The Brisbane Experience Part 1- Two Broncos Walk Into A Bar…

So, I’ve been a busy boy. The past few days have seen me leave my comfy little Wollongong bubble and make the trip up to Brisbane, Bris-Vegas, for a wild weekend of wrestling. I ate, I drank, I got incredibly distracted by a pretty lady, I belted out Tenacious D’s “Tribute” in an Irish bar. It was the best of times, it was the- yep, that’s it. It was the best.

But we are here to talk about the wrestles! I’ll give a brief overview of my weekend, and also a little context about me in case you’re new. So I flew up Friday morning from Sydney- which in itself was a nightmare. Industrial action was happening, which cancelled a bunch of trains and delayed the ones that were still on. And the trains that were still running… stopped at EVERY SINGLE STOP on the line! I’ve never been on a train that’s done that, and I’ve caught a lot of trains. So even though I was at Wollongong traino at 6:30am, I made my 10am flight with 5 minutes to spare. And ya boi is pretty broke at the moment- casual teacher life- so the cash for another flight was not exactly there. This trip almost didn’t happen for me.

The other bit of context about me is that I have Cerebral Palsy. I get around independently and can do most things, but the pain/energy costs are extremely severe. I’ve started writing this article as soon as I walked in the door home, but I’m going to pay for it later. Fully expecting to go down for somewhere between 10-12 hours sometime soon. So I did as much as I could, but some things, the body just noped out on.

This was originally one article, but it was turning into a mammoth thing, so we’ve split it into two parts.

Anyway… AEW Grand Slam Australia. Aussie wrestling showing out at four other big shows. The live experience of a massive wrestling weekend. Let’s do this!

————————–

Friday

I quickly got into the wrestling action with a Friday night event, Rock N Roll Wrestling at the Caxton Hotel. Rock N Roll are my boys, they put on a great product and they’ve been incredibly kind to me over the years both in and out of the wrestling space. Best people you could possibly meet. Based in Wollongong, this was Rock N Roll’s QLD debut, and based on the words of the promoter, the great Hunter PS Hayes, the intention is to make return trips to the Sunshine State with the Caxton as its base.

The main attraction was two former Broncos players teaming up to take on two of Rock N Roll’s best. Former WWE star Xyon Quinn (Daniel Vidot) teamed with former Broncos captain Alex Glenn, who was making his pro wrestling debut. They took on the Rock N’ Roll Champion Moses, and The Grub Otis. Two absolute menaces out there, but also two of the most talented and underrated guys on the Aussie scene. No easy task for the former NRL boys.

I was there to support my friends, enjoy some wrestling and help where I could. Unfortunately, the amount of walking that had to be done (Ubers were a luxury I couldn’t really afford), plus the weather (the humidity was next level in Brissie)… I was dead. And already drowning in sweat before I had even moved really! But I managed to be a runner, help set up merch tables and act as an extra ref for both the street fight- which had a lot of crowd action- and the battle royal. I’ve already learnt the golden rule of “always bring your gear” and had packed my referee outfit. It’s cool to be part of a show in any small way- and RNR really do me a kindness having me be a battle royal ref- there’s not much to it apart from some safety checks and otherwise telling wrestlers to “get the f*** out”. Usually in nicer words, but still.

Next goal is to actually ref a standard match in the ring. A bit more activity involved in that one and I definitely need my legs to be strong for it, but it’s nice to have little achievable goals in the world of wrestling, right? Sadly, main eventing Mania (or Grand Slam) might be out of my reach.

I got to chat with all the talent on the Rock N Roll show. The core group from Wollongong I know well already, but we also had some Queensland talent drafted in, with Sledgehammer, Chad Atlas, Toa, Pogo the Clown… very nice, respectful dudes. Toa especially was mega cool. Also got to chat with Daniel Vidot (Xyon) and Alex Glenn. Zero egos, just two absolute dudes, and Alex in particular was very gracious and thankful for the opportunity to perform in a wrestling ring.

