From Trainee To TCW Champion To Co-owner: The Rise Of Eddie Jones

Tasmanian Championship Wrestling’s Eddie Jones has spent the last nine years rising through the ranks of the state’s one and only wrestling promotion. A former TCW Wrestling School trainee Jones was trained by former TCW owner Diablo and began his TCW career at the very first TCW show in 2014.

A former three-time TCW Champion Eddie Jones, took over the co-ownership of Tasmanian Championship Wrestling with fellow TCW wrestler Dylan Daniels in 2018 when former owner decided it was time to depart.

Leigh Barber (Diablo) established Tasmanian Championship Wrestling in November of 2011 opening a training school with locals participating in tryouts for the school. One such person to join the TCW training school was Eddie Jones, since the very second training session Eddie trained hard and became one of many of the first wrestlers to graduate and go on to be TCW originals.

Dave Harding: What made you decide to become a pro wrestler?

Eddie Jones: I had been a fan since I was a kid. I never thought I would do it. I was looking for something to do with my free time when my partner found the article in the paper about Leigh opening the school in Launceston and she talked me into going down.

Dave Harding: Have you modeled your style off any current or past wrestlers, or is it all just original Eddie Jones?

Eddie Jones: I started watching in the early to mid-1990s so a lot of stuff I think has come from that time period.  If you’re after Scott hall and terry funk are 2 guys that come to mind.

Dave Harding: Aside from the Thor boots you wore in your entrance (just kidding.) Who has been your toughest opponent to date?

Eddie Jones: The pants were more the issue more than the boots (laughs).  I’ve been luckily enough to get in the ring with many tough guys.   In the early days, having your 3rd match be against Cremator was up there. Every match with Diablo was always a bruising affair.

But probably Liam lacey I don’t think anyone has thrown as much at me as he did.

Dave Harding: Were you nervous heading into the match with Cremator?

Eddie Jones: I’m nervous going into every match, even now I think it’s a good thing having that energy. But yes, in those early days, I was always super nervous before matches.

TCW has run shows bi-monthly since its inception, the very first show Annihilation happening in 2014 which culminated with Eddie Jones winning his first TCW Title over Diablo in front of 350 people in Launceston’s Action-Packed Stadium.

His first reign would last 364 days before he was defeated at Annihilation 2 by Diablo in a triple threat also featuring Zakk Archer. His second reign came in 2018 when he would beat Andy Rhodes at TCW’s A New Beginning Show at the Elphin Sports Centre where TCW has been a fixture since moving from the Action-Packed Stadium.

Dave Harding: It’s been quite the journey, from trainee to TCW Champion, to co-owner of your local wrestling promotion. What made you decide to become a part owner of TCW?

Eddie Jones: Yeah, a lot of water under the bridge there. Well at the time it was kind of a case if we didn’t do it there was a good chance it was just going to shut down and we didn’t want to see that happen, so we took the leap and took over.

Dave Harding: It would have been sad to see it shut down, since you guys have been putting Tassie back on the wrestling map. Has it been difficult juggling being an active wrestler and being an owner at the same time?

Eddie Jones: The business side of things was a big challenge at the start not really something I’d ever done before. I’ve been quite lucky juggling both as our roster was growing when we took over and kept going since so having so the bigger roster made it easier to step back a bit.

Jones’ reign was a fair bit shorter than his last reign, being defeated by Liam Lacey at Rise of A Champion, he held the belt for 84 days. His last reign coming in 2022 beating Adrian Alexander at Annihilation 9, holding the belt for 175 days before being beaten by JJ Storm at The Perfect Storm.

Dave Harding: For those who don’t know who Eddie Jones is, and what TCW is what would you like them to know about both?

Eddie Jones: I think what we try to keep in mind in TCW is that wrestling is meant to be fun I think in today’s wrestling landscape is very easy to fall into everything being serious and everyone wants to be tough, but it needs variety and a range of characters and that’s what TCW is.

The Eddie Jones ones a bit harder to answer (laughs) Last few years fair to say Eddie Jones is a bit of a delusional prick trying to be a big fish in a small pond happy to talk a big game then deliver the exact opposite if it the desired result.

In the nine years that Eddie Jones has been a wrestler he’s worn many different hats for TCW, as a Launceston native he’s been a booker and a promoter for the company while also being a wrestler, but he’s also done trained some of the next batch of TCW stars as well.

Eddie Jones has also taken the TCW Title to Victorian based promotion Gippsland Pro Wrestling where he defended the belt against FOX in a losing effort. Jones had retained the TCW Title as he lost via DQ, and titles generally do not change via DQ.

Dave Harding: You took the TCW Title to Gippsland Pro Wrestling in a losing effort to FOX, how did it feel to represent TCW in another promotion? And how different was working with a different promotion?

Eddie Jones: The GPW show was a fun time.  It’s always nice to get out and see how other people do shows and wrestle without the added stress of running the show. GPW is very similar to TCW so was a comfortable transition.

Eddie Jones also joined the TCW North Esk Title Tournament to add more gold, unfortunately for Eddie Jones he was unsuccessful in his pursuit of the North Esk Title losing the title of the tournament at Triumphant to Charli Rose. Earlier in the night he had beaten Mercury to setup a showdown with Rose, but alas he came up short.

Tasmanian Championship Wrestling next heads to the Northwest Coast of Tasmania Devonport for their Coastal Carnage show on October 7^th at the Market Square Pavilion.