ROBBO’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS #5: Pro Wrestling Australia (PWA)

Day 5! I hope you’re all feeling the Christmas cheer as we inch ever closer to Santa arriving. In case you haven’t been following along, this is the 12 Days of Christmas series, where each day, I look at a different Aussie wrestling promotion. I give a little history, a little run-down, and include a nice video for your viewing pleasure- either a full show or a full match. For the four days so far, I’ve covered two larger promotions, and two smaller ones. We’ve gone from Canberra, to Perth, to QLD, and down to Melbourne, but today… we’re heading to Sydney.

Day #5: Pro Wrestling Australia (NSW)

PWA is a promotion very close to my heart. They weren’t the first Australian wrestling promotion I saw- more on that later in the series- but they were the first to make me aware that there was a proper pro wrestling scene in Australia, and what they presented was a product that closely aligned with the kind of pro wrestling I enjoy most. Billing their shows as “Black Label”, PWA held 18+ events filled with fast-paced, hard-hitting action. A significant difference to WWE, who sometimes were too family-friendly for my tastes- I am a child of the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras, after all.

It was January 2018. I was starting to get into New Japan, by virtue of Chris Jericho making the shocking jump overseas from WWE to face Kenny Omega. I had also seen the Young Bucks on a Sydney House of Hardcore tour and had my mind blown. So when I stumbled across some Facebook targeted advertising for a PWA event- Lock, Stock and Too Sweet Barrels, featuring Gino Gambino and Bad Luck Fale of Bullet Club, I bit the proverbial bullet and bought tickets for myself and a mate. Off to Parramatta RSL we go!

It was an excellent show, and when the announcer hyped the following show- Return of the Ospreay, featuring the sensational Will Ospreay, I bought front row tickets before you could blink. Besides the scintillating fatal 4 way main event between Ospreay, Robbie Eagles, Mick Moretti and Caveman Ugg- genuinely a killer match- one particular highlight was Matty Wahlberg (now known as Grayson Waller in WWE) roasting me on the mic post-match. The 21st Century Success Story got me good!

From there, I was at PWA shows every month. The promotion went from strength to strength running adult-orientated wrestling shows, growing in size and even running venues like the Star Casino in a co-promotion with Progress Wrestling. Not only could you count on them to put on the kind of high-quality intense matches that a New Japan or AEW might offer, they also put thought into storylines as well. The evolution of the Prefects, the character arc of Cherry Stephens & Big Fudge, the rise through the ranks that Wahlberg experienced- all gripping storytelling that kept PWA fans coming back for more.

While things got a little bumpy with the pandemic, PWA kept powering forward. They’ve run shows at places such as the UNSW Roundhouse and Metro Theatre. They’ve had a consistent presence at Max Watts/Liberty Hall for years. And they are currently gaining strength with a new generation coming through- while veterans like Robbie Eagles and Mick Moretti are still as good as ever, the likes of The Tuckman, Scott Green and Jimmy Townsend have truly broken through over the last year or so. Bridging the gap we have Australian stars who have been on the scene for a fair while, but are still young, in their prime and arguably better than ever presently such as Jessica Troy, Charli Evans and Ricky South.

That brings us to our video for today- and it’s a full show! The PWA YouTube channel is an embarrassment of riches. You could go for this year’s Colosseum (both nights are there- and FREE- in their entirety). Or the unique Ringmasters event earlier in the year, featuring banger matches like Charli Evans vs. Ben Braxton, Eagles vs. Tuckman, or Miss Fury being the hottest woman ever in her intro performance. I could even go with an individual match, and give us Eagles vs. Ospreay from 2017, or Wahlberg vs. Ugg from 2019… but I’m going to go with this past weekend’s show, Kick-Ons.

