Zeke Andino talks Beginnings, Japan and that sign at AEW Dynamite

Pario Magazine creator Jamie Apps recently sat down with Queensland wrestler ‘The Dark Horse’ Zeke Andino and the chat provided insights into how Zeke discovered Australian wrestling, touring Japan and the sign requesting Tony Khan book him for the upcoming Grand Slam event in Brisbane. 

Zeke Andino like many of us became obsessed with wrestling thanks to WWE beaming through set top boxes around the country via providers Austar, Foxtel and Optus Vision. Whilst having dreams of being a wrestler, it was a triple threat match at Royal Rumble 2015 between Brock Lesnar, John Cena and one of his biggest wrestling inspirations Seth Rollins that saw Andino finally go searching. A quick search on the internet, led him to discover wrestling outside the sphere of WWE, wrestling in Australia and most importantly wrestling in Queensland. 

“I think it started off with Queensland Wrestling and then the search results came up via closest location and IPW came up, oh my god there’s a local wrestling school it just opened up this whole new portal” Zeke told Jamie.

Andino started wrestling training first quarter 2016 after he had finished high school. IPW was the first wrestling school on the results list “they have a great reputation and sometimes I feel like a bit overlooked…the amount of talent that has come out of IPW is pretty unreal”

‘The Dark Horse’ who in his 8 year career so far has captured the IPW Heavyweight championship, the promotions unified championship and had also UPW’s featherweight championship, has recently toured Japan, wrestling for Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Jamie Apps asked him how that came about.

“I have a mate in Tasmania who was training over there and he reached out and just said …there’s this tournament going on. Reach out to this person and send your resume if you want to be a part of it” Zeke answered. 

The tournament he was referring to was a junior heavyweight tournament and the opportunity to wrestle in Japan was a goal, particularly after seeing Kazuchika Okada wrestle Kenny Omega at WrestleKingdom 11. Andino putting himself out there and was rewarded as he was accepted into the tournament. 

Andino elaborated the steps he had to take to put himself out there:

“(I) Made my own Instagram graphics to say I’m going to Japan….I then attached the image (and) just started messaging (and) emailing these Japan(ese) promotions…since they saw I was coming over big Japan responded…that was 3 to 5 years of getting turned down”

Fortunately that hard work paid off, with Big Japan booking Zeke and liking what they saw 

“I did a few shows and whilst I was over there they must have liked what I was doing, because then they wanted to extend my tour and that was just a non brainer…ever since then (have) had a great relationship with them and went back for a second tour that year”

Zeke Andino acknowledged the hard work of those who paved the road before him, such as ‘The Sniper of the Skies’ Robbie Eagles and most importantly Hartley Jackson and what they have done in creating opportunities for some of the hot talent on our shores. 

“There’s no denying the ground work that people like Robbie has done. I definitely want to mention Hartley Jackson …what he’s done for Australian wrestling in general…I couldn’t comprehend what he has done until you have in depth conversations either with him or people that have trained under him”. 

Interviewer Jamie Apps asked ‘The Dark Horse’ whether he thought Japanese promotions potentially saw an untapped market for high quality performers in Australia  – “I think they see a bit of an untapped market and I guess it’s of interest but at the same time it’s also the commitment maybe…I was going over there and I was showing that I wanted it and yeah I think that paid off too” Zeke answered. 

He also touched on Australia’s proximity to Japan and how that has been bearing fruit for hungry Australian wrestlers. 

“it’s perfect for us to have that connection…you’ve seen it recently with Ugg and The Velocities and the Filip Brothers going over…it’s a pretty cool bond that we have and something that the growth in future years will be epic to see” ‘The Dark Horse’ said. 

Pario Magazine’s Apps also requested Andino elaborate about a title opportunity that presented itself during his first tour of Japan, wrestling in the famed Korakuen Hall. 

Zeke Andino reflected fondly, “A dream come true that’s something where you sit down at the start of your wrestling career and you dream of doing this and you list of Madison Square Garden and then there’s Korakuen Hall, the Tokyo Dome…sometimes it just seems so far fetched and you’re like wow is this actually going to work out?” 

“There was a title match scheduled and injuries occurred and they said hey this is your opportunity to you know fight for the BJW junior heavyweight championship, it was surreal man, just the most nervous I’d ever been, in that locker room about to go toe to toe with two of the top wrestlers in Japan…one guy was my mentor the whole trip, the other guy I went toe to toe with many times…I’ll never forget it. It’s not only one of the best moments of wrestling, but my life…if someone opens that door just a little bit, you have to kick it in and really show out”

Whilst the Dark Horse hopes to return to Japan after Pro Wrestling League and Renegades of Wrestling’ Super Show and AEW Grand Slam Australia, the latter brought an interesting moment that happened on AEW Dynamite into the conversation – a sign visible during The Learning Tree segment which requested Tony Khan book Zeke Andino for Grand Slam Brisbane. 

“The reaction was like my jaw dropped and it just seemed unbelievable.“

As it turns out, an old friend from Queensland who did some work for UPW and had bonded with Zeke over their love of Japanese Wrestling had headed overseas to pursue a singing career. They touched base over social media after Zeke’s second tour of Japan and caught up on life, but what happened next blew Andino away. 

“You get the Instagram notification and I see that she’s gone to a dynamite episode and tried to help me out which I’ll forever be thankful for…that’s just unreal that someone could be so thoughtful to do something like that…the momentum I got from that and the traction I got from that was unreal” Zeke Andino stated appreciatively. 

‘The Dark Horse’ hopes putting himself out there and manifesting will lead to an opportunity to appear at AEW’s debut event in Brisbane in some capacity, something that would be incredible to see. 

The conversation between Jamie Apps and ‘The Dark Horse’ Zeke Andino was an interesting and engaging listen, which you can access below. Make sure you like and subscribe to Pario Magazine so you can catch interviews like this one when they are released.