Sell Out Crowd Helps Wipe Out Cancer
Sell Out Crowd Helps Wipe Out Cancer:
Local wrestling promoter James ‘’High Octane’’ Lanham and his troupe of wrestlers and supporting crew known as ICW Central West recently held their annual Emma Butler Memorial Wrestling Show at the Uniting Church Cowra in front of a completely sold-out crowd. These shows are held in honour of James` late girlfriend Emma, who tragically lost her life to tongue cancer at the age of 34 and having had none of the lifestyle choices or health risks that until recent years were associated with tongue cancer, and to raise awareness and funds for Emma`s Tongue Cancer Charity, a registered charity started by Emma`s family that raises money to purchase Holland Scopes that are used by doctors and dentists to detect cancer inpatients hopefully early enough to have affective medical intervention, which the charity has recently been informed that a patient in the Central West recently had their cancer detected early enough by one of the scopes purchased through funds raised at the 2022 Emma Butler Memorial Show was able to receive the treatment they needed in time to save their life. ‘’That`s what it`s all about’, says James. ‘’That`s the ultimate goal we have with these shows and Emma`s charity, to make sure we can stop people going through what Emma and everyone who loved her, especially her Mum, Dad and brother did’’.
James has been promoting wrestling shows in Cowra since 2013, and after Emma`s passing knew immediately that he had a platform to memorialise Emma and raise awareness of tongue cancer. Shortly after, Emma`s family discussed their idea to start her namesake charity with James and as he tells us ‘’my initial memorial show idea became an obvious opportunity to not only keep Emma`s name and legacy alive and let people know to get checked for oral cancer, but to raise money that would directly help with doing that’’. All proceeds from the raffle, Emma`s Tongue Cancer/ICW Central West shirt sales, $1 from every ticket sold plus additional donations from the fans and many match payments and some merchandise sales from individual wrestlers have all been donated to Emma`s Tongue Cancer Charity. Also, in an incredibly generous gesture, Cowra Community Enterprise donated their canteen proceeds from the event to the charity as well. All remaining takings have been put aside for next year`s event, to be held on Saturday November 1st back at the Uniting Church Hall Cowra, with tickets already on sale through the Humantix website and selling, as James would tell us ‘’amazingly well for a year out, it`s such a testament to the Cowra community and the rest of our fanbase who travel to Cowra for these events’’. Club Cowra provided a grant (different from a cash sponsorship) towards the show, with Club Cowra management Marc and Sharlene McLeish among other Club employees in attendance. ‘’This grant has paid for roughly three quarters of the running costs of next year`s event’’, explains James. ‘’No one involved makes any personal profit from these events and remaining funds after the donation go straight towards the following year`s show’’. James, who recently had a brand new $18 000 wrestling ring made by Chernco Engineering specially for this annual event, with all other non-steel components that could be purchased locally bought from local businesses such as Jeff`s Joinery and local MMA trainer Shane Kerr, is ecstatic with how the event turned out, and hopes with continued support from the community, that after next year that he might be able to hold the shows in an even bigger building to accommodate for an even larger crowd. ‘’If I can get to the point where the increased costs of running at a larger venue won`t be to the financial detriment of continuing to hold the event, I`d love to move to a place where maybe we can draw a few hundred people like Jason Stewart does with his wonderful kids’ charity boxing events’’, explains James. ‘’I`ve been in wrestling for twenty years, so I`m realistic and know that compared to other more well known sports and entertainment events we are very much a niche attraction and don`t have the drawing power that Jason`s events or the likes of local footy have, so even if we stay in the intimate venue we`re in now with a totally packed house every time, that`s still amazing too, the atmosphere was off the charts in the hall’’, says James. ‘’Sell-out crowds are rare in Australian wrestling, let alone selling out three weeks prior! It`s such a testament to Cowra and our fans from away that in a town of 9500 people, we draw crowds bigger than 90% of the wrestling promotions elsewhere, even in cities with as many as 3 million people. ‘’I thought every match on the card was incredible and all had a little something different to offer our diverse fanbase that includes everyone from the most hard-core fan, to the casuals, to many in the special needs community to people just wanting to support a good cause and enjoy a fun night out”, explains James.
The final number made for the event was $1,417.15, which has already been transferred to Emma`s charity. This year`s event footage is currently being edited by Suplex Stusios (hit them up) and will be uploaded to the ICW Australia Youtube channel shortly. ‘’For those who missed out on tickets and want to see what went down, whether I`m still Emma Butler memorial champion, if I beat my archrival Rex, what role Barry Blake played in proceedings and to see Birdman and his manager Chicken George`s entertaining antics, or those in attendance who want to relive it all, the event will soon be in the ICW Central West playlist on the ICW Australia youtube channel’’ , explains James.
Tickets for Nov. 1st, 2025 and are available below or from the link on all ICW Central West social media.
Also, be sure to support John Crossfire of Crossfire Graphics who did all the graphic design work for the show!
Donations to Emma`s Tongue Cancer Charity can be made below:
