Aussies Abroad: AEW storm with Aussie’s return and Adelaide talent hits Japan
Welcome back to another week’s installment of Aussies Abroad, a weekly feature where we take a look at the Aussies kicking ass in the overseas pro wrestling scene.
Let’s start this week’s coverage with the biggest news out of AEW, the surprise return of Australian favourite Toni Storm. Storm hasn’t been seen in the ring since she was dethroned as Women’s World Champion by former friend Mariah May during the peak of her “timeless Toni’ era. All of that changed last week when Storm made a surprise return not only to the ring but to her original rocker look from her debut. Storm made her entrance right after May retained the championship, and got every single seat up and standing with the unexpected return of her old entrance theme. Storm later found herself in a match-up with fellow Aussie Harley Cameron, where she picked up the easy win, before going head-to-head with another fellow Aussie Shazza McKenzie. Despite McKenzie attempting to put up a good fight, the match only lasted a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds as what was one of the most dominant displays from storm. It was a German suplex, a harsh hip attack, and a Storm Zero that saw McKenzie down for the three count.
Things didn’t go too well for fellow Aussie Kyle Fletcher, who lost his winning streak last week in the Continental Classic Blue League to Mark Briscoe. Things were looking good for Fletcher, who had strong moments of domination throughout the match. When Briscoe hit though, he hit hard and almost had Fletcher down for the three count multiple times throughout the match. Despite another impressive showcase of strength by Fletcher, it was eventually an insane Jay Driller that saw Fletcher lose the match.
Things went a little better for the recently returned Mark Davis, who teamed up with Powerhouse Hobbs to defeat the Don Callis Family team of Konosuke Takeshita and Lance Archer. It was a tough battle between the two teams to get the upper hand during the match, but it was Davis who had the strength of Hobbs to rely on to pick up the win.
Things have also been heating up for the Aussies over in Japan, where once again local talent have been dominating the scene. ACW regular and Adelaide favorite James Kray has taken a break from wrestling in the local scene to take on some of Japan’s toughest appointments at the TAKA & Taichi event last week. Kray went head to head with Abdullah Kobayashi, Daisuke, Naoya Akama, Ryoma Tsukamoto, Ryuya Takekura, and Tomoaki Honma. Although he wasn’t able to pick up the win, the Adelaidean made his local fans proud by bringing the Aussie heat to the Japanese ring.
Also in Japan, Shane Haste picked up a huge win with his TMDK team against the team of Dirty Work and Shota Umino. Chris Vice has also continued his work with GLEAT G ProWrestling, with a recent match against the Black Generation international team.
-Till next week!
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.
