Aussies Abroad: Ripley gains shot at Mania and Cameron’s AEW streak

Welcome back to another week’s edition of Aussies Abroad, where we take a look at the Aussies making waves in the overseas pro wrestling scene. 

Let’s start this week’s coverage off with Adelaide’s own Rhea Ripley and her confrontation between Iyo Sky and Bianca Blair on this week’s RAW. Ripley classically interrupted the pair’s promo and demanded a rematch for “her” championship belt. Blair shot back and demanded Ripley to return after Wrestlemania for a chance against her with the belt before Sky reminded the pair she was still in the mix. Right before all hell broke loose, it was announced that Rhea would get her rematch, with the winner going on to challenge Bianca for the belt at Mania. 

Also on RAW, Aussie icon Grayson Waller went head to head against the recently reunited Uso brothers with his partner Austin Theory. It was the first time these two teams entered the ring together, and the pairing proved to make an interesting match-up. Despite some fast-thinking moves from the A-Town Down Under team, the Usos dominated much of the match and certainly had the crowd’s support behind them. It was eventually a massive 1D from the Uso brothers that saw Theory down for the three count. 

Night 2’s collision proved to be an amazing night for upcoming Aussie legend Harley Cameron who picked up a massive win against Aminah Belmont. Cameron bought the Gold Coast heat in this match continuing her winning streak with some quick thinking and impressive decisions in-ring. It’s clear the AEW universe is finally starting to wake up to Cameron with her sudden domination following GrandSlam and we can’t wait to see where she’ll go. 

Also in AEW, the recently returned Mark Davis saw a huge loss against Mike Bailey and Ricochet at the International Title Eliminator Tournament. Despite taking some intense hits from the other three impressive builds in the ring, David still didn’t quite have what it took to win the four-way, just missing his chance to kick out. He did however bring some expected hard hitters and dominated some impressive moments in the match. 

Over in Indiana, local favourite Shazza McKenzie had an interesting matchup with Rachel Armstrong for the WrestleARTS Global Women’s Title. McKenzie has been absolutely killing it in the US this year with a huge lineup of impressive matchups with an even bigger lineup of companies. Although she wasn’t able to pick up the championship win, McKenzie continues to make Australia proud. She also recently had another impressive match against Lili ‘La Pescadita’ Quiz with CWS in Chicago.

In California, Shane Haste, along with The Krusty Krew, had a matchup with Darwin Finch, Scorpio Sky and Zokre with Epic Pro Wrestling. Haste has been another Aussie who has quickly become a household wrestling name since his time in the US, and is working with a huge number of international promotions in rings around the world. 

Over in Japan, Adelaide favourite Kira Summer has been continuing her work with TJPW with consistent matches. Although Summer hasn’t been on much of a winning spree, it’s great to see another Adelaide name making a name for themselves overseas. Chris Vice also recently had a match in Japan against Masato Tanaka and Yoshikazu Yokoyama with ZERO1.

– ’till next week!

Imogen Evans

News Writer + Aussies Abroad. Based in Adelaide and winner of the 2023 CPA Young Journo of the year, has been a news and arts journalist for a number of years working across radio and print, but has decided to take her wrestling addiction to PWDU. You can find her at any local wrestling night across the state with a beer in-hand and a front-row ticket to the action.