Reviewing The Australian Wrestling Supershow, Except The Wrestling: By Lachlan Albert
REVIEWING EVERYTHING ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN WRESTLING SUPER SHOW EXCEPT THE WRESTLING
By Lachlan Albert
Valentine’s Day weekend 2025 in Brisbane was a wild weekend of wrestling. AEW’s Grand Slam Brisbane brought the eyes of the wrestling world to the Sunshine State, and with wrestling fans making their way into Brissie, local and national companies saw opportunities. Visitors sticking around until Sunday would get to see Redcastle Entertainment and NJPW’s first Tamashii show in Brisbane, and anyone managing to get out of Grand Slam early enough on Saturday night could dash to renowned 18-foot ring owners PWA in Brisbane’s clubbing capital, Fortitude Valley. Friday night had competition, as Rock N Roll Wrestling tried their best to appeal to a new market, but unfortunately for them they were up against the biggest (non-AEW) show of the weekend; Pro Wrestling League and Renegades of Wrestling teaming up to present the Australian Wrestling Super Show.
I had the absolute pleasure of commentating the Super Show, and it was a delight to watch. I don’t have to tell you that, though. If you weren’t one of the 600+ fans in attendance on Friday night and have somehow avoided hearing about it since, you’ll be able to hear my dulcet tones over the matches when they make it to YouTube in the very near future. Here’s the headline, though; the matches were great. Probably obvious, considering the talent on the show, but everyone delivered.
The joy of wrestling isn’t just wrestling, though, is it? A wrestling show, especially one on the scale of the Super Show, has a laundry list of factors to deliver on that can make or break a big night. Let’s review everything (except the matches) from the PWL/ROW Australian Wrestling Super Show!
Advertising and Branding: The black, yellow, and white of both PWL and Renegades was almost TOO convenient here. AEW’s black, yellow, and gold were evoked by the branding of the Super Show, but without looking like a rip-off of what the American juggernaut was doing. Leading into the show, post counted down the weeks and days while building the card – matches were announced intermittently as teams were built one member at a time for a Champions vs All-Stars five-on-five showdown. Fans felt involved early, too, as the four-man State Of Origin Scramble evolved into a five-man match after South Australian attendees made their voices heard. The promo game from the wrestlers was on point, too – from Dean Brady menacingly announcing his addition to the State of Origin match, to Yeet Stevens and Ricky Utomi trading verbal blows as the All-Stars and Champions team captains. From Aysha making her intentions for 2025 clear, to Bobby Bishop’s passionate defense of Queensland, to Lochy Hendricks’ murderous short film, it was clear that no prisoners were being taken, and February 14th was being set as a battleground.
Venue and Amenities: Eaton’s Hill Hotel is maybe a perfect wrestling venue. As much as I’ve loved heading to the EH for gigs like Trivium, Amon Amarth, and Wolfmother, the emergence of the hotel as a wrestling venue through World Series Wrestling and ROW’s previous Brisbane excursion with GCW have shown that this is an excellent place for graps. The fact that the pub upstairs competes food-wise with a burger place, a taco place, a kebab place, a dumpling place, a BBQ place, a pizza place, and a grocery store all within 200m of the door doesn’t hurt. The smaller room leading into the venue being a perfect spot for merch tables and the outdoor space for catching up with mates before the show are great, too. The thing that makes it a phenomenal venue, though, is the Grand Ballroom itself – clean and fancy, with a bar next to both the ground floor seating that surrounds the ring and the mezzanine standing area which perfectly overlooks the action. Rooms like this, where every spot you stand or sit give you a great look at the ring and at the stage which acts as an entryway backed by a massive projector screen, with clear audio that permeates the venue, are one in a million.
Merchandise: Unlike a certain big event over the weekend, the Super Show merch area was plentifully stacked with diverse goods. The typical T-shirts and signed 8x10s shared a massive length of table with Caveman Ugg’s furry stubby coolers, Jesse Daniels’ bargain handshake (which only cost one soul), and and incredibly special early releases of Pario Magazine’s 2025 Australian Wrestling Cards, amongst other goodies. I managed to be very conservative and only bring home six new shirts. Please do not tell my girlfriend that I spent that much money on wrestling gear on Valentine’s Day.
