The biggest party of the [American] summer goes down this Monday, with numerous events to surround it. Which wrestling shows are on our schedules this weekend? WWE Live returned to New Zealand last week. What did everyone think of the show? We’re also discussing our best experiences at live events,...
Back in the days of kayfabe, wrestling was easy to understand. One was the bad guy, the other was a good guy. You cheered for the good guy, you booed the bad guy. Back before I even knew what “face” and “heel” meant the world was a simpler place. But...
WWE fans around the world are buzzing this week about the return of the WWE Draft. To capitalise on the excitement, NZPWI’s David Dunn and Steve McCleary went head-to-head in a fantasy draft in their attempt to build the best brand possible. Every member of the WWE roster—including WWE NXT—was deemed...
It’s July, which means 2016 is halfway over. The NZPWI Staff bring you our thoughts on the matches that should be in the running for “match of the year” polls thus-far. In addition to our regular contributors, we’re joined by “That Young Warrior” Paul Sayers. Sayers shares his thoughts on...
Heat and Velocity; not the name of a terrible early 90s WWF tag team, but secondary programming at its finest. For a decade, Heat was the home of Monday Night Raw’s lesser names. For about half that time, Velocity was SmackDown’s counterpart. In essence, these were the reserve grades of the WWE wrestleopolis. ...
In light of the news that another brand-split could shake up the WWE Universe in July, Grady Hooker remembers the major WWE Draft in 2008. *** It was June 23, 2008, the time of year to shake-up the rosters of Raw, SmackDown and ECW in a massive (at the time)...
On May 25, 2003, the first ever live pro wrestling pay-per-view broadcast from New Zealand emanated from the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland. The show, WWA The Reckoning, was the first time that a lot of Kiwi wrestling fans had the chance to see live professional wrestling, including some...
WWE NXT continues to set new standards for itself, with the first steel cage match for the brand taking place in the near future. Should NXT still be thought of as developmental? Charlotte and Natalya headlined Raw with the contract signing for their Extreme Rules match. Could there be a...
John Cena will be back on Raw, and back in New Zealand, within the next couple of months. Has Cena been missed? What grade do we give Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows’ first month in WWE? Which tournament is more interesting: WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, or NJPW’s Best of the Super...
UFC fighter Conor McGregor caused a stir on social media this week when he announced a potential retirement from MMA, and followed several key WWE figures on Twitter shortly after. Is McGregor the right fit for pro-wrestling? How is New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) holding up after losing the likes of...