The main reason I’m going with this show is that I typically review the latest PWA show, and I’ll likely pick that up again in 2025, but with all the content I’m churning out here, I don’t really have the time for a full-fledged review. So I’m going to go with an abridged version here. SPOILERS, obviously, if you haven’t actually watched the above video yet:

Results

Six Person Tag Match- North Shore Wrestling def. Michael Spencer, Cosmo Cooper & Rhys Angel

Hari Singh def. Jack J Bonza via DQ

Ben Braxton def. Aaron Jake

I Quit Match- Kingsley def. David Streamer

Soul of PWA Title Match- Robbie Eagles (c) def. Lena Kross

Four Way Tag Match- The Dropouts (Tuckman & Scott Green) def. The Regime (Ricky South & Backman), Third Eye (Ty Thayer & Jay Sorbet) and the Velocities (Jude London & Paris De Silva)

Jimmy Townsend def. Mick Moretti

So, ordinarily, I’d have a big review article just dedicated to this show. Keep an eye out for something of that nature for the next Black Label event on January 31st, PWA Tag Race. For this, I’ll try and keep it shorter and frame my thoughts in the context of PWA as a whole.

Let’s start with the main event. A true coming out party for Jimmy Townsend. His story dates back to when I first started coming to PWA. He was one half of the Prefects tag team with Billy Preston. Then they disbanded (in one of the most emotional moments in PWA history), and from there, Jimmy took a while to find himself. He travelled some and was known as the Wandering Soul, then Mick Moretti took Jimmy under his wing and acted as a mentor, and they became The Joker and the Thief. Then, Jimmy won the Key To The Card, and used it to call Grayson Waller back to PWA, “stealing” a match that Moretti always wanted. Jimmy fell short against the WWE Superstar at Colosseum in probably the match of his career, but it was still a loss. Here, Jimmy won the big one. It wasn’t the PWA Championship, but it’s a win of near as much importance. Jimmy Townsend is a made man.

Elsewhere, The Dropouts ended their incredibly strong 2024 with a big showcase win in the “everybody get their shit in” tag match. That’s not a slight, I love crazily paced multi-man matches like that, and the finish with cutters galore was excellent. Tuckman and Scott Green- no one’s getting higher in 2025!

The Soul of PWA match was really intriguing, because how often is it in an intergender match that the man is the underdog? Lena Kross is such a dominating physical presence that Robbie really had to chop that tree down, targeting the leg, and that modified Ron Miller Special to finish Lena off really showing Robbie’s new vicious streak since taking the title from Tuckman back at Ringmasters.

The I Quit match walked the line of almost being too comedic with some of the reactions and variations on the way they would scream their refusal to quit, but I appreciated the creativity with handcuffing the other Backslide Girlz, the use of Barnaby, and finally… of course money is the thing that matters most to Streamer! Good stuff overall, and good to see Kingsley and co. freed from the shackles of the overbearing manager.

Good to see Ben Braxton get a singles victory on a Black Label show after the Colosseum snub. Possibly the best athlete in PWA, everything he does in that ring looks flawless, but he needs the wins and the showcase spots to move to that next level. We also have Aaron Jake and Belinda Pierce at odds- I’m not sure how this started, they’re the reigning tag team champions, but Aaron’s kicking her around the ring- definitely a story to keep an eye on.

Hari Singh impressed me at Colosseum, and hey, DQ or not, a win over Bonza is huge. I hope referee Lili Edea gets an opportunity to avenge that abhorrent treatment by that rang…y fighter, with the long limbs, Jack J Bonza.

And last but certainly not least, we had the in-ring debut of North Shore Wrestling as a trio. I’ve felt for a while that Chevs should be walking the villainous side of the tracks, and she fit in well and looked amazing alongside Osborne and Kiedis, all the poise and aggression in the world. That finisher is absolutely deadly! Side note, Cosmo Cooper has come a long way in a pretty short amount of time. Seems to be packing on the muscle and making the most of opportunities. This night, however, belonged to North Shore Wrestling. We’re all living in Chev’s Country.

That said… a fired up PWA Champion, Jessica Troy, with a steel chair by her side, seems far from finished with the Violence Artist!

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Current Champions

PWA Heavyweight Champion- Jessica Troy

Soul of PWA Champion- Robbie Eagles

PWA Tag Team Champions- Aaron Jake & Belinda Pierce

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at PWA! Tomorrow, we once again leave NSW (that’s New South Wales, not North Shore Wrestling) to check out a different state!

Until next time, take care.