard to come by. Geylang is also where one of Singapore's oldest Malay settlements, Geylang Serai, is located. During Ramadan, the neighbourhood is famous for its popular and iconic Ramadan lights and bazaars. Etymology The word ''Geylang'' is found early in Singapore's history and also in early topographical maps showing marsh and coconut plantations beside and adjacent to the mouth of the Kallang River, home to the Orang Laut (sea gypsies) called ''orang biduanda kallang'' who inhabited the area at the time of Raffles' arrival in 1819, and after whom the river is named. ''Geylang'' may be ... [...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] |
Mark Lewin
Mark Lewin (born March 16, 1937) is an American retired professional wrestler. He worked for various promotions throughout his 35-year career, including Big Time Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, and the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Early life Lewin was born in Buffalo, New York. He had two elder brothers, Donn and Ted, both of whom also became professional wrestlers. He attended Lafayette High School. Professional wrestling career Lewin was trained to wrestle by his brother-in-law, Danny McShain. He debuted in 1953 at the age of 16. Lewin had great early success in a matinee-idol babyface tag team with Don Curtis, headlining in major territories like New York and Chicago. The team's brief heel turn was a shock to its many fans. The team split up in the early '60s and Mark embarked on a singles career. In 1963, Mark first tried out the "Maniac"/"Mad" Mark Lewin persona, which he would alternate consistently with his 'normal' babyface persona for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years. He is noted for his tenures with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Much of his career was spent in JCP and WCW, in which he won numerous titles. Since the mid-1970s, he has used the moniker "the Nature Boy". A major pay-per-view Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Draw, attraction throughout his career, Flair headlined the premier annual NWA/WCW event, Starrcade, on ten occasions, while also co-headlining its WWF counterpart, WrestleMania, WrestleMania VIII, in 1992, after winning that year's Royal Rumble. ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' awarded him their PWI Wrestler of the Year award a record six times, while ''Wrestlin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harley Race
Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promotion, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He was a nine-time world champion, having won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship (Indianapolis), WWA World Heavyweight Championship once and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship List of NWA World Heavyweight Champions, eight times and was the first List of WWE United States Champions, NWA United States Heavyweight Champion (now WWE United States Championship). Race is one of six men to have been inducted into each of the WWE Hall of Fame, the NWA Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. He is widely considered as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. Although formally established in 1948, its lineage has been traditionally traced back to the first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship (original version), World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, which traces its lineage to the title first awarded to George Hackenschmidt in 1905. This effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world. The title began as a governing body's world championship and has been competed for in multiple major promotions around the world, including the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (which seceded from the NWA and became WWE, World Wide Wrestling Federation, now WWE), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Wide Wrestling Federation
Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1982, the CWC was acquired by Titan Sports, Inc., owned by Vincent J.'s son Vincent K. McMahon. The CWC was the precursor to today's WWE, currently run by Nick Khan as president and owned by TKO Group Holdings. History Early history (1953–1963) Jess McMahon was a successful professional boxing promoter who began working with Tex Rickard in 1926. With the help of Rickard, he began promoting boxing at the third Madison Square Garden. McMahon would later take over the wrestling side of Rickard's promotional business; Rickard was noted for disliking wrestling and prevented wrestling events from being held at Madison Square Garden. A few year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the promotion competed with other promotions such as NWA All-Star Wrestling and Pacific Northwest Wrestling and regularly ran events in Calgary's Victoria Pavilion, Ogden Auditorium and the Stampede Corral between 1948 until 1984 when bought out by promoter Vince McMahon, the company was briefly run by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before being sold back to the Hart family the following year. Run by Bruce Hart until January 1990, he and Ross Hart reopened the promotion in 1999 and began running events in the Alberta area. Along with its wrestling school known as " The Dungeon", many of the promotion's former alumni becoming some of the most popular stars in the World Wrestling Federation and other American promotions during the 1980s an ... [...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] |
