WRESTLING

By LIAM DURKIN

 

 

GIPPSLAND Pro Wrestling is on this weekend.

Saturday, November 14 will see a night of high-flying, hard-hitting wrestling action at the Morwell Convention and Reception Centre (Morwell Bowling Club).

“Get ready for fierce rivalries, huge moves and edge-of-your-seat excitement,” Gippsland Pro Wrestling (GPW) announced.

Fights on the card include Owen Steadman versus Bush Kelly and Jake Lindo vs Orion Mencin.

Steadman, the hometown boy, is up against Kelly in his Gippsland debut.

“This will be one of the hardest hitting matches seen in GPW history. Both competitors don’t take a backwards step,” GPW promotes.

Gippsland has a strong, if little unknown, history with wrestling.

Moe’s Ken ‘Dazzler’ Dunlop received an OAM earlier this year for his services to the sport.

He said the greatest aspect was experiencing the thrill of performing in front of a ballistic crowd screaming wildly.

“It was amazing. I loved it – especially when they hate you,” he said cheekily to the Express in 2021.

“Just that feeling … just the power of the crowds and the energy you get from the crowds.”

Dunlop rubbed shoulders with many famous wrestlers, and also performed on the same card as some of the biggest names in the game including the world renowned Andre The Giant and Killer Khan.

While his hulking 236 kilogram frame and towering 224 centimetre height might have suggested otherwise, Dunlop said the Frenchman was very much the gentle giant.

“He was very, very friendly, very nice, he spoke to everyone and he remembered guys from when he toured earlier,” Dunlop said of Andre The Giant.

“He loved telling jokes, but because of his strong accent you couldn’t understand what he was saying half the time. He’d slap his hand on the table and start laughing so we’d just laugh along with him.”

If anyone is wondering what a man of Andre The Giant’s size was capable of, Dunlop recalled one instance that left a lasting impression.

“We took a minibus from Sydney to Newcastle and they had to take the first row of seats out in the bus so he could fit in the second seat and stretch out,” he said.

“We pulled into a service station to get a snack. All the boys got a can of Coke and a hamburger and chips. Andre got two litres of Coke, three barbecue chickens cut up, a whole loaf of bread buttered – and that was just a snack.

“On the way home he had a wine and a carton of beer – and that was just in that two and a half hour drive.

“The good thing is the first night I wrestled on the same card as Andre, I was in the first match with Kenny Medlin who is probably the greatest wrestler that I’ve ever seen in Australia, and the promoter told us not to do anything fancy to build up the crowd for the big stars.

“I looked at Medlin and said ‘what will we do?’ and he said ‘stuff em’ we’ll do everything!’

“We had an absolutely sensational match. When I was walking back to the dressing room there was Don Muraco, who was the original Rock, and Andre The Giant actually sitting there watching my match.

“I thought ‘oh God they are going to kill me’. They both shook my hand, patted me on the back and said ‘fantastic match’, so that was a huge honour. When we got back in the room the promoter screamed and yelled at us, he said ‘how can we follow that!'”

Doors open at 7pm this Saturday.

First bell at 7.30pm.