The show itself was very fun, although unfortunately we had some sound issues. Our ring announcers Michael Lee and Patrick handled the situation like pros as best as they could, and plans are in place to prevent that issue next time. Action-wise, the highlight to me was the Caxton Street Fight between Morgan Rose and Lachy The Tradie. Although I might be biased since I had a “better than front row” seat as a ringside ref for that one. But it was a genuinely physical and creative match. Probably the one that made the most of the 18+ branding, as Rock N Roll normally run family friendly shows. Morgan Rose got busted open and had money stapled to his head! Madness.

The battle royal featured a cast of characters, from Rock N Roll mainstays like Jay Sorbet, Ben The Referee and a returning Big Fudge- always crowd favourites- and the Queensland/IPW guys. Toa prevailed, becoming the first Caxton Cup winner after destroying Chad Atlas with a couple of Spears. Atlas was a riot in the way he begged off, interacting with both the crowd and me at ringside. I helped him backstage as he asked deliriously, “did I win?” This continued all the way through the Caxton as he questioned other patrons and bar staff as I half-carried him back to the locker room. Shout-out to Atlas for giving me a little extra to do!

Proceedings kicked off with a battle of veterans, as Hunter Hayes took on Robbie Zucco. This was a blast from the past for me, as when I first started coming to Rock N Roll as a fan 10 years ago, these two were frequent opponents. Both absolute pros engaging the crowd- Zucco riling up the punters by yelling “I’m the best thing going!” and Hayes getting the crowd behind him with “Badstreet Baby!” and “DDT”. I was back and forth between the downstairs crowd, grabbing merch items for wrestlers to use and watching from the upstairs balcony, but I believe Hunter finished the match with that signature move.

The Bachelor and Andrew Vega put on a fun, physical outing from what I saw as well. Both played their roles well and had eyes on big things in the future- Bachelor (who works as hard as anyone in Rock N Roll putting everything together) is heading to the USA to train under Booker T at Reality of Wrestling in a month or so. Support him here with his GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-bachelor-usa-tour-2025

Meanwhile, Andrew Vega had a big test ahead of him later that weekend, taking on the renowned Caveman Ugg at NJPW Tamashii. When he told me I chuckled a little and said, “Enjoy those chops!” as he reflexively grabbed at his chest. More on that tomorrow.

We had chaos as the Lee Morrow vs. EC Brownie match turned into a brawl, turning our originally scheduled tag team match between Xyon/Glenn and Otis/Moses into a six man. Good move adding someone with the experience of Morrow to proceedings. Always gets a crowd going, and did you know he trained under Cody Rhodes at the Nightmare Factory???

The main event was also fun, but I was having to run back and forth a little and didn’t get to fully catch the entire thing. Glenn was athletically impressive, and I got a kick out of the absolute “kid in a candy store” grin he had on his face the whole time. He busted out some cool moves well- a suplex, a neckbreaker, a big top rope cross body. I wasn’t going to mention this next bit, but since Xyon said it publicly on Instagram, I guess it’s fair game now- Glenn pulled that off with roughly an hour or so of proper training at IPW a few days before the show. Truly speaks to both the gifted athlete that Glenn is, and also the immense talents of Otis, Moses and EC Brownie in making that all work. Post-match, Alex hit Moses with a Stunner, and Xyon, Alex and Morrow hit a Shield Bomb through a table!

Sound issues aside, the crowd had a great time, it was a fun vibe, I took the ref shirt off and had a couple of beers. On to the next one!

From what I’ve seen on socials and speaking to people who attended, the PWL/Renegades Supershow looked like a great time on that Friday night as well. Wish I had a Time Turner to attend both shows, but alas- I hope that it goes up on YouTube as soon as possible, and I’m very happy that between the two shows, we had approximately a thousand people watching Aussie home grown wrestling. And that’s freakin’ awesome.

We’ll be back tomorrow with all the AEW stuff, and also keep an eye out over the next day or so for Champions Downunder #3, where we go over the results of championship matches from the shows across this weekend and recent weeks!

Until next time, take care.