The Roster: If you are aware of the Australian wrestling scene in any way, the lineup of talent on this show is enough to boggle your mind. It obviously depends on how you count, but at least 13 companies were represented by wrestlers on the card, all the way up to New Japan’s IWGP Junior-Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Robbie Eagles. Speaking of titles, the Queensland Openweight title, IPW Unified title, OPW Women’s Tag Team titles, PWL Tag Team Titles, ROW Women’s title, and Soul of PWA title were all on the line, which is a lot of gold even before looking at what was around the waists of the Champions five-on-five team. With 43 wrestlers, picking out highlights is left as an exercise for the reader. Because I can’t. If you came up to me and said “Hey, you know who’s wrestling at the show this weekend?” and then randomly named any three of the competitors on the card, I’d buy a ticket on the spot. I’m going to say it – I think this is the best lineup of Australian wrestlers ever assembled on one show.
The Non-Wrestlers: Besides the managers present in some matches (credit to Digby Robinson, Ryker, and Jazzy; no credit at all to Todd Eastman), there are plenty of people involved in a wrestling show. Unfortunately, I can’t review my own commentary (feel free to give me five stars in the comments of the show’s YouTube upload), but I CAN review the work of the two men who joined me at the commentary table. Chris Dink is an absolute character, and his wild gesticulations and announcements were fantastic for the tag team matches on the card, while Bastian James is a consummate professional in both his play-by-play and ring announcing. PWL’s stellar refereeing team of Ref Pat and Ref Richo were bolstered by Victoria’s best, the incomparable Edwin Lay. The behind-the-scenes staff seem to have been rightfully proud of what they’d put on, especially with the PWL ownership team taking seats alongside the commentary desk so that they didn’t miss out on the show.
The Surprises: When people show up who aren’t supposed to show up, it can sometimes be frustrating. Jesse Daniels ruining Queensland’s opportunity to the win in the State of Origin match to get at Bobby Bishop, allowing Lochy Hencricks to steal the victory? Frustrating. Local favourites Wacol’s Most Wanted costing PWL Tag Team Champions Strong 94 their titles and making us watch Team QWA whisk them away to north Queensland? Frustrating. What wasn’t frustrating, though, was a surprise challenger. With Aysha retaining her ROW Women’s Championship, she took the microphone to declare that she would not be beaten. The First Class champ wasn’t ready for an impressive response, though; Indi Hartwell appeared on the screen, declaring that she would take Aysha’s title when she returns to Australian wrestling at We Are Renegades on March 9th. I can get behind that kind of surprise.
The Fans: Ultimately, the one thing that can make or break a wrestling show is the energy of the crowd. I think it was infectious at Eaton’s Hill, which is part of the reason I ended the main event standing, screaming, and slamming my fists on the commentary desk. The most dedicated wrestling fans in Australia had made a beeline for the Super Show, and it showed. Some of those fans are the ones so dedicated that they’ve made a name for themselves in the Aussie wrestling space (hey, Bec and Keanu and Gabbi!), while some of them are wrestlers themselves. Eagle-eyed fans might have spotted PWA champion Jessica Troy nursing her injured leg in the crowd, or Seth Tylors watching on as his QWA compatriots became tag team champions. From the commentary table, I was able to look into the backstage area and see a very, very big-name fan. Someone who’d be in front of a much bigger crowd the following night. I won’t say much more on it, but for someone who isn’t Australian to spend the night before their big match making their way out to see what Renegades and Pro Wrestling League were putting on demonstrates how massive this show was.
The Australian Wrestling Super Show was the highlight of my weekend. There was a lot of amazing wrestling packed into a few short days, and spending a weekend surrounded by fans and wrestlers even outside of shows was a delight, but the Super Show was truly excellent. Hearing that, you can probably guess what I thought of the wrestling matches themselves, right?
Head over to the Wrestle Radio Australia youtube channel for interviews from the night.. Here
