Aussies Abroad: Fletcher leads in league and Adelaidean main events first PLE
The last week saw Aussie talent smash it overseas.
Welcome back to another week’s edition of Aussies Abroad- where we take a look at the Aussies kicking ass in the overseas world of pro-wrestling.
Let’s start this week’s coverage off with Adelaide superstar’s main event match on RAW earlier today, where she took her long-lasting rivalry with Raquel Rodriguez to an anything goes match following her huge win earlier this month at WarGames. Ripley wasted no time in the match, sending Rodriguez flying into the wall before she even completed her entrance and sent a bin straight to her head. Ripley put her body and a number of weapons on the line to take out her anger on her ex-friend. Things slowed down a little for Ripley when Rodriguez sent her through the announce table, but it didn’t take long before Ripley got back on her feet with some clever maneuvers. The match showcased the sheer brutality of both these women, who are so fun to watch together as they both match each other’s strength and size. Things were going perfectly for Ripley, who was about to put Rodriquez down in a riptide through pile of chairs, when the Women’s Champion Liv Morgan got involved. This only gave rhea two toys to play with instead of one, and with the help of Morgan’s future opponent Iyo Sky, she was able to get the win by sending Rodriguez into a table with a clean riptide.
Over in NXT, fellow Adelaide powerhouse Zaria (formerly known as DELTA) once again blew the roof off with her dominating entrance into this year’s Iron Survivor Challenge at WWE Deadline. Although she just narrowly missed out on the win, Zaria showed her strength up against some of the biggest and best talent in NXT in what was her first PLE. Zaria was the fourth entrance following Wren Sinclair, Giulia and Sol Ruca. She showed pure brutality when she first entered the ring, but was eventually beaten down by the women, before being sent, with what looked to be a nasty landing, through the announce table. Despite taking some bumps during the match, it took the effort of multiple women at once to match her strength. Zaria got her first pin with her signature and followed it with some impressive moves. The ending sequence of the match saw Zaria land a perfect F5, but just narrowly missing out on the pin when Giulia scooped her up for the three-count.
Over in AEW, Aussie Kyle Fletcher continued to impress in the Continental Classic Blue League, picking up another win, this week against the champion Kazuchika Okada. Fletcher has been coming into his newly found heel persona, and it’s been exciting to see him take charge of the locker room. Fletcher landed some hard hits, despite Okada knowing how to hit back, but it was eventually a brainbuster (with a little help from a low blow) that saw Fletcher pick up the win. Fletcher is now way ahead of the pack with 9 points in the league.
In Japan, Aussies have continued to bring the heat, this week with the TMDK team featuring Shane Haste taking out Katsuta Murashima and Shoma Kato at the NJPW Tag League. Haste pinned Murashima with a Shane-ing Wizard to pick up the massive win for his team.
-Till next week!
News Writer + Aussies Abroad. Based in Adelaide and winner of the 2023 CPA Young Journo of the year, has been a news and arts journalist for a number of years working across radio and print, but has decided to take her wrestling addiction to PWDU. You can find her at any local wrestling night across the state with a beer in-hand and a front-row ticket to the action.
