New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling

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New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling (NZWPW) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Wellington, New Zealand. It has also performed shows in Christchurch, Palmerston North, Porirua, Otaki and Levin, making it the most widely touring New Zealand promotion and the only one to perform in New Zealand's South Island. Wrestlers from NZWPW have also wrestled for Australia promotion Major Impact Wrestling^[1].

It is run by martial arts trainer, social worker and veteran New Zealand wrestler Martin Stirling. Wrestlers trained by Stirling first performed at the Armageddon Convention on September 20, 2003, as part of an Impact Pro Wrestling show, and the promotion was launched under the name Wellington Pro Wrestling (WPW) in October 2003. Their first show was held on November 14 of that year in Petone. WPW was re-branded New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling in January 2005, partly because the wpw.co.nz domain name had already been registered by someone else and partly to reflect their growing interest in touring the country.

In May 2006 a number of NZWPW wrestlers, led by former NZWPW booker The Punisher and WCW/ NWA star Rip Morgan, left to set up a rival promotion called Kiwi Pro Wrestling.

1 Martial arts
2 Title histories
3 Roster
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Martial arts

Thanks to Martin Stirling's martial arts background, NZWPW has made much of its links with New Zealand's martial arts scene. Many of their early shows featured demonstrations of fighting styles such as karate and kickboxing^[2]. Shows have also been co-promoted with major Sumo events such as the 2005 Oceania Sumo Championships^[3] and the 2006 New Zealand Open Sumo Championships^[4].

Also in 2006, NZWPW co-sponsored sumo wrestlers Sio Sakaria and Mark Tanu to attend the Junior World Championships in Estonia, where they won silver and bronze medals respectively^[5].

[edit] Title histories

[edit] New Zealand Heavyweight Title

Wrestler:	Reign:	Date:	Place:	Event:	Notes
Ruamoko	1	December 3, 2004	Lower Hutt	Colossus	Won tournament. Title billed as Super Heavyweight Title and restricted to wrestlers 100kg+. Vacated due to injury.
Island Boy Si	1	March 25, 2005	Lower Hutt	Powerplay II	Won tournament. Title re-billed New Zealand Heavyweight Title. 100kg+ requirement apparently dropped after Catchweight Title vacated in April 2005.
Juice	1	November 4, 2005	Lower Hutt	Eruption II	In three-way match with H-Flame.
D-Hoya	1	April 14, 2006	Lower Hutt	Powerplay III
Adam Avalanche	1	July 21, 2006	Lower Hutt	Pacific Storm 2006

The Punisher was also billed as the New Zealand Heavyweight Champion in early 2004, though he never defended this title in this promotion. He did, however, take part in the tournament that crowned Ruamoko, so it is possible to consider him a former holder of this belt.

[edit] New Zealand Tag Team Titles (defunct)

Team:	Reign:	Date:	Place:	Event:	Notes
Inferno & Max Damage	1	October 15, 2005	Wellington	Invasion Tour	Defeated X-Rated & The Ram.

While this title has never officially been declared defunct, it has not been defended since November 4, 2005 and both champions have since left the promotion for Kiwi Pro Wrestling.

[edit] Catchweight Title (defunct)

Wrestler:	Reign:	Date:	Place:	Event:	Notes
D-Hoya	1	March 20, 2004	Taita, Lower Hutt	New Zealand Kickboxing Champs	Defeated X-Rated.
X-Rated	1	June 25, 2004	Petone, Lower Hutt	Powerplay
D-Hoya	2	December 3, 2004	Lower Hutt	Colossus	Vacated April 22, 2005 to chase New Zealand Heavyweight Title.