IWA Showcasing The Best of the Best In Women’s Wrestling- Time For A Title?
I’ve been asked to take a look at IWA and women’s wrestling, as the promotion has some banger matches lined up. But before we get to where we’re going, we need to understand where we’ve been. Join me for a little ride down memory lane before we look at what they’ve got coming up.
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IWA (International Wrestling Australia) is the longest-running pro wrestling promotion in Australia. They can always be relied upon for a fun, affordable, family-friendly night of pro wrestling. I was a little late to the party with IWA- after attending promotions such as PWA for many years, my first taste of IWA was in October 2023, which was their 25th Anniversary show at St John’s Park Bowling Club.
IWA are able to show some of NSW’s best talents, and that includes a great array of talented women’s wrestlers. The perception around women’s wrestling has shifted greatly over the past decade or so, both in mainstream American pro wrestling and here in the Australian scene. That is thanks to the tireless work of amazing women such as Jessica Troy, the currently reigning PWA Champion, taking on men and women alike, proving to be one of the best Aussie wrestlers regardless of gender. Another talented woman is Charli Evans, who has fiercely fought for equality, shattering any pre-conceived notions about what women can do in wrestling, participating in brutal deathmatches and seeking to bring a death to the term “intergender wrestling”. It’s just WRESTLING, they’re wrestlers, and it just so happens that we are spoilt for choice with Aussie women who are fantastic pro wrestlers. And IWA are on board with featuring them in top spots.
The aforementioned IWA 25th Anniversary show saw Charli Evans best Cherry Stephens in a killer match. I truly hope Cherry’s apparent retirement goes much like 95% of other pro wrestling retirements- that is, that it’s just more of a break and we see the ultra-talented Cherry Stephens back in an IWA ring, or a PWA ring, or really any Aussie ring would be lucky to have her. Sometime soon, this writer quietly hopes and prays.
The next time I attended an IWA show was May 2024. Virtually on my doorstep in Fairy Meadow, a less than 10 minute drive from my front door, it was IWA Fight At The Frat. Once again, IWA featured women in a prominent match- a triple threat with a good look at the future of Aussie wrestling- Rita Stone vs. Frankie B vs. Shay Kassidy. Rita ended 2024 by beating Adam Hoffman to unify the Newy Pro Women’s and Middleweight titles, while Shay Kassidy captured OPW gold (and the hearts of all the fans) alongside Kingsley as part of the uber-popular Backslide Girlz team. And Frankie B has been a constant presence along with Nikki Van Blair as PPK, a beautiful but deadly duo that can get the job done, coming ever-so-close to winning those inaugural OPW Women’s Tag Team Championship at HER in Ballarat last year.
A quick turn around for me for my next IWA show, June’s Take No Prisoners, which just so happened to fall on my birthday! And the powers that be gave me a hell of a birthday present- the first 30 Minute Iron Woman match to take place in New South Wales. Rita Stone took on Charli Evans- with Chevs being well established and Rita being so young in her career, months before the monumental victory at City Hall, this was something of a coming-out party and a brilliant treat to watch.
Also, following this awesome main event match, Scott Green, The Tuckman and a bunch of the IWA wrestlers had a little birthday celebration for me, complete with cake and getting the crowd to sing me “Happy Birthday”. It absolutely stands as one of the best birthday memories I’ve had, getting to celebrate with a bunch of people and a community I love. And doing it after watching Charli and Rita tear the house down really was the icing on the cake. But I digress.
The next IWA show for me was in November, back in Fairy Meadow for Fight At The Frat 2. This one had a good amount of top tier women in key spots, main evented by- if you know me well or have followed my writing over the years- my favourite Aussie wrestler, Jessica Troy. I actually believe it was a first time ever match with Rita Stone, and it absolutely delivered, providing Rita Stone some more top level opposition just before taking the title from Hoffman in Newy Pro.
But that wasn’t all. We had a little mixed tag action as Jesse Lambert and Kingsley joined forces to take on the annoyingly handsome Sam Osborne and the towering presence of Lena Kross. Then we had some bonus action as following the scheduled Troy vs. Stone main event, we had a bit of a schmozz and wound up with an eight person tag, as Jess Troy teamed with Rita and The Dropouts to take on Lena, Matt Callaway and North Shore Wrestling. Suffice to say, the women of IWA played a major role in this show, as they did in June, and the common theme- fans went home happy after seeing some high level pro wrestling action.
That brings us up to 2025. I intend to get to more IWA shows as health and finances allow- thankfully, IWA tickets are typically very cheap, ranging from $15-20 down to just $5 in some cases! And you’re guaranteed to get some bang for your buck with some of the matches lined up. A stand out among them is a blockbuster triple threat set for Drifter’s Warfare 2 on Feb 2nd- it’s Charli Evans vs. Rita Stone vs. Lena Kross. As the above video shows, Chevs and Rita made magic happen at Paddo RSL, and now with the undeniable X-Factor, the powerful and dominant Lena Kross, who knows what’s going to happen?
2025 also sees a new direction for the Backslide Girlz. As popular as their act is, due to their loss at the St John’s Stockade on January 18th in a tag match against Charli Evans and Rita Stone, they are no longer allowed to team in IWA. How will Kingsley and Shay fare as singles competitors in IWA?
On that note, it’s clear that IWA see the value and star power present in the women of Australian wrestling, in how they’ve been promoted and positioned on various IWA cards over the past couple of years. Which leads to the question of- what are they fighting for? IWA don’t seem quite as open as, say, PWA or MCW in terms of having a lot of intergender wrestling. A quick scan of the title histories of their current active titles- the Heavyweight and Trans-Tasman- don’t seem to show the likes of Charli Evans or Jessica Troy as former champions. And I do understand that viewpoint to a degree when trying to present a family-friendly product- unfortunately some people are a little too conservative for seeing men wrestle women, outside of maybe a comedy spot or two.
So then, is it time to revive the IWA Women’s Championship? Records on the inactive title indicate that it was officially deactivated in 2011, with the last title holder being Angeleeka. An excerpt from Angeleeka’s own Angelfire website sees her expressing her excitement at defeating Miss Fit for the title on the 5th of January 2006. A world before smartphones were commonplace, ancient history indeed, but also simpler times!
It’s a much different world now. IWA have many brilliant women on their roster who can wrestle to a high standard, often being the highlight of the shows they’re on. Following in the footsteps of accomplished former IWA Women’s Champions such as Madison Eagles and Kathryn Nixon, the likes of Jessica Troy, Charli Evans, Rita Stone, Lena Kross and many, many more are setting a new standard throughout 2024 as we move into 2025. Should they have the opportunity to be showcased further in championship bouts? I believe so.
What do you think?
Until next time, take care.
A man who loves his wrestling, MMA, and has been known to dabble in karaoke. Previously wrote for Snap Mayors Media and ran The Arena Media for several years. As many wrestling fans do, I often envisioned myself becoming a pro wrestling superstar, but having Cerebral Palsy makes that dream a tough one to attain. Did do a brief referee spot for Rock N Roll Wrestling and I’d love to do more non-wrestler roles if laying the Smackdown is out of my reach, but until then, I’ll be hitting you with some refreshing writing like an F